Round Ball Rules

The University of Miami men’s basketball team jumped eight spots to No. 14 in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll this week. In addition, the Hurricanes moved up six places to No. 16 in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll. 

For Miami (12-1, 3-0 ACC), the rise comes after knocking off then-sixth-ranked Virginia, 66-64, Tuesday night at the Watsco Center. Head coach Jim Larrañaga’s team went from 208 points in the AP Poll to 658 this week and from 150 points in the Coaches Poll to now 290, an increase of 140-plus in each.

The Hurricanes’ No. 14 AP ranking is their highest since placing sixth on Dec. 18, 2017, and their first top-15 position since coming in at No. 15 on Jan. 1, 2018. Meanwhile, Miami’s No. 16 spot in the Coaches Poll matches its spot on the final 2021-22 list after its run to the Elite Eight.

Isiah Wong of the University of Miami men’s basketball is the ACC Player of the Week for the second time this month, as announced Tuesday afternoon by the league office. Wong, who was also named ACC Player of the Week on December 12, led Miami to a 66-64 win over then-sixth-ranked Virginia last week.

A fourth-year junior guard, Wong scored 24 points and added six rebounds and five assists in the win over the Wahoos. Wong, whose 24 points marked a game high, became the first Hurricane to post four straight 20-point games since Jack McClinton did so in January 2009.

The New Jersey native forced a turnover on the final play to deny Virginia a shot at the Watsco Center as the game clock expired. Wong became the second high-major player in the last decade to record four straight games with at least 20 points, five rebounds and five assists. He finished 7-for-13 from the field, 2-of-3 from 3-point range and 8-of-9 from the free throw line in the victory.

University of Miami head men’s basketball coach Jim Larrañaga is a first-time nominee for the prestigious Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, as announced Wednesday afternoon.

Larrañaga is one of nine first-time North American nominees, alongside three other coaches (John Beilein, Gregg Popovich and Stan Spirou) and five players (Pau Gasol, Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Parker, Dwyane Wade and John Williamson).

“I am incredibly honored and humbled to be named a nominee for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. To be considered alongside some of the giants of our game was beyond my wildest dreams when entering this profession over 50 years ago,” Larrañaga said. “I’d like to deeply thank each of my assistants, staff members and players throughout the years. This recognition would not be possible without them and it demonstrates not what I’ve accomplished, but what we have all done together. I’m so grateful to the administrators and fans who have supported us along the way. I also want to especially thank my wife, Liz, and sons, Jay and Jon, for being by my side through all the highs and lows. I’m excited to continue coaching here at Miami and look forward to further elevating this tremendous program.”

Among the most accomplished coaches in NCAA men’s basketball history, Larrañaga is in his 51st season as a college coach, including his 39th leading a program and his 12th at Miami. He owns 708 victories as a head coach, good for No. 33 all-time on the DI leaderboard, including ninth among active coaches.

Larrañaga began his coaching career as an assistant at Davidson College from 1971-76 and then served as a player/coach for Geronemo Basketball Club in Belgium the following season. The Bronx, N.Y., native returned to the college level in 1977, taking a job as the head coach at American International College. He led the Division II program for two seasons, posting a 27-26 record.

Comments

[orange 'n green in the vein]

Going to need an excellent perimeter defensive effort to escape South Bend ahead of Clemson and Pitt alone at the top of the league standings to end this month.

Kind of like the depth Miami can use to try and tire out the thinner Notre Dame roster's defensively but they're the type of offense than can make a gambling defense regret getting a play behind thanks to their ability to shoot the ball well up and down the rotation.

[Terrance M Sullivan]

Preach OGV Thank You Soupster for posting this. Let's Go Canes Hoops!

[Harry Miller]

Great article, very informative. It's great hearing about coach Larranaga achievements and our Basketball team. OGV your comments are always appreciated.

[roachcane77]

Truly LEGENDARY!

Coach L's done it all!🙌🏼

[Terrance Sullivan]

Canes Hoops defeat Notre Dame 76-65 to go 4-0(ACC Play) and 13-1 overall. Boom 💥 Go Canes!

[VA Cane]

They hoop guys are playing their tails off....these kids want to win. Its a joy to watch the effort and Coach L is a master...he gets so much done because he believes in his kids and they believe in him!!!

[Terrance Sullivan]

Yessir VA

[Sarasota 'cane]

What a game today! I flipped over to a bowl game at the half with the ‘canes down 2 and when I flipped back they up 10! The 2nd half adjustments were awesome!

Go ‘canes!

