Picking Sides in ACC Games

By Kartik Krishnaiyer
Canes Rising Staff

Miami has a complicated next few weeks. Obviously the Canes must win all three remaining games to secure an at large NCAA bid without a deep ACC Tournament run. But the Canes also need help: serious help.

Here is who Canes fans should and shouldn't be rooting for going forward.

ROOT FOR:

• Florida State

Right now FSU is the best team in the ACC. Miami has beaten the Noles once and played them twice. The best bet for the Canes is for FSU to win out, giving Virginia Tech and Boston College another loss, as well as hurting Clemson's overall case should the Tigers continue to struggle. If I were a betting man, I'd pick FSU to go 3-1 at minimum down the stretch. This FSU team reminds me of Leonard Hamilton's breakthrough teams at Miami. Once Hamilton's Canes got over the hump they never looked back for three seasons.

• Boston College

With two wins over the Eagles, BC needs to keep winning for the Canes overall power rating. But BC needs to lose to FSU this week at home however for RPI purposes.

• Wake Forest

This is obvious. Miami blew a chance to defeat Duke in OT at Cameron, and UNC late in the game at home. The North Carolina loss in particular is tough to take but with a healthy Dwayne Collins the Canes win that game going away. The hope is that Wake, who was bombed in their one meeting with Miami this season gets hot and run the table making the Canes win appear more impressive.

ROOT AGAINST

• Maryland

The Terps have half the talent of the Canes but a better league record. That speaks highly of Gary Williams who despite an unappreciative fan base seems to be doing his best coaching job in recent years. The Terps got the home court win over Carolina that Miami did not. The Terps RPI is higher now, but the RPI does not measure margin of victory. For example, Miami took Duke to OT in Durham, while Maryland lost by 41 points in Durham, but the loss counts the same in the RPI.

• Virginia Tech

The Hokies are collapsing despite having a team that I picked to finish second in the league in the pre-season. The Canes OT loss to VT hurts but could make little difference in the head to head category if the Hokies continue to stumble.

• NC State

Sidney Lowe's team has been pretty good since the Canes lost to the Wolfpack in OT. By opening the door for a talented NC State team, the Canes not only shot themselves in the foot but they gave life to an ACC rival. that overtime loss remains the biggest blight on Miami's season and will be the reason the Canes miss the NCAAs if the current projections hold true. I don't think NC State is going to continue to roll, but they could sneak into the tournament at Miami's expense if they continue to play well.

Bottom Line:

Right now Miami is the second worst team in the ACC. With the experience the Canes had they needed to jump on young teams early in the season but let Maryland and NC State steal games keeping those teams that are young and peaking later in season alive while hurting the Canes own chances.

The Canes have been talked up by ESPN, but barring a sweep of these last three games which would include beating Virginia and NC State two teams that are playing good basketball with young teams lately, Miami is heading to the NIT or CBI.