CBS on Clemson

Jan 16, 2023, 10:53 AM

Week's grade

Clemson A Home wins over Louisville and Duke this week aren't quite cause for celebration in the same way they would be in year's past, but Clemson did topple both teams this week to keep its undefeated ACC record intact. The Tigers are two games up in the league race and one of the big surprises of the season.

Also, Clemson #25 (Duke #26) in their Top 25+1

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/rankings/top25/

Clemson coach Brad Brownell entered this season once again on the so-called hot seat -- or at least that was the perception within the industry -- and in possession of a team picked to finish 11th in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

That's a scary combination.

Things didn't get off to the best of starts, either. The Tigers lost to a South Carolina team now ranked 269th in the NET in their second game of the season, then lost to a Loyola Chicago team now ranked 283rd in the NET in their 11th game of the season. Those are both Quadrant 4 defeats. Yuck. But Clemson has responded with a seven-game winning streak and is now 15-3 overall and 7-0 in the ACC following Saturday's 72-64 victory over Duke in which Brevin Galloway finished with a season-high 17 points and four rebounds.

"I was so emotional out there just realizing what was going on," Galloway said. "To go out there and perform the way I did on that stage was great for me."

And great for Clemson.

There's still a long way to go, obviously, but let the record show that Clemson now has at least a two-game lead over everybody else in the ACC standings, and that KenPom.com is currently projecting the Tigers to finish tied for first in the conference with Virginia. If it goes down that way, Clemson would claim its first ACC regular-season championship since 1990.

With all of this in mind, the Tigers have entered Sunday morning's updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings at No. 25 despite mostly shaky computer numbers and a resume featuring two Quadrant 4 losses. (Note: TCU is the only other team in the Top 25 And 1 with even one Q4 loss, and TCU's Q4 loss came more than two months ago in a game in which two of its top three scorers did not play.)

Simply put, at some point, Clemson's perfect ACC record featuring four Quadrant 1 victories has to be respected, and, I think, we've finally reached that point following Saturday's win over Jon Scheyer's Blue Devils, who are down to 26th in the Top 25 And 1 and just 3-3 in their past six contests.