Last Word on Sports picked Miami as a dark horse contender for the ACC title this season. The season started well, as the Hurricanes began 3-0 and looked ready to compete for the top spot in the Shriner’s Children’s Charleston Classic. Since then, virtually nothing has gone right for the Hurricanes. They’ve lost 13 of their last 14 games, including home losses to Mount St. Mary’s and Charleston Southern. Moreover they are 0-6 in ACC play. Jim Larranaga stepped down from the team, but that has done little to spark the roster. Miami basketball’s struggles have been one of the largest stories in college hoops, but is there any hope for a rebound in the future?
Miami Basketball’s Struggles: Is There Any Hope for the Hurricanes?
A Horrific First 17 Games
A 4-13 start for any program is less than ideal, but it is unacceptable for one that reached a Final Four only 2 years ago. Their NET ranking of 211 is awful, and they have no wins outside of Quad Four (Q4). They also have two Q4 losses, deemed the worst kind in college basketball. KenPom thinks of the Hurricanes in a slightly better light, ranking them at 145. Their defensive efficiency ranks 315th in the country, but their offensive efficiency ranks 49th, a small bright side. Their NET strength of schedule ranks 97th, so they aren’t even playing the most difficult schedule. They’re just losing to bad teams.
If there is one silver lining to Miami basketball’s struggles, they’ve been unlucky. Unlucky may not even be a strong enough word. KenPom has a metric that ranks luck. There are a variety of statistics that go into such a metric, but what matters is where the Hurricanes are ranked: last. They’re last by a large margin. Before the games on January 15th, Miami has a luck rating of -0.239. The next closest is Yale, with a luck rating of -0.191. The next worst? -0.154. Hurricane fans can hope that their luck will turn eventually, because if this continues, they may not reach five wins.
Are There Any Young Stars?
No. There aren’t. Miami basketball’s struggles start at the top. Their top five scorers are all seniors. This may be a positive depending on how you look at it, but either way, there is no Cooper Flagg or Dylan Harper who may stay around to help lift this program to a new level. Jalil Bethea is the team’s highest-scoring freshman at 7.1 points per game in 15.5 minutes. Because Larranaga stepped down, there is also no guarantee that any of the freshmen stay. Larranaga recruited those freshmen, so without him, they may turn to their second option.
Out of the 76.1 points that Miami scores per game, seniors average 60.3 (Nijel Pack has only played in nine games, so the number is slightly inflated; however, the point remains the same). Their roster is old, something that many teams look for when trying to construct a roster to win a national championship. The value of veteran players cannot be understated, but it puts the program in a difficult position moving forward. This roster has no answer to solve Miami basketball’s struggles.
Are There Any Top Recruits?
According to 247sports.com, Miami has two four-star recruits that rank inside the top 100 for basketball prospects for the class of 2025. All of their current freshmen are guards or small forwards, so it’s good to see the addition of a center in 6-foot-9 Ben Ahmed from Connecticut. However, only having two recruits is not a positive. They have at least seven seniors on the roster, most of which will leave the team for graduation or lack of competition on the court.
Miami will be forced to pull in more top recruits from high school or ravage the transfer portal. Some of their top pickups from this past season, Matthew Cleveland and Jalen Blackmon, were supposed to be stars but have amounted to nothing more than solid starters or role players. These sorts of whiffs in the transfer portal can hurt a program, so avoiding them in the next cycle is necessary.
The Last Word on Miami Basketball’s Struggles
The current roster provides little hope for the future, and their recruiting this season needs to fill in for any hope of competing next season. The Hurricanes appear to have little hope of salvaging this season, especially after their recent defeats in conference play. One thing is clear: if this continues, Jim Larannaga may never have been the problem in the first place. Interim coach Bill Courtney has lost by double-figures in four of his first five games at the helm. Buckle up Hurricane fans. You may be in for a Louisville-long ride.
The post Miami Basketball’s Struggles: Is There Hope for the Hurricanes? appeared first on Last Word On Basketball.