Clemson has fallen sharply both in the Top 25 polls and in different Bracketology projections since the beginning of the year, but a hard-fought stumble at No. 7 Duke, a game the Tigers could have easily won, moved Clemson up a spot in Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology projections for ESPN.
The Tigers (13-6 overall) entered New Year’s Day with an 11-1 record and a No. 16 ranking in both the Associated Press and USA TODAY Coaches Polls. They’ve since won just two games and can only hope that things get a little easier with four of their next six contests at home, including Tuesday night’s tussle with Louisville. The game is scheduled to tip off at 9 p.m. EST and will be broadcast by ACC Network.
For now, though, Clemson received a bit of a boost when the team moved slightly upwards in Lunardi’s latest Bracketology update — from a projected No. 7 seed to a 6 seed.
Lunardi now projects the Tigers to face the winner of a play-in game between Seton Hall and Colorado, who would qualify as a No. 11 seed.
The theoretical Clemson vs. Seton Hall/Colorado matchup would take place in the East Region, which is scheduled to host games in Memphis, Indianapolis, Spokane and Brooklyn before the regional finals a week later at Boston’s TD Garden.
Other teams in the East Region, according to Lunardi’s forecasts, are No. 1 seed Connecticut, the defending national champions and current No. 1 team in both the AP and Coaches Poll rankings; projected No. 2 seed Wisconsin, 3 seed Alabama, and 4th-seeded Duke. Lunardi sees both the Badgers and Crimson Tide winning their respective conference tournaments to earn higher seeds as automatic qualifiers.
The three other No. 6 seeds in Lunardi’s new Bracketology predictions are Utah State (Midwest Regional), Oklahoma (South), and Florida Atlantic (West).
Lunardi’s projections still award the most tournament bids per conference to the Big 12 with nine total. The SEC is second with eight schools projected to make the field of 68.
Only Clemson, Duke, and No. 3 North Carolina are currently projected by Lunardi to make the NCAA Tournament from the ACC. That’s tied with the Pac-12 and American Conferences for the fewest projected schools of any major conference.
North Carolina (18-3) is projected as a 1 seed in the West Regional, to be completed at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena (formerly Staples Center).