March Madness 2013: Will the Miami Hurricanes Earn a No. 1 Seed?
By Josh Hill
March is all about madness and even though we’re less than a week away from games tipping off, and we still don’t know where teams will land once the brackets are officially announced. While tracking bubble teams is half the fun of the final weekend of the season, trying to figure out which teams will earn a No. 1 seed in each region is another thing to watch and as it stands now, the field is still shaky.
Right now it’s looking like Gonzaga, Indiana and Louisville stand as locks for a No. 1 seed in the tournament but when it comes to the Duke Blue Devils, who suffered another upset loss at the hands of Maryland earlier in the week during the ACC tournament, things get hazy. The loss was Duke’s fifth of the season, meaning of the teams who could potentially get No. 1 seeds in the big dance, Duke falls back in the pack and no longer stands out with Gonzaga as a team with less than five losses.
Even if Miami doesn’t win the ACC tournament, Duke might be on the second line when the brackets are drawn out on Sunday. In that case, Kansas would earn the final No. 1 seed as a Big 12 title gives them 13 wins over top teams in the country.
The ‘Canes best chance at getting a No. 1 seed would have been to play and then beat Duke in the ACC Championship game. But Duke’s loss to Maryland actually hurts Miami’s chances to lock down a No. 1 seed as it weakens Miami’s strength of schedule to an extent and makes their win over Duke in Coral Gables look less impressive than it was.
But nevertheless, the Hurricanes do still have an outside chance at locking up a No. 1 seed, but they’re a bubble team in that regard and the bubble is on the verge of popping. Things can still go their way, but there are more things working against Miami to balance the scale which means Miami’s looking at a No. 2 seed, but that’s nothing at all to complain about.