Next Up – Miami’s First Trip To Duke In The Post-Larranaga Era

Miami has had a bizarre season so far.

The ‘Canes started out 3-0 but soon enough problems began to emerge. Miami lost game #4 to Drake on November 21st and since then, the only win has been over Presbyterian.

That was bad enough but in October, after apparently leading for a long time, the Boozer twins Cameron and Cayden, decided to spurn the ‘Canes for Duke where their dad Carlos starred in the early 2000’s.

And by Christmas, Jim Larranaga decided he’d had enough and announced his retirement on December 26th. Assistant Bill Courtney took over and his career record so far is 0-5. Miami’s record to date is 3-12.

Yet it’s not a team lacking talent.

Nijel Pack and Matthew Cleveland are a potent backcourt. You’ll remember that Pack left Kansas State and ended up at Miami as one of the first major NIL signings. Cleveland came over from Florida State, where he had excelled. Lynne Kidd was a solid center at Virginia Tech and freshman Jalil Bethea was a 5-star prospect, even if he has developed more slowly than expected.

Brandon Johnson and Jalen Blackmon are good if not necessarily great portal pickups. So is AJ Staton-McCray.

So why is this team struggling?

Well, losing Norchad Omier, Wooga Poplar, Bensley Joseph and Kyshawn George to transfer was a tough blow, and that level of movement is a big part of why Larranaga, who is 75, hung up his whistle.

He also said his team was struggling with defense and rebounding and that his players weren’t particularly good individual defenders. As a team, Miami ranks 16th in the ACC defensively.

Losing consistently can be really numbing and Duke right now is particularly imposing. So what chance does Miami have?

Well the best chance they have is to simply outscore Duke.

It’s true that Miami’s defense hasn’t been very good but the offense is not bad. It’s possible – not likely necessarily but possible – that someone could really heat up and start raining threes and that could open up driving lanes.

And Duke has to be prepared for someone to do that.

However, the reality is that these teams are heading in very different directions. Duke has an apparent superstar in the making in Cooper Flagg and another highly promising young star in Khaman Maluach. Kon Knueppel is not far behind either.

As everyone has noted, Duke is the biggest team in the country and the defense has become elite.

Unfortunately, the Blue Devils will be missing Maliq Brown. The remarkable defender who often comes in for Maluach injured his knee against Notre Dame and will be out for some time. That’s going to hurt Duke but it gives freshman Patrick Ngongba a chance to shine.

As we’ve seen in the last few games, Flagg and Maluach are coming into their own. Knueppel is not far behind.

But as we also saw against Notre Dame, youth is vulnerable. Duke made several mistakes down the stretch Saturday that could have been quite serious.

And there is one other thing the Blue Devils will have to guard against Tuesday night and that’s complacency.

Everyone expects 14-2 Duke to roll over 4-12 Miami. It’s just so obvious, right?

Well it is until it isn’t. As noted above, it’s not like Miami lacks talent. They’ve got some. And what do they have to lose? Their coach is gone, their season is a train wreck and they’re playing in Cameron.

Given everything that’s gone wrong, why wouldn’t they come out loose and, well, a little bit wild?

The last thing we expect this team to do is to just give up. Miami is coming to play. You can count on that.

Duke better be ready and they need to let the ‘Canes know early – it’s not going to happen tonight.