Miami would scare the **** out of me if I was a fan of any other team because they are really good at doing the one thing you need to do to win and that college teams often struggle with, and that is score the basketball. Not a lot of teams average 80 a night and can do it a multitude of ways. We have kids who can beat you off the bounce, we have kids who can shoot, we have kids who can generate points without plays run for them (Omier), and we have a Swiss Army knife in Jordan Miller who does all of the above at a really high level. I personally hate this matchup for Miami simply because I believe Houston is the very best defensive team left in this tournament (yes I know Tennessee is still here, I said what I said), and they play at a very slow tempo that will magnify each possession more.
But if I'm a fan of any team, playing Miami scares the **** out of me because they're so **** good on the offensive end and they can beat you in so many different facets. They don't turn it over, they can all handle the ball (Omier included), just about everyone is at least a decent shooter, they have multiple kids who can go nuclear from deep, they excel in the midrange, Omier has a motor like nobody else on the glass.....Coach L said it best last night after the game, "we're just a really hard team to guard". He's right. There are just no weaknesses on this offense that you can exploit. It's a small team for sure, so if we faced a team with three dudes who were 6'10 and could move, it might be an issue, but if you're big, they'll just beat you off the bounce and if you're not, they'll just ball screen you to death and get openings on the perimeter, and then Omier is gonna punish whoever you have in the paint. This team is even better offensively than last year's, no doubt about it. And in basketball, good offense beats good defense. If you can make shots, you can hang with anyone. The one thing I trust this team to do better than anything is put the ball in the basket, and I think that's kind of the name of the game.
Can't wait for Friday. I just hope the kids come out the way they did against Indiana and not how they did against Drake. It wasn't so much the result for me vs. Drake, it was the mindset and intensity. They were tight, hesitant, and frankly looked scared. That's not how you play elite offensive basketball. What we did last night is Miami basketball. Confidence, decisiveness, aggression, the ball was moving everywhere, Omier was juiced out of his mind, Wong was looking for his shot...everybody just looked so much more confident and aggressive. We were SO fortunate to win on Friday night with how timid they played that game.
