The Miami basketball team is trending up from the ESPN Bracketology earlier in the week. Miami is listed by Joe Lunardi as nine seed in the Midwest region against BYU. Jerry Palm of CBS Sports lists Miami as the eighth seed in the East against Davidson. After defeating Virginia Tech on Wednesday, Miami is 15-5, 7-2.
Miami leads the ACC at nearly the halfway point. The Hurricanes will play at Georgia Tech on Saturday. After playing Georgia Tech, the Miami basketball team will have reached the halfway point of the 2021-22 season. The win for Miami at Virginia Tech on Wednesday was critical as a quadrant one victory.
Miami moved to 66th in the NCAA Net Ratings after the win over Virginia Tech. The Hokies are currently 63rd in the Net Ratings. Georgia Tech is currently 146th. After the Yellow Jackets defeated Florida State on Wednesday night, Miami is not likely to overlook Georgia Tech. Each game in the ACC is important.
Miami does not have a lot of margin for error with Florida State one game behind the Hurricanes and owning the tiebreaker after the season sweep. The Hurricanes have only two games remaining against teams higher than them in the Net Ratings. Miami will play their second games of the season versus Virginia Tech and Wake Forest.
Woke up like this 😎 pic.twitter.com/OcJEFX9i12
— Canes Men’s Basketball (@CanesHoops) January 27, 2022
ESPN Bracketology has Miami playing in the South Region. The Hurricanes are projected to play in the first round in Fort Worth. Miami is projected to play the winner between defending national champion and top-seeded Baylor and Colgate. The winner from Fort Worth would advance to the South Regional in San Antonio.
Palm also projects Miami to play in Fort Worth. Kansas is projected as the number one seed and playing Norfolk State in the first round. The winner between Miami and Davidson and Kansas and Norfolk State would play in the second round on the projected bracket by Palm. The second-round winner would advance to Philadelphia.
ESPN currently projects Miami as the automatic qualifier from the ACC for the NCAA Tournament as the league leader. The automatic qualifier goes to the ACC Tournament Champion. If Miami can stay in the top four of the ACC by the end of the season they will receive a double-bye in the tournament.
That would significantly help the chance for Miami to make a deep run in Brooklyn. Miami won two games in the 2021 ACC Tournament to make the quarterfinals. Miami would receive a double-bye into the quarterfinals to begin the 2022 ACC Tournament. Miami is exceeding expectations after being picked to finish 12th in the ACC.