[VA Cane]

TSully,

I am a football guy....but with what we have had to watch for 20 years....and having my kids win a title...all credit to them....I got my fill of football....enjoy canes Bball!!!! good bunch....they play hard...reflection of coach L. you can tell they believe in him and his coaching....they play hard never quit....he loves his kids. He is a wise man...seen it all. Congrats to the team...very entertaining to watch....maybe someday it will rub off! We can only hope it will get better on the gridiron... but we been hoping so long...hard to fathom!!!

Great game for our kids!!!

[Terrance Sullivan]

Yessir VA i totally get what you are saying and agree! Go Canes!

[Old Skool]

Congrats to the Coach and Happy New Year to all the Spacers and Spacettes.

[Terrance Sullivan]

We Got another Transfer Portal Guy in Michigan State Long Snapper! Welcome To The U! Have A Happy New Year Canespace Family!

[H]

Hope Gattis was watching the semi finals on how you run an offense and scheming how to get WR's open, since he supposedly coaches that position.

[CGNC]

Happy New Year! All the best to everyone! This year's CFB playoff did not disappoint - games were great - although they served as a reminder of how far we have to go. Go TCU!

[roachcane77]

This year's CFB playoff did not disappoint - games were great - although they served as a reminder of how far we have to go.
Posted by: CGNC | January 01, 2023 at 10:09 AM

"they served as a reminder of how far we have to go."

There it is right there...🙌🏼

[orange 'n green in the vein]

Halfway through the regular season, in the running for the top spot approaching the quarter pole of the conference title, time to really shift from accentuating positives to eliminating subpar negatives as a group, so in that mindset, can't shoot so poorly as a team and expect Wong at the free throw line to be the only one carrying them to victory on the road every game out. Notre Dame couldn't exploit a potential post advantage match up and Pack getting hot was the last thing they wanted to have happen as it pressured their roster in to trying to match volume heat with him and they couldn't overall even on their own rims.

If you could be worried about the excess layoff causing an overall cold shooting night, the roster depth and general team execution with more time to prepare for the coaching staff quickly invalidated that potential issue. Georgia Tech is going to have several positional match-up deficiencies before they have to deal with less quality depth to use against Miami as well, so converting from the free throw line at a sufficient rate will keep the door closed on their attempt to pull Miami back into the pack of the league this season.

Gator fans on self harm alert this week, don't see that every century often but then again its early in this one too.

[Terrance Sullivan]

Yessir OGV

[orange 'n green in the vein]

Rutgers, which UM beat straight up last year, knocks off #1 ranked Purdue, latest bracketology here; https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/page/bracketology/ncaa-bracketology-2023-march-madness-men-field-predictions

has UM sitting in a #4 seed (in Orlando trying to get to the 2nd weekend in Las Vegas, where do I sign up?), and now ranked in the top #12 nationally. Trending up, in actuality, not sports information marketing shill-speak!

Finding another 10 quality bench minutes a game from another front court player other than Walker, even if by platoon, with decent size, who can rebound and defend primarily while cleaning up a few put back buckets a game, is the last piece they're searching for consistency from to stay in that top #4-seed-and-up goal. That projection would have the seeding hold up and see Arizona facing UM in the second weekend with Houston and Gonzaga's winner getting the survivor which is tough draw any way it slices up.

[Terrance Sullivan]

Yessir OGV

[Herbieibis]

Anthony Lucas from A&M in the portal. Should of signed with us to begin with. His dad a UM grad.

[Sarasota 'cane]

Do any of you all follow our new “super booster” John Ruiz on Twitter? The guy seems unhinged and shady AF.

[JCane]

Agreed, Herb. Didn't he get suspended halfway through the TAMU season though? Can't remember why? Think they're looking for any very big bodies, at least 6'3" and at least 300 lbs., to be part of the D interior line, understandably. A guy from Arkansas, Isiah Nichols, is visiting this weekend, too.

[Old Skool]

The U announces a new 7-story football operations center.

I can only imagine what will be in there. Perhaps one floor will house supercomputers to crunch data on opponent strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies as well as the current team's strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies; prospect workouts, performance reports, contacts, and visits as well as service and in-house ratings; satellite dishes to receive punter videos and prospect reports from Australia; a real-time tracker of portal entrants; a leaderboard with composite position ratings of every player; a NIL current value ticker plus biometric measurements and caloric intake data for every player on the team.

There's got to be more. What am I leaving out ...
2 story stripper pole, ice cream bar with free sprinkles?

[Terrance Sullivan]

Lol Old Skool.

