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Bracketology 2021: Duke, Missouri and Xavier among week’s winners and losers

By Tristan Freeman

Nov 29, 2020; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari talks with an official during the first half against the Richmond Spiders at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 29, 2020; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari talks with an official during the first half against the Richmond Spiders at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-USA TODAY Sports /
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Bracketology Aamir Simms Clemson Tigers (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) /

Winner – Clemson Tigers

One of the more impressive performances this week came from Clemson, whose defense continues to be one of the best teams in the country. They dominated the guards of Maryland in the ACC/Big Ten Challange, before limiting Alabama to just 56 points on Saturday. That puts the Tigers at 5-0, with already four power conference victories.

Alabama, Mississippi State, Purdue, and Maryland aren’t all guaranteed to make the NCAA Tournament but Clemson now has a better resume than 90% of the teams in the country. For a team that was projected to be on the bubble themselves, the Tigers are in a great position now with the start of ACC play coming.

Loser – Miami Hurricanes

Sometimes, it’s the circumstances that can make a team a “loser” in a given scenario. For the Hurricanes, they had to play this week without star guard Chris Lykes and then their second-leading scorer Kameron McGusty in Saturday’s matchup against Florida Gulf Coast.

Unfortunately, Miami couldn’t overcome all of the missing production, falling to the Eagles of the Atlantic Sun, 66-62. Although the loss itself is understandable given who was missing, the Hurricanes still will suffer in terms of Bracketology, even with the win over Purdue on their resume.

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If Miami has any chance to make the NCAA Tournament as an at-large team, they’ll have to weather the storm in the next couple of weeks. That includes matchups against Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech, and Jacksonville before the end of the year. If they can’t get healthy by then, they’ll be in real trouble.

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