The 2007-08 Miami Hurricanes: A Personal Experience

Very few times in my life have I been as close to a team in any sport as this year's Hurricane Basketball team. The only parallel I would draw were the 1993/94 and 1994/95 Florida Gator Basketball teams who made the NCAAs while I was a student at the University of Florida and was attending every game. As fans we cheer for our favorite teams. I cheer for the Gators and Hurricanes with emotion and generally am indifferent to professional sports. But rarely if ever do you really connect with a team and understand them psychologically. Football from my perspective is tough to connect and get involved with: huge stadiums, bad seats and the fact that you hardly ever get to see the players faces. College Basketball for me is the American sport which elicits the most passion from its fans: much like European football (soccer), or Aussie Rules Football. I've always taken College Basketball more seriously as a sport than any other U.S. based sport or league.

The last two years, Florida won the National Championship. While that was a great experience and I loved watching that team, I really didn't know them the way I know these Canes. I enjoyed Miami's run in the late 1990s and caught a few games here and there in person. (I even drove 450 miles from Tallahassee on a Friday night to catch Tim James jersey retirement ceremony the next afternoon). But that team still didn't have the personal connection with me that this Miami team does. I've been to every Miami home game this year except one. I've been to the majority of ACC games Miami has played since joining the conference, and I feel a certain ownership of this team that I haven't felt towards any sports team since those Gator Basketball teams of the mid 1990s when I was a student. The circa 1998-2002 Hurricanes and recent Gator teams had my attention, and I watched them accordingly. The mid 1990s Gators and this year's Hurricanes have my heart.

When you watch a team closely you understand them better, and can set your expectations accordingly. I have for years expected a collapse from Miami's Football program due to the changing landscape in college football, the lack of good football facilities, the move to Dolphins Stadium and the emergence of smaller, more attractive public school programs in Florida. I have been correct in my assessment of Miami Football and do not believe despite the recruiting rankings that Miami will ever be a consistent Football power again. I know the Miami Football program which is precisely why I believe its history must be honored more than it is, and our fan base needs to understand that the elements that created Miami's rise and dominance simply no longer exist in College sports.

Basketball is a natural for Miami, with the exception of the lack of fan support. An urban school, with great weather in the best basketball league perception wise in the country. Miami's move to the ACC peaked my interest in the program. I'll admit I have always had a bit of a fetish for ACC Basketball. I had no rooting interest in the league but for years I caught every game possible whether nationally televised or not because it was something I wanted to be a part of. ACC Basketball is like European Football (soccer). The crowd passion and interest makes want to be a part of it. The SEC and Big East never did that for me.

So the move to the ACC took me, a Miami fan who previously went to few Hurricane games a season into the ranks of an obsessed crazed lunatic. Suddenly not only were the Hurricane Basketball team more important than every other sports team I follow, but they were more important than the past UM and UF teams I had so adored and they were more important to me than the Gator teams that were about to win two national titles.

Suddenly, I did something I swore I would never do. I paid attention to recruiting and now I've followed the recruitment and careers of every UM player save Anthony King (who was recruited by Perry Clark when Miami still played in the Big East) on an almost day by day basis it seems. Unlike Football, you sit right by the floor in Basketball and you seemingly interact with the players all season long. You watch the game develop and notice the intangibles guys bring to the table. You watch players mature and grow and see how adversity affects them. You understand the game because you are close to the game. College Football doesn't offer that unless you're a Bull Gator or Hurricane Club member.

Thus, I came to the conclusion after last season that Miami was in better shape following a last place ACC finish than the after the previous season where Miami's season had ended with a last second loss that denied the Canes a trip to Madison Square Garden at the NIT Final Four. I had seen both teams, one a somewhat winning team, and one a losing team. I determined based on grit, and personality that the losing team was better and would the next season be a winning team that could finish in the ACC upper division. Just as up close observation of Miami Football had me determining the program was terminally ill, I felt Miami Basketball despite poor results was about the explode.

Tomorrow, Miami's season will likely end in Little Rock. Texas is just too good right now for the Canes, but the game provides a striking model. Should Frank Haith stay at Miami, Texas is clearly the model the Hurricanes are following. A physical team with a strong low post game, that can control tempo. A program that can consistently make the NCAAs in a football crazed state whose attention for Basketball is minimal. Frank Haith is a Rick Barnes protege' and he has built the program in the Texas mold. I've watched him build the program from the ground up and am loving the ride as I have rarely done with sports teams in the past. The ride continues next season as Miami's program continues to grow in stature and reputation, while hopefully South Florida finally becomes aware that College Basketball season begins before March.