So here is how Jim Larrañaga grinds his way to the Sweet 16: He walks across campus for lunch with his staff, same as always, and ducks in the Smoothie King for a small, Angel Food smoothie (strawberry, bananas and non-fat milk).
“Coming, coach!” a worker said when he entered Tuesday.
“They know what I want‚” he says.
Smoothie in hand, he walks to Subway in the student food court, same as always, and waits a dozen deep in line. His long-time assistant, Bill Courtney, says, “Watch, he’ll get the same sub he always does. Six-inch tuna, toasted, with provolone cheese and ...”
He is a man of routine. Same food. Similar dress. Alarm set for 7:15 a.m. every day (not that he needs it, always getting up early — 4:44 a.m. Tuesday morning). All of which is why in late March, Larrañaga appreciates returning to an NCAA Tournament routine that was missing during a few dark years.
“Good luck, coach!” a student says, asking for a selfie with him. Followed by another student. And another.
This is how it’s been on the 10-minute walk from his office and Larrañaga, ever mindful, will ask their name or make sure the background is proper. “Let’s turn here, so the water is in the background,” he says before one picture with a student.
“We’re dancing, coach!” the student says.
“Have you seen me dance?” he says, shuffling his feet.
Well, what did you expect? He would be an anxious mess approaching Friday’s game against Iowa State?
He’d already sat through a morning watching video in his office with his staff. His assistants — Courtney, Chris Caputo, DJ Irving and Jeff Dyer — sat that morning in his office watching video go back and forth, back and forth, on everything from Iowa State’s cutting offense to their zone defense.
“Count the number of cuts they make before a shot ...,” he says.
“Their big men are physical, watch them here ...,” he says.
“We’ll need this look on the scout team ...,” he says.
Here’s where an edge, any edge, means something. In Sunday’s win over Auburn, Miami’s coaches noticed Auburn switched from man-to-man defense to zone on out-of-bounds plays to the sideline. Their new play resulted in a dunk the first time.
They also double-teamed Auburn’s All-American center, Walker Kessler, resulting in an early turnover — and then isolated him on defense, resulting in two quick fouls and a trip to the bench. He also showed video of how the smaller Phoenix Suns defended Utah’s 7-1 Rudy Gobert before playing a big Auburn frontline.
That’s how you help your team go wire-to-wire in the win. It’s also the technical work that doesn’t always resonate in the manner Larrañaga’s half-time talk did.
“Here you go,” Dyer says over lunch at the food court, showing a video on his phone.
It’s of the scene from the movie “Braveheart” that Larrañaga referred to in his speech. He’s a big movie fan — “the only thing I do besides basketball is watch movies‚” he says. He’s used everything from “The Last Samurai” to “Kobra Kai” in talks.
“Braveheart” was a new one. Miami led Auburn by a point and he thought of what Mel Gibson, playing the Scottish leader William Wallace, said when the British plotted to take his land. “Are you ready to go to war?” he said.
The line resonated to the game Miami was in, even if only one player raised his hand about seeing the movie.
“Can we get that cut to show in practice?” Larrañaga says of the video on the phone.
Back at the office, there are interviews to do. That’s part of the frenzy of this week. Alex Schwartz, Miami’s media coordinator for men’s basketball, has organized 22 interviews Tuesday for players and coaches.
Larrañaga is always open to interviews and never moreso than this time of year. It’s all good news. Succeeding in the tournament? Making the Sweet 16? He’s been further down the road to the Final Four with George Mason in a magical 2006 tournament. He called over to a friend at the school bookstore to hear they sold $875,000 worth of merchandise that week.
“I asked what the normally sold — $11,000,” he said.
That’s the madness of March. So is this: Larrañaga’s Tuesday schedule includes, among others, ESPN radio, Doug Gottlieb’s radio show, a CBS all-access show making a mini-documentary of this week for Friday’s preview. Larrañaga is a storyteller, answering common questions like the one of his relationship with guard Charlie Moore with a story of a first practice when he put in a new defense that another player had trouble picking up.
Moore couldn’t practice yet as his physical wasn’t completed. Larrañaga wondered if he understood the defense.
“He said, ‘I not only understood it — I can remember it,’ " Larrañaga said.
Interview over, he jokes with the three-man crew, “Come on, that’s a funny line! No one laughed!”
His coaches meet in Irving’s office to go over more film. Then he does the Gottlieb show, where it’s mentioned he has another hobby: Geography. It’s true, too. In fact, as he’s telling of his love of geography he’s walking to practice and sees center Sam Waardenburg.
“Sam, what’s your major?” he asks.
“Geography,” he says.
“I love it,” he says.
Walking on the court, he blows a whistle. Practice is ready. First, a Zoom call is waiting with a 14-year-old boy, Brannon, who has a heart condition and been part of the program for three years. The team sits before the computer.
“We want to know, Brannon, if you and your mother can come to our game on Friday in Chicago,” Miami forward Rodney Miller asks.
“Oh, yeah, I’m up for it!” Brannon says.
Finally, before putting on some video of Iowa State, Larrañaga puts on the clip from “Braveheart”. He tells his players of the fight for Scottish independence. That halftime talk?
“It’s a true story,” he says.
Tuesday was a Sweet 16 story. It continues for Miami. Larrañaga, on a day that started at 4:44 a.m., that is wrapped in his routines, now says, “OK, let’s talk about Iowa State ...”
