March Madness: Power ranking the Sweet 16 teams left in 2024 NCAA Tournament

14. Clemson Tigers

Among the few upsets in the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament was a trio of 11 seeds beating 6 seeds on Day 1. The one that was actually picked most to happen was New Mexico over Clemson on the next day. However, the Tigers got out to a big lead and made sure that wasn’t the case.

The final score was 77-56, led by 21 points and six assists from guard Chase Hunter. Big man Ian Schieffelin had a big outing himself, going for 16 points and 12 rebounds, while PJ Hall had 14 points in 18 minutes, despite being in foul trouble.

The next game was against 3-seed Baylor, another game in which Hall dealt with foul trouble and only played 19 minutes total. Hunter had another big game with 20 points and six assists, while Joe Girard had 13 points. It’s the first Sweet 16 appearance for the program since 2018 and probably guarantees that Coach Brad Brownell isn’t on the hot seat anymore.

Clemson looks for another upset this week, taking on 2-seed Arizona. It’s a solid matchup since they have bigs that can spread the floor and they also have potent guards. Can the Tigers continue the success of the ACC in the second weekend?