Truthfully, I don’t know why Miami suspended Durand Scott. The Hurricanes already took a big gamble allowing DeQuan Jones to play: why not take another with Scott? Assuming the Yahoo! Sports allegations are true (the NCAA investigation is ongoing), Miami is forfeiting nearly all of its wins from this year. Obviously, I’m not privy to insider details, but if you’re going to let one athlete under investigation play, why not let another–significantly more valuable–student-athlete play?
Durand Scott Was Missed In Miami's Loss to Florida State.
Speaking of the Hurricanes, they may be in trouble. I still think they’re in if they split with NC State but they didn’t, and the bracketology consensus appears to have the Hurricanes in the “Last Four Out” group. What’s funny is I think Miami’s profile is as good or better than NC State’s right now. Frankly I think the profile is better than Virginia’s. Depending on how the Selection Committee views Reggie Johnson‘s injury, there are three feathers Miami can put into its cap:
- No bad nonconference losses. Seriously, Miami’s worst loss was an overtime loss at Ole Miss. The Black Bears aren’t banging down the door of the NCAA tournament, but they’re just outside of the RPI Top-50. The Hurricanes also lost a tough one to bubble team West Virginia on the road. In conference the loss to Maryland hurts, but that’s one bad loss to Virginia’s three.
- Johnson’s injury. The other side of the nonconference is that the team’s best win is home against Massachusetts, but remember, this team didn’t have its starting center. The word from people who know is that the Selection Committee doesn’t factor in player absences when picking who’s in and who’s out, only when its seeding. I still think it’s pretty clear how important Johnson is to this team. (Do you think Miami would’ve won at Duke without him? Neither do I.)
- Wins at Duke and against Florida State. The Duke win is better than Virginia’s best win, and the Florida State win is better than any of the Cavaliers’ other wins. Comparing Miami with Virginia’s close conference results, the Hurricanes lost by five or less at Florida State, at Virginia and twice against NC State.
I’m not going to bat subjectively for the Hurricanes like I am Virginia (next year is Miami’s chance), but it’s hard to see what makes Virginia’s resume any more impressive.