A late-game collapse in a 72-70 loss on Saturday at Boston College dropped the Miami Hurricanes out of this week’s College Basketball rankings.
This week presents a pair of big opportunities for the Miami Hurricanes to get back into the rankings. Miami hosts Virginia on Tuesday night and Syracuse on Saturday afternoon.
The Cavaliers travel to Coral Gables as the Nation’s top-ranked team. Virginia earned the top ranking for the first-time time in 35 years. They were last ranked number one during the Ralph Sampson era in the early 1980s. The Cavaliers dropped from second to third in the USA Today Coaches Poll.
Virginia was voted the nation’s top-ranked team despite an overtime loss on Saturday at Virginia Tech. The top three teams in last week’s rankings all lost. In addition to the Cavaliers loss at VaTech Saturday, Villanova lost at home early in the week to St. John’s and Purdue lost to Ohio State and Michigan State.
Miami did receive enough votes to appear under others receiving votes. The Hurricanes are 36th overall in the AP Media Poll and 31st in the USA Today coaches poll. Miami is much higher in a pair of the computer measurements.
Cincy on the Prowl
Miami did drop significantly in the RPI after the loss to Boston College. The Hurricanes were as high as 19th in last week’s RPI. They are now 25th after the loss to the Eagles. Boston College is 82nd in the RPI. Miami is 26th in ESPN’s Basketball Percentage Index and 36th in the KenPom rankings.
The loss to Boston College also dropped the Miami Hurricanes a full seed line in the bracket predictions. The Bracket Matrix which is an examination of around 100 sites that project NCAA Tournament Brackets has Miami as the second highest seventh seed. The Hurricanes were the second highest sixth seed a week ago.
Getting to host Virginia will give the Miami Hurricanes a chance to greatly improve their resume in the eyes of the NCAA Tournament committee. In addition to being the nation’s top-ranked team, the Cavaliers also top the RPI, and KenPom Rankings and are third in the BPI.
Syracuse is 49th in the BPI, 46th in KenPom and 39th in the RPI. This is Miami’s biggest week since they played Clemson and Duke back to back last season. The Hurricanes have a chance to pick up wins in quadrant one (home games vs teams 1-30 in the RPI) and quadrant two (31-75) this week.
Next: How does release of In-season NCAA bracket affect Miami Hurricanes?
Miami will close the season with games against Notre Dame, Boston College, North Carolina and Virginia Tech. North Carolina and Notre Dame will be quadrant one games and Virginia Tech quadrant two. As it stands now the Eagles at the Watsco Center will be a quadrant three game.