Tonight's loss for Miami was as devestating and stunning as any game I can recall in twenty plus years of watching UM Basketball closely. The only other game that comes to mind being this depressing was a loss in 1998 to Providence on the road. What happened in the last :16.3 seconds of overtime should NEVER happen in major college basketball. Firstly, Miami with a four point lead didn't play a full court defensive set allowing NC State a clean shot (somewhat contested but still a clean shot) at a 3. Miami then leads by one. After making one of two free throws, Anthony King a fifth year senior fails to box out giving NC State a put back to tie the game with about 4 second left and then again the fifth year senior panics on the imbound and Gavin Grant (who was almost deported last year) gets the steal and the runner to win the game. A game that Miami despite being taken to overtime totally controlled down the stretch. A game where Miami made the plays late and NC State didn't. A game that is likely to so psychologically damage the Hurricanes that my thinking is their season could be over. Totally over. Unless Frank Haith picks this team up mentally in the next 24 hours after giving away a game they earned on the road, my guess is that Miami wins one maybe two more games in the league. This is the exact opposite scenario of 2000 where Miami after wobbling through the non conference slate and losing two of its first three conference games found itself at 9-8 and losing to Vilanova on the road. A wild Johnny Hemsley shot at the buzzer later and Miami is 2-2 in the league and would only lose once more before the Big East Tournament. College Basketball more than any other game is based on psychology and streaks. I hope I am wrong, boy I really hope I'm wrong but I fear Miami is done for. The season ends in mid January despite having been nationally ranked for five weeks. Tisk tisk.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
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6 comments:
Agreed. I'd be shocked if they recover from this. Awful.
One can blame haith because we shouldn't be in that position against that team. We are a bottom dweller in the ACC because we don't have a team that can execute a set offense in a league that requires it. This isn't a second tier league where you can get away with that kind of shit. King taking 20' jumpers. Running the weave with Collins at the top. We won the 2nd half because of heart and great shooting. We won the second half because we executed some screens. That's not an offense. That will not win us 6 games in the ACC!! We squeaked by some mediocre and poor teams running that crap. Time to wake up!
I have a bad feeling that we are going to be 1-4 in the ACC after UNC and clemson and i hope i am wrong, but the wheels may come off after that and we may collapse like last season. this was a must win against a not very good team and we did just about everything a team could do to lose it. Just pathetic and sickening how bad this loss really was.
Last year we began 2-1. This is the worst three game start for Miami since joining the ACC. We were 2-1 in both 05' and 06' as well. 1-4 is likely, and actually 1-6 is better than a 50-50 likely hood. This team is sinking without a trace.
rios is only playing 3 minutes a game thats why he is not ready!
UM's POINT GUARDS: WHO'S BETTER AT IT? THE JR OR THE FRESH? HURDLE HAS PLAYED ALMOST 3 FULL GAMES AND RIOS HAS PLAYED HALF A GAME.
LAST 5 GAMES
HURDLE: MINUTES:111 ASSIST:9 REBS:7 3POINTS MADE:1 3POINTS ATTEMPED:11 FIELD GOALS MADE:7 FIELD GOALS ATTEMPTED:33 = 22%
RIOS: MINUTES:31 ASSIST:6 REBOUNDS:2 3POINTS MADE:3 3POINTS ATTEMPTED:5 FIELD GOALS MADE:3 FIELD GOALS ATTEMPTED:10 = 30%
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