ACC Preseason Basketball Rankings: Miami No. 4
Despite making a charge to the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight last season, the Miami Hurricanes are currently projected to finish fourth in the ACC by 247 Sports. 2021-2022 was the most successful season in school history for the Canes, who finished 26-11 before falling to one-seed Kansas, the eventual National Champion. Ahead of Miami, 247 Sports had, in order, North Carolina, Duke, and arch rival Florida State.
It was a great run for Miami in 2021-2022, but they’ll be without guards Kam McGusty and Charlie Moore, as well as forward Sam Waardenburg this year, all of whom were starters for Miami and combined for over half of the Hurricanes scoring last season (38.7 ppg of 76.7 team ppg). But as much talent as the Canes and head coach Jim Larrañaga have going out, they may have even more coming in.
Miami scored big in the transfer market, landing two of the top fifteen available players in the portal. Donning the orange and green this winter will be two third-year sophomores, guard Nijel Pack and forward Norchad Ormier.
Pack was an All-Big 12 selection at Kansas State and the conference’s Most Improved Player last season, averaging 17.4 points per game and shooting nearly 44% from beyond the arc. Ormier also notched just over 17 points per game for the Arkansas Red Wolves, but the 6’7” enforcer will make his largest impact on the boards, as he was fourth in the nation last year grabbing 12.2 rebounds per contest. Both these transfers will be starters and are expected to be immediate impact players for the Canes.
Pack and Ormier, along with the nation’s 23rd ranked recruiting class, will bring some new blood to this Miami program. Anchoring the Hurricanes will be senior guard Isaiah Wong, who was often the main source of offense for Miami last year and averaged 15.3 points per game on the year.
Wong may not need to be the offensive focal point he was last year, but he will be depended on even more so as a leader this year. It will be the responsibility of the veteran floor general to make sure all the new and old faces mesh and keep the ship on course for the Canes this year.
With the addition of so much talent and the experience of some key returning players, Miami has a chance to make a similar run to the one they had last year. Further, if the Miami players can get on the same page during the early portion of the season, the Hurricanes should be able to compete for the ACC title.
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