Clemson Men’s Basketball can’t overcome bad schedule and bad losses

Clemson Men’s Basketball just finished one of their best ACC seasons in school history.

They also just failed to make the NCAA Tournament field.

The Tigers were listed as the fourth team out of the field of 68 when the brackets were announced Sunday evening.

The bracketologists who predicted Clemson would not be selected, such as Joe Lunardi and Jerry Palm, were proven correct. They cited Clemson’s poor non-conference schedule and their bad loses against teams like South Carolina, Loyola Chicago and Louisville as the anchors that were dragging the Tigers down.

The Tigers’ non-conference schedule ended up including only two teams that are now in the tournament: Iowa (a 74-71 loss) and Penn State (a  101-94 victory).

The Tigers finished 23-10 overall with a 14-6 ACC record. Their final NET placement was 60th, while KenPom placed them 64th.

Only time will tell how accurately either metric system predicted the outcomes of the teams that did qualify for the NCAA field.

While many fans and observers derided the NET’s influence on the selection process, it became clear Saturday that the committee did not use it exclusively to make decisions. There were teams  in the 40’s of the NET, such as Oklahoma State and Rutgers, who were passed over in favor of teams who were behind Clemson in the 60’s, such as Pittsburgh and Arizona State.

Clemson Men’s Basketball will continue their season in the NIT instead of the Big Dance

Clemson did receive an invitation to play in the National Invitational Tournament (NIT). The Tigers will be a 1-seed and host Morehead State in the first round.

Clemson will tip-off with the Eagles at Littlejohn Coliseum Wednesday evening at 7:00 PM.

While some are stating that Clemson deserved to be selected, the Tigers have no one to blame but themselves for missing the NCAA tournament. In a year when their non-conference schedule turned out to be very manageable, and the ACC had one of its weakest collection of squads in years, the Tigers still couldn’t find the consistency required to avoid the bad losses and close calls.

Athletic Director Graham Neff sent a letter to season ticket holders following last season indicating improvement was needed in the program. The insinuation was that there could be changes if it did not make progress.

The team clearly made progress this season, but the benchmark of success for a major college program – a bid to the NCAA Tournament – wasn’t achieved.

Feedback from Clemson fans is mixed. Some are very disappointed the selection committee passed on the third-place team from the ACC for only the second time since the tournament expanded to 64 teams. Others are expressing frustration with a stagnant program and calling for change, pointing out that Clemson’s achievements in the ACC were not from the program making progress, but due to the league declining around them.