NCAA Basketball Buy or Sell: Are Iowa and Wisconsin Big Ten contenders this season?

Miami Hurricanes

Sell

Preseason rankings mean nothing; however they are released to get fans excited about the upcoming season. The Hurricanes were one of the teams who came into the season projected to make the NCAA tournament. After eight games Miami looks like a potential bottom tier ACC conference team. The five wins that the Hurricanes have are against inferior competition. Their best win to date, even though it is only eight games came against a middle tier Mountain West team in Fresno State. Their three losses have all come in their last three contests. Seton Hall, Rutgers and Yale, the latter two losses came on their home floor.

Miami was on a lot of radars to begin the year mainly because of the trust that head coach Jim Larranaga has instilled in everyone. He is consistent every year and almost always finishes near the top half in the ACC. This year appeared to be no different, Miami returned a great number of players from last seasons NCAA tournament team. Miami was going to be loaded with shooters and have one of the best backcourts in the country. It would have been a tremendous surprise if Miami fell flat and did not make the NCAA tournament.

While there is a long way to go between now and the NCAA tournament. The Hurricanes have created a huge hole for them to dig out of. The strength of the team, their guards have not been able to carry this team. Miami is not a great shooting at all, and often appears to have trouble scoring the basketball. The problems are deeper with Miami than just going through a lull at this point. They are often in foul trouble, are not a good shooting team. Miami has shown they do not have much depth either. Since everyone trusts coach Larranaga he may have to do his best coaching job to date, to get this team to live up to their expectations and finish near the middle of pack in the ACC. It appears it could be a long and tough season for the Hurricane faithful.