Miami Hurricanes’ 5-1 start in ACC due to Jim Larranaga, healthy roster
The burning question when it comes to Miami Hurricanes basketball: Is coach Jim Larranaga ready to dance again in March?
Larranaga likes to bust out a move in the locker room after a big win, especially the Ali Shuffle to honor his favorite athlete. But those moments have been rare in recent years with the Hurricanes taking a dip since their last trip to the NCAA tournament in 2018.
Until now.
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Miami, picked to finish 12th in the 15-team ACC, has been the surprise of the league. Even with a one-point loss at Florida State Tuesday dropping its record to 13-4, 5-1 in the ACC, the Hurricanes still lead the league. But after winning its first four conference games and eight straight overall – and rallying from an 18-point deficit to beat Syracuse – Miami still had its doubters.
Until a stunning 76-74 win at No. 2 Duke last weekend.
“Hell, he might win the league,” Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski said Monday. “That’s going to be an NCAA tournament team and he’ll be a tough out for whoever’s playing them.”
Larranaga, Coach K on equal footing
Krzyzewski knows from experience. Since Larranaga arrived, Miami has split 14 games with Duke. Those seven wins are the second most over the Blue Devils during that span behind North Carolina’s 10.
And if Duke runs the table at home, the final home loss of Coach K’s legendary career will be to Coach L.
“They are the real deal,” FSU’s Leonard Hamilton said. “They are very efficient in what they do and they realize that their system is geared towards their talent. They are a good basketball team.”
Pretty good praise coming from his elders. Yes, elders.
At 72, Larranaga is among the four oldest men’s basketball coaches in ACC history, but the other three currently are coaching in the league and he faced all three in succession the last two weeks, Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim, 77; Krzyzewki, 74; and Hamilton, 73.
And if not for FSU’s RayQuan Evans calmly dropping two free throws Tuesday with less than a second remaining for the one-point win, Larranaga would have had the Septuagenarian Sweep.
So what kind of MuhammadAli rope-a-dope has Larranaga pulled off after three consecutive losing seasons? Your chances of winning rise dramatically when you have enough players to conduct a full practice and enter games not having to rely on a bench full of walk-ons.
A year ago, Larranaga was on the verge of placing a “Help Wanted” sign on his door, looking for anyone who could dribble, shoot and, most importantly, play defense. Miami played its last eight games with six scholarship players, and several others with seven on scholarship. Somehow, he managed to will his decimated team to a 10-17 record.
“The problem with that is when you only have six or seven healthy players you can’t afford for any one of them to get hurt,” said Larranaga, whose team faces North Carolina Tuesday before its rematch with the Seminoles next Saturday. Both games are in Coral Gables.
“It’s very, very hard to prepare for an opponent because you can’t simulate what the opponent’s strategy is going to be. You can tell your team, you can show them on video, but they can’t actually physically get out there and plan like we can this year.”
Healthy Hurricanes equals winning games
This season Miami added key transfers in Charlie Moore from DePaul and Jordan Miller from George Mason, has remained relatively healthy and is experienced.
Of the Canes’ top six scorers, Kameron McGusty, Moore and Sam Waardenburg are in their sixth year; Miller is in his fourth and Isaiah Wong (a preseason All-ACC first team pick) and Anthony Walker are in their third. The Hurricanes are the oldest team in the ACC, and ninth oldest in Division 1, with an average age of 21.38.
Proving Jim Larranaga is tough to beat when he’s playing with a full deck.
“Last year we didn’t really have the bodies to run full court,” Wong said.
“When somebody goes down, we can replace them and still have a full practice, and keep our chemistry up, and still play with the same energy.”
An energy that has carried over into the locker room.
Larranaga repeated the story Thursday from the first time his Ali Shuffle went viral following a 2013 NCAA tournament win to advance to the Sweet 16. “I just did it because I was excited our players were excited,” he said.
Then he broke out the Whip/Nae Nae a few years later after a win over Florida. And few things go viral faster than someone who has been mistaken for Bernie Sanders and Larry David doing the Whip/Nae Nae.
Now, Larranaga is catching that dance fever again, entertaining his team by doing the Ali Shuffle following Miami’s win against Clemson last month.
“As a coach, you get excited for your players,” he said. “You want them to celebrate and enjoy big victories.”
Think of it as a warmup for The Big Dance. The one coming in March.
