By Kartik Krishnaiyer for allCanesBlog.com

On Friday, Miami returns to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2002. Those Canes were supremely talented, but were unprepared for the tournament and fell off the national map the next season with an 11-17 record thanks largely to head coach Perry Clark’s ineptitude. This year’s Canes arguably have only one player that would’ve started on that team, but are on the upswing – and unlike the 2002 team – have a coach who has a sense of how to do things correctly.

St Mary’s is the opponent Friday in Little Rock. Like most No. 7 v. No. 10 match ups in the NCAA’s first round, this is an even game with perhaps even a slight edge to Gaels. St Mary’s has an athletic, quick team and shoots the 3-pointer very well. That means Miami’s perimeter defense must play better than it has for much of this season.

Here are some other key’s to Friday’s first round game:

Consistent Point Guard Play: In my mind, the Canes would be nowhere near the NCAAs if Lance Hurdle had not emerged as a go-to point guard late in the season. At the midway point in the ACC campaign I was unsure if Miami was even worthy of an NIT bid as they looked so slow and dysfunctional on offense. Furthermore, their 2-3 match up zone defense had been exposed.

Hurdle’s emergence in the stretch of games that began in Blacksburg and culminated in a resounding win at home over Maryland. It changed the Hurricanes season and the way they moved the ball on offense. Since those games, Hurdle has been inconsistent. He was terrible at Clemson, @ FSU, and non-existent Friday against Virginia Tech.

He came to play against Virginia, Boston College and in the ACC tourney against N.C.State. When Hurdle is on, the Hurricanes have won seven straight. When he’s been off, they haven’t won since January.

Hurdle was ‘on’ against Duke, so Miami slayed a the giant. He was off against FSU – twice – giving the Noles a sweep of their biggest league rival. Against St Mary’s he must push the tempo and also play lockdown D on Patrick Mills, the Gaels best player and one of the best freshmen in the nation.

Mills stars for the Australian national team and is the type of point guard than reminds me of Raymond Felton and Tauren Green – the last two national championship point guards. He’s comfortable going to his right or left off the dribble and is a lights out shooter. Focusing on Mills often times means that other St Mary’s players get open looks.

Collins must post up and be aggressive on the boards: Dwayne Collins poor play the last four games has been mystifying. After dominating in the paint the whole month of February, March has shown Collins to be a step slower and even worse, a step lazier. Too many off the ball fouls and an unwillingness to go strong at his man to the basket. Collins also has failed to set a single effective pick the last three games.

Simply put, I fear the big man has run out of gas. Omar Samhan the Gaels best big man is tough to defend in the paint, but he’s certainly not as strong as some of the post players Collins has matched up with in the ACC.

Asbury Must Show Up: Brian Asbury is a swing man who is difficult to guard when his head is in the game. Asbury can blow by defenders on the dribble and also hit outside jumpers. He is also the only decent man to man perimeter defender on the team and thus Frank Haith has had to resort to play almost purely zone this season. But Asbury often times doesn’t show up. He was benched midway through the season and on regular occasions simply takes the day off.

We saw how mentally fragile Asbury was as a freshman when the Canes were looking for any sort of bench scoring to make an NCAA push. As a sophomore he was the best player on a bad team. As a junior he has been a non-factor more often than not on a likely tournament team. Asbury’s career he’s been frustrating and ineffective when Miami needed him most – yet great when the games haven’t mattered. This game matters and Asbury must step up.

However Friday plays out, Miami Basketball is back where it feels it belongs after years of putting in the heavy lifting and building a program. Whether Miami wins or loses against St. Mary’s, it feels oh-so-good to be dancing yet again.

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