Canespace

Offense Found!

Six Hurricanes finished in double figures to lead the University of Miami men's basketball team past crosstown foe Barry University, 91-61, Tuesday night at the Watsco Center in the team's lone exhibition game of the fall.
 
Junior forward Dewan Hernandez led all scorers with 19 points and added a game-high 10 rebounds to record a double-double.
 
Junior guard Dejan Vasiljevic also chipped in, as he totaled 17 points and five rebounds, converting on all seven of his attempts from the charity stripe. Redshirt senior Zach Johnson also finished with 17 points on Tuesday night.

Stuffing the stat sheet, senior guard Anthony Lawrence II picked up a game-high eight assists and three blocks, to go along with 11 points, eight rebounds and a steal.
 
Senior center Ebuka Izundu (13 points) and sophomore guard Chris Lykes (10 points) rounded out the sextuplet of Canes who finished the night in double figures.
 
As a team, the Hurricanes shot an efficient 56.1-percent (32-of-57) from the field, converting on 10 long range shots, while the defense blocked seven shots and held the Buccaneers to 26-of-72 (36.1-percent) from the field.
 
Overall, the Hurricanes closed out the half on 27-19 run to head into the locker room leading, 41-33, as Vasiljevic led all-scorers with 13 points in the period shooting a perfect 5-of-5 from the charity stripe.

Out of the locker room, the Hurricanes came out firing on all cylinders going on to outscore the Buccaneers 50-28 in the second stanza. Johnson and Hernandez led the attack in the half, as both notched 15 points in the final 20 minutes of play.
 
Hernandez finished the period shooting a perfect 7-of-7 from the field, including a 3-pointer, as the team shot an efficient 17-of-27 (63.0-percent) from the field.
 
Evan Walshe led the Buccaneers with 14 points and six rebounds, the lone Barry student-athlete to reach double figures.
 
Miami opens the regular season at home on Nov. 9 against Lehigh with tipoff set for 7 p.m., and will be broadcast live on ACC Network Extra.

Game Day Blog: Miami vs Boston College

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Please proceed as planned.

Post here, post often during the game, but please, think before you post!

Canespace Prediction: Miami 34 - BC 13

Because I Said So: The Offense Is Great!

The Miami Hurricanes know they need to do better.
 
No one wearing orange and green is shying away from the disappointing loss at Virginia. Instead, the Canes have come back hungry to improve on their deficiencies in advance of the second half of the season.
 
"This week has been a better week for the offense, as a whole," quarterback Malik Rosier said. "I think the big thing that we learned was that we need to come out and execute every play. Two weeks ago, we didn't have a good practice, but the last two weeks the ones, twos and even the threes have been dominating." 
 

The improvement in practice has Miami's offense feeling good after a tough showing at Virginia. The Hurricanes have been much more consistent in practice and wide receiver Mike Harley believes that will translate to success on Friday.
 
"Just being consistent on a daily basis, we dominated the week so far," Harley said. "Sunday, Monday and Tuesdays, no days off. We look good. I feel like we are going to have a great game this week."
 

Freshman tight end Brevin Jordan is impressed with the reinvigorated Canes' attack and how it has responded to adversity since falling at UVA. 

"That loss to Virginia, it kind of fell on our shoulders," Jordan said. "The defense held them to less than 200 yards, three turnovers, and the offense didn't show up, we didn't come to perform. In that week overall, we didn't have the best week of practice. We had to stop in the middle and do up-downs, so this week we came out and we did pretty good."

Friday will serve as Boston College's Red Bandana Game honoring Welles Crowther, who is remembered for his heroics during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The Canes expect a highly motivated Eagles team, as well as a raucous crowd in the stands, when they team the field at Alumni Stadium.
 
"I know since they've been doing this game, they haven't lost," Rosier said. "For them, it's almost a pride thing and as it is, it's hard to go in someone else's home and beat them and then you add this game where it's a very emotional game for them so they're going to come out fired up. We have to be able to execute."
 

The Canes and Eagles will be playing in frigid temperatures on Friday night, as forecasts indicate that it will be in the upper-30s when the game kicks off. But Rosier and the Hurricanes are not concerned with the weather. They have the necessary equipment and mindset to succeed at Boston College.
 
