We are deep into February, and that means March Madness is beginning to take shape. The Clemson basketball team finds itself right in the thick of the NCAA Tournament picture. Through the end of the season, TCI will have a regular update of the Tigers’ body of work complete with RPI ranking, KenPom.com ranking, and a percentage chance the Tigers are included in the field courtesy of TeamRankings.com, along with the differentials since the last update.
Record: 16-11 (9-6 ACC)
RPI: 102nd (-8, 4-5 Top 50, 7-8 Top 100)
KenPom.com: 53rd (-1)
Chances: 6.5% (-3.1%)
Qualk’s Take: Some of the factors weighing down Clemson’s resume tend to be magnified with every loss. That happened once again in the aftermath of Saturday’s loss in Raleigh at N.C. State. The Tigers really need a winning mark against the top 50 and top 100 in order to offset the negative impact of a horrible non-conference strength of schedule number, and now they have some work to do to get there. That begins tonight in a fully winnable road game at Georgia Tech. Right now, Clemson is solidly in the NIT and will need quite a surge–plus some help, probably–to get back into the good graces of the selection committee.
Here are some games to watch tonight that could impact Clemson’s NCAA Tournament chances…
LSU at Arkansas (-3), 7:00, ESPNU: LSU is basically an NIT team that happens to have the best NBA prospect in college basketball. Ben Simmons alone is keeping the Tigers afloat, but inconsistency and some injury issues are threatening to rip down the facade many talking heads have built up around this underachieving bunch. The Razorbacks are not only capable of toppling the Tigers, they are actually favored at home in this one. LSU needs a win here, badly, or the math looks daunting moving forward.
Vanderbilt at Florida (-5), 7:00, SECN: In January, the Gators looked like a mortal lock to make the field. Once the calendar turned to February, however, an unimpressive 3-3 mark has moved them back to the front end of the bubble. Vanderbilt has basically the same record as Florida, but the Commodores are more than 30 spots below the Gators in the RPI and have a much weaker crew of wins. Getting a road win in this kind of game would be massive for Vandy, and it probably wouldn’t kill Florida, either.
Temple at Tulsa (-6.5), 7:00, ESPNN: The Owls came back to escape with an overtime win the last time these two teams got together. They have the preferable body of work, but Tulsa is currently ahead in the RPI. If I were filling out a full bracket today, I would include Temple and exclude Tulsa, but there are arguments either way. A predictable result here probably doesn’t change much, but a Temple win further legitimizes an already-appealing resume and leaves Tulsa with an uphill battle to earn an at-large bid.
Michigan State (-6) at Ohio State, 9:00, ESPN: For a bubble team like Clemson, perhaps the most frustrating development occurs when a team off the bubble plays its way into the conversation. Ohio State has done just that by reeling off four consecutive wins, none of which were upsets. To be fair, the Buckeyes aren’t anywhere near the NCAA Tourney field presently, but their final three games (Michigan State, Iowa, at Michigan State) could get them there in a hurry. Clemson fans really need to hope Sparty puts Ohio State out of its misery tonight.
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