[Herbieibis]

From what I can tell, they need to bring in at least 6 to 7 more portal guys. Definitely 2 at DT, 2 WR's, 2 db's and maybe another OH lineman. The pickings are getting slim at WR, especially if we don't get Thornton, who is visiting Tenn. this weekend.
Major fail if this is not addressed. We can't go thru another season of not having a down field threat, especially with that no scheming OH coordinator we have.

[TonyCane]

Meanwhile, at FSU...

PROJECTED FLORIDA STATE ROSTER - 2023
WIDE RECEIVER RANKING SIGNING
Hkyeem Williams 0.9874 2023
Malik McClain 0.9056 2021
Vandrevius Jacob0.9046 2023
Ja’Khi Douglas 0.9012 2020
Winston Wright, 0.8900 2022-T
Darren Lawrence 0.8869 2023
Joshua Burrell 0.8804 2022
Kentron Poitier 0.8788 2020
Mycah Pittman 0.8700 2022-T
Johnny Wilson 0.8700 2022-T
Darion Williamso0.8648 2020
Deuce Spann 0.8200 2022-T
Mike Roussos 0.6999 2023-T

TIGHT END RANKING SIGNING
Jaheim Bell 0.9400 2023-T
Kyle Morlock 0.9100 2023-T
Jackson West 0.8741 2021
Brian Courtney 0.8589 2022
Jerrale Powers 0.8478 2022
Wyatt Rector 0.8418 2019-T
Markeston Dougla0.8410 2020

RUNNING BACK RANKING SIGNING
Caziah Holmes 0.9233 2022-T
Trey Benson 0.9200 2022-T
Lawrance Toafili0.9143 2020
Samuel Singleton0.8975 2023
Rodney Hill 0.8853 2022
CJ Campbell 0.6999 2022

OFFENSIVE LINE RANKING SIGNING
Lucas Simmons 0.9460 2023
Julian Armella 0.9395 2022
Jeremiah Byers 0.9200 2023-T
Qae’shon Sapp 0.8967 2022
Jaylen Early 0.8961 2022
Casey Roddick 0.8900 2023-T
Darius Washingto0.8810 2019
Daughtry Richard0.8793 2022
Robert Scott, Jr0.8776 2020
Bryson Estes 0.8759 2021
Thomas Shrader 0.8701 2020
Kayden Lyles 0.8700 2022-T
Keiondre Jones 0.8700 2023-T
Zane Herring 0.8621 2020
Bless Harris 0.8600 2022-T
Andre' Otto 0.8578 2023
Kanaya Charlton 0.8574 2022
Maurice Smith 0.8513 2019

QUARTERBACK RANKING SIGNING
AJ Duffy 0.9306 2022
Brock Glenn 0.8878 2023
Tate Rodemaker 0.8681 2020
Jordan Travis 0.8572 2019
Dylan McNamara 0.6999 2022

DEFENSIVE TACKLE RANKING SIGNING
Braden Fiske 0.9300 2023-T
Keith Sampson 0.9228 2023
Fabien Lovett, S0.9000 2020-T
Darrell Jackson 0.9000 2023-T
Bishop Thomas 0.8856 2022
Antavious Woody 0.8822 2022
Ayobami Tifase 0.8741 2022
Joshua Farmer 0.8719 2022
Malcolm Ray 0.8498 2019

DEFENSIVE END RANKING SIGNING
Lamont Green 0.9117 2023
Patrick Payton 0.8986 2021
Dennis Briggs J 0.8970 2018
Dante Anderson 0.8923 2022
Byron Turner, Jr0.8893 2021
Aaron Hester 0.8859 2022
Daniel Lyons 0.8859 2022
Derrick McLendon0.8817 2019
Jaden Jones 0.8753 2023

LINEBACKER RANKING SIGNING
Brendan Gant 0.9477 2019
Blake Nichelson 0.9228 2023
Kalen DeLoech 0.9138 2020-T
Stephen Dix 0.9124 2020
Tatum Bethune 0.8900 2022-T
Omar Graham, Jr 0.8770 2022
Shyheim Brown 0.8574 2021
DeMarco Ward 0.8567 2023
DJ Lundy 0.8551 2020

SAFETY RANKING SIGNING
Azareye’h Thomas0.9609 2022
Conrad Hussey 0.9146 2023
Kenton Kirkland 0.8853 2023
Jarrian Jones 0.8700 2020-T

CORNERBACK RANKING SIGNING
Akeem Dent 0.9752 2019
Fentrell Cypress0.9500 2023-T
Travis Jay 0.9388 2019
Omarion Cooper 0.9040 2021
Edwin Joseph 0.8879 2023
Renardo Green 0.8817 2019
Ja’Bril Rawls 0.8764 2023
Kevin Knowles II0.8752 2021
Quindarrius Jone0.8639 2023
Greedy Vance, Jr0.8200 2022-T

[TonyCane]

Well, that came out a bit messy, but some observations:

1) On average, the 2023 Hurricanes have a higher composite score than Florida State at every position except for linebacker

2) Florida State is carrying an absurd number of wide receivers - 13!

