Larrañaga has Miami ‘playing with joy’ heading into historic Elite Eight game vs. Kansas
Jim Larrañaga gathered his players into a circle in the campus fieldhouse in Coral Gables 10 days ago, moments before heading to the airport for their first-round NCAA Tournament game in Greenville, South Carolina.
He had a final message as they prepared for the sport’s biggest stage:
“Have a blast and be as accessible as possible to the national media” Larrañaga told them. “This is your chance to tell the Miami story, to show your personalities, tell them who we are and how much fun we have.”
The Hurricanes’ remarkable journey is no longer a secret on the eve of their historic Elite Eight game against No. 1 seed Kansas at the United Center (2:20 p.m., CBS).
From 10-17 last year to 12th place in the ACC preseason poll to 26-10 and one win away from the Final Four.
And all the while smiling, engaging with the media, and having a blast, just as their coach instructed. At the end of warmups before Friday’s 70-56 win over Iowa State, UM players got in a huddle and roared with laughter as Rodney Miller held his finger atop a basketball on the court as if he were a holder teeing up for a football field goal. Kam McGusty then pretended he was taking the kick. It has become a pregame ritual during the tournament.
“It gets us smiling, gets us loose,” Jordan Miller said, wearing an ear-to-ear grin.
After the game, Larrañaga kissed leading scorer McGusty on the head during their on-court TV interview. The players then doused the jovial coach with water as he entered the locker room, and he broke into a dance.
Larrañaga had plenty of reason to be overjoyed.
In addition to leading UM to its first Elite Eight in school history this weekend, Larrañaga made a bit of personal history.
He became the first head coach in NCAA Tournament history to lead two different programs to the Elite Eight as double-digit seeds — No. 11 seed George Mason reached the Final Four in 2006 and No. 10 seed Miami is in the Elite Eight. As it happens, Saturday was the 16th anniversary of George Mason’s overtime upset of No. 1 overall seed UConn that landed them in the Final Four.
“When I think of [Larrañaga’s] teams, I think of well-coached, but I also think of freedom,” Kansas coach Bill Self said Saturday after the team’s practice. “Seems to me he always has his teams playing with joy, with a free mind and aggressive offensively, which I think is a great trait to have as a coach.”
The Hurricanes are determined to stay loose on Sunday, though they face the tallest task in program history. Three-time national champion Kansas (31-6) is playing in its 25th Elite Eight. With its 66-61 win over No. 4 seed Providence on Friday, KU became the all-time winningest program in NCAA men’s basketball history with 2,354 wins and is tied with Kentucky with 16 30-win seasons.
“For our players it’s a great opportunity to compete against the best,” Larrañaga said. “To consider yourself among the best, you’ve got to beat really good teams. I think we’ve done that so far, and we’re looking forward to the contest [Sunday].”
He compared the Jayhawks’ playing style to North Carolina and Michigan State, teams that try to score by attacking the rim in the first five seconds of their possession.
“When we prepare for North Carolina, the first and most important thing was to prevent the five-second layup because they were the best in the country, in my mind, at doing that,” Larrañaga said. “The next was Michigan State, so they were like 1A and 1B. Now, I think Kansas is probably 1A, they’re really great athletes who can play multiple positions.”
Jalen Wilson is 6-8 but plays like a guard. Remy Martin is “lightning fast and has incredible scoring ability,” Larrañaga said. “When you play Kansas, you have to try to get your defense back because if you don’t, they’re going to score on you fast and often.”
The Jayhawks play “a simple brand of basketball,” Larrañaga said. “It’s not like they have incredible schemes that my staff has to spend hours and days preparing for, no, it’s just like, ‘Man, those guys are just so good at what they do,’ they’re fundamentally sound.”
Self says his biggest concern about UM is its live-ball turnovers that lead to easy scoring opportunities. He said all five Jayhawks defenders will have to step up to stop Miami’s five-out offense. He is particularly familiar with Charlie Moore, who played a season at Kansas, and McGusty, who played at Oklahoma before transferring to UM.
“Charlie’s playing his tail off,” Self said. “I think he may have the best vision of anybody left in the tournament. He didn’t play a lot when he was with us in large part because we had two NBA players in guard slots then. But Charlie’s talented. He’s clever. He can get his own shot. He can certainly create for others. And he’s very crafty.
“Charlie was a good player for us, but he has become a terrific player. His game has gone to another level being at the University of Miami. I’m happy for him.”
Self added that McGusty’s game has evolved since landing at Miami. He scored a game-high 27 points against Iowa State.
“He had a good run at Oklahoma, but he can score at all three levels now,” Self said. “He can get it with his handle. He can get it off the catch. He can explode over you.”
Kansas is favored Sunday, but Larrañaga believes his team has the talent and heart to keep going.
“In life when you get knocked down, you find out who you are,” he said. “If you stay down, you don’t have much heart. We’ve been knocked down, three losing seasons. Not fun. But these guys — Sam [Waardenburg], Isaiah [Wong], Kam, they weren’t transferring out. And Rodney Miller, Deng Gak. They stayed and fought to get us back, showed huge heart and that’s why we are where we are.”
This story was originally published March 26, 2022 at 7:33 PM.