Very tough conference? lol. Not to mention there schedule is extremely weak.. I'll admit they have TWO good wins this year against Michigan St. and Duke..
But also have losses to Florida Gulf Coast and Indiana St. hahaha. Not to mention Arizona almost beat them by 20 points.. Idk I'm expecting them outside of the top 15 by the end of the season.
Yeah, the loss to the Divsion II whoeverthefuck is most definitely an embarrassment, but UM was also lacking at least one major contributor and starter at that time due to the Nevin Shapiro bullshit (no allegations against this player have been corroborated). They were, at the very least, missing their second best player, on a team that
appears dominant based on having full grown seniors in the lineup and great coaching. Not that it excuses that loss, but for the sake of team by team comparison, missing your second best player and top scorer can go a long way towards explaining a loss.
We have also been winning in spite of being without our best player, future late round NBA draft pick Reggie Johnson, who was able to play limited minutes last night for the first time since he fractured his thumb.
I'm not saying all this just because we beat Duke, or even just because we beat Duke and Michigan State. I'm saying this because throughout this season, particularly in these last couple of weeks, we have been winning based on dominating the boards, controlling the paint, and playing incredible defense. I have watched quite a few UM teams upset ostensibly superior foes due to a combination of lights out shooting from beyond the arc and catching a good team on a cold streak, but I have never seen a UM team win based off superior size and athletic ability.
That said, I don't follow college basket ball the way I follow college football. I have a relatively decent idea of certain matchups simply based on knowledge of a certain team and how it applies to a particular matchup, i.e. a supposedly elite offensive team with significantly undersized defensive linemen will not be able to stand up to a top flight SEC program in a championship game (think Oregon-Alabama). I wasn't aware that the ACC was considered weak in basketball too. I've always heard that they were one of the two real power conferences, along with the Big 10?
I really don't know enough to say definitively whether or not Miami is a top xx team, but they seem to pass the eye and computer tests well enough.