Miami Hurricanes coach Jim Larranaga excited about this year’s team: “Got to win the national championship, that’s the only goal I have left”

The hype is already there for the Miami Hurricanes basketball team coming off runs to the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight and Final Four.

UM already has checked in at No. 18 on ESPN’s way-too-early Top 25, and the team has back key pieces and added some playmakers as well.

“I’m tremendously proud of last year’s team and the Elite Eight team the previous season,” coach Jim Larranaga said on College Hoops Today with Jon Rothstein. “Two years ago we were picked 12th in our league and ended up eighth in the country. … As a coach I’ve been at three different universities. I can fully appreciate how hard it is to get as far as we did this past season and the year before. There are so many quality teams you have to beat. But once you’ve gotten to the Final Four and lose, it’s very painful and you want to win that semifinal game, give yourself a chance to play for the national championship.”

For Larranaga, this year’s team will have a different look from last year, including losing a couple of players that went in the second round of the NBA Draft – ACC Player of the Year Isaiah Wong and do-everything Jordan Miller. Other players that had roles of some sort last season that departed were backups Harlond Beverly (transfer portal) and Anthony Walker (transfer portal).

Three starters return: Big man Norchad Omier (13.1 PPG, 10.0 RPG) and point guard Nijel Pack (13.6 PPG) plus shooting guard Wooga Poplar (8.4 PPG).

The team also dipped into the transfer portal for help, something that’s worked out quite well in Larranaga’s tenure. Matthew Cleveland arrives from Florida State, and as a sophomore this past season he started in 30 games and averaged a team-high 13.8 points. He was second on the team with 7.4 rebounds per game while shooting 44.5% from the floor and 35% from the 3-point line.

“Two guys I expect are going to be either Player of the Year or first team All-ACC are Omier and Poplar,” Larranaga said. “I can throw in Nijel Pack and Matthew Cleveland in there because they are both terrific players as well.”

As for Poplar, Larranaga expects him to take on much more of a scoring role.

“Wooga has made a real jump,” Larranaga said. “He has the potential to fill the shoes that Isaiah Wong has left behind.”

Other returners: Point guard Bensley Joseph (2 starts, 5.3 PPG) is returning along with 2022-23 role players AJ Casey (6 minutes per game), Christian Watson (played in 11 games off bench) and Jakai Robinson (7 games off bench). Larranaga said Casey and Watson in particular will have “a major role” as backups this season.

Joseph will be the team’s fifth starter.

“The five starters are going to do a good job,” Larranaga said, adding of Joseph that “He’s had a major role coming off the bench, and now he’ll move into the starting lineup. He’s a catalyst, a guy that will make things happen. He has the ability to put tremendous pressure on the other team’s ball handler, can also guard a 2 guard. He can defend, and he can rebound. On the offensive end he is an exceptional, high percentage three-point shooter. He’ll be given more ball-handling responsibility, will share that with Nijel Pack, who is also an outstanding point guard.”

There also are Miami signees Paul Djobet (6-7 with versatile skillset), wing Kyshawn George and 6-10 center Michael Nwoko.

“Our bench needs experience,” Larranaga said. “We have some good solid players but they haven’t played enough college basketball to really produce at a very high level. My job, my assistant coaches’ job is prepare these guys who are 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th man to really contribute.

“We have to develop a bench. Hopefully we can develop that bench. … We have to have some of these freshmen and sophomores really step up.”

The bottom line for Larranaga and this Miami team?

“To get to a national championship game, that’s very special,” Larranaga said. “And we’re trying to do something special.

“Got to win the national championship, that’s the only goal I have left.”

*Don’t expect a big change in Miami’s playing style this year.

“This coming season we’ll be another small ball team,” Larranaga said.

*Larranaga says he thinks Duke and North Carolina will be picked as the top two ACC teams when it comes time for the media preseason polls.

“The key will be sustaining effort during that (full season) marathon,” Larranaga said. “It’s so easy to get upset in this league when you travel on the road. … There’s going to be a lot of teams in the league much improved.”

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