Clemson Basketball: 3 reasons why Tigers will miss the NCAA Tournament

3. A bunch of the remaining ACC games is loseable

I know it truly seems strange that a power conference regular-season champion is in danger of missing out on the NCAA Tournament but it’s not unprecedented. In 2012, the Washington Huskies won the Pac-12 regular-season title but lost in its first game of the conference tournament and missed the Big Dance.

Now, the big difference is that the Pac-12 was very weak, being a 2-3 bid league all year, whereas the ACC is around 6-8. But the bubble is different now and the ACC isn’t very strong at the top, so Clemson could be in danger. That being said, they could easily shut me up if they win either of the next two games. at home against Miami and on the road at North Carolina.

If they were to lose though, then all of a sudden the Tigers are 18-7 (10-4 ACC) and with a NET ranking around 70, which would then have them around the Last 4 in/First 4 out scenario. And among the six games after includes road games at Virginia and NC State, along with home matchups against Notre Dame and Syracuse. The other two are versus Florida State (H) and Louisville (A), ones I’d guess they’ll win.

Brad Brownell deserves to be ACC Coach of the Year for his job and Hunter Tyson is a first-team All-ACC performer. But this team has overachieved overall and the margin of error going forward is less than Clemson Basketball fans want to admit. There’s always a team that takes a late fall out of the NCAA Tournament picture and the Tigers if they don’t do well in the next week, could be that team.