Why Clemson basketball fans should also root for UNC, Stanford on Saturday

Posted by author March 6, 2025 Basketball

Spread the love

CLEMSON — With one game remaining, Clemson basketball has an outside chance to be the No. 1 seed in the ACC tournament.

The No. 11 Tigers (25-5, 17-2 ACC) are tied for second in the ACC standings with No. 13 Louisville (24-6, 17-2). Both are one game behind first-place No. 2 Duke (27-3, 18-1).

Clemson has secured one of the four double byes for the ACC tournament March 11-15 in Charlotte, North Carolina. It will be either the No. 1, 2 or 3 seed and needs Duke and Louisville to lose to nab the top seed.

Here’s how the Tigers can be No. 1 in the ACC tournament:

Clemson basketball’s path to No. 1 in ACC tournament

Clemson doesn’t control its destiny for the No. 1 seed in the ACC tournament, needing Duke and Louisville to slip. The only way for Clemson to receive the top seed is with these results Saturday:

Stanford wins at Louisville (2 p.m. ET, ESPNU)
Clemson wins at home vs. Virginia Tech (6 p.m. ET, ESPNU)
Duke loses to North Carolina at Chapel Hill (6 p.m. ET, ESPN)

This would cause Clemson and Duke to tie for first in the ACC standings. According to the ACC Tournament seeding procedures, if two teams are tied in the standings, regular-season head-to-head results are used as the tiebreaker. Since Clemson defeated Duke 77-71 on Feb. 8, the Tigers would earn the top seed.

What happens if Clemson, Duke, Louisville tie for first in ACC standings?

If three or more teams are tied in the standings, the first tiebreaker is the record among the three teams. The team with the best winning percentage among the three teams in games against one another will win the ACC regular season championship.

However, the three teams have a 1-1 record (.500 winning percentage) because Clemson upset Duke, Louisville lost to Duke and Louisville beat Clemson.

This would lead to procedure No. 2: Each tied team’s record shall be compared to the team occupying the highest position in the final regular-season standings, continuing down through the standings until one team gains an advantage by having the best winning percentage.

When the three-team tiebreaker is broken, the procedure returns to head-to-head results for two teams.

Here are Nos. 4-9 in the ACC standings, and the records of Clemson, Duke and Louisville against those teams:

North Carolina (13-6 in ACC games) | Clemson (1-0), Duke (1-0)*, Louisville (1-0)
SMU (13-6) | Clemson (1-0), Duke (1-0), Louisville (1-0)
Wake Forest (12-7) | Duke (2-0), Clemson (1-0), Louisville (1-0)
Stanford (11-8) | Clemson (1-0), Duke (1-0), Louisville (0-0)*
Georgia Tech (10-9) | Duke (1-0), Clemson (0-1), Louisville (0-1)
Virginia Tech (8-11) | Duke (1-0), Clemson (1-0)*, Louisville (1-0)

* denotes game remaining vs. opponent.

If Duke loses and Clemson and Louisville win Saturday, Louisville would be the No. 1 seed in the ACC tournament. Duke would be 1-1 (0.500) against North Carolina, and Clemson and Louisville would be 1-0 vs. the Tar Heels. As a result, Duke would be No. 3 seed in the ACC tournament.

Then, Louisville would win the tiebreaker vs. Clemson because it has a better head-to-head record. Louisville defeated the Tigers 74-64 on Jan. 7.

Clemson, Duke and Louisville all would be crowned ACC regular-season champions regardless of tiebreakers for the conference tournament.

Derrian Carter covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at dcarter@gannett.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DerrianCarter00