The ‘Canes were the 2022-2023 ACC regular-season co-champs, with Virginia, and then advanced to the Final Four, losing to eventual national champ UConn in the semifinals.
Miami was a preseason Top 15 pick, and the ACC media pegged UM second in the conference, behind Duke, and ahead of North Carolina and Virginia.
Here’s where I get in trouble for telling you things being said behind the scenes: the folks in town with Miami for Big Monday told us that coach Jim Larranaga wasn’t happy with how things had been going with his team.
Without elaborating much, the way it was told to us was, the ‘Canes were a powderkeg on the verge of imploding.
That night, Virginia held Miami to a season-low 38 points in a 60-38 thrashing, which preceded Larranaga, a former Virginia assistant, back in the Terry Holland era, racing to the media room minutes after the game, holding a 27-second press conference, then skipping town.
That would turn out to be the first loss in what turned into a season-ending 10-game losing streak, which concluded on Tuesday in the first round of the 2024 ACC Tournament.
Boston College mauled Miami, 81-65, taking control with a 20-4 first-half run, and leading by double-digits for all but 30 seconds of the last 31:53.
From the Final Four to 14th in the ACC, and out of the ACC Tournament on Tuesday, two full days before UNC, Duke and Virginia even take the floor.
“It’s been a very challenging season,” Larranaga told reporters after the game. “I feel like whatever strategy we had throughout the season just didn’t materialize as a way to really play our best basketball. Some of it was the injuries and the lack of chemistry we had because of it. Some of it, quite frankly, like tonight, is the opponent.”
Injuries were a factor down the stretch – senior guard Nijel Pack, who averaged 13.1 points per game this season, missed five games during the losing skid, and Matthew Cleveland, the junior who transferred in from rival Florida State, and averaged 13.7 points per game, missed the Duke game, meaning the ‘Canes were down two starters in that 84-55 loss on Feb. 21.
Larranaga was also down two starters – Pack and 6’5” junior Wooga Poplar (13.4 ppg) – for the 75-71 loss to UNC on Feb. 26.
But injuries down the stretch don’t explain the issues that had come up earlier in the season – for instance, in the ugly 95-73 loss to Kentucky on Nov. 28, in the 90-63 beatdown at the hands of Colorado on Dec. 10.
Miami recovered from those setbacks to move to 11-2 overall and 2-0 in the ACC with a 95-82 win over Clemson on Jan. 10, ahead of losses to Wake Forest and to league doormat Louisville that started things heading the wrong way.
It really makes no sense that this Miami team, which returned Pack, Poplar and Norchad Omier (17.0 ppg, 9.9 rebs/g in 2023-2024) and added the talented Cleveland via the transfer portal, could fall so hard, so fast.
For what it’s worth, Pack, a senior with an extra year of eligibility because of the COVID redshirt season, could return for one more year, and it sounds like he’s giving that some thought.
“It’s been a challenging year for us, but some people, sometimes you’ve got to go through adversity and get over the hump to see the better side,” Pack said. “Just continue to work hard, and then what comes next year just comes down the line. Got to meet with Coach and my parents and my family and things like that and see how it goes.”
Things can’t have gone all that badly if guys are thinking about coming back.
Maybe.
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Chris Graham
