Last season, Miami Basketball failed to reach the postseason for just the third time in the nine seasons of the Jim Larranaga era. Coach L had taken the U to the NCAA Tournament in the three prior seasons and nearly won the NIT title in 2015. So why did a perennial tourney team wind up winning just five games in the ACC? Recruiting and bad luck.
No one can do anything about bad luck. Forward Dewan Hernandez’s failed NCAA appeal and big man Deng Gak suffering a season-ending injury in game number eight couldn’t have been foreseen.