How Miami basketball loss affects NCAA Tournament resume

The 80-71 Miami basketball loss to Louisville on Wednesday night will affect the Hurricanes' 2024 NCAA Tournament resume. Miami plummeted to 61st from 38th in the NCAA Net Ratings after the loss to Louisville. The loss to Louisville gave Miami a quad-four blemish. Miami will need a signature win to balance out the loss to Louisville.

Miami is 1-3 in games versus quad one opponents, 2-0 versus quad two, 2-0 against quad three and after the loss to Louisville 6-1 against quad four. Miami had a 10-game home winning streak end with the loss to Louisville. The Hurricanes had won 25 of the previous 26 games at home before the loss on Wednesday.

Miami had a 15-game winning streak coming off of a loss ended. Wake Forest beat Miami 86-82 in overtime at Wake Forest on Saturday. Miami last suffered consecutive losses in February 2022 versus Notre Dame and at Virginia. Louisville won its first road game since January 2, 2022, at Georgia Tech with the win over Miami.

Miami is currently a nine-seed in the Bracket Matrix NCAA Tournament projected bracket. The most recent sites had updates on Wednesday. As the projected brackets are updated throughout the week, Miami will fall on the seed lines on most projected brackets.

Miami has an opportunity to earn a key Quad 1 road win at Virginia Tech on Saturday. Virginia Tech defeated Clemson 87-72 on Wednesday night. With the win over Clemson, Virginia Tech moved from 62nd to 46th in the NCAA NetRatings. Miami has a favorable schedule in January before a gauntlet in February.

Miami is seventh among ACC teams in the NetRatings. North Carolina leads all ACC teams in the NetRatings at ninth, followed by Duke who is 13th, Clemson at 30, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest at 52nd and Virginia at 55th. After Virginia Tech, the next five games for Miami are versus teams lower than them in the NetRatings.

Miami has six games in February to earn wins over teams ahead of them in the NetRatings. The Hurricanes need to stack wins in the next five games. There will not be a lot of margin for error with Clemson again, Duke, North Carolina twice and at Virginia in February. Miami still has a lot of opportunity left this season.