Clemson Men’s Basketball gets credit from the AP Voters, climbs to 20th in poll

Clemson Men’s Basketball won both games this past week against Georgia Tech at home and Florida State on the road. The Tigers are 10-1 in the ACC and 18-4 overall. They are the only ACC team to reach ten conference wins by the end of January.

The computer formulas that calculate the NCAA’s NET, along with other calculated metrics like KenPom still don’t have a high opinion of the Tigers. The NET has them at 58th and KenPom has them at 59th.

Fortunately for Clemson, the AP voters have recognized their accomplishments. The Tigers climbed four spots to 20th in this week’s Top 25 rankings.

Clemson is the second-highest-ranked ACC team, trailing only Virginia, which is ranked at 6th. Miami remains ranked 23rd. ACC bluebloods Duke and North Carolina are not ranked by the AP.

In contrast, six ACC teams are ahead of the Tigers in the NET and KenPom metrics: Virginia, Duke, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Miami, and Virginia Tech.

Computer metrics are no different for basketball than they are for football: they can only give us a perspective on a team.

The perspective offered by the NET on Clemson is clear: they’re okay but nothing special. Looking at the NET, it does not respect the conference. While Virginia is 6th in the AP ranking, they are 15th in the NET. The Cavaliers and Blue Devils are the only teams in the top 25 teams of the NET.

This would not be a big deal if it weren’t for the reality that the NET is one of the designated tools the NCAA Tournament Selection committee uses to select and seed teams.

From the NCAA:

"“The NET is one of many resources/tools available to the committee in the selection, seeding, and bracketing process. Computer models cannot accurately evaluate qualitative factors such as games missed by key players or coaches, travel difficulties, and other effects of specific games.”"

They state it is a tool, but not the only tool. Bracket experts seem to understand the middle ground that the committee is likely to take.

Clemson Men’s Basketball gets the respect from human observers that they don’t receive from computer metrics

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has Clemson listed as a 7-seed, which would suggest they would be ranked between 25th and 28th overall among teams he thinks will be selected for the tournament. Lunardi’s last publication was created before the Tigers’ victory over Florida State.

CBS’s Jerry Palm has Clemson as a 9-seed, suggesting they would be ranked between 33rd and 36th overall.

The Tigers’ placement in most predicted brackets falls somewhere between where the AP voters have them ranked and where the NET says they belong.

Clemson’s position in the metrics means they need to keep winning – they won’t be given benefit of the doubt if they experience a losing streak. Even human observers will then point to the metrics and conclude that Clemson was never as good as they looked to the eye.

The Tigers can’t let their foot off the gas, but at least for the time being, the voters of the AP Poll are giving them the respect they deserve.