Miami Hurricanes are NCAA Tournament trendy upset pick

Everyone seems to be hopping on the Miami can’t go as far in the NCAA field because they don’t have Bruce Brown. The Hurricanes have played 12 games this season without Brown.  Some like Lunardi will focus on the 7-5 record without him. A lot of that occurred because the Hurricanes were in ACC play.

Brown played in eight ACC games this season. Miami was 4-3 in ACC Games that Brown played in this season, 7-4 without him. The Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley’s considers the Hurricanes and Ramblers on a nearly equal footing.

Buckley said:

"“Don’t be distracted by the wide gulf the seedings put between the Loyola-Chicago Ramblers and the sixth-seeded Miami Hurricanes. The stat sheet sees this more like a toss-up. The Hurricanes completed their campaign ranked 36th on KenPom.com. The Ramblers sat just five spots behind at 41st. RPI puts them even closer together with Miami at 21st and Loyola-Chicago at 22nd. Five different players made at least 27 triples and shot at a 39-plus-percent clip from distance…Collectively, the team converted 39.8 percent of its long-range looks, tying it for 20th-best in the nation.”"

The nation’s picks against Miami could serve as a positive. Larranaga has used the use us against the world theory as motivation before. Last year’s blowout at the hands of Michigan State and the same against North Carolina in the ACC Tournament can also serve as motivation.

Next: Sixth seeded Miami Hurricanes to face Loyola Chicago in NCAA first round

Getting the entire team on the same page and playing well together should result in Miami win. if the Hurricanes don’t take Loyola seriously they could be in trouble.