Clemson With an Unprecedented Snub on Selection Sunday
Every Clemson Tigers fan is most likely experiencing some form of frustration when their head hits the pillow Sunday night. However, that feeling could stem from a number of different sources. It could be that, like many around the country, they're dumbstruck that the Selection Committee didn't give a team, that performed so well in the ACC, this year a chance to continue playing for a title shot, especially when some of their conference peers appeared to be come up short of the Tigers in head to head matchups.
It could be that many fans' ire is directed at Coach Brad Brownell who, despite coaxing a strong performance out of his squad this season, still lost games that a team as talented as Clemson shouldn't have had to look back on. Games against South Carolina and Louisville are the most obvious candidates for anger. Outside of a Sweet Sixteen run back in 2018 the head coach's tenure hasn't provided many reasons for strong optimism until this year.
It's the non-conference schedule that's seemingly become the committee's excuse for keeping Clemson out. Brownell spoke on ESPN Sunday morning addressing that very thing, “The nonconference is really hard to control. We tried to schedule up. You can’t control who you get sometimes. We lost a game to Iowa, a last-second loss. We get a game against Cal, and unfortunately, Cal’s having a terrible season. You just don’t know those things. Richmond, Loyola Chicago. We scheduled some nonconference games away from home. We really didn’t schedule very many home games, trying to schedule up a little bit, but some of the teams that we played didn’t fair as well as they had in the past.”
To be fair he's right in almost everything he said. There is so much you can't control when it comes to how quality your opponents are. So what did the Tigers do well enough in the coach's eyes that gives him the confidence they should've been a tournament team? He also answered that in the same interview: “Eye test – I think just watching our team play,” Brownell said. “I mean Hunter Tyson and PJ Hall were voted as two of the top 12 or 13 players in the ACC. We have the second-best defense and the fifth-best offense. We won 14 ACC games. I just think if you watch our team play, and you’ve seen us throughout the year, we look like one of the top teams in the country to be in this tournament.”
It's a compelling argument. Yet, after all of the strong play Clemson displayed this season they became the first team, since Virginia in 2000, to be the #3 seed in the ACC and not get a chance to play for it all. 23 years! It's that seemingly unjust stat that will cause the most frustration of all. Look for many tired eyes Monday in Clemson, South Carolina. Like an NCAA Tournament bid, sleep may be hard to come by tonight.
