Jaclyn Borowski/The Diamondback

It’s easy to believe Gary Williams knows a top-25 team when he sees one.

The Terrapin men’s basketball coach has guided the Terps to a national ranking in the AP poll at some point in 14 of his 21 seasons in College Park. For several years, Williams has been one of 31 voters in the USA Today/ESPN coaches’ poll.

Even before Wednesday’s comeback win against Clemson, Williams had little doubt where his current team stood among the nation’s elite.

“We should be ranked,” Williams said Tuesday. “I don’t think that’s too much of an argument.”

After beginning the week unranked in both polls, the Terps strengthened their case by wiping out a 12-point second half deficit to beat the Tigers.

The victory clinched the Terps’ 12th 20-win season in Williams’ tenure and assured them of their first double-digit conference win total since 2007. They are now comfortably in second place in the ACC — two games clear of a trio of squads tied at 8-5 — with an opportunity to take the ACC regular season title with wins in their final three games.

With a win at Virginia Tech tomorrow, the Terps can sew up a first-round bye in the ACC Tournament, which comes with a top-four conference finish. By adding their fourth ACC road win of the season, they would also bring added meaning to Wednesday’s Senior Night showdown with No. 5 Duke at Comcast Center — and likely impress voters enough to garner their first ranking this season since disappointing in November as the Maui Invitational favorites.

“I think we’ve worked extremely hard this year to get to where we could be in second place in our league, and there are a lot of good teams,” Williams said in the minutes after his team avenged a Jan. 31 loss at Clemson. “But nothing’s clinched yet, and nothing’s determined, so I don’t worry too much about it.”

If his team continues winning, there will be nothing to sweat about.

With four straight conference wins, including the last two against squads with respectable ACC records, the Terps have solidified their bid to make their third NCAA Tournament in four years.

Now, bigger goals loom on the horizon.

With each quality win — and handing the Hokies their first loss of the season at Cassell Coliseum would certainly qualify — the Terps help their potential NCAA Tournament seeding. By winning their last three games, the Terps can grab at least a share of the ACC regular season title, though not necessarily the top seed in the conference tournament.

The Terps haven’t won the regular season conference title since 2002, when they went 15-1 in the league before winning the National Championship.

Many Terp players have rejected such talk. Tuesday, guard Sean Mosley said he preferred the Terps not gain the attention of a national ranking. And even in the potential euphoria of an emotional win against Clemson, forward Jordan Williams was focused on preparing for the team’s only meeting with Virginia Tech and ACC Player of the Year candidate Malcolm Delaney.

“Twenty wins is huge for our program, and it’s going to help us out a lot in the future,” Jordan Williams said. “But as of right now, we’re just focused on getting back to work tomorrow.”

But with each win it gets tougher to ignore the Terps’ favorable position. As other ACC teams have dropped games that appeared winnable, the Terps have kept pace with Duke by winning three straight games in which they trailed in the second half.

So far, the national voters have been hesitant to reward the Terps’ work in a conference that is perceived as weaker than usual.

If guard Greivis Vasquez has anything to say about it, that will probably change quickly.

“I’m hungry,” Vasquez said. “This is not all I want. I came back for a reason — to actually win this league, an ACC Championship.”

edetweiler@umdbk.com