Two weeks ago, the Miami Hurricanes Men’s Basketball team was teetering on the bubble. But four straight wins later, two against safe NCAA Tournament teams and another against a bubble team, and the Hurricanes are rising up the seed lines down the stretch of this season.
The last bracketology rankings from Monday (before the VT win) and Wednesday (after the VT win) this week have the ‘Canes as either an 8 or a 9 seed:
Miami has five games left in the regular season, and it’s tough to fathom the Hurricanes being left out of the NCAA Tournament short of a complete 0-5 collapse. The remaining games on the regular season schedule are:
Virginia, SMU, and Louisville are opportunities for Miami to improve its (4-3) Quad 1 record. Losing isn’t good, but losses to this group shouldn’t jeopardize Miami’s invitation to March Madness.
Florida State and Boston College are respectively Quad 2 and 3 games at the moment, though FSU has been surging and is 6-2 in its last 8 games, beginning with the upset of Miami in Coral Gables. Should the Seminoles improve their Net Ranking to 75 or higher, next Tuesday’s matchup becomes a Quad 1 game (and Miami’s home loss softens to a Quad 2 loss instead of Quad 3).
Miami has to figure a 3-2 finish should cement the ‘Canes as an 8 or 9 seed consistent with current projections. That seeding could further improve if Miami can finish better than that, especially if the ‘Canes tack on one more wins in the ACC Tournament.