Keep Moving Forward: Does Clemson deserve more national respect?
Clemson basketball is coming off of its fourth win in its last five games and is sitting alone in second place in the ACC.
All of those wins have been games where the Tigers had to close the deal when the pressure was on in the final moments. Clemson has relied on the veteran guards of Marcquise Reed, Shelton Mitchell, and Gabe DeVoe to be its backbone in these tight-knit games.
When the game is close down the stretch, it’s nothing new to them. This team has been cool, calm, collected and looks like a much different team than the one we saw in the first half at North Carolina.
After its second consecutive road win and going 3-0 over a seven-day stretch, does No. 20 Clemson deserve more national respect in the polls?
We took a look Saturday morning at Clemson’s resume so far and how it has compared to other teams that have exceeded expectations this season. Washington beat two top-25 teams this past week, capping it off with a buzzer-beating win over No. 9 Arizona.
Tennessee is currently on a five-game winning streak after destroying Ole Miss by 33 points, its largest win in SEC play since 2014. This was the third straight 20-plus point victory for the Volunteers, who deserves to move up in the next AP poll.
But so does Clemson.
According to Warren Nolan, the Tigers are currently fourth in Rating Percentage Index (RPI), have the 11th-toughest schedule in the country, and is seventh in strength of their record. Clemson’s non-conference strength of schedule, which is why the Tigers may not be higher in the polls.
If you compare Clemson to a team like Duke, which just fell to Saint John’s on the road 81-77 on Saturday as the No. 4 team in the country, it’s interesting. Both sides have a similar resume, but Clemson is higher in the RPI than Duke (8) and has a tougher schedule (23).
The Blue Devils have two bad losses to St. John’s and Boston College, who Clemson defeated. The two teams also share losses to Virginia and North Carolina State on the road.
Oklahoma (No. 12) is another team that is ranked higher than Clemson, but there could be an argument that Clemson deserves to be higher than the Sooners. After a five-point loss to Texas, the Sooners are going to drop in the polls but will they fall behind Clemson. They are currently 14th in RPI, have the 18th-toughest schedule, and have six losses.
The real question is this: Does Brad Brownell care if his team isn’t getting national respect?
He’s been asked a few times this season, actually. He is always quick to cut the question off with “It doesn’t matter,” like what Dabo Swinney responds with when he’s asked the same question on the football field.
Brownell's only focus is moving forward with his team, a squad that’s season is turning more special with each close win.
“I sure hope it continues,” Brownell said after the win against Wake Forest. “It’s having good players that are confident and make plays. We got to keep this thing going, though. We got to continue to get more out of Aamir (Simms) and Elijah (Thomas) on offense. This is all good, but there is going to become a point where you can’t keep playing at this level as a perimeter team that much and keep winning at this high a level.”
Clemson has seven games remaining on its schedule: two games it should win against Pittsburgh and Georgia Tech, four toss-up games against Syracuse, Virginia Tech, and Florida State, and its toughest contest at home against Duke.
Moving forward, Clemson is going to have to close the season the way it should if it wants to be set up in prime position for a postseason run.
If Thomas and Simms improve offensively the way Brownell wants and the guards continue their impressive run, the Tigers will get the respect they deserve before long.
