Clemson Basketball Makes History With NCAA Tournament Bid

Clemson entered last week with some work to do in the ACC Tournament after ending the regular season with a 67-63 loss to North Carolina on March 7. 

The Tigers defeated Wake Forest 71-62 in the second round on Wednesday. But the victory was costly, as Carter Welling suffered a season-ending ACL injury.

The shorthanded Tigers knocked off No. 19 North Carolina 80-79 in the quarterfinal on Wednesday. The win pretty much secured an NCAA Tournament bid for Clemson.

The Tigers would be knocked out of the conference tournament by No. 1 Duke 73-61 on Friday night. (Duke went on to win the ACC Tournament with a 74-70 win over No. 10 Virginia on Saturday night.)

On Selection Sunday, Clemson found out their destination for round one of the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers earned the No. 8 seed in the South Region and are set to play No. 9 seed Iowa on Friday in Tampa, Florida.

This is the third season in a row Clemson has made the NCAA Tournament under head coach Brad Brownell. 

Per the Post and Courier, this is only the third time Clemson has made the tournament three times in a row. 

Rick Barnes did so from 1996 to 1998.  Oliver Purnell’s Tigers made the NCAA Tournament from 2008 to 2010.

Not many people around the country thought this Clemson team would make the Big Dance.

Following Clemson's loss to Duke, Brownell said he was proud of the way his team responded to being an underdog this season.

"A lot of people did not think we were going to be very good, and those two guys right here were a big reason why we turned this thing into a really good year," he said. "I'm proud of the way we responded."

Clemson will enter the NCAA Tournament with a 24-10 overall record. It will play a 21-12 Iowa team that exited the Big Ten Tournament with a 72-69 loss to Ohio State. 

Iowa nearly knocked off Michigan in a 71-68 game on March 5.

The Tigers will face adversity in the tournament without Welling. It'll be interesting to see how Brownell's team responds on Friday.