Season in Review

Miami
21-15 (6-10 ACC)

There was a lot of optimism coming into last season for Miami. They hadn't played well the year before, but had a strong ACC Tournament and had pretty much everyone coming back. What most fans overlooked was the fact that this was still Miami - a team that continually underachieved. And the result this year was another disappointing season.

The Canes played okay in the early season. They beat West Virginia and Ole Miss but lost to Rutgers by 16 and to UCF by 6. Miami was largely untested in the first month or so of the season, and it showed when conference play began. They started 1-6 in the ACC, with many of those losses being really tough, close games. Miami had a stretch of 7 conference games where the largest margin was 4 points. That is a lot of close games! They did win three games in a row to get back into decent position, but were never really in the hunt to make the NCAA Tournament. They were able to play the role of spoiler a couple times, hurting the NCAA Tournament chances of Boston College and Maryland with wins over them. Miami was able to make the NIT, where they ended up losing to Alabama.

Miami was carried throughout the year by the three players expected to carry the team. Malcolm Grand, Durand Scott and Reggie Johnson combined for about 40 points per game. The problem is they never seemed to have all of them playing well at the same time, and didn't get much out of the bench. They often would get into streetball mode and feature one guy driving against the other team, putting up a wild shot. Coach Frank Haith was a hot name early on in his career at Miami, but really didn't do much the last several years and was on the hot seat. Fortunately for Miami, Haith was surprisingly offered the job at Missouri and bolted.

Biggest Win:
79-76 vs. West Virginia on 12/4

This was Miami's only win over a team that made the NCAA Tournament. They won in dramatic fashion, coming back from a 13 point deficit in the second half thanks to 26 points from Grant. This was also a rare game that Miami was able to win at the end.

Worst Loss:
61-45 at Rutgers on 11/21

Rutgers is an okay team at home, but there really is no excuse for going up to New Jersey and scoring only 45 points, losing by 16. Miami only shot 29 percent against the Scarlet Knights, and only got 3 points from Grant. Rutgers ended up winning only 5 games in the Big East this year.

Postseason Play:

The ACC Tournament was an adventure for Miami. They had an improbable win over Virginia, in which the Cavaliers lost a 10 point lead in the final 40 seconds. It was a combination of total ineptitude by Virginia and some clutch plays by Miami to complete the comeback. The shoe was on the other foot for the quarterfinal game. Miami built a big lead over #1 seed North Carolina before completely blowing it in the last 10 minutes and losing by 2. Miami did earn an NIT bid, winning home games over Florida Atlantic and Missouri State fairly easily before losing to Alabama by 15.

Looking Ahead:

After Haith left for Missouri, Miami took a long time on its coaching search before coming up with an unexpected hire. They lured longtime George Mason Coach Jim Larranaga away from Northern Virginia. Larranaga had unquestionable success at Mason, with that unforgettable trip to the Final Four and numerous NCAA bids. How he will be able to win at a school with the pressure to compete in the ACC is another question. Miami doesn't have a great basketball pedigree, and it will take some work for Larranaga to change that. He does inherit some pretty good players. Johnson decided that he will not stay in the NBA Draft, and will return to Miami. Grant and Scott will be back as well (assuming they don't transfer). In fact, the only senior is Adrian Thomas, who was a 3-point specialist. If Larranaga can get the players to buy in to his style, they could move up in the conference next year.