3) Florida State's top 4 defensive tackles have a significantly higher average than Miami's. Four Seminoles are .9000 or above. Only one (Leonard Taylor) is for the Canes

4) Defensive end has the most lopsided advantage - an absurd 0.9458 for the Canes vs 0.8909. That side, for Miami five of the top six defensive ends have only one year of experience or are true freshmen

5) Florida State's safety room is even thinner than ours, and surprisingly Norvell is not attacking this year in the portal. They only have 4 safeties at the moment

6) Florida State has an incredible 24 transfers on their roster. It's how Norvell restored the team from a disastrous situation. Miami has 11.

7) Florida State players have significantly more experience, and aside from scheme that is a huge difference for them versus Miami and other teams

8) FSU averages 2.2 years of experience for each player. Miami is 1.7

[Terrance Sullivan]

Ugh Tough loss to GT tonight! Regroup and let’s get back on the winning track! 13-2 and 4-1 in ACC Play! Go Canes!

[orange 'n green in the vein]

Tough to let a winnable road game slip away like that but all credit to GT who threw the defensive kitchen sink at UM and held them to 35 in each half as a result, the triangle and two in the opening 20 minutes never got the man defenders drawn to the corner and the zone crossed over in the middle of the court to exploit it.

Wong's right foot is drifting past his left on his jump shots, especially under pressure, again, which threw most of his attempts off left of center rim in Atlanta, this week he needs to really exaggerate his right foot's kick into the court when he plants the jumper attempt so he's square to the rim through his base by making sure it plants behind the left foot on his shot step in towards the attempt.

Omier is too important to the team's success to ever reach for anything outside his position on the floor cylinder directly above him on offensive rebound opportunities, defensive rebound attempts he should be established inside anyway so obviously that isn't the problem. All his fouls have to be spent tying up layup attempts if they insist on not going bigger as a lineup overall to move him to power, or small forward even, every game.

Lack of ability to finish with defensive rebounds really killed UM's attempt to escape unbeaten in the conference, Aire or Casey at the 5, Walker at the 4, Omier at the 3, Poplar at the 2 if he's on like he was off the bench in the 2nd half and Wong at the 1, or Pack there and Wong at 2 again if Poplar is struggling, might have been able to slow down that hot shooting night Tech enjoyed though.

[CGNC]

Posted by: TonyCane | January 05, 2023 at 12:03 AM

nice analysis TC!

[Herbieibis]

Tony,
It don't matter about talent, it's the dam scheme. U scheme to the talent at hand. They knew our line was not conducive to run a power spread and yet that's what they did and when that failed then they tried to change but it was to late and add on the injuries, we were screwed.
I say both coordinators need to go. Van Dyke could help the offense more if they had more designed qb runs. Teams didn't expect or respect him as a runner threat. Garcia is more of a Baker Mayfield type. He takes to many chances and Brown is not a ood passer yet.

[Old Skool]

Reggie Wayne, Devin Hester and Zach Thomas among the 15 finalists for the Pro Football HOF

[86Cane]

There's got to be more. What am I leaving out ...
2 story stripper pole, ice cream bar with free sprinkles?

Posted by: Old Skool | January 04, 2023 at 11:33 AM

Everybody has one of those. Don't they?

[VA Cane]

First glance one would think ZT...nahhhh...but only 2 linebackers in the HOF have more combined tackles than his 1,720 combined tackles Ray Lewis 2,061 and Junior Seau 1,846...he should get in...JJ was very high on him. Reggie had 1,070 grabs and 14,345 yards...pretty good Hester pretty prolific interesting to see what will happen.

[VA Cane]

Agreed tough loss TSully we need to get back on winning track at BC 1.11.23

[TonyCane]

Rumblings that a last minute, boosted NIL offer is leading to Darrell Jackson having second thoughts about FSU.

[Terrance Sullivan]

Yessir VA

[VA Cane]

I will be watching Sully...the kids are good.

