A Whole New World

While the Football program at the "U" continues to garner local and national attention for all the wrong reasons, the Basketball programs keeps collecting wins, and now sits in a very favorable position to close out the non conference portion of the schedule with a maybe only one loss ( a very difficult trip to Starkville, MS next week). Miami's fans may not be willing to embrace Basketball but it appears the media in south Florida eager for any team locally that is competitive (besides FAU football which still has a minor league feel to it for many) is beginning to create a bandwagon affect for this team. Sunday's thrashing of former Big East rival St John's was satisfying from two very distinct standpoints: It showed when Miami is focused they can rout a power league opponent albeit a poor opponent, and it also showed once again that Miami's defense when turned up, can completely shut down the opponents offense for long stretches and stifle any momentum from the opposition.

Miami's first half performance was poor. Despite running out to a 29-19 lead I was unhappy with the shot selection and the unwillingness to really focus on a low post game offensively. Defensively, the Hurricanes were allowing St John's far too many second chance baskets, which is unacceptable considering Miami should NEVER be out-rebounded at the Bank United Center. St John's closed the half on a ten to zero run and things were looking gloomy for the Hurricanes at halftime.

The Canes came out in the second half and on the first three possessions got the ball inside to Anthony King. Lance Hurdle replaced the erratic Eddie Rios at point guard and before long the lead was again in double digits and St John's was to never get closer than nine points in the fourteen minutes of the game. We'll have much more on the game as well as player ratings (our newest feature) later Monday afternoon.