How does release of In-season NCAA bracket affect Miami Hurricanes?

The NCAA Tournament committee released an in-season look at how the brackets would look if they were released today. Four ACC teams received a protected seed in the top four of their region. How will that affect the Miami Hurricanes?

Virginia, Duke, Clemson and North Carolina are the four ACC teams that would be a top-four seed if the NCAA Tournament brackets were released today. The Miami Hurricanes lost at Clemson and to Duke at the Watsco Center last month. They host the Cavaliers on Tuesday and travel to North Carolina later this month.

Virginia would be the top overall seed if the brackets were released now. They would be in the South Region. Duke would be the two seed in the East Region, Clemson the three in the Midwest and North Carolina the three in the West.

The committee’s current top 16 has no bearing on how they will look in four weeks. Last season 15 of the top 16 seeds stayed the same. Committee chair, Creighton Athletic Director Bruce Rasmussen stated that there is a group of four teams that were clearly above the rest.

"“There was a general agreement on who the top three teams were, but by late Saturday night, that group had grown to four.”"

The committee ranked Virginia as the top overall seed despite their loss to Virginia Tech on Saturday. That gives the Miami Hurricanes a huge opportunity for a giant resume-building win at home against the Cavaliers on Tuesday night at the Watsco Center. Rasmussen discussed why they have Virginia as the number one seed.

"“Their 13 wins in the first two quadrants, they deserved to remain on top. Villanova bounced back with a good win Saturday, so we kept them second. Purdue had two tough losses to quality teams, while Xavier picked up two good road wins to solidify the fourth No. 1 seed and ultimately leap Purdue on the seed list.”"

Could the Miami Hurricanes crack the top 16 and earn a projected seed? They will have opportunities to do so in the next month.

Miami has three quadrant one games and two quadrants two games remaining in their last six regular-season games. The lone game outside of that is Boston College on February 27 at the Watsco Center. The Eagles could move into quadrant two by then.

Boston College is currently ranked 76th in the RPI. A quadrant two home game is defined as teams ranked between 31st and 75th.

The Hurricanes will also have a chance for some big wins in the ACC Tournament. As it stands now, Miami is tied for sixth place in the ACC with Virginia Tech. Miami currently owns the tiebreaker.

With the Hokies coming to Coral Gables for the final regular season game in March they will have a chance to even that out.

Rasmussen discussed how things could change by next month.

"“It wouldn’t be surprising to see different results this time. There are several teams on the verge of cracking the top 16, and they have plenty of chances to enhance their resume over the next few weeks.”"

The Hurricanes dropped out of the double bye in the ACC Tournament with Saturday’s loss to Boston College. They are a half-game behind Louisville and North Carolina for fourth place and a game behind Duke for third in the conference. The Hurricanes own the tiebreaker over Louisville because of their win last month.

Next: State of the Union: Miami Hurricanes basketball

As the ACC Tournament stands now Miami would play Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish and Boston College are tied for 11th in the conference. Notre Dame owns the tiebreaker over the Eagles because of a head to head victory.