"For me, I don't think cold is the biggest issue," Rosier said. "I've played in a little bit of cold weather. The biggest issue sometimes is when you're up in northern areas, it's dry air and the ball gets slick. Sometimes you'll see quarterbacks licking their fingers because we're just trying to get moisture and trying to get that grip on the ball. Coach Richt has done a great job. We're going to be wearing tights, I'll have hand warmers, the heated benches, so we have no excuses why cold will be a factor. That's not even an excuse." 

Rosier will be under center for the Hurricanes and the fifth-year senior brings experience and maturity to Miami's offense. Senior Tyree St. Louis is confident Rosier will excel at leading the Canes' offense.

"This is his fifth year here, it's my fourth year playing with him and second year as a starter, so just the most experience he has," St. Louis said. "He has pretty good leadership, as all the other quarterbacks do, he is a bit different because he has been here, he knows all the guys, he knows all the calls, he knows everything."

"The offense flows a little bit better, just because of the experience that he has," St. Louis said. "Whether it be making the calls, or getting things lined up, or hitting certain targets, things flow a little easier."

Tennis Is Terrific

The University of Miami men's tennis team continue to have success in the Main Draw, as a pair of sophomores advance through to the quarterfinals in singles action and a doubles pair is set to compete in the quarterfinals at the ITA Southeast Regional Championships Presented by Oracle.
 
Competing on the Dan Magill Tennis Complex courts at the University of Georgia, No. 92 Bojan Jankulovski faced off against USF's Ivan Yatsuk in the Round of 32. The sophomore cruised to a 6-2, 6-4 victory, setting up a matchup against Georgia Tech's Cole Gromley.
 
For the third straight match, the Skopje, Macedonia, native picked up a straight-set victory, defeating the Yellow Jacket, 6-2, 7-5.
 

On the opposite side of the bracket, the highest ranked Hurricane, No. 41 Adria Soriano Barrera squared off against Florida Atlantic's Jason Legall in the morning session. The Barcelona, Spain, native quickly picked up a, 6-1, 6-1, victory to advance to the Round of 16.
 
In the Round of 16, the sophomore dropped the first set against North Florida's Dominik Barton, 3-6. He quickly rebounded in the second and third set to claim the victory, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1.
 

On Monday, Soriano is scheduled to battle Florida's Duarte Vale, who is ranked 57th nationally, at 10 a.m. Simultaneously, Jankulovski will matchup against No. 35 Alberto Barroso-Campos of South Florida.
 
The semifinals are scheduled for 2 p.m. on Monday, with the finals slated for 9 a.m. on Tuesday.

We Love U Miami

The University of Miami women's tennis team opened play Friday at the ITA Southeast Regional Championships Presented by Oracle.

The Hurricanes posted a 5-2 record, including a 3-2 mark in singles play, at the Ken Byers Tennis Complex on the campus of Georgia Tech.

"[Yuna] Ito played a solid first-round match today against FSU. She fought hard and made some changes midway through the match that had a positive effect on the outcome," Miami head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews said. "[Ana] Madcur is playing outstanding tennis. She's thinking for herself in big moments and keeping an open mind deep into points."

Miami opened the day with a pair of narrow victories in the opening round of doubles play. Juniors Ito and Estela  Perez-Somarriba eked past USF's Vanja Klaric and Nicole Dzenga, 8-7 (7-4).

Meanwhile, Madcur, a senior, and freshman Lucia Marzal Martinez defeated UCF's duo of Sara Culbertson, a former Miami player, and Valentina Martin, 8-6.

The Hurricanes won two of their three first-round singles matchups, including Ito notching a victory in her first-career contest against a ranked foe at the Division I level.

Facing No. 55 Ana Oparenovic of Florida State, the tournament's third seed, Ito dropped the first set before rebounding for a comeback triumph, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Madcur eased past Georgia State's Arielle Nealy, 6-2, 6-1, to open her tournament singles ledger. Additionally, Marzal Martinez, seeded No. 9-16, fell to Florida State's Julia Mikulski, 5-7, 3-6.

Miami split its two second-round main draw matches, with Madcur posting a stellar 6-4, 6-3 victory over UCF's Domenika Turkovic, seeded No. 9-16. Ito dropped her outing against Rafaela Gomez of North Florida, 6-3, 1-6, 1-6.

"Tomorrow is a new day and we're looking [forward] to moving through new challenges," Yaroshuk-Tews said."

Hurricanes Look To Do It DiMare's Way

Out with the old and in with the new!

In his first year at the helm, University of Miami head coach Gino DiMare released the Hurricanes' 2019 baseball schedule Thursday. 
 

