Miami Hurricanes News: Hoops fall in Polls, Spring FB players to watch
The Miami Hurricanes basketball team fell from 13th to 16th in the AP Top 25 and from 11th to 15th in the USA Today Coaches Poll that were released on Monday. Miami is off until Saturday when the Hurricanes host Pittsburgh. David Lake of Inside the U profiled “A player to watch at each position group this spring.”
The Miami-Pittsburgh game on Saturday will determine the number one seed in the ACC Tournament. Pittsburgh plays at Notre Dame on Wednesday. Pittsburgh currently leads Clemson, Miami and Virginia by one game in the ACC. Miami owns the tiebreakers over Clemson and Virginia with wins earlier this season.
Clemson plays at Virginia on Tuesday. Louisville plays at Clemson on Saturday to finish the regular season. Virginia hosts Louisville to end its regular season. If Pittsburgh beats Notre Dame, loses to Miami and either Clemson or Virginia wins out there will be a three-way tie for first place to end the ACC regular season.
Clemson beat Pittsburgh this season. Miami would finish 2-1 versus Clemson and Pittsburgh. Clemson would finish 1-1 and Pittsburgh 1-2. That is how Miami would earn the number one seed in the ACC Tournament. Miami and Pittsburgh both defeated Virginia earning them the tiebreakers over the Cavaliers.
Miami Hurricanes football players to watch in Spring Practice
- QB TYLER VAN DYKE
- RB DON CHANEY JR.
- WR COLBIE YOUNG
- TE JALEEL SKINNER
- OL MATT LEE
- DE NYJALIK KELLY
- DT AHMAD MOTEN
- LB FRANCISCO MAUIGOA
- CB DAVONTE BROWN
- DB JAMES WILLIAMS
The mix of players from Lake is interesting. Van Dyke and Chaney are returning from injury-filled 2022 seasons. Young showed flashes of what he can do in 2022. Skinner will battle Elijah Arroyo to be the starting TE. Arroyo also had an injury-plagued 2022 season. Lee is the projected starter center after transferring from Central Florida.
Kelly and Moten are entering their sophomore seasons on the defensive line. Kelly had 11 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and four sacks in limited playing time in 2022. Expect a bigger season from Kell in 2023 as he becomes a bigger part of the rotation. Mauigoa joins his brother, 2023 signee Francis at Miami.
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Mauigoa is the projected starter for Miami at middle linebacker over returning starter Corey Flagg. Brown is expected to solidify a Miami secondary that lost eight players after last season. Williams and Kamren Kinchens provide Miami with one of the best starting safety tandems in college football.
Kinchens has exceeded his projections coming out of high school with an All-American 2022 season. Williams was a five-star 2021 signee that has shown the potential to be elite but needs more consistency. Kinchens led Miami in tackles and in 2022 with 59 and Williams was second with 58.
Next. Miami splits ESPN ACC Tournament picks with Duke. dark
The Miami baseball team will play its first road game of the season on Tuesday night at Florida Atlantic. Miami has won seven straight games after losing the season opener to Penn State. The Miami Hurricanes will follow up the game at FAU on Tuesday with a three-game weekend series at Florida this weekend.