Miami basketball bracketology dangerously close to NCAA bubble
With losses in its last two games, the Miami basketball team has fallen dangerously close to the NCAA Tournament bubble. ESPN has Miami with one of the last four NCAA Tournament byes as an 11 seed in the South Region. CBS Sports has Miami as a 12 seed in the West Region and playing in the First Four in Dayton.
Joe Lunardi of ESPN projects the Miami basketball team to play sixth seed Alabama in a first-round game in Buffalo. Miami lost 96-64 in the fifth-place game of the ESPN Invitational in November. If Miami would theoretically advance past Alabama the projection would be to play the winner of Providence and Vermont.
The CBS Sports projection has the winner between Florida and Miami playing Michigan State in the West Region, in a Buffalo pod. Ohio University and Buffalo would await the winner according to Jerry Palm of CBS Sports. Miami lost to Michigan State in the 2017 NCAA Tournament first-round.
A potential Florida Miami matchup in the NCAA Tournament would be intriguing. The Gators and Hurricanes have not played since the 2019 Charleston Invitational. Florida won that matchup and the last two in the rivalry. Florida leads the all-time series with Miami 35-15. A Florida Miami game would get fans’ attention.
Resume vs. Quality: How is your team projected in current bracketology compared to other teams with similar metrics? pic.twitter.com/82ABpFrnVx
— Evan Miyakawa (@EvanMiya) January 25, 2022
Following losses to Notre Dame and Virginia in the last two games, Miami has fallen to 73rd overall in the NCAA Net Ratings. Miami needs to improve that number significantly. The Hurricanes have only two games remaining against teams higher than them in the Net Ratings.
Miami plays at Wake Forest on February 12 and hosts Virginia Tech on February 26. A win at Wake Forest would be a huge and greatly needed quadrant one victory for Miami. Miami is 2-1 in quad one, 5-4 in quad two, 5-2 in quad three and 4-0 in quad four this season. Those are numbers the NCAA committee examines closely.
dark. Next. Miami loses second straight at Virginia
Miami hosts Georgia Tech on Saturday before the big game in Winston-Salem Saturday. The Hurricanes defeated the Yellow Jackets and Demon Deacons last month. Georgia Tech is 152nd in the Net Ratings and Wake Forest in 38th. Miami will have more opportunities for critical wins in the ACC Tournament next month.