2007-08 Basketball Preview

Brian Asbury battles for a rebound in last year's ACC Tournament win over Maryland/Washington Post


Last season the ACC Media picked Virginia Tech dead last in the league at the conference's media days. The Hokies had a poor 2005-06 having suffered through numerous injuries and deaths in the families of players. Seth Greenberg's team finished within one win of the Conference Title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. This year Miami has been picked last in the league by the conference media, a year after suffering through injuries and suspensions. Interestingly enough, most major media outlets have picked Miami anywhere between 8th and 10th in the ACC, not last in spite of the official conference projection.

The Team:

Anthony King was granted a 5th year of eligibility by the NCAA after a season ending injury last December against Georgia Tech. King's return means that the Canes will boast as physical a low post group as anyone in the league. King is back healthy after missing the last three months plus of last season and he should be one of the best big men in the ACC. King has expanded his shooting range during the offseason and should be able to take his markers outside and hit 14-16 foot shots and potentially clear the inside for slashers like Brian Asbury. King who set the Miami record for blocked shots in a game three years ago remains a fierce defensive presence in the low post. King was leading the ACC in rebounding at the time of his injury last season: I would expect him to be near the top of the league in rebounds this season as well. Sophomore Dwayne Collins, Junior Jimmy Graham, Freshman Julian Gamble and Senior Ray Hicks will join King in the low post. Senior Fabio Nass who really began to make an impact before an ACL injury last January is still not fully healthy and I wouldn't expect to see much of him and maybe he gets redshirted because of the injury. It's a shame because Nass was finally playing well after a rocky start and his best two games were his last two before the freak practice injury. Collins for his part has improved his low post finishing which ailed him last season. Graham's fierce defending was on display in the ACC Tournament. Ray Hicks maybe the strongest player on the team but after a good sophomore season he battled suspension, injury and inconsistency last season. Hicks has excellent shooting range and athleticism for a low post player. At 6'7'' he's undersized but if he can regain his form from two years ago, this front court could be the best in the league. Sophomore Adrian Thomas is back from injury but where he fits in, I am really not sure.

The combo guards/forwards on this team are lethal. We've read all about Junior Jack McClinton's shooting range and gym rat work ethic, but the best player on this team could potentially be Junior Brian Asbury. Asbury became more and more fearless last season driving to the basket and keeping Miami in conference games when the rest of the team was shooting blanks or was out injured. Asbury can beat defenders of the dribble and is a good outside shooter. He was also one of the best rebounding guards in then league last season. If Asbury continues to improve he could be all-ACC this season. Sophomore James Dews is a deadly permiter shooter but needs to improve his overall offensive game to be counted on this season. McClinton must improve his ball handling and decision making. As spectacularly as he began last season, when the Canes really needed him to step up with all the injuries and suspensions last year he was missing in action. I don't have the faith in him many of our other fans do, and ultimately I think Asbury becomes the go-to guy this season.

The point guard situation is in flux after the dismissal of Denis Clemente from the team at the end of last season. Edwin Rios committed to Miami as a sophomore in High School and he enters the program now with high hopes. However, a strong possibility exists that Lance Hurdle who was highly touted out of High School but ended up playing Junior College Basketball (a topic for another day) and wowed in summer workouts beats him out. Either way one must step up because we learned last year that Jack McClinton is a poor ball handler and lacks the quick decision making skills required to play the point.

The Coach:

Frank Haith's record at Miami doesn't tell the story of how he has rebuilt the program and changed the culture around the program. A more telling fact is that two Miami assistants, Barclay Radbaugh and Billy Kennedy have become head coaches the last three seasons. If Frank Haith's assistants are getting decent mid major jobs, Haith must be highly thought of. Haith now has the team he wants that can play a strong low post oriented game, not the guard oriented team he inherited from Perry Clark. This year is the big test for Haith. If Miami can finish in the upper division of the ACC, he is a keeper, if they do not questions will persist. Whatever your opinion of Haith's game management it must be admitted even by skeptics that he has never let his Miami teams quit on a game or the season unlike his failed predecessors, Perry Clark.

