Clemson basketball: Road to NCAA Tourney following UNC win

The road to the NCAA Tournament for Clemson basketball following the win over UNC

The Clemson basketball team is on the right side of the bubble as we progress towards the Selection Sunday for the NCAA Tournament.

Prior to their victory over the North Carolina Tar Heels at home Tuesday night, Clemson was considered a 10-seed by Joe Lunardi and an 11-seed by Andy Katz. With the win over the Tar Heels, which can be considered a Quadrant 2 win, the Tigers should move up in the latest bracket predictions when they are released.

That being said, there is still work to do.

The Clemson basketball team still has seven scheduled games this season- which will run through the beginning of March- and there is potential for another opponent to be added. From there, the Tigers will compete in the ACC Tournament with hopes on making it to the NCAA Tournament.

But what will the road look like?

Clemson basketball has to get better, but the Tigers have a manageable road to get there

Even in the victory Tuesday night, everyone can see that the Tigers have improvements to make. Clemson shot just 40.4 percent from the field and was outrebounded by the Tar Heels, who shot an abysmal 38.6 percent from the field and 52.4 percent from the free throw line.

Clemson made improvements in defensive effort and looked a lot better on that end of the floor, but the offense still has a ways to go and there is still a major difference in what we’re seeing in the offensive attack now and what we were seeing back in December.

That being said, there is a manageable road ahead for the Tigers. Here’s a look at the remaining games:

• vs. Syracuse
• vs. Georgia Tech
• @ Notre Dame
• @ Pittsburgh
• @ Wake Forest
• vs. Miami
• vs. Pittsburgh

Keep in mind that there may be another game scheduled for the Tigers on March 3rd. That current slate, though, is more than manageable for this team if they can get the offense going.

A 5-2 record would be ideal and would put Clemson at 15-7 overall with a 10-7 record in the ACC. That would be a resume more than good enough to get in the tournament and would give the Tigers a chance to even move up to a favorable seed.

A 4-3 record (finishing 9-8 in ACC play) would likely still have the Tigers on the right side of the bubble- though they would probably need to win at least one game in the ACC Tournament- but a 3-4 record (finishing 8-9 in ACC play) would put Clemson basketball on the outside-looking-in needing to get pick up a few wins in the conference tournament to sneak into the field.

In the latest bracketology, none of the remaining opponents on the Tigers’ schedule are listed in the field of 68.