By the way, I am almost ready to ditch the Raiders.....lost 5 after leading by 17; somehow that is Derek Carrs fault. I guess he needs to be 2 Way Derek and play MLB on D. Their management coaches owner have no clue!!!!! No Damn D!!!!!! They are horrible....cannot tackle or cover!!!!!

So sick of how this franchise has been run since last meaningful game; 1983 smoking of the Redskins/Hogs....last time they ever kicked anybodys AZZ! 1.22.83....almost 40 years to the day.
Since then, nothing. 13 winning seasons out of 40! Winning Season on 32% of the time....embarrassing!!!!! Way worse than The Canes!!!!!!!!

Mark Davis is the ugliest man in the NFL....he makes Jerry Jones look pretty!!!! Damn fool needs to get a facelift, and stop letting someone put a bowl on his head when they cut his hair! Even worse, he does not know a damn thing about football!!!!!!!

Jags in a tough one, Trevor has had a tough game, missed a TD, but the D makes a play to give them the lead!!!!!
The best thing Jags ever did was fire Mr Perv Liar Cheater Wussy Flathead Urban!!!!!! You know why that head is so flat? I polaxed him with a square head transfer shovel!!!!! See that flat head? VA shaped it!!!!!!

Anybody in Jville know the guy who played the Star Spangled Banner to open the game? Paul Mane is his name....very nice rendition!!!!! I mean Hendrix at Woodstock is greatest of all time....but this cat nailed it...nice job!!!!!

[The Herb]

VA,
The Herb is a Raider man as well and they do suk. Carr is never going to be anything other than a little above average Qb. The GM don't do him any favors with the talent around him. They blow first round draft picks, like a lottery winner going thru his loot.

[VA Cane]

No doubt my friend, but that D is so bad. It reminds me of our LBs and DBs cannot tackle cannot cover. I am just about done with them. My godfather was DC for many years, Charlie Sumner. I made a lot of friends with Real Raiders, especially Jack Tatum Willie Brown Lester Hayes and Mike Haynes...they taught me about playing corner DB.....Raiders cannot win Canes cannot win....not good for you and I my good friend! Well you know the saying....we'll get em next year LOL!!!

[old Skool]

Looks like we lassoed Matt Lee from UCF from the portal. He will probably play center

[Herbieibis]

Oh, he will play center. We have some more dead weight on the OH line that are still trying to hang on. I guess we'll just run a bunch of slot guys out their next season. Mario is going to piss around hanging on to Gattis and we are going to get shut out of a top notch deep threat.

[JCane]

He is a good pickup for the O line, imo, Herb. Since we are still overflowing with O linemen, I wouldn't be shocked to see at least 1-2 more hit the portal to make space for incoming portal players we still hope to get.

[VA Cane]

Damn Right Herb, Gattis has to go he is terrible. Nobody wants to come here and run the crap he runs; I thought Rappaport would go portal to get away from Gattis terrible O. It was as bad as I've ever seen at The U in a long time!!!! Man its time to open it up throw it around WRs Backs TEs.....and run it as well. I do not want some Big 8 throw it around and not play D....you can chuck it and still take peoples heads off...you know Hit Hate Hurt...Gattis is not good for us!
Mario get your head out of your AZZ fire him and get an OC now!!!!!

Orders from VAC!!!!!!

[CGNC]

VA - you are on a roll! I LOL with that "uglier than Jerry Jones" comment.

Ohio, any more rumblings on Gattis being gone?

[Ohio_Cane]

Ohio, any more rumblings on Gattis being gone?

Posted by: CGNC | January 09, 2023 at 01:41 PM
-----------------------------------------

I just keep reading there's "no way he's coming back". Most people believe it might be after the next signing day, which is Feb 1. Who knows tho. Mario runs a TIGHT ship. No one really KNOWS, I dont think

[Ohio_Cane]

Oh and FYI, this next 7-10 is when NFL coaches are fired, so Mario may wait and look through that list as well

[Ohio_Cane]

7-10 days

[VA Cane]

Sure hope so Ohio, I thought that the offense looked worse than it has in a long time under Gattis. No imagination no passing that showed me he understood passing. Looked like plodding run run pass punt that Michigan ran before this year; typical slow plodding Big 10....except for OSU!

[VA Cane]

Thanks CGNC.....I mean Jerry is rubber face, but Mark Davis is like when Mr Big pulls off his face and reveals Kananga in Live and Let Die Bond Movie 1973......ugly....and he looks like his hair is cut with a mixer bowl over that head. A Raider should never be pretty, and Daddy Al was not either, but if ya gonna be that ugly....damn win at some point!
32% winning seasons over 40 years...ouch! Way worse than us!