“No one thought we could do it,” has become a cliché when teams have success. When it comes from an Alabama football player or Duke basketball player, it can induce eye-rolling.
But the cliché rings true for the Hurricanes. No one expected them to accomplish what they did. Miami was picked to finish 12th in the ACC before the season began — a fact players and coaches brought up several times during the season, including after Sunday’s blowout loss to Kansas in the Elite Eight. Instead, they won 26 games and came one half away from the program’s first trip to the Final Four.
“I told the players afterwards — and I really mean it — they accomplished so much, not just in basketball, but they ignited a community,” coach Jim Larrañaga said on Sunday. “We had so much support throughout the season and especially in the NCAA tournament. And I think generating that kind of enthusiasm for the University of Miami in a basketball program that you have to remember didn’t even exist from 1972 to 1985.”