"We always play one of the toughest schedules in the country year in and year out, and this season is no different," DiMare said. "The ACC is consistently one of the top conferences in all of college baseball. Add in Florida and some of the other teams we play from across the state that are competing for conference championships and it should be a challenging schedule. I know our players and staff are looking forward to it."

Miami opens its inaugural season under the direction of DiMare on Feb. 15 with the opener of a three-game series against Rutgers (Feb. 15-17).

The Hurricanes' home schedule also includes series with Georgia Tech (March 8-10), NC State (March 22-24), Florida State (April 5-7), Virginia Tech (April 26-28) and Duke (May 16-18), among others.

Miami's road schedule includes trips to Florida (Feb. 22-24), North Carolina (March 15-17), Pittsburgh (March 29-31), Virginia (April 12-14), Louisville (April 18-20) and Wake Forest (May 10-12).

The Canes will host a fall game against FAUon Saturday, Oct. 27 at 1 p.m. To view Miami's 2019 schedule, click HERE.
 
The Hurricanes bring back All-ACC right-handed pitcher Evan McKendry and 2018 Freshmen All-Americans Freddy Zamora, Daniel Federman and Isaac Quiñones. Miami's incoming recruiting class has been ranked in the top 10 by both Baseball Americaand D1Baseball.com.

In My Humble Opinion (IMHO)

Yesterday's shameful loss by Miami to Virginia was a symptom of much larger "systemic" problems for the Hurricanes. Let me explain.

Sure, you could argue that the loss was bad enough to stand alone on its own merits among some of the worst losses in the modern era for Miami. That was if you did not watch the FSU game and the cluster that it unveiled right before your eyes. Even after a miraculous comeback against the Seminoles most of you educated fans knew right then that the Hurricanes were in trouble, now didn't you? Yeah, I thought so.

The loss to Virginia was not one of the worst by the score or style of defeat, but simply by playing well below the weaker competition. Most long-time Hurricane fans have not easily forgotten the 48-0 loss in the last game at the Orange Bowl that UVA laid on UM. But apparently the passage of time, players and coaches have let that fade from their collective memory so we will give that a pass.

Funny how that doesn't happen when Miami plays Notre Dame or Ohio State, now does it? But I digress. What is systemically wrong with your Miami Hurricanes football team can be summed up fairly easily.

1. The head coach is also moonlighting as the offensive coordinator.
2. The offensive scheme is totally antiquated and has proven to be ineffective.
3. The play calling is way too simplistic, redundant and unimaginative.
4. The head coach's son is the QB coach and the QBs performance has been horrible.
5. There is (in fact) no real special teams coach and one third of the game is being ignored.

Let's break these issues down one at a time:

1. The offense has been a failure. There is no arguing or debating this fact. Three years and three quarterbacks later the Canes still can't score early, often, consistently or especially when needed against any sign of competition. Clemson and Wisconsin proved it. FSU almost did this year but leave it to lowly Virginia to pin the tail on the donkey. Virginia stuffed the Canes in their attempt at a futile comeback against an un-ranked, allegedly hopeless and hapless ACC rival.
2. Dust collects daily on Mark Richts' 1972-82 offense. He was relieved of OC duties and eventually got fired from being a head coach at Georgia because of the same old, same old rust bucket offense. It didn't work then, it isn't working now and it will not work at all in the current era of college pass happy football. The 1972 Dolphins were perfect with this offense. Unfortunately, Griese, Warfield, Csonka, Kick, Morris and Shula have moved on.
3. We apparently have four plays? Canes fans were joking on Facebook today that UM has four basic plays that can be found on the video game football programs that consists of two running plays and two pass plays. While I could not prove this in a court of law I can say that most fans feel the same way. The announcers on TV call the plays we are going to run, the fans in the stadium call the plays and we are absolutely certain that highly paid and trained defensive coordinators can call the same plays as well. It has gone beyond the point of frustration to complete embarrassment.
4. Three QBs in three years and nothing to show for it? Simply stated, the QB performance has let down this team. But how are you going to fire your son for poor performance when you hired him out of nepotism in the first place. This IMHO may be the biggest bad mark against "Smart Mark" (OGV reference) that I can site so far. This is so ripe for criticism that it makes it such an obviously bad decision in the first place. This was a dumb move Smart Mark.
5. One third of the game is special teams. Miami has (let's be real) no actual special teams coordinator. Miami's special teams' performance has been putrid, no wait that is too generous, it has been a nightmare. Sure TE coach Todd Hartley is allegedly the ST coach but we know that he is still on this staff because he can recruit, not because he is a special teams genius. One third of the game is being lost each and every game before it starts and Manny Diaz must be livid about his defense being put in such a bad position all the time.

