CBS Sports recently released its way-too-early ACC men’s basketball tiers, taking an early look at all 18 teams in the league.

Clemson (24-11, 12-6 ACC in 2025-26) is ranked as the No. 8 team in the conference.

The Tigers are grouped with No. 7 NC State, No. 9 Florida State, No. 10 SMU and No. 11 Syracuse as the teams in Tier 4 – teams on “the bubble,” even with the newly expanded 76-team NCAA Tournament field that starts with the 2026-27 college basketball season.

“A Big Dance appearance is in the range of potential outcomes, but the NIT, the Crown (or worse) looms if things fizzle,” CBS Sports’ Isaac Trotter wrote, explaining “the bubble” tier.

Last season, Clemson earned an at-large bid into the 2026 NCAA Tournament as a No. 8 seed and faced No. 9 seed Iowa in Tampa, Fla. in the first round, falling to the Hawkeyes, 67-61.

It marked the sixth time under head coach Brad Brownell and third consecutive season that the Tigers advanced to the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers have made 16 NCAA Tournament appearances overall, all of which have taken place since 1980. Clemson holds a 14-16 record in the NCAA Tournament that includes two Elite Eight appearances and five trips to the Sweet 16.

Junior guard Cole Certa, senior forward Dylan Faulkner, senior guard/forward Liutauras Lelevicius and senior forward David Fuchs were all part of Clemson’s transfer class for 2026-27, while the Tigers signed center Will Stevens, guard Amare James and guard Harris Reynolds in their 2026 high school recruiting class.

CBS Sports projects Certa (Notre Dame transfer), Lelevicius (TCU transfer), Fuchs (San Francisco transfer) and Faulkner (Samford transfer) to join returning guard Ace Buckner in Clemson’s 2026-27 starting lineup.

Here’s what CBS Sports wrote about Clemson’s squad ahead of the upcoming season:

“Clemson always recruits high-character transfers who fit the scheme very well. This spring was no exception. David Fuchs and Dylan Faulkner should get right to work in this scheme that loves to use post-ups to attack mismatches. It’ll be hard to bring double teams with knockdown floor-spacers like Liutauras Lelevicius (38% on 3.6 attempts) and Cole Certa (37% on 7.1 attempts) on the floor together.

“But Clemson can’t be considered a no-doubt NCAA Tournament team without a healthy Zac Foster and Carter Welling. When healthy, Welling is the best big man on this team, but he tore his ACL in the ACC Tournament and could miss the entire year. Foster, a dynamic sophomore guard who has the wiggle that this roster so desperately needs, is also recovering from a torn ACL, although his timeline is a few months ahead of Welling’s. If Foster and Welling are back by February, Clemson will be a completely different (and way better) team.

“This roster currently has creation questions, athleticism deficiencies and very little rim protection on paper, but maybe Brad Brownell has some tricks up his sleeve on the player-development front.”

The latest early 2027 men’s NCAA Tournament bracketology from ESPN’s Joe Lunardi currently projects Clemson to be a No. 12 seed.

In CBS Sports’ ACC tiers, Duke is the lone team in Tier 1 as a national title contender. Louisville, Virginia, Miami and North Carolina make up Tier 2 as “top 25-caliber” clubs, while Virginia Tech is in Tier 3 as another “tournament team.”