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We definitely have a shot

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It is still possible Miami goes to the NIT. I think they will do it. They will need to win one or two games in the ACC tournament especially if the regular season conference record is below .500.
 
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Gables Canes said:
Glad to finally get a win. Man, that crowd last night on national TV was pretty embarrassing
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It was awful. My section only had 11 fans including myself. I expected a semi-decent crowd for Notre Dame but this was every bit as bad as the Virginia Tech game. Seems like some fans continued to give the team a chance until the second Florida State game, but now have checked out.

ESPN went down very low and filmed some canned shots of band members and fans prior to the game. They do that type of thing to fill gaps and conceal the low crowd and low energy.

It was a very quick game last night. Not many fouls or free throws or stoppages. I got back to my car at 8:56 so the game must have ended at about 8:45.
 
Da_Lucky_One said:
It is still possible Miami goes to the NIT. I think they will do it. They will need to win one or two games in the ACC tournament especially if the regular season conference record is below .500.
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I know the NIT gives us some more games under our belts to build off of for next season, but man...with the super-short rotation this year, I think these kids are just exhausted. I'd almost rather not make it and just let them get to work in the weight room/gym for next year. This has just been a brutal year that could have been a lot better if not for the injuries and Huellnandez stuff.
 
Awsi Dooger said:
Canes favored by 3 on the overnight line

Quick check of the schedule, we also should be small favorites at home vs. Georgia Tech and Pittsburgh. That might be it. Difficult to believe we could be road favorites in the conference but possible at Wake Forest. If so, it would be a light number.
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Clemson at home is another winnable game. They have 4 conference wins but that's because they beat GT twice and Wake twice. They've been handled by everyone else. Not sure what the line would be, but it's winnable.
 
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We are not making the NIT. We have 2 guaranteed losses at Duke and UNC. Will moat likely lose at VA Tech too. Doubtful we will all of the other games even tbough BC Wake GA Tech and to a lesser extent Clemson are not very good.
 
BWCD said:
I know the NIT gives us some more games under our belts to build off of for next season, but man...with the super-short rotation this year, I think these kids are just exhausted. I'd almost rather not make it and just let them get to work in the weight room/gym for next year. This has just been a brutal year that could have been a lot better if not for the injuries and Huellnandez stuff.
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I understand your point of view but if the team can win and get invited to the NIT, it would be hard for me to imagine a group of competitors declining an opportunity to play atleast one more game.

I think it would be great to bring in recruits during a home NIT game or two. It just helps a case for them to come to Miami next season.
 
Da_Lucky_One said:
I understand your point of view but if the team can win and get invited to the NIT, it would be hard for me to imagine a group of competitors declining an opportunity to play atleast one more game.

I think it would be great to bring in recruits during a home NIT game or two. It just helps a case for them to come to Miami next season.
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Yeah, I wouldn't be upset if we made it, and I would of course expect our guys to be excited to play if we did...I just don't know how much harm versus good it would do us.

The saddest part is we could have been an NCAA tourney team fairly easily w/Huellnandez, and almost a lock w/Gak in the rotation. Basically two contributing bodies away from making it.
 
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BWCD, Gak is really an unknown. His body doesn't look ready. His skills looked much better than Miller's, but that's not saying much. If he's "replacing" Izundu next year, I'm expecting a big fall off (Senior compared to RS Frosh).
 
hotshot said:
BWCD, Gak is really an unknown. His body doesn't look ready. His skills looked much better than Miller's, but that's not saying much. If he's "replacing" Izundu next year, I'm expecting a big fall off (Senior compared to RS Frosh).
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I definitely agree with that. My only point was that we could have been an NCAA tourney pick this season if we had Huellnandez and Gak in the rotation. Dewan would have started and played extremely valuable minutes, no doubt - could have been our best player, honestly.

Gak, had he stayed healthy, would not have been more than a role player off the bench to spell Izundu/Waardenburg. He would have eaten 8-10 minutes a game max and given us 5 more fouls to use. On a rotation as limited as it has been for us, that would have been awesome to have. If he got hot a game or two and gave us more minutes than that here & there...so be it. Gak wouldn't have been world-changing, but he would have given the rotation depth. I like his ceiling, but I'm certainly aware he wouldn't have been a game-changer for us. Not this year, and maybe not even next year for us since he's working back from injury. I think the best we can hope for is that he looks improved in the non-con slate next season, and is able to give us spot minutes in ACC play.
 
No question we would've been NCAA Tourney contenders. The loss of Hernandez sabotaged the season, plain and simple. There's no shortage of people associated with the program to be angry at for this happening, a lot of blame to go around -- starting with Dewan himself.
 
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All is not lost. Finishing strong and making the NIT should be the goal at this point of the season. Miami needs to build some momentum going into the Summer for 2020 recruiting and next season.
 
Starting tomorrow with Clemson, the next 4 games with them, BC, GT, and WF could be a realistic chance to go strong with 4 and 0, making us 14-13 when we then hit Duke (who is losing by 20 late to Louisville as I type this).

If that wouldn't be a huuUuuge game with N.I.T. invite riding on it, well... GO CANES
 
Our best comparison for possibly making the NIT is BC's team from last year. They finished 19-15, 7-11 in the league (note - they won two games in the ACCT), made the NIT as a 5 seed in USC's bracket. They lost first round to Western Kentucky.

We sit at 10-13 and 2-9 in the conference. If we win out (doubtful), we could be 17-13 and 9-9 in the conference. Win a game or 2 in the ACCT, we're almost on par with what BC did last year.

Best case scenario (IMO) is we win all games left except for Duke/VT. That lets us finish out at 5-2 going into the ACCT, 15-15 overall and 7-11 in conference. Win an ACCT game or two (meaning beat a team like GT/Wake, and then beat a team like Cuse/VT), that puts us squarely in the conversation for an NIT bid like BC got.

It's going to take a lot - we're going to have to play great basketball and hope for everyone to stay healthy and not run out of gas with our limited rotation. I personally do not see this happening, but stranger things have happened in college basketball. Even with the limited rotation, this team has played gutsy basketball and competed hard every single game.
 
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