UM men’s basketball team breaks into AP Top 25 after dramatic turnaround
It took 23 wins to get there, but the University of Miami finally got the attention of national pollsters, breaking into the AP Top 25 on Monday for the first time this season. They enter the poll at No. 22.
It is the first time the Hurricanes have been ranked since Dec. 11, 2023.
Miami, under first-year coach Jai Lucas, is 23-6 overall and in third place in the Atlantic Coast Conference with a 12-4 conference record heading into Wednesday’s road game at SMU. The Hurricanes have won six of their past seven games and their only loss during that stretch was by three points to No. 13 Virginia.
UM has had the most dramatic turnaround in the nation this season after going 7-24 last year with just three conference wins. The 12 ACC wins Miami has this season is more than the Hurricanes had combined the previous two seasons.
Miami enters the final week of the regular season within striking distance of two program milestones. The Hurricanes are two wins shy of tying the school record for regular-season victories and one win away from matching the program mark for home wins, currently sitting at 15-2 in the Watsco Center.
Lucas became the fastest first-time head coach in the ACC to reach 20 wins since Bill Guthridge at UNC in the 1997-98 season. And, he already has more victories in his debut season than any coach in UM history, surpassing the legendary Jim Larranaga, who went 20-13 his first year with the Hurricanes.
The Canes are among four ACC teams in the Top 25, joining No. 1 Duke, No. 13 Virginia and No. 17 North Carolina. Miami does not play Duke this season. The Hurricanes lost to Virginia and beat North Carolina.
UM basketball teams have historically been overlooked by voters from the national media. The 2021-22 Hurricanes team that reached the Elite Eight went the entire regular season unranked. The 2022-23 team that made a historic Final Four run was unranked early but by mid-February, at 20-5 and 11-4 in the ACC, was ranked No. 15 in the AP poll.
Miami closes out the regular season this week with the road game against SMU on Wednesday and the Senior Day finale at home against Louisville at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
This story was originally published March 2, 2026 at 3:01 PM.