Not much has changed with Clemson in the last week. The Tigers are still making their climb up the rankings now finding themselves ranked 15th in most recent USA TODAY Coaches Poll and No. 16 in the Associated Press Poll. While Clemson is doing its thing, other top teams around the country have had some problems as of recent.
Clemson currently sits comfortably at No. 2 in the ACC with a 20-4 overall record and a 9-3 mark in ACC play. The Tigers are on a four game winning streak with wins over Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Wake Forest and Pitt, which is opening up opportunities when it comes to the postseason.
Clemson appears to be a sure lock for the NCAA Tournament. However, the question now becomes where will it land in the field? The Tigers, who are off this weekend, enter Saturday’s play at No. 4 in the latest RPI rankings.
When it comes to top teams elsewhere, we have seen some teams deal with some upsets. Since the last Bracketology Report, we have seen two days filled with upsets.
The first of those days came on Feb. 3 as a total of six teams in the top 25 fall. Not only did these teams lose, but they lost to unranked opponents. The biggest upset of the day was then No. 4 Duke losing to unranked St. Johns and lead guard Shamorie Ponds. Also in the top 10, Oklahoma State upset No. 7 Kansas in a thriller and No. 9 Arizona lost a close one to Washington.
Also losing were No. 12 Oklahoma, No. 21 Kentucky and No. 23 Florida.
More woes came for top teams on Feb 7 as three top 10 teams lost and four ranked teams lost overall. Top-ranked Villanova ran into the recent train that has been Shamorie Ponds and St. Johns. We later saw a pair of one-point games where No. 3 Purdue lost to No. 14 Ohio State in a solid defensive game and No. 8 Auburn lost a tight offensive battle to Texas A&M. Nevada, No. 23, also fell to UNLV that day.
When it comes to the recent brackatology trends, Clemson looks better and better as the season goes on. In ESPN’s Joe Lunardi’s most recent bracket updates, he has the Tigers’ once again sitting in a three seed in the east. Also, CBS sports and Sbnation both currently have Clemson in a No. 2 seed position as they did previously.
USA Today’s officially released its first bracketology predictions, and it has Clemson as a No. 3 seed.
With the recent shake ups around the game, it isn’t safe to say whether Clemson will remain amongst the top three seeds or not. If the season were to end now, Clemson would be a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament at the worst.