This is how the North Miami boys’ basketball program has changed.

Ray Benoit, the North Miami High School boys’ basketball coach who is hoping to lead the Pioneers to their fourth consecutive regional playoffs appearance next month, has no trouble relating to his players.

“I tell them: ‘I’m one of you’,” said Benoit, 37. “I went to school at North Miami. My parents [James and Gladys] still live just eight blocks away.”

Benoit, who is 5-8, wanted to play basketball for the Pioneers two decades ago, but he lacked ideal height and hadn’t been properly trained. For example, no one had taught Benoit to dribble with his off hand. So, instead of playing basketball, Benoit wrestled at North Miami.

But he never forgot the sport he loved.

In 2009, he and his wife, Maritsa, started the Roaring Tigers youth basketball program. That led to him becoming North Miami’s junior varsity coach in 2012 and the varsity boss in 2016.

North Miami is 74-23 since Benoit took over. The Pioneers were 20-29 in the two years before he became the varsity coach.

With the Roaring Tigers, his kids played on the outdoor courts at North Miami High, often in suffocating heat.

“We called it ‘The Jungle’,” Benoit said. “But that’s what gave our kids toughness.”

One of those kids was Carlos Hart, who was a fifth-grader when he met Benoit.

Hart, now a 6-6 senior, has grown into the leader of the Pioneers. Averaging 18.8 points, 6.5 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 2.0 steals, Hart is on the short list of best basketball players in Miami this season, a grouping that also includes Justin Neely of Miami High, Devin Carter of Doral Academy, Tony Sanders of Gulliver Prep, Ga’Khari Lacount of Coral Park and Malik Reneau of Mater, among others.

Hart, 17, spent part of his youth — from ages 3 to 8 — living in Brazil with his Brazilian-born mother.

He played soccer, as millions of Brazilians do, but switched to basketball when his family moved to South Florida. Even so, he was about to quit basketball when, fortuitously for all involved, he met Benoit.

“He was the guy who put the ball in my hands [as a point guard],” Hart said. “He took me to tournaments to see different things. I trusted him. Before [Benoit], I didn’t know what I wanted to do.”

Hart became a Pioneers starter toward the end of his sophomore year, and he is a mid-major-type college recruit at the moment, with recruiting interest from Ball State, Stetson and others.

If/when Hart gets qualifying test scores for college, offers could roll in for him.

In the meantime, he is enjoying playing at North Miami’s 600-seat gym, where the Pioneers have won 28 consecutive games, dating back to its last home loss on Jan. 8, 2016 against Krop.

Benoit said North Miami games have become an event.

“When I was hired as head coach, our crowds were little to none, and our opponent would often bring more fans to our own gym,” said Benoit, who also teaches history at North Miami. “Now, it’s a party.

“We have themes for each game. Our crowds are usually packed, with prizes for fans.

“Our goal is to get every department involved –band, chorus, cheerleaders, the art department making banners, the middle-school kids coming out … We want everyone invested because we put on a show.”

Benoit, who is a Miami native of Haitian ancestry, said there had long been a “stigma” that Haitians like only soccer, not basketball. But at North Miami, with student enrollment that Benoit estimates at about 80 percent Haitian, that is proving to be an incorrect perception.

Benoit said there was also a misconception about North Miami as a school.

“When I went to school here, it was rough,” Benoit said. “But now it’s like a mini college campus. We have a firefighter program, an e-sports program, TV production.

“North Miami is very innovative. We’ve jumped into a new age.”

Even so, the Class 6A Pioneers (110-2) are yearning for more respect on the court — the kind that comes with winning a state title. And the Pioneers having won state since 1960.

“We play with a chip on our shoulders, diving for loose balls,” Benoit said. “We’ve been overlooked for years, just like our school itself.”