What Went Wrong: How Miami Ended Up in the NIT

By Kartik Krishnaiyer
Canes Rising Staff

Pre-season expectations were out of control this fall as Miami was ranked 16th in the coaches poll and 17th in the AP Poll to start the season. Other pre-season publications actually had the Canes ranked even higher. So as Miami mercifully ends its season on the road in the NIT (thanks to the Latin Grammy Awards) let's look back at how Miami got here.

- The Slap

No avoiding that fact that Miami's season took a psychological hit at this point. Jack McClinton had already scored 12 points to open up a 12 point Canes lead in front of a packed Bank United Center crowd. But the Canes collapsed after McClinton's ejection and lost a critical non league game.

- The Suspension

Eddie Rios wasn't a power conference caliber point guard. He belonged at FIU or FAU quite frankly. But after his suspension and subsequent dismissal from the team, Miami was out of pure point guards. Last season Lance Hurdle's poor ball handling didn't catch up with the Canes until the NCAA Tournament, but this year Hurdle struggled due to playing more minutes and by the end of the year was completely gassed.

- The Graduations

Anthony King and Ray Hicks were solid contributors last year to Miami's success. Without them The Canes lost a shot blocker, a rebounding machine and a scrappy hustle player in the post. All three of those things were not replaced this season.

- The Close Loses

Basketball is a funny game. Anything can happen in the first 37 minutes of a game. For the Hurricanes, they generally dug themselves an early hole only to then go on a big late first half or early second half run. But Miami was almost always terrible in the last three minutes of games. The lone exception, a win at Virginia should not matter because it was against Virginia.

For example against NC State in Raleigh, Miami turned an early second half deficit of 19 into a lead of 3 in the last minute before going to overtime and losing. Against Duke and Virginia Tech, Miami also lost in OT, and against North Carolina, Ohio State, and Maryland the Hurricanes also made numerous mistakes in winnable games in the last three minutes.

Had Miami beaten EITHER Duke or UNC chances are they would have been dancing, with an 8-8 ACC record and a win over a top two NCAA seed. Miami had Duke beat on the road and let the game slip away and had North Carolina reeling only to let Ty Lawson get off a circus shot with :11 seconds left to sink the Canes.

Late game execution is largely about psychology. Miami, a year a fter a good season and an NCAA run had a losing mentality.

- Over Reliance on Jack McClinton

Miami didn't seem to ever settle into a comfort zone with another scorer all season. If a game was on the line and Miami was desperate, the ball inevitably would go to McClinton. Brian Asbury's shot that sent the game against VT to overtime not withstanding, other Hurricane players didn't want to take the big shots or bear the responsibility of carrying the Canes back in big ACC games. To a certain extent Florida State has the same problem with Tony Douglas, but FSU's overall supporting cast is better than Miami's.

- The Zone Defense

The easiest explanation for Miami's numerous and close loses is that the 2-3 zone employed through much of the season by Coach Frank Haith was a first 37 minute tactic, but not appropriate for late game situations. The Canes often lost track of key opposition players like AD Vassalo, Gerald Henderson and Ty Lawson late in close games thanks largely to this defense and laziness the Canes played it with late.