forums

Canes #11/13 (Coach/AP) - 2.20.23

Advertisement
Advertisement
1676921349293.png

sports.yahoo.com

NCAAB College Basketball Rankings

Sports News, Scores, Fantasy Games
sports.yahoo.com sports.yahoo.com
 
Advertisement
Right now, if the season ended today, you could put all of TWO things on our season tombstone.

"Lost by 18 at a neutral site to a team that will make the NCAA Tournament"

and

"Lost by 6 in a road game at GaTech, a team that will not make the NCAA Tournament".

And for both of those horrible, unforgivable sins, we can't earn any respect for all the games we've won...

Even though at least six of the teams the NCAA has ahead of us have at least one double-digit loss AND at least one loss to a terrible conference opponent.
 
TheOriginalCane said:
Right now, if the season ended today, you could put all of TWO things on our season tombstone.

"Lost by 18 at a neutral site to a team that will make the NCAA Tournament"

and

"Lost by 6 in a road game at GaTech, a team that will not make the NCAA Tournament".

And for both of those horrible, unforgivable sins, we can't earn any respect for all the games we've won...

Even though at least six of the teams the NCAA has ahead of us have at least one double-digit loss AND at least one loss to a terrible conference opponent.
Click to expand...
I'm ok with the loss to Maryland. The 2 losses that will haunt us were the Ga Tech and blowing a 8 point lead late in the game against Pitt. I know Pitt is a solid team but still the NCAA will f Miami any chance they get.
 
Advertisement
Mklein13 said:
I'm ok with the loss to Maryland. The 2 losses that will haunt us were the Ga Tech and blowing a 8 point lead late in the game against Pitt. I know Pitt is a solid team but still the NCAA will f Miami any chance they get.
Click to expand...


While I am frustrated with the late-game collapse at Pitt, it was still a 3-point ROAD loss to a team that is currently a half-game behind us in the ACC standings. So I don't think the NCAA is holding that against us.

The other losses I cited by other teams (including UM's loss to GaTech) were to BAD teams, not the third place team in the league.

Just sayin'...
 
“I’ll tell you what I’m thinking about, and it’s Virginia Tech,” Larrañaga said. “I know everyone looks ahead to the future, but I don’t. My staff and I focus on one game at a time. We’re trying to get ready to play our best basketball against Virginia Tech. We know there’s going to be a great crowd, a very enthusiastic crowd and these are games you want to play really well. It’s the end of February, going to be March very soon, and you want to just stay focused on playing well, and Virginia Tech is playing well.”

In their first matchup on Jan. 31, Miami came away with a 92-83 victory at home thanks in part to a heroic effort from guard Nijel Pack, who scored 17 points during a five-minute stretch. This time around, the Hurricanes will be the visitors, and Larrañaga expects a battle inside Cassell Coliseum.

“I don’t expect a different kind of game,” Larrañaga said. “In the last month, Justyn Mutts and Grant Basile have picked up their game. Grant Basile is averaging over 24 points in their last five games, and Justyn Mutts is over 16. Our defense in the front court is going to be very challenged. Norchad Omier and Jordan Miller really need to step up defensively for us to guard them. Their guards (Sean) Pedulla and (Hunter) Cattoor, (both) had 20 against us so it’s not like our guards can help out so much on their bigs. It really comes down to how well we can keep pressure on them and force missed shots and turnovers.”

Larrañaga gave high praise to Hokies head coach Mike Young, calling him an offensive savant, and the work of Basile, whom he compared to a Larry Bird type of player due to their similar size and offensive traits.

“They’re as good offensively as anybody in the country,” Larrañaga said. “I see a lot of Larry Bird in Grant Basile’s game. He’s got a lot of offensive skill, he can stretch the defense and shoot the three, but he’s also very good at posting up, using his right hand for a jump hook and backing you in, or a left hand. He’s a really outstanding scorer because he has so many offensive skills.”

Ahead of the matchup, Larrañaga spoke more about what the keys to victory will be as the Hurricanes attempt to keep their prospects of winning the ACC regular-season championship alive as they sit only half a game behind the conference leaders Virginia.

“They’re a terrific offensive team with a lot of weapons,” Larranaga said. “With Basile and Mutts playing as well as they are right now, our main focus is how do we guard these guys. How do we slow them down.”

According to Larrañaga, whose team leads the ACC in scoring with a 79.7 points per game average, creating stops and turnovers on the defensive side of the ball will be crucial to the success of the Hurricanes’ offense tomorrow night.

“Our offense is predicated on our defense,” Larranaga added. “We get some turnovers, some steals, defensive rebounds, we’re able to get to the open court. In the open court, you normally end up with one of three things: a layup, an open three, or a turnover. If we can keep our turnovers low and get open threes and layups, then we can score and shoot the ball effectively at a good percentage.”
 
Miami's +2 tomorrow...you'd think Miami only won 2 road games conference games all year the way these lines have been.
 
Advertisement
Mklein13 said:
Miami's +2 tomorrow...you'd think Miami only won 2 road games conference games all year the way these lines have been.
Click to expand...

It's not so bad. Two points is nothing.

In the ACC Miami is 5-4 on the road and VT is 5-3 at home. Honestly I'd rather be an underdog going in. Lowers expectations and puts a chip on the kids shoulders.
 
Cryptical Envelopment said:
It's not so bad. Two points is nothing.

In the ACC Miami is 5-4 on the road and VT is 5-3 at home. Honestly I'd rather be an underdog going in. Lowers expectations and puts a chip on the kids shoulders.
Click to expand...
What I didn’t expect was Unc -4 last Monday. I figured it would be a pick ‘em. And I thought Miami would be -1 or -2 tomorrow.
 
TheOriginalCane said:
Right now, if the season ended today, you could put all of TWO things on our season tombstone.

"Lost by 18 at a neutral site to a team that will make the NCAA Tournament"

and

"Lost by 6 in a road game at GaTech, a team that will not make the NCAA Tournament".

And for both of those horrible, unforgivable sins, we can't earn any respect for all the games we've won...

Even though at least six of the teams the NCAA has ahead of us have at least one double-digit loss AND at least one loss to a terrible conference opponent.
Click to expand...


It’s not actually our losses that are tanking our NET ranking. Of course they’re not helping, but it’s the wins against mediocre teams where we gave up a lot of points.

Neither net nor kenpom allows a ranking to be overly influenced by one or two games. Kenpom does weight early season games for offensive efficiency metrics and punish poor defensive performance early in the season. But our bad metrics are because we have not destroyed the mid teams we played… we beat them but we let them score. Thus a bad defensive efficiency ranking that is killing our NET and kenpom.

For example, our defensive efficiency ranking dropped like 10 spots after the 2nd Louisville game… and our kenpom ranking dropped by 5-6 slots.

I’m not defending the idiocy of using weighted margin of victory (which is ultimately what net efficiency metrics measure) over actual wins and losses… but that’s basically what they’re doing.
 
Advertisement
Back
Top