What's Going on with Miami Men's Basketball Offense
The Miami Hurricane men's basketball team has been a shell of itself in tournament play. They took the next step in playing a few quality teams and the NBA style of offense that the Hurricanes had to start the season has dipped.
It has dipped so bad, that many people are starting to call for Jim Larranaga to give it up after this season and retire into the sunset.
Look around the country and other top recruits in the league and see them getting minutes to learn and thrive. Jalil Bethea is not one of those players who has struggled to see the floor. He has a short leash on him just like another star freshman in the early part of the season in Divine Ugochukwu. Those two players, if given more freedom, could unlock something within this team.
Granted, it has only been five games but the way that the team has performed on both sides of the ball has been hard to watch. Especially on the offensive side of the ball.
This team struggles in a half-court setting. They thrive off of pace and getting out in transition but if another team can slow the pace down and force them to play a slower tempo of offense, then they lose all function of an offense.
They begin to throw up ill-advised shots and prayers that turn into easy points on the opposite end of the floor. They need a true-point guard or a player that can take over a game with ease.
They don't have a basic set play to get an easy basket and the lack of movement from other players with a player like Nijel Pack dominating the ball is concerning.
Players are constantly standing still watching the action instead of creating the action themselves. Simple back door cuts, off-ball screens, and not just watching the action would do wonders for everyone on the floor. This team is more focused on throwing up three-pointers than having a balanced inside-out offense that led them to those dominant high-scoring games at the beginning of the season.
Once they find a way to get back to that, they will give themselves a chance to compete against some of the best in the nation.
