Podcast: The state of Miami basketball. And Part 2 of our spring football preview
One of the Miami Hurricanes’ most thrilling weeks in three seasons came to an end Thursday with a 70-66 loss to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament and now, with the glow of a captivating run starting to fade, it’s time to take stock of another massively disappointing men’s basketball season.
Miami finished 13th in the ACC, won only four conference games before winning a pair of tournament games in Greensboro, North Carolina. To break down a fascinating end to a frustrating season, Michelle Kaufman, the Hurricanes basketball beat writer for the Miami Herald, joins David Wilson on a new episode of the Eye on the U podcast.
Wilson and Kaufman break down what went well for the Hurricanes at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex, what lessons it teaches us going into next season, what the transfer portal and extra year of eligibility will mean for Miami’s roster next year, whether coach Jim Larranaga is at all on the hot seat after likely missing the NCAA Tournament for the third straight year.
There are reasons for optimism entering the 2021-22 college basketball season, but guard Chris Lykes’ uncertain status leaves a cloud over a struggling program.
For the second half of the episode, Susan Miller Degnan, the Hurricanes football beat writer for the Herald, joins Wilson for the second half of our spring football preview. This week, we focus on the defense, which suddenly is even more intriguing than the offense.
Wilson and Degnan pose five big questions we’re looking forward to seeing Miami answer in the next month: Who’s going to start at defensive end? What’s going to happen at linebacker? How good will cornerback Tyrique Stevenson and safety Avantae Williams be?
Mostly, we’re just excited football is back. A year after the COVID-19 pandemic prematurely shut down spring practices in Coral Gables, the spring will be different, but at least it’ll happen.
