Canes Make Case For NCAA Tourney

Tonight's 74-61 victory over Boston College should solidify Miami's NCAA Tournament bid, regardless of the outcome against FSU or how they fare in the conference tournament. It also ended a 12 game losing streak to the Eagles, who for some reason always have our number.

It didn't come easy, as BC ran out to an 11 point lead early in the 2nd half. From there it was all Miami, who relied heavily on the clutch shooting by junior Jack McClinton to open a double digit lead of its own. Frank Haith's crew did a nice job of closing out the game with excellent free throw shooting and even got a chance to let the seniors on the floor for their last home game.

The Canes went 14-2 at the BankUnited Center this season. Looking back at the schedule, they won all but one game they should have on their home floor (a bad loss to FSU). Excellent job by Miami in keeping the home advantage in their favor, with ACC road teams being unusually successful this season. I believe the stat is somewhere around 40% of ACC road teams won their games.

Jack McClinton was actually held without a field goal the entire first half, which contributed to an overall poor shooting night by the team. However, he bounced back to his usual self in the 2nd half, draining 4 huge 3-pointers that blew the game open for Miami. Most of the time I would be furious that a player would attempt some of the shots he takes, but after seeing him make them time and again, he's earned the right to chuck up whatever he feels will go down.

Hopefully the Canes will finish the season strong against FSU, who owns a 5 game win streak in the series. With a little bit of luck, Miami might earn a first round bye in the ACC tourney. They have a bubble spot all but secured, but the Canes need to try their best to make it a round or two deep into the conference tourney in order to land a favorable seeding. A 6 or 7 seed sounds nice enough, but a 1st round win only results in having to face a team like Texas or Georgetown in the 2nd round.

However, I don't think Miami really has much of a shot to get anything higher than a 6 seed at this point. That's why my prediction is that the Canes will likely beat their opening opponent but get matched up against a superior team in the 2nd round. That being said, this team is talented enough to pull off an upset or two, so it should be interesting.