A year ago, the Miami Hurricanes were one of the favorites to put together a deep NCAA Tournament run and the selection committee rewarded them with a No. 3 seed and an opening-round game in which they were the heavy favorite.
That's not quite the case this time around, but no matter. The Hurricanes are still playing and they'll be in college basketball's premier event.
During a Selection Sunday party on campus, Miami's men's basketball team learned it would open its NCAA Tournament run as a No. 8 seed in the Midwest Region and will head to Tulsa, Okla., where it will face No. 9 seed Michigan State in its opening round game on Friday.
Miami has faced Michigan State just once in program history, with the Hurricanes earning a 67-59 win on Nov. 28, 2012.
The Hurricanes will enter the tournament with a 21-11 overall record and posted a 14-2 record in ACC Conference play. This will be their third NCAA Tournament appearance under Larranaga with the Hurricanes advancing to the Sweet 16 in both 2013 and 2016.
All time, Miami has posted an 8-8 mark in tournament play and a 4-2 record under Larranaga.
Is it as ideal a draw as the Hurricanes would have liked? Probably not, especially with opening-round games being played just a few hours north of Miami's campus in Orlando. But the Hurricanes _ who have played some of their best basketball late in the season _ are confident in their ability to extend their season, no matter where they play.
"Despite the fact the way we played today, this has been an outstanding defensive team. We've been very hard to score on. We have some guys that are just tremendous defensive players," Miami coach Jim Larranaga said after the Hurricanes' 78-53 loss to North Carolina in the ACC tournament last week. The guy sitting next to me, Kamari Murphy, is as good a defensive player as I've ever coached. He can do so many things at the defensive end of the floor. And Davon Reed is an All-Conference defensive player. Bruce plays very hard defensively.
I thought Ja'Quan Newton's defense yesterday on John Gillon was a big key. And if our young big guys come along and guard the basket for us a little bit better and rebound, I think that gives us a real chance against anybody. ... We're very capable of playing a whole lot better than we did. At the offensive end, we're not quite as consistent as we are defensively, and if we share the ball well and get some assists and don't turn it over very much, we'll be a tough team to beat."
