It looked promising.

The Miami Hurricanes notched a 16-point victory over the Duke Blue Devils back in January. The Hurricanes secured a signature victory on the road and ended the Blue Devils’ 41-game home winning streak. Furthermore, the victory gave the Hurricanes a resume highlight for the team’s NCAA tournament hopes.

Since, the Hurricanes have looked anything but the team that took down the Blue Devils in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Over the next six games, the Hurricanes would go 2-4. Furthering the poor stretch, the Hurricanes have lost three games in a row to some of the worst teams in the conference.

One of those losses was a inexplicable defeat to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, the worst team by standing in the ACC conference by 20 points. The Hurricanes followed that debacle up with a one point loss to there instate rival, the Florida State Seminoles.

In a must-win game, the Hurricanes would fall to the Louisville Cardinals, a game that could have eased the sting off some of the bad losses the Hurricanes have endured. The stretch has left the team with a 14-8 overall record and a 4-5 mark in league play. If the Hurricanes were to miss the NCAA tournament, they could look back at the past three games as a huge reason why they will not be dancing in March.

While the Hurricanes have what appears to be winnable games moving forward, only two come against ranked opponents. The combination of  a poor stretch and poor end of the season schedule will haunt the Hurricanes and keep them out of the big dance.

Michael Costeines is the ACC basketball Blogger for www.Rantsports.com. Follow him on Twitter @MCosteines, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.