The Resurgence of Miami Men's Basketball
In the past two years, the Miami Hurricanes men’s basketball team has been a team of failure and defeat. The 2022-2023 season was a flourishing one; they finished with a 29-8 record and their highest AP ranking. After making it to the final four as the fifth seed in the Midwest conference in the 2023 Men’s March Madness tournament, their future looked bright. Although they were eliminated by UConn, which went on to win the tournament, the Hurricanes entered the next season with a chip on their shoulder. They were predicted to have another successful season.
Going into the 2023-2024 season, Miami was ranked 13th and had a hot start, posting a 5-0 record and climbing to the eighth-ranked team. This season looked to be another successful one, as with only 10 games left, they were sitting at 15-7, but it all went downhill after that. They ended the season on a 10-game losing streak, resulting in a very disappointing 15-17 record. There were many reasons this losing streak occurred. Key players like Nijel Pack and Wooga Poplar missed games due to injuries: Pack with a knee injury and Poplar with an ankle injury. This led to an eight-man rotation, often leaving players exhausted and reducing overall efficiency.
The Hurricanes were looking for a big turnaround entering the 2024-2025 season. Legendary coach Jim Larranaga was entering his 13th season as the head coach, and a 10-game losing streak was a tarnish on his career. Larrananga brought the Hurricanes to the March Madness tournament six out of his 12 years with Miami, leading up to the 2024-2025 season, and in just his second tenure with the team, he managed to bring them to the second ranked team in the top-25 during the 2012-2013 season, this was the highest rank Miami has ever gotten in their history. With his career coaching Miami, he finished with a 274-174 record.
The 2024-2025 season offered Miami fans a glimpse of hope, as they started 3-0. The roster was missing two key players in Poplar, who transferred to Villanova, and Kyshawn George, who was drafted by the New York Knicks and then traded to the Washington Wizards. However, after this undefeated start, it seemed their holes were filled. The team did not perform like this for the rest of the season, as they went on three separate losing streaks. Their first lasted seven games, the second lasted 10, and the third lasted six. Before the second losing streak started, Larranaga decided to retire midseason, citing the changing landscape of college basketball. He had a 4-8 record when he retired and was passing the reins to assistant head coach Bill Courtney, who had served under Larranaga for six seasons. Courtney had a dumpster fire of a season as the interim head coach, finishing with a personal 3-16 record, and the Hurricanes finished off an abysmal season with seven wins and 24 losses.
After two years of ups and downs and overall misery, this current season of Miami Hurricanes basketball was looking to be one of fruition and achievement. And so far this has been the case. Miami is currently 19-5 overall and 8-3 in the ACC. Jai Lucas is the new head coach for the team, and he is leading a strong attack that has bounced the Hurricanes back in the best way possible. Although they had five losses, only one was a real upset: Florida State University; all the other losses were to teams well above .500. The Hurricanes are also coming off an upset win over 11th-ranked North Carolina, in which they had four players in double figures. Malik Reneau has been leading the charge, averaging 19.8 points and 6.6 rebounds per game.
With their impressive win over North Carolina, Miami is looking to return to the rankings, but their future schedule is not easy. Of their last seven games, only two are against teams with a losing record, and they face two more ranked opponents. Virginia on February 21st and Louisville on March 7th, which will also serve as their season finale. For now, they are looking to carry their current two-game winning streak against North Carolina State on February 14th.
