Miami Basketball Falls Out of AP Top 25 Poll Ahead of ACC Tournament: First Alert
Miami's basketball program dropped out of the AP Top 25 Poll after being ranked for the first time in three years in last week's edition. The Hurricanes went on the road and beat SMU on Tuesday, but lost a three-point game to Louisville in the regular season finale to fall from No. 22 to unranked ahead of the ACC Tournament.
"I told them everything we've done is over with now," said head coach Jai Lucas. "The regular season is done. Now we're into conference. We're into March, and it's win or go home. That's the biggest thing. I haven't really talked about any awards or anything, but I would hate to see if we finish third and we don't have every somebody on every team. I think we deserve to have Malik on First Team, Tre should be somewhere First Team or Second Team. Ernest should either be Defensive Player of the Year or All-Defense. Tru should be Sixth Man of the Year, All-Defense. Shelton on All-Freshman team. Part of winning and part of finishing third is you have to give those guys their credit when it's due, and I think they deserve that."
The Hurricanes finished in third place in the ACC, an astounding improvement on last season's last-place performance and the highest finish in conference since winning the league in 2022-23. Miami will take on whoever emerges from the Syracuse, SMU and Louisville pod in the ACC Tournament on Thursday. The Hurricanes defeated both the Orange and the Mustangs, but lost to the Cardinal in the regular season, setting up an intriguing draw in the Charlotte. If the Hurricanes are able to advance to Friday's semifinal they'll likely take on No. 2 seed Virginia, who also beat them in the regular season.
Louisville moved into the AP Top 25 Poll at No. 24 and Virginia checked in at No. 10, offering Miami more opportunities to impress the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee at the ACC Tournament.
Countdown to Men's Basketball Selection Sunday
5 days until March 15
Countdown to Miami Football's 2026 season opener
- 178 days till Miami at Stanford.
- 184 days till Miami's home opener against Florida A&M
First Alert: Tuesday, March 10, 2026
Miami Hurricanes Quote of the Day
“Having [George] Mira is like having a coach on the field.”Air Force coach Ben Martin
Miami Hurricanes Monday Results
No Miami Hurricanes athletics scheduled
Miami Hurricanes Tuesday Schedule
No Miami Hurricanes athletics scheduled
Check us Out On:
We'll Leave You With This
Sign up to our freeand followus on/X,,,,andfor the latest news.
Miami Hurricanes On SI
Joe Gaither oversees videos and podcasts for numerous college On SI sites including Miami Hurricanes On SI. He began his sports media career in radio in 2019, working for three years in Tuscaloosa covering the University of Alabama and other local high school sports. In 2023 he joined BamaCentral to cover a variety of Crimson Tide sports and recruiting, in addition to hosting the “Joe Gaither Show” podcast. His work has also appeared on Alabama Crimson Tide/BamaCentral along with the Boston College, Missouri and Vanderbilt web sites.