After battling all season to earn national respect, the Clemson basketball team is finally being recognized for what it is, one of the best basketball teams in the nation. This week, the Tigers jumped into the top 15 of both national polls following a week that saw them play only once.
In the A.P. poll, Clemson moved up five spots to No. 13. That's the third-biggest jump of any team in the poll after No. 8 Michigan State and No. 19 Louisville both moved up six spots from last week.
Meanwhile, Brad Brownell's team checks in at No. 14 in the Coaches Poll. That's up three spots from a week ago.
In both polls, the top 10 is exactly the same. No. 1 Auburn is followed by Duke, Florida, Houston, Tennessee, Alabama, St. John's, Michigan State, Iowa State, and Texas Tech.
No. 1️⃣3️⃣ #ClemsonGRIT pic.twitter.com/sMrZ8oIadw
— Clemson Basketball (@ClemsonMBB) February 24, 2025
However, the biggest note from this week's rankings is that Kansas has fallen out of both polls. That's the first time since February of 2021 that the Jayhawks haven't been in the A.P. poll, a string of 80 weeks in a row.
Unfortunately for the conference, no other ACC team is in this week's rankings. What's more, no other ACC team even received any votes this week. That's a sign of how weak the conference is this season, something that has hurt Clemson's national perception for most of the year.
The Tigers have a golden opportunity to move up in the polls by playing two winnable games this week. Wednesday, they host Notre Dame, which is 12-15 overall and 6-10 in the ACC. Then, on Saturday they visit a Virginia team that is just 13-14 overall and 6-10 in the conference.
What's more, with games next week at Boston College and at home against Virginia Tech, two teams with losing conference records, Clemson could easily jump into the top ten before the start of the postseason. While the Tigers' ultimate dream is to reach the Final Four, jumping into the top 10 would be quite an accomplishment for the program as well and that's what they are on the verge of doing after playing fantastic basketball in January and February.