SEASON IN REVIEW: HURRICANES END SEASON WITH AN NIT LOSS
Submitted by Brandon Odoi on Thu, 03/26/2009 - 11:25
The Miami Hurricanes Basketball season of brilliant inconsistency is over. A very talented team ranked #17 in preseason polls completed the season with a record of (19-13), well shy of expectations of returning to the NCAA Tournament. Last week’s NIT loss to the University of Florida, a 74-60 derailment, was the second lowest offensive output of the season for the Hurricanes.
At one point in the loss, the Hurricanes were down 20-2 with 11:39 to go in the first half.
Anytime a team wins 19 games, some things clearly went well. Road wins against Kentucky and Boston College and good home wins against Maryland, Wake Forrest and Florida State are evidence of this. The 13 loses are also a clear indication that there were some down moments during the season.
What is comforting to Hurricane fans is the fact that Miami competed in one of the toughest conferences in the entire nation this year, the Atlantic Coast Conference. Seven teams from the ACC were invited to play in the NCAA Tournament. North Carolina is a favorite to win the championship. The Hurricanes played them twice this season, both games were losses for Miami.
Throughout the season, the Hurricanes struggled to find consistency on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. Jack McClinton, the unanimous team Most Valuable Player was often left alone to shoulder the burden of scoring alone. This team will struggle next year in his absence. When he had poor games, the team rarely won.
Forward Dwayne Collins showed great signs early in the season but was setback due to injuries. He finally recovered in the post season, but just too late to make an impact. Collins will return next year but McClinton will make his way to the NBA. Small for his size, he’ll likely have to carry the load of point guard in order to catch on in the pros. But his aggressive style of play and knack for scoring will almost assuredly find him an NBA home somewhere.
Frank Haith’s team lacked the defensive focus it needed this year. The team was unable to win close games, losing 3 overtime match ups. So if you take the inability to consistently have balanced scoring and sporadic defense and you have a team that really over achieved. That is evidence of just how talented this Hurricane team was that they could play so poorly and still win 19 games and fall just shy of the NCAA tournament.
The future is bright as Hurricanes Daily turns our eyes to next year’s basketball season. Star recruit Durand Scott from New York City is expected to contribute right away. He currently ranks #45 on ESPNU’s 2009 Class of top 100 players. Joining him in next year’s freshman class at UM is fellow guard Garrius Adams and forward Donnavan Kirk, both ESPNU top 100 players in their own right. Expect rising seniors Dwayne Collins and James Dews to provide much of the leadership and scoring for UM next season.
