5 On The Court: Don’t panic with Miami just yet
You didn’t think a daily football notebook was coming without a similar basketball update, did you? We wouldn’t do that to you here at CT.
Let’s call it, hm, 5 On the Court — And what a way to start, the Canes experiencing the highest of highs and the lowest of lows in a ten-day stretch, They were world-beaters in a top-25 win over Clemson in the before the sky began falling — in the eyes of social media and message board posters, at least — in a mind-boggling loss to Louisville.
A few days removed from the bizarre experience inside Watsco Center, where do things stand entering a new week?
No, it’s not time to panic, but there has to be some changes
Look, it sucked. Miami doesn’t lose to teams like Louisville and certainly not at home. You’ve just got to find ways to close out that game with a win.
So it’s a good thing it’s almost the weekend, huh?
The Miami Hurricanes have 16 regular season games to go is plenty of time to get things figured out.
Eight opportunities to get a momentum back
Something else to keep in mind before losing our collective marbles? The NET rewards teams for beating quality opponents, particularly away from home, while also valuing strength of opponent and location across all games played. Quad 1 victories are like gold in the Selection Committee’s eyes, and as things stand right now, the Hurricanes have eight coming up on the schedule.
Virginia Tech — Jan. 13 (away)
Syracuse — Jan. 20 (road)
Pittsburgh — Jan. 27 (home),
Virginia Tech — Feb. 03 (home)
Virginia — Feb. 05 (away)
North Carolina — Feb. 10 (home)
Clemson — Feb. 14 (road)
Duke — Feb. 21 (home)
College basketball’s national champion a year ago, UConn, had seven Quad 1 wins entering postseason play. The year before that, Kansas had 11. And then in the shortened season in ’20-21, Baylor had eight. Virginia in ’19 — the start of the NET? 12.
Miami undoubtedly dug itself an early hole with the Louisville loss, but it’s the quality wins that matter going into March. Let’s focus on that before acting like our pets’ heads are falling off.
Trinton is the owner of CanesToday. He writes for all sports, with a focus on football and recruiting, he is a freshman in high school and wants to graduate from the University of Miami