Before closing let me say that I believe all Miami Hurricane fans want Mark Richt to succeed. He is a former Hurricane player and came back to his alma mater out of love for the school and a chance to rebuild the once proud program. But, then again, we all wanted Randy Shannon to succeed also and we all know how that turned out.

Richt is a genuinely good man. He has done many good things for the University of Miami and has been generous of his time and money, contributing a cool $1 million to the indoor practice facility. But his job is to win football games. When he does a good job he deserves all the credit in the world. And, when the team plays poorly and loses, he deserves the blame too.

If he is willing to take a serious inventory of what needs to be done to fix things I believe he can be very successful at UM. The only questions that remain are will he, and if so, how soon will he address the issues that everyone can clearly see.

But hey, that's just in my humble opinion.

Game Day Blog: Miami vs Virginia

Game day rules are in effect.

Proceed as planned.

Think before you post. And yes, this applies to me and you.

Take a shot each time UM throws the ball over the middle.

Canespace Prediction: Miami 34 - Virginia 13

We Don't Find U The Least Bit Offensive

Sure, we can all agree that the University of Miami's defense has been off the charts this season. They lead the NCAA in many defensive categories and literally won the last game against FSU via the turnover chain.

Defense hasn't been this much fun since, well, since maybe 2001-2004?

But when it comes to the offensive side of the ball there remains a lot of work to do and a lot to be desired. We decided to do some comparisons of where UM stands in the NCAA rankings in general and as compared to other teams in Florida. Here is what we found.

Total Offense: UCF leads the State in Total Offense coming in at #3 and 574 yards/game. USF and FAU come in at #20 and #24 averaging 487 and 481 yards/game respectively.  FIU comes in at #50 at 430 yards per game followed by UM at #69 who has scored 30 TDs and is averaging 409 yards per game.

Just be glad we are not FSU who ranks #112 has only scored 15 TDs and averages a measly 344 yards/game.

Rushing Offense: UCF also leads the State in rushing yards per game at 6.10 yards per carry and 269 yards per game. FAU is ranked #20 at 236 yards/game, USF is at #32 with 213 Yards/game and UM comes in at #48 with 194 yards/game.

Passing Offense: UCF again leads at #18 with 305 yards/game while USF is second at #30 with 274 Yards/game. FAU is #61 with 245 yards/game while UM comes in at #86 with 245 yards/game.

Scoring Offense: UCF leads this category also with 48.6 points/game while UM is #20 with 41.5 points/game. USF is next at #32 with 37.2 points/game and FAU is #41 with 34.7 points per game.

Just be glad that we are not FSU who averages an embarrassing 23.0 points/game.

Defense Saves The Day

In the greatest comeback in the long and storied history of this series, Miami beat Florida State 28-27 behind a ferocious defense that took over the game with a completely dominant second half. 

Miami's defensive performance was reminiscent of the glory days for the Hurricanes with the defensive line controlling the game, creating turnovers galore and with their opponent going backwards. The world famous turnover chain made several appearances during the second half onslaught that led to 21 points and the eventual victory over the arch rival Seminoles.

The Hurricane offense was able to overcome their typical slow start as new QB N'Kosi Perry showed some early game jitters in his first appearance in the always competitive and hotly contested rivalry game.

The Canes will need to greatly improve in the same familiar areas that have handicapped them all season: offensive line, offensive play calling and special teams. These well documented deficiencies have consistently caused Miami team to under-perform against inferior opponents. Mark Richt and his staff must get to work to correct these areas if Miami has any hope to reach the ACC title game again this year.

The Hurricanes will now hit the road for a couple of away games as the road stretch of the season has now arrived. Things will not be as easy as playing within the friendly confines of Hard Rock Stadium. Richt and his team will have to bring their "A Game" with them on the road. It is clearly obvious to all fans that falling behind 27-7 is not a smart, safe or healthy way to approach games on the road in a hostile environment.

Next up are games at Virginia on 10/13 and Boston College on Friday night 10/26. Both games are scheduled for 7 PM starts. If Miami can survive those two road contests they will come home to face Duke on 11/3 before traveling to Atlanta to face Georgia Tech on 11/10 and Virginia Tech on 11/17.

The season finale will be against Pitt at home on Thanksgiving weekend.