The Miami Hurricanes’ dream season ended a week ago in a Sweet 16 loss to third-seeded Marquette, but the season put together by Jim Larranaga won’t soon be forgotten, proven by another post-season accolade.
Larranaga earned AP Coach Of The Year honors on Thursday, going along with the same conference honor earned weeks back when Miami took down North Carolina in Greensboro for the ACC Tournament Championship, days after winning the conference outright.
Miami finished the season 29-7, with signature wins over Michigan State, Duke, North Carolina (three times) and other conference rivals like Florida State, Clemson and North Carolina State.
Miami faced fifteen-seed Pacific in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament and followed it up with a second round win over seventh-seeded Illinois. The Canes then returned to Coral Gables for a few days rest, and things began to unravel.
Senior center Reggie Johnson was sidelined with a knee injury, bringing on a procedure that would’ve sidelined him until this weekend’s Final Four, at best, had UM advanced.
Johnson had struggled on the court as of late, but was viewed by teammates as an integral piece of the puzzle and a leader.
From there, senior point guard and ACC Defensive Player Of The Year, Durand Scott, was rattled when having a few teeth knocked loose at practice. After that it was ACC Tournament MVP and sophomore point guard Shane Larkin was hit with the stomach flu hours before Miami’s match-up with third-seeded Marquette.
The rest is history as the Golden Eagles played their best game, the Hurricanes played their worst and a not-as-close-as-the-final-score, ten-point loss was handed to a team many expected to be playing this weekend.
While the early exit hurt, the praise showered down on this Miami team for a tremendous season continues to drive home just how special this run is.
UM fans already knew Coach L was masterful in 2012-2013 and thankfully the media is giving credit where it’s due.
Christian Bello has been covering Miami Hurricanes athletics since the mid-1990s. After spending almost a decade as a columnist for CanesTime, he launched allCanesBlog.com. – the official blog for allCanes.com : The #1 Canes Shop Since 1959. Bello has joined up with XOFan.com and will be a guest columnist at CaneInsider.com this fall. Follow him on Twitter @ChristianRBello.