The University of Miami’s women team basketball beat top seed Indiana to reach the Sweet 16, then beat fourth-seeded Villanova on Friday to reach the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.
Miami’s men did it the other way. They beat fourth-seed Indiana to reach the Sweet 16, then top seed Houston on Friday night to reach the Elite Eight.
Neither had the path cleared out for them to reach the doorstep of their respective Final Fours. But here they are with Florida Atlantic in the Elite Eight and Division II Nova Southeastern in its championship game Saturday in delivering the kind of March that is, well, remarkable.
This isn’t a hot-bed of college basketball. It’s a cold-bed in some historical respects. But you don’t have to be a college basketball fan to understand what’s at work right now. That’s the point. It’s that remarkable for these four programs to reach this point on the same weekend.
2. Miami men’s coach Jim Larrañaga had to replace point guard Charlie Moore last year and his staff looked at video of 11 point guards they thought they’d have a chance to get through the transfer portal. Nijel Pack showed why he was the top choice again on Friday. He was 7-of-10 on 3-point shooting as Miami led in double digits for the final 11 minutes of the game. Miami, in other words, didn’t just beat the final top seed in the tournament. The staggering part was how easily it won.
3. Florida Atlantic and Miami would only meet in the championship game. This game wouldn’t draw much interest in a regular-season matchup. Let’s be honest. But it tells what each team has done in March that it’s a bit staggering to consider each team is two wins away from this championship game. They’re two big wins, of course. But no one even considered this as an option.
4. Quote of the day I: “”I can’t believe it. I’m not going to act cool. This is awesome.” — UM women’s coach Katie Meier
Quote of the day II: “I can’t even explain the feeling really,” — UM guard Haley Cavinder
Quote of the day III: “We didn’t play very good. And they did.” —Houston coach Kelvin Sampson
5. If Pack was the star Friday night, it’s clear the most irreplaceable player Miami has is 6-foot-7 center Norchad Omier. He’s the physical presence this team has. He had a game-high 13 rebounds after having a game-high 17 rebounds the previous game against Indiana. He got a new fan Friday, too
“That kid’s been the biggest, strongest kid in every game he’s played,” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. “We played against 7-footers this year, 6-10, 6-11 – they were never a factor. This kid was because of how good he is. … he impacts winning in so many ways.
“There were so many loose balls batted around. He got them. We got them all year … I was impressed with him. He was a load.”
6. Nova Southeastern coach Jim Crutchfield has a singular backstory and part of that means he has a familiar opponent in the Division II championship game on Saturday afternoon. It’s the West Liberty (W. Va) team he previously turned into a national power. West Liberty didn’t have a 20-win season before he became he coach at 48. He turned in 11 straight 20-win seasons. He then came to Nova and turned the Sharks into a national power, as they’re 64-1 over the past two years.
7. It must have been a difficult ride for parts of this season for Meier with the NCAA investigation into the NIL deal of the Cavinder twins and whether an improper dinner was involved. Yeah, a dinner. This winning run to her program’s first Elite Eight couldn’t have come at a better time in that regard. She sent a text to each player after beating Indiana: “Believe.” Miami, a ninth-seed, kept believing and now plays third-seed LSU to go to the Final Four.
8. Larrañaga danced in the winning locker room. Of course he did. It’s an expected part of Miami dancing through the tournament. It was a tribute the Commodores and Marvin Gaye with the song “Night Shift.” Larrañaga said it’s such a favorite of his, “My wife is sick of it.”
Ratings for the dance?
“I think we can agree it was an A, not an A-plus,” Pack said. “He’s still mobile for his age.”
“What do you mean ”for his age?’ ” Larrañaga said.
“Yeah …,” Pack said to laughter.
9. I sat in on a video session with Miami’s team this past week and one point of emphasis was Houston’s offensive rebounding. That idea was hammered home all week, to the point Larrañaga put a 3-point lane in the meeting room the night before the game and had five players stand in it. That’s how he wanted them to play — don’t let Houston get inside and don’t let them rebound.
“Then they packed 12 guys in the elevator and it got stuck,” Larrañaga said. “It took a half-hour and firemen [to get them out].”
Houston still had 11 offensive rebounds to Miami’s 6. But none of them changed the game, and the two teams tied in rebounds at 35.
10. Meier, by the way, refused to call this the biggest win of her career. The idea was she thinks a bigger one is waiting for this team. Miami’s men, Florida Atlantic and NSU can all say the same. It’s a remarkable weekend. There’s no other way to describe it.
