HOUSTON — The buzz around the University of Miami team hotel was palpable for days leading up to the Hurricanes’ Final Four game against Connecticut late Saturday night.
Thousands of fans and former players spanning all the eras, milled around the lobby, marveling at how a program that didn’t even exist in the mid-’80s and then held open tryouts for its resurrected team on the student union patio, could find itself two wins from a national title.
But there they were, in the 72,000-seat NRG Stadium, hoping to keep their magical ride going in front of the largest and most boisterous UM basketball crowd in history.
