ACC Toilet Bowl Wednesday at BUC

They call it rivalry week. The week when regional intra-conference foes are pitted against one another. It's also become a rivalry week of sorts in the non-college sport I cover closely: International Soccer, where for the fourth time in five years the US is playing Mexico, our biggest rival right smack in the middle of rivalry week. ESPN is responsible for that, as that game will air on ESPN2 alongside ESPN's coverage of Duke-North Carolina.

However, another rivalry game will be taking place at the very same time without the lens of aTV camera or any national fanfare. This is of course the first of the twice annual meetings between two schools whose Basketball programs are simply put an embarrassment to a league whose propaganda machine promotes itself as the nation's best conference.

Wednesday Night, I will miss my first Miami game of the year: I have either attended or watched live on TV every single home or away game this season. Thankfully, my umbilical cord with this team will be broken Wednesday as I will be Houston to cover US-Mexico.

So what do we expect from a matchup of two teams whose current NCAA droughts are two of the three longest in the ACC? While some schools like Virginia Tech every season seem to do more with less talent, Miami and Florida State in particular do less with more talent. This game will ultimately determine if Miami can even find its way back to the bubble. The Hurricanes are 2-5 in the only games that truly matter-league games. Anything short of 8-8 in the ACC isn't going to put Miami anywhere close to being on the bubble. Consider the ACC like the NFL. You can make the "playoffs" aka the NCAAs at 8-8 but realistically need to be 9-7 or 10-6 to get a bid. The 12-1 start for Miami in non-league play is like the NFL preseason. It doesn't count. It really doesn't. With the exception of the huge mistakes the selection committee made in consecutive seasons (1996-97 with Virginia and 97-98 with Florida State) teams with losing league records aren't eligible for the NCAAs. So essentially at a minimum Miami must go 6-3 down the stretch and win at least one ACC Tournament game to even be on the bubble. Realistically, Miami must go 8-1 down the stretch to not worry about the ACC Tournament. So in other words the cause is about to be lost.