Where will the Miami Hurricanes land in March Madness? Here’s Joe Lunardi’s prediction
College basketball’s Championship Week is here.
And with it, there will be fluctuating predictions on where teams land in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
Joe Lunardi is ESPN’s expert when it comes to the art and science aspects of bracketology, which is the practice of predicting where teams will get slotted in a tournament field.
Lunardi’s latest updated bracket predictions came after the first day of Championship Week.
So as some Power 5 conferences, like the Atlantic Coast Conference, begin their conference tourneys Tuesday, where do Florida schools stand in the most recent ESPN Bracketology?
Well, only two programs make the cut and both as designated automatic qualifiers in Lunardi’s formula.
The Miami Hurricanes are predicted to win the ACC tournament and secure the No. 5 seed in the Midwest region as of Tuesday morning. That can all change as the dominoes fall around the country during the volatile conference tourneys, where team resumes can alter based on their results this week.
UM opens the ACC tournament on Thursday in Greensboro, North Carolina, where they will face the winner of Syracuse-Wake Forest in the quarterfinals.
But for now, UM is predicted to open its March Madness campaign in Orlando against 12th-seeded VCU. And should the Canes get through the Orlando pod, which requires defeating VCU and the winner of No. 4 seed Indiana and No. 13 seed Toledo, they could find No. 1 seed Kansas in the Sweet 16, based on Lunardi’s current forecast.
The Jayhawks are the top overall seed, where Lunardi wrote quality wins and strength of conference for KU was the tiebreaker with Alabama for the top overall seed placement.
The other Florida program included in Lunardi’s projections is Florida Atlantic. The Owls are listed as an automatic qualifier as a No. 8 seed in the West Region, where they would face Auburn in the first-round. UCLA is the top seed in that region and would be a likely second-round opponent if FAU advanced in the single-elimination tournament.
This story was originally published March 7, 2023 at 12:10 PM.
