The Miami Hurricanes loss to Florida State on Saturday cost them an opportunity for a quality road win. Jim Larranaga’s team is now 15-5 overall and 4-4 in the ACC.
The win over Louisville on Wednesday night was the Miami Hurricanes most important of the season. Miami vaulted from 21st to 15th in the RPI after defeating the Cardinals. The loss to Florida State dropped the Hurricanes one spot to 16th.
Despite the 75 percent winning percentage, Miami has been up and down this season. The NCAA Tournament committee will closely examine Miami’s ten point loss at Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets are currently 140th in the RPI.
Louisville was the highest ranked team in the RPI that the Miami Hurricanes have defeated this season. The Cardinals entered the game ranked 16th. After their loss on Wednesday night and victory over Wake Forest on Saturday, the Cardinals dropped to 20th in the RPI.
Florida State has risen almost ten spots in the last week. After three straight wins, the Seminoles have moved from 38th to 29th in the RPI.
The committee will look at wins over teams in the top 25, 50 and 100 in the RPI, as well as bad losses. Miami has wins over Louisville, Florida State and Middle Tennessee State. The Blue Raiders are currently 27th in the RPI.
The website the Bracket Matrix is a composite look at multiple websites that project the NCAA Tournament field. Some of the sites have not been updated for a week. Several are updated through Saturday’s games.
Busting Brackets
Although the Hurricanes have a high profile number in the RPI they are going to have to get a few more victories against teams in the top 25 or top 50 and avoid bad losses if they are going to improve their seed in the NCAA Tournament.
The Hurricanes are currently projected as the second-best seventh seed in the Bracket Matrix. Arizona State who is 42nd in the RPI is just ahead of Miami. The next four games are crucial for the Hurricanes. They play four teams significantly lower than them in the RPI.
Miami hosts 180th ranked Pittsburgh on Wednesday, travels to 72nd ranked Virginia Tech Saturday, hosts number 126th ranked Wake Forest February 7 and travels to 73rd Boston College February 10th. A loss in any of those games could be perceived as a bad loss.
Selection Sunday is six weeks away. After the four-game stretch against the teams significantly lower than them in the rankings, Miami will get many chances throughout February and early March to improve their profile for the NCAA Tournament committee.
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Among the Hurricanes high profile games in the five weeks of the season the precede the ACC Tournament are visits from Virginia and Syracuse in back to back games in mid-February and a trip to North Carolina at the end of the month.