Let’s get this first part out of the way to begin… there is nothing nice about Florida. There’s a reason if you simply search ‘Florida’ in any Gif machine, the first thing that comes up is Bugs Bunny sawing off the state from the rest of the union. Florida doesn’t belong with the rest of us.
But, since it’s still considered a state in the Union, we’ll accept Floridians as Americans… reluctantly.
Living in Florida is something not many people considered until more recently. I mean, technically people have
lived there for like 14,000 years. And Europeans (the Spanish) made landfall around the northeast part of the state in the early 1500s. It remained a Spanish territory until 1821, and turned into a state in 1845. But nobody really thought to live there for like another 100 years.
Basically with the baby boom, we all kind of realized beaches were a nice place to hang out. Before then people thought building on top of a swamp wasn’t the smartest thing to do for the longevity of your building, but the beaches were irresistible. So they built it anyway, and the people came. We’re going to gloss over anything that happened before the mid-20th century because… well it’s not all great. But this isn’t about the history of Florida, it’s about Miami. So let’s talk about Miami!
What is a Miami?
I’ve been to Miami. But it’s been a long time. What I know about Miami now is Pitbull is from there, but I’m not sure I could tell you one song by him. I just know he makes some kind of music as a singer, or a rapper. But he’s from Miami. I do know the Will Smith song Miami, even if it’s a completely sub par song when compared to classics like Summertime, or Parents Just Don’t Understand.
Miami is a city in Florida, on the southeast coast. There’s a lot of partying that goes on there, and I’m not sure much else. But there within the confines of the Miami Metropolitan area is the University of Miami. The University of Miami — not to be confused with Miami University in Ohio — isn’t technically in Miami? It’s actually in Coral Gables! Ha.
The school was founded in 1925 as there was a land boom happening, but things when south and the school nearly collapsed due to a lack of enrollment. So much so the first building took two decades to build while students studied off campus. They were playing a little football, and some baseball, they even had a basketball team. There were no buildings on campus, but they had sports!
Oh, they also just call it The U.
Famous Alumni (non-NFL edition)?
This is actually a hilarious list that I did not expect. Way better than Drake’s list from last year.
GENE FREAKING RODDENBERRY WENT TO THE U? He did, briefly, but it counts.
We could also include The Rock here, since he’s best known for being an actor now. But the only reason he was at Miami was to play football. He just spun that into a career in media. There’s Jeff Garlin, of Curb Your Own Enthusiasm fame. Ray Liotta! And my personal favorite addition, Joseph Mascolo, who played Stefano on Days of our Lives. Also apparently Sly Stallone picked up a BFA from Miami in the late 90s. Who knew?
On the non-actor side, how about Roy Firestone?
Suzy Kolber, who was nearly sexually assaulted by a drunk Joe Namath on live TV, but was an otherwise excellent sideline reporter, graduated from the U. Also Dan Le Batard. Ben Folds attended but didn’t graduate, as did Enrique Inglesias.
None of them are Michael Irvin, though.
Does Miami basketball though?
The Hurricanes have been playing basketball since the 1926-27 season. But they accomplished very little of anything outside of a trip to the NCAA Tournament in 1960. The team operated as an independent until 1991, a year after they hired a young man by the name of Leonard Hamilton.
Hamilton, took a moribund program and built it up from scraps. It took a while to get things going, but it was a different era after all. Give the administration at the time the credit for sticking with Ham, because it took him four full seasons before they netted a winning record. But after going 0-18 in the Big East in 1994, Ham got the ‘Canes to a 9-9 record the next season. By 1998 they were NCAA Tournament bound for the first time since that one appearance in 1960. After two more trips, and a Sweet 16 appearance in 2000, Hamilton left Miami for Florida State.
Perry Clark took over, and did little with the job. They made the tourney in 2002, but slid backward after. He only lasted 4 seasons. Then the Canes hired some guy named Frank Haith. That name may ring a bell, Haith lasted 7 seasons with one NCAA Tournament in his run before being plucked for the Missouri job.
After Haith they hired an old guy from George Mason, Jim Larrañaga who was really good in his 13+ seasons. In 2022 Miami made the Elite 8 as a 10 seed, the next year they used a 5 seed to make the Final Four. What’s funny about that tournament is Miami’s 13 point loss to eventual National Champion UConn was the smallest margin of victory for the Huskies that entire tournament. So yay? Transitive runner up, maybe?
So to answer the question, they basketball now but they didn’t used to. 64 seasons, 13 trips to the NCAA Tournament. 6 under Larrañaga, once each under Haith and Clark, three times under Hamilton, and once under a guy named Bruce Hale. And now, once in the first season under Jai Lucas.
Is Jai Lucas a nepo-baby?
Completely, but also only loosely. John Lucas is a well known basketball personality after a stellar career at Maryland, then a long pro career, and then a long coaching career. But Jai, to his credit, took his own path. After a college playing career under Rick Barnes, he took a job at Texas under Barnes. Shaka Smart kept him around, apparently recognizing his potential, and from there he went to Kentucky under John Calipari, and then to Duke under Jon Scheyer. Barnes, Smart, Calipari, and Scheyer is a unique blend of coaches to work under. And Lucas sprung those 10 seasons as an assistant into the Miami job.
So far in his first year the Hurricanes are 25-8, and they went 13-5 in the ACC.
So what about these ‘Canes?
They’re 32nd in the NET, 31st in KenPom, 35th in BartTorvik, and 28th in EvanMiya.com.
Miami is good! They’re worthy of an NCAA Tournament bid, and a 7th seed. They were 13-0 in Quad 3 and Quad 4, and 6-2 in Quad 2. A 6-6 record in Quad 1 includes their best wins over Louisville, North Carolina, and NC State.
Like Missouri, Miami has no quality Q1 non-conference wins. They did nab a couple non-con wins in Quad 2 with wins at Ole Miss, and a neutral court win over Georgetown. If there’s a flaw in their record it’s the lack of wins over truly good teams. Because of the weirdness and size of the ACC, Miami didn’t play Duke They did face Virginia twice and lost both times. Their average opponent KenPom.com rating in league play was 71.3, if you only average the wins that KenPom rating is 83.6.
In comparison, Missouri’s average opponent KenPom rating in league play was 41.8, and the average win was 47.2. You can only play the teams on your schedule, I guess.
They’re not great at any one thing, but they’re pretty good at a lot of things. Their Offensive Rating is 33rd, and their defensive rating is 38th. They play an average pace, and shoot the ball reasonably well. There is a weakness in that they’re 311th in free throw percentage, but don’t get to the line a whole lot so it doesn’t hurt them often.
They’re led in scoring by Indiana transfer Malik Reneau, who is a 6’9 left forward. And Reneau uses up a lot of possessions, as he leads their team with 30.3% usage rate and scores nearly 19 points. Tre Donaldson averages 16.5 points, with freshman Shelton Henderson at 13.7.
Slow down some of those guys and the scoring falls off a cliff in a hurry.
“Sam, say something ‘nice’ about Miami”
Back in the late 80s I had a Miami Hurricanes sweatshirt that I only insisted on because I really liked Sebastian the Ibis. He was a cool bird on an Orange sweatshirt. I was probably 10 year old, my brain was still developing. I also had an Illinois sweatshirt because I liked orange and navy together… so clearly I wasn’t the smartest kid.
Sebastian is still cool though.
Beat the Hurricanes.