The Schedule:

Miami's schedule isn't soft this season, but it isn't particularly daunting either. A nice feature of the non-league portion of the ledger is a renewal of the rivalry with St John's. It was St John's who Miami defeated for its first Big East victory in 1992 and in the final game of the 1999-2000 season to win the Big East Regular Season title. But it was also St John's who knocked the two best Miami teams in the program's modern history out of the Big East Tournament in 1999 and 2000 in heartbreaking fashion. It was also St John's whose double overtime win over the Canes in 2001 effectively sent Miami to the NIT that year instead of the NCAAs. It will be great to see the Canes playing a Big East power again. Speaking of the Big East, I have come to the conclusion that unlike Football where the move to ACC accelerated Miami's decline, that in Basketball the ACC is a somewhat soft league that has allowed a Miami team that could not even compete its last two years in the Big East to be competitive quickly. The ACC lacks the sort of in your face defending on the perimeter we became accustomed to seeing in the Big East. The toughest road trips Miami will take outside the league are to Mississippi State, a probable NCAA team out of the SEC and to Puerto Rico for a tournament that includes Arkansas, VCU and Providence. Winthrop coming to town for the Orange Bowl Classic is the toughest non league game being held in South Florida. In the ACC, Miami faces Duke twice but North Carolina and NC State only once. But unfortunately Miami also faces Wake Forest and Virginia Tech only once. The ACC's scheduling rotation I will admit I do not understand. The only thing I can properly explain is that Miami faces FSU and Boston College twice every season. Beyond that, with no divisions in the ACC and no protection of other potential rivalries (for example, I would like to see Miami play Georgia Tech twice every season since both schools are in large urban areas and defected to the ACC from another league, albeit in Tech's case twenty some odd years before Miami) I am not sure how the schedule works.

LOOKING BACK AND LOOKING AHEAD:

Anthony Harris was a player whose game substantially regressed from borderline all-ACC heights his sophomore season to inconsistent frustration that saw him at times at the end of a very thin bench as a senior. As critical as I was of him and I will admit at times I booed him openly at home games until I realized this isn't football with 70,000 fans and a kid low on confidence can actually hear me booing, he stuck with the program and played two of his best games since his sophomore year in the ACC Tournament. Harris will always be remembered fondly by Canes fans as the driving force in the huge upset of Florida in Gainesville in 2004. Sadly, the performances he delivered so consistently as a Sophomore became less regular as a Junior and non existent until the ACC Tournament as a Senior. But he'll always be a special Cane whose confidence was shattered by Perry Clark but rebuilt by Frank Haith.
Keaton Copeland was a great hustle player. A walk on from Pembroke Pines, he played a critical role as Senior after sitting on the bench providing enthusiasm his first three years. Copeland thanks to injuries and suspensions ended up starting 20 games last season after only playing 22 minutes his first three seasons at Miami. While limited talent wise, Copeland actually kept Miami in several games last year with his fearless hustle and his smart lockdown defensive play.

Cyrus McGowan, a five star recruit out of Mississippi was a flop at Arkansas, but the big man has transfered to Miami and should next season help Miami recover from the loss of Anthony King.

Dequan Jones from the Atlanta area is one of the top ranked swingmen in the nation by Rivals and he has committed to Miami.

Reginald Johnson could be the most exciting newcomer of all next year. The 6'-8'' 285 lb big man from North Carolina is a bit of a late bloomer. Johnson was recruited by half the ACC and offered scholarships by four other ACC schools.

Prediction:

I am cautiously optimistic about this season. Will Miami be as good as last season's Viginia Tech team I referenced above? No. But will they be as bad as some in the media think? No. A realistic expectation is 7th or 8th place in the ACC, a certain NIT bid and a possible run at the NCAAs with a good ACC Tournament.