Despite a third-place finish in the ACC Regular season, the Miami Hurricanes seem to be the team that is on upset watch from many of the nation’s College Basketball experts in the NCAA Tournament first round.
Whether it’s not a lot of faith in the Miami Hurricanes or the confidence in their first-round opponent Loyola-Chicago, this matchup is trending towards a lot of people picking against the U.
ESPN’s Myron Medcalf and Joe Lunardi, Jeff Greer of the Louisville Courier-Journal, and countless other so-called experts have the Miami Hurricanes ranked lower than their seeding or straight out pick them to lose in the first round.
Loyola-Chicago seems to be the trendy pick for an upset in this year’s NCAA Tournament First-round. The Ramblers enter the tournament with a ten game winning streak and wins in 17 of their last 18 games. Their only loss since January 7 was a 69-67 defeat at Bradley on December 30.
Many cite the Miami Hurricanes being without Bruce Brown since the UM’s January 27 loss at Florida State. The Hurricanes have gone 7-4 since Brown required surgery on his left foot. That included a four-game winning streak and seven of their last ten to win the Missouri Valley regular season and tournament titles.