Miami’s mad March sees men, women programs in Elite 8

By James On Mar 25, 2023

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Nijel Pack understands why the question is being asked. He plays for a school that has won five national soccer championships.

How did Miami get so good at basketball?

“I’ve heard of all the great football players that have been here,” Pack said, “but the basketball program has been coming up in recent years and people respect them now.”

The Hurricanes have doubled down on their basketball success with both the men’s and women’s teams reaching the Elite Eight, and both knocking out No. 1 seeds along the way.

They will play on Sunday for the chance to go to their first Final Fours. Jim Larrañaga’s (28-7) men will take on second-seeded Texas in the afternoon in Kansas City and Katie Meier’s (22-12) women will take on three-time champion LSU in the afternoon in Greenville, South Carolina.

“The two programs have a lot in common,” Meier said. “We’re very competitive, like a big brother-little sister or big sister-little brother, depending on who won that week. We get like that with each other and I love it. …

“Whether it’s lying on the practice table next to someone, one player next to the other player saying, ‘Why did you miss that shot?’ — are there competing with each other in a very loving way. I think it has elevated both of our programs.”

Miami’s mutual success comes as it has established itself as a beacon for the new era in college sports.

Like other programs, transfers have played a big part, but Miami has also, very publicly, gone full steam ahead in name, image and likeness with mega-driver John Ruiz providing lucrative deals to Pack and twins Haley and Hanna. Cavinder.

The ninth seeds have never advanced this far in the tournament before, and it’s been an exciting ride. They erased a 17-point halftime deficit to beat No. 8 Oklahoma State, beat No. 1 Indiana on Destiny Harden’s tiebreaker basket with 3.3 seconds left and eliminated No. 4 Villanova on Friday after wasting a 21-point lead in the second. half.

The fifth seed’s men’s run to their second straight regional final has been no less exciting. They rallied from an eight-point deficit with less than 5 minutes to go to beat No. 12 Drake before pulling off a 16-point victory over No. 4 Indiana. On Friday, they defeated No. 1 Houston by 14 points.

A version of the soccer-basketball question was the first to be posed at Larrañaga’s post-game press conference on Friday. He went out of his way to pay tribute to the school’s academic reputation and praise the work of the women’s team.

Men’s player Wooga Poplar said he gets the question frequently when he’s on campus, but was surprised when he spoke to local fans in Kansas City.

“I just tell them that soccer does soccer and we do basketball,” Poplar said, “and we’re both pretty good.”

Pack said he and his teammates have been keeping a close eye on the women during this especially crazy March on Miami.

“It was a lot of fun to watch their game, to see them beat Villanova, when they were expected to lose,” Pack said. “Doing Elite Eight for the first time in their show’s history is something people didn’t think of at the beginning of the year.”

Earlier in the year, the Miami shows were in the spotlight mainly for their foray into the NIL arena. Pack made headlines last spring when he left Kansas State and signed Ruiz to a contract; Ruiz says that he pays $800,000 over two years and provides Pack with a car.

Around the same time, the Cavinder twins, who built their Fresno State bank accounts on the back of more than 4 million TikTok followers, relocated to Miami.

His signing was immediately scrutinized and led to Meier missing the first three games this season due to a suspension imposed by the university in anticipation of NCAA sanctions. Last month, Miami received a year of after-school probation and the NCAA agreed that the coaches fixed impermissible contact between Ruiz and the Cavinders.

But the conversation has now shifted to what happens on the basketball courts.

Pack, who had 26 points and seven 3-pointers against Houston, is averaging 19.7 points per game in the tournament. ACC player of the year Isaiah Wong, who reportedly has a six-figure NIL contract, scored 20 points against Houston and has a tournament average of 17.3.

Haley Cavinder has led the women’s balanced offense at 12.5 points per game on the season. Jasmyne Roberts, a season-high 8.4 point scorer, went for 26 against Villanova and has a tournament average of 18.

Hanna Cavinder said she is savoring all that men and women are accomplishing.

“I think it’s great to see the two of us doing this together in a sense, and bring Miami into more of a school basketball kingdom,” he said. “It is very exciting to be a part of this. I know it’s probably something that may not be done again.”