The Beast : Hooping Around

Before I get going, a confession; I didn’t watch last night’s men’s basketball’s ACC opener. It’s my wife’s birthday and we spent the night at the Hard Rock, mostly watching people with money lose it.

However, I’ve been watching these Canes since the season began and here are some thoughts.

While this team certainly hasn’t shot the ball amazingly well, averaging just over 43% from the floor, I think I’m more concerned about the defense. They did a pretty good last night against Virginia, but the Cavaliers’ overall goal is to get you locked in a low scoring game. I’m more concerned when facing teams that run and teams that have deadly outside shooters.

I posed a few questions to head coach Jim Larranaga before the team left for Charlottesville and he was brutally honest with his answer (which you can find in the archives regarding last week’s edition of allCanes Radio).

Coach L stated that his team isn’t even close to being on the same page regarding what he wants to do defensively. Forget about implementing the scramble defense, which helped propel George Mason to the latter rounds of ‘The Dance’ – this team is still struggling to get back to playing man-to-man.

In my interview with Reggie Johnson this week (which can also be heard on allCanes Radio), he was pretty open and honest about the team’s defensive shortcomings. Coach L’s philosophy is simple; be ahead of the ball. He wants all five guys back before the ball gets there and if any are out of place, it disrupts the entire system.

Coach implied that it could take two to three years before this program will fully be able to implement his long-time, preferred defense, including the scramble.

On a positive note, I really love Kenny Kadji. He’s big enough to play inside, yet athletic enough to be more versatile than you’re typical big man. Florida’s loss is indeed Miami’s gain.

The other thing I really like about this team – the amount of options Coach L has. Trey McKinney Jones. Rion Brown. Erik Swoope. Garrius Adams. All these guys can get hot and really compliment Shane Larkin, Malcolm Grant and Durand Scott.

Speaking of No. 1, while I’d still love to see him become more aggressive, you have to be happy with Scott’s assist-to-turnover ratio, which currently stands at 49-to-24.

Grant is obviously going through a tough stretch off the court, dealing with the death of his brother. He was 3-of-12 from the floor last night, but knowing the type of player and person he is, you know he’ll come around soon.

Certainly the Canes will get a real test on Tuesday night when facing the Tar Heels in the Dean Dome. It’s crazy that the ACC would make Miami play four of their first six conference games on the road, but it shouldn’t surprise anyone. So much love in the conference office for the Canes.

I’m trying to limit my expectations for Tuesday night. I’m hoping for a good game and for Miami to at least be in it at the end. Of course it will take a much better defensive effort for that to be a reality against North Carolina.

IN OTHER NEWS : Props to head coach Katie Meier and her Canes who continue dominating at home. The women’s squad beat N.C. State, 78-68, last Thursday night, extending their home winning streak to thirty-three games.

A good crowd was out there supporting Coach Meier and the girls and once again, Riquina Williams came up big. ‘Bay Bay’ had 22 points, including four three-pointers, while Pepper Wilson grabbed eleven board and seems to get more comfortable playing with this squad every game.

Head on out to The BUC as the women come home to face Maryland after a jaunt in Atlanta tomorrow night.

Lastly, I know we pulled some nice recruits this weekend, and I have some thoughts on Al Golden and his recruiting thus far, but I’m going to hold off on that for a day or two until I can talk to some experts that have seen this kids play.

We’re efforting the Miami Herald’s Manny Navarro for Thursday’s allCanes Radio show to talk recruiting. Who knows who else might show up? Stay tuned!

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