Miami gets a taste of March Madness and, yes, it’s mighty sweet (16) | Editorial
It was March Madness of the best kind Sunday night, with the bracket-busting win for the University of Miami men’s basketball team. That means a Sweet 16 appearance on Friday and the chance to advance to the Elite Eight for the first time in the program’s history.
Amid grim world news — Ukraine, more COVID, rising seas and all the rest — the underdog Hurricanes’ win over No. 2 seed Auburn offered a moment of real joy.
We saw Miami Hurricanes guard Isaiah Wong’s one handed-dunk, after he wove past Auburn defenders and soared above the Tigers’ Jabari Smith. We saw Kam McGusty and Charlie Moore and the rest of the undersized but dominant team refuse to let up. We heard the loud and largely Auburn crowd in South Carolina quiet down, and then we heard the small corner of UM fans erupt in joy. And we celebrated, too, when we saw the grin plastered across coach Jim Larranaga’s face.
UM is known as a football school, but this was a moment for basketball, and it was that much better for being unexpected. At halftime, with UM leading, Larranaga told the Miami Herald he used a line from the movie “Braveheart” to motivate the players, asking them if they were willing “fight for everything we stand for.”
They answered his call in no uncertain terms.
We don’t know how Miami will fare when the team faces Iowa State in Chicago at the end of the week. But from the heart they displayed on Sunday, against the odds, we know that they are already winners.
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This story was originally published March 21, 2022 at 1:09 PM.