Dick Vitale: Clemson basketball should be in NCAA Tournament ahead of NC State
ESPN's Dick Vitale may be echoing a lot of Clemson fans and many inside the Tigers' basketball facility on Sunday.
Vitale said Sunday after the bracket reveal on ESPN's SportsCenter that he believes Clemson should have been in the NCAA Tournament ahead of NC State. The Wolfpack made the NCAA Tournament field and avoided a First Four game in Dayton, while the Tigers were one of the first four teams out of the big dance after Sunday's reveal.
Clemson and NC State played three times, with games in Clemson, Raleigh and at the ACC Tournament in Greensboro. The Tigers won by double digits in each game.
"What do you think the feeling must be at Clemson when they see NC State there, who they beat not once, not twice, but three times?" Vitale said. "And you see the margin of victories."
"... I don't know how you can really justify that. That really troubles me."
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Clemson's losses to South Carolina, Loyola Chicago, Louisville and Boston College weighed down its resume. But the Tigers were 4-4 against Quadrant 1 teams, while the Wolfpack were 1-6. And to reiterate, the Tigers were 3-0 against NC State.
ESPN Seth Greenberg and Jay Bilas also said they would have had the Tigers in the tournament over teams like Pitt. Clemson beat the Panthers in January.
"'Well, they are ranked this in non-conference.' So what?" Bilas said. "It's the total body of work. How many times do they tell us about it's the total body of work? So what difference does it make where the games fall, whether they came in conference or out of conference. If the total body of work is good enough, and I believe Clemson's was good enough."
"... I'm sensitive to the whole, 'We beat NC State!' three times thing, because that's fair. I think head-to-head is a big factor."
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Dick Vitale: Clemson basketball should be in NCAA Tournament over NC State
