Where Clemson ranks among nation’s best teams in updated ESPN Men’s Basketball Power Index

The 10th-ranked Clemson Tigers are getting ready to begin play at the 2025 ACC Tournament at Spectrum Center in Charlotte.

After securing a double-bye and the No. 3 seed in the tournament, Brad Brownell’s team will face the winner of Wednesday night’s Syracuse vs. SMU game on Thursday at 9:30 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on ESPN or ESPN2.

Clemson and SMU met on Feb. 22 in Dallas, a 79-69 Tigers win behind 19 points from Jaeden Zackery, 17 from Chase Hunter and 16 from Viktor Lakhin. The Tigers defeated Syracuse 86-72 on Jan. 22 at Littlejohn Coliseum, with Hunter scoring 23 points.

Clemson (26-5 overall, 18-2 ACC) closed out the regular season last week with wins over Boston College and Virginia Tech to extend their winning streak to eight straight games since a 89-86 triple-overtime loss to Georgia Tech on Feb. 4.

Ahead of the ACC Tournament, here’s where Clemson stands in ESPN’s popular Men’s Basketball Power Index ratings among some of the nation’s top-ranked teams.

Clemson basketball’s updated ESPN BPI rating

Entering the day, the Tigers are No. 15 overall in BPI. Clemson has an overall rating of 16.6, right below the SEC’s Kentucky Wildcats and the Big Ten’s Maryland Terrapins. The Tigers’ offense is ranked the 18th best in the nation with an 8.8 rating, which is tied with the North Carolina Tar Heels. Defensively, Clemson’s 7.9 rating is also 19th overall, right below the Arizona Wildcats’ 8.0.

The Duke Blue Devils (28-3), ranked No. 1 in both Top 25 polls this week, are likewise the top-rated team in ESPN’s BPI at 25.4 overall. Duke’s 14.0 offensive rating is the best in the nation, while their 11.4 defensive rating is second behind only Kelvin Sampson’s Houston Cougars (13.0).

Offensive ratings are defined by ESPN as a measure of “a team’s offensive strength compared to an average offense on a scale of points per 70 possessions,” and vice versa for defensive strength.

What is ESPN Men’s Basketball Power Index (BPI)?

ESPN describes its BPI ratings this way: “The Basketball Power Index (BPI) is a measure of team strength that is meant to be the best predictor of performance going forward. BPI represents how many points above or below average a team is. Strength of Record (SOR) is a measure of team achievement based on how difficult a team’s WL record is to achieve. Game predictions account for opponent strength, pace of play, site, travel distance, day’s rest and altitude, and are used to simulate the season 10,000 times to produce season projections. Numbers update daily.”