Miami Basketball News and Notes: 3/3/16

The Miami Hurricanes remain alive for an ACC Regular Season Championship.

With a win on Saturday Vs Virginia Tech and a UNC loss at Duke, they would clinch the title outright.

We'll touch upon that and a whole lot more this morning.

Let's get right to it:

Can they 'Canes get a #1 in the ACCT seed if UNC beats Duke?

No.

• If the 'Canes and Heels finish with identical conference records, Miami will share the conference title (good for a banner) but UNC WILL get the #1 seed in the conference tournament.

Per the ACC website:

When two teams are tied in the standings, regular season head-to-head results are used as the tiebreaker.

UNC beat Miami head to head earlier this month.

• Now let's say UM finishes tied for second in the conference with UVA, whom they split the regular season series with.

If the tied teams played each other twice in the regular season and split their games, then each team’s record vs. the team occupying the highest position in the final regular season standings (or in case of a tie for first place, the next highest position in the regular season standings) and then continuing down through the standings until one team gains an advantage.

Edge UVA by virtue of their 1-0 record Vs North Carolina and UM being 0-1.

• With Louisville self imposing, and Duke two games back of the Hurricanes,  the worst Miami can do at this point is third place.  The ACC Tournament double bye is already clinched.

I hope this clarifies everything for anyone who was wondering.   Let's hope UM wins Saturday and UNC loses. But either way, Miami is in great shape.

Some on the court observations:

• The D over the last 8 minutes Vs Louisville (held the Cardinals scoreless 5 minutes of that span and forced 9 straight misses) and through out the entire game last night (holding the #2 ranked team in offensive efficiency to 50 points) has been championship level.  Tonye Jekiri continues to be an anchor, and the perimeter players are applying great ball pressure.  With Angel Rodriguez, Davon Reed, Kamari Murphy, and Sheldon McClellan rounding out the starting line-up, you have 5 plus defenders physically. Add in increased intensity as the team has bought in to Coach L's emphasis on D, and you get the results mentioned above.
• The one weakness of late has been rebounding.  But the 'Canes out rebounded the Irish last night 39-26. That is also a very positive sign.
• Talk about stepping it up.  Angel Rodriguez' stats over Miami's last 7 games are: 13.1 ppg, 4.9 apg,. 50% FG, & 41.9% 3Ps.  No shock UM has won 6 of those contests.
• Sheldon McClellan is a very unselfish player.   But his consistency remains a big part of the success of the team. The senior has scored in double figures in 17 straight games.

Last but not least, highlights from last night: