Now a contender in the ACC, Miami is looking to go past the sweet sixteen for the first time ever. Will this be their year?
When Jim Larranaga arrived at the University of Miami, it took awhile to get the buy-in from not just the players but the students as well. At one time the coach instructed the guys to go door to door offering tickets for the games.
Known for being a historic football program, basketball was an afterthought — especially considering the Hurricanes reside in the same league as Duke and North Carolina. Now, coming into his seventh season with the program, Larranaga has turned the school into a perennial ACC contender and consistent tournament participant.
Last season was no different, with Miami finding a way to navigate the difficult conference for a mid-place finish and an eight seed in the tournament. Looking at their schedule results, they had a couple of top home wins against North Carolina and Duke. Besides that, they pretty much won the games they were supposed to and lost to teams superior to them.
They ultimately lost in the first round to Michigan State but come back with most of their talent, including one of the top backcourts in not just the ACC but in the NCAA as well. They do lose a key cog in the middle with Kamari Murphy now gone. While he wasn’t the biggest offensive threat but will be sorely missed this upcoming year.
Things have now gotten a little dicey with the FBI corruption probe now implicating the Hurricanes, allegedly trying to provide illegal benefits to now UNC commits Nassir Little. Add to it that Miami has now started to get five-star prospects of late, and there may be more to come from this program. But for now, let’s focus on the upcoming season for the Hurricanes.