The Miami Hurricanes Having an NBA Offense Cost Them on Both Ends of the Floor
When you think about the modern NBA product, many complain about how the game has fully changed from being a physically athletic league where the most athletic people on Earth defy gravity with an orange ball with air to what it is now.
On occasions some will defy the laws of nature but it has now turned into a three-point shooting contest and purely an analytical game where coaches and players only focus on stats and what would work well based on that.
It has started to trickle down to the college level and an ACC team is suffering from those ramifications.
The Miami Hurricanes men's basketball team to start the season said that an NBA-style offense with the level of scoring going on during practice should have been an indication of the level of defense the team would struggle to play with.
"But if you go back to when we started practice and every time we had a scrimmage, the final score of the scrimmage was, like, 96-92," Miami head coach Jim Larranaga said after Tennesse loss. We were just scoring our brains out against each other. And the coaches kept saying to the players, this is not real. We have to improve our defense and our rebounding. We're not going to be scoring 90 points a game against the kind of competition we play."
After starting the season 3-0, the Hurricanes lost seven games in a row, granted to quality tournament teams, but they have now lived up to the high expectations they had to start the season.
Offensively they struggle to get inside the paint and throw up prayers whenever they can't get anything going and on the defensive end it is no better. There is no shot blocker on the team and with the absence of Kiree Huie. He could be the single missing piece for what the Hurricanes need especially on the defensive side of the ball.
They are improving game after game but with this losing streak, it is hard to say if the offense or defense complement each other and when it will all click together now that ACC play is underway.
"Our defense is getting better. And eventually, and here's what I told the team afterward, eventually the winning will follow. You have to follow the process. You're not good at something, get better at it,' Larranaga said.
READ MORE FROM MIAMI HURRICANES ON SI:
Despite the Loss, Mami Freshman Jalil Bethea is Finding his Confidence
Tennessee Head Coach Rick Barnes Worried About Miami's Offense Ahead of Matchup
