Clemson basketball ranked in top-20 of AP Poll: Thoughts

The Clemson basketball team comes into this week’s AP poll ranked No. 19 in the nation. The ranking is among the highest in quite some time for the Tigers.

When’s the last time you saw a number next to the name “Clemson” when you were watching a basketball game?

It’s been quite some time.

The Tiger basketball team comes into this week’s AP poll ranked No. 19 in the nation.

That’s quite an accomplishment for a Brad Brownell team that was picked by many media members to finish in the lower tier of the ACC.

Right now, Clemson is the fourth highest ranked team in the ACC. They only trail No. 3 Virginia, No. 7 Duke, and No. 18 Miami.

The Tigers are ranked ahead of the North Carolina Tarheels and the Florida State Seminoles.

Thoughts:

What a time to be a Tiger fan.

Clemson basketball has played really well through the season so far. They are 3-0 in conference play with a gritty win over Louisville this past Saturday.

This is a fun team to watch.

They have excellent guard play and the posts are coming along, as well. They can score in a variety of different ways and are playing solid defense to go along with it.

I really like the emergence we’ve seen of Donte Grantham. The senior is averaging 14.6 points per game and 7.3 rebounds.

The Tigers still have a tough slate of games remaining, including Miami, two games against North Carolina, a trip to Virginia, two match ups against Florida State, and a game against Duke at home. The ACC is always a very tough conference to play in, but I could see the Tigers winning 12+ games in conference.

If they do that, they will be in the NCAA Tournament.

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It will be interesting to see how they handle the rest of January and February, but I have enjoyed watching this team so far and I believe they have what it takes to finish in the top-five of the ACC and earn a solid seed in the big dance before it’s all said and done.