Miami basketball has little NCAA wiggle room entering final week

As part of their weekly College Basketball Power Rankings Sweet 16, ESPN said the Miami basketball team has little wiggle room regarding an NCAA tournament berth entering the final week of the regular season. Miami lost a chance to nearly clinch an NCAA tournament berth with home losses to Virginia and Virginia Tech.

Miami plays at Boston College on Wednesday and Syracuse on Saturday to conclude the regular season. Wins in both games would likely lock up an NCAA tournament berth. A split puts Miami just above the bubble. Miami would clinch a double-bye in the ACC Tournament with a win in one of its last two games.

Winning the game against Boston College is critical. The Eagles are 11-17 overall, 6-13 and tied for 12th with Pittsburgh in the ACC. Syracuse is always a tough game against their matchup zone. Miami overcame an 18 point first-half deficit that they cut to 18 at halftime in an 88-87 victory over Syracuse in January at home.

After losing back-to-back games for the first time this season, the Miami basketball team won four out of five before losing to Virginia Tech on Saturday. Miami can finish the season with six wins in their final eight regular-season games. A win in their first ACC Tournament game would also go a long way towards helping Miami.

"“(One of) Three teams with questionsMiami Hurricanes: I think Miami is still in the field as of today — and probably several spots from the cutline — but the Hurricanes have given themselves very little wiggle room with home losses to Virginia and Virginia Tech the last two weekends. They have two road games to end the regular season and can’t afford to slip up.”"

Miami currently has an average seed of 10.35 according to the Bracket Matrix. The Hurricanes are slightly behind Notre Dame who they lost to and Wake Forest who the Miami basketball team defeated twice. Miami needs to leave little to no doubt to the committee that they deserve an NCAA Tournament berth.

With North Carolina playing at Duke in the regular-season finale, Miami will likely have an opportunity to finish third in the ACC regular season with wins in both games. The Hurricanes are a game behind North Carolina in the ACC and own the tiebreaker. Only five potential at-large teams are below Miami on the Bracket Matrix cut-line.

Another loss this week would give the NCAA Tournament committee some pause for thought with Miami in their quest for its first NCAA Tournament berth in four years. A loss to Boston College would be particularly damaging. Miami needs to make a statement to the NCAA Tournament committee.