Tag: Jim Larranaga

Micah Shrewsberry, Kebba Njie, Matt Zona speak during ACC Tipoff

Hear from a team that figures to have many challenges this season.

Notre Dame is facing a challenging season with a new face and a mostly new roster. [autotag]Micah Shrewsberry[/autotag] fielded questions about that during the ACC Tipoff on Oct. 25 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Alongside him were [autotag]Kebba Njie[/autotag], a transfer who came over with Shrewsberry from Penn State, and [autotag]Matt Zona[/autotag], one of the few returnees on this year’s Irish.

Here is what they had to say:

Jim Larrañaga astonishingly led Miami to the Final Four 17 years to the day since his George Mason run

The basketball world could not be happier for Jim Larrañaga!

Jim Larrañaga is a national treasure.

On Sunday, Larrañaga led Miami to its first-ever Final Four appearance after pulling off an incredible comeback over Texas. The Hurricanes rallied from a 13-point deficit in the second half to stun the No. 2 seeded Longhorns 88-81. Miami posted 51 points in the second half to completely overwhelm Texas in the final 20 minutes.

MORE 2023 MARCH MADNESS: Fans hated how refs decided the end to San Diego State-Creighton game.

Thankfully for Miami, this isn’t Larrañaga’s first Final Four rodeo. In fact, 17 years to the day in 2006, Larrañaga helped George Mason advance to the Final Four. Even better, George Mason also erased a double digit deficit, much like Miami did to best Texas.

Here’s how things looked back in 2006 when Larrañaga led George Mason to the Final Four.

What a tournament it’s been so far for the Hurricanes. Earlier in the week, Miami upset No. 1 seed Houston to make it to the Elite Eight and Larrañaga stole the show afterwards with his hilarious dance moves.

And now, Larrañaga is once again leading his team to a Final Four appearance in late March.

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Basketball fans were overjoyed for Larrañaga on such an awesome milestone.

Miami players got stuck in an elevator and somehow that fiasco helped them upset Houston

Miami players getting stuck in an elevator might’ve led to Houston being sent packing.

The Miami men’s basketball team somehow turned getting stuck into an elevator into a game-changing defensive strategy for the 2023 men’s NCAA tournament.

After his No. 5 Hurricanes dominated No. 1 Houston in the Sweet 16, 89-75, Miami head coach Jim Larrañaga detailed how an elevator breakdown might’ve helped the team even more than a film breakdown.

Larrañaga explained on Thursday, 12 Miami players got stuck in an elevator after the team’s defensive-centric meeting. After 30 minutes of being trapped, the Miami players were rescued by firefighters.

Somehow, the team got inspiration from that claustrophobic experience to play lockdown defense against one of the best teams in the country in top-seeded Houston.

“You guys got to be in the paint like you were in the elevator yesterday,” Larrañaga told his team during Friday’s shootaround to fix a stretched-out defense. “And they did that.”

Talk about making lemonade out of lemons.

It’s one thing to play a good game after such an uncomfortable fiasco. It’s another to actually have getting stuck in an elevator power you to a men’s NCAA tournament win against a No. 1 seed.

Jim Larrañaga celebrated Miami’s huge upset over Houston with the sweetest dance moves

Jim Larrañaga is such a legend.

Miami basketball coach Jim Larrañaga has led the Hurricanes to the Elite Eight for the second season in a row, and he has reason to celebrate.

Nijel Pack (8-12 FG, 7-10 3P) scored 26 points while Isaiah Wong (5-11 FG, 1-2 3P) added 20 points during the win. Now, after convincingly defeating Houston, the No. 1 seed in the Midwest region, the Hurricanes have excellent momentum and will advance for another round of March Madness.

The vibes are high, too, as Larrañaga enjoyed a fun postgame exchange in the locker room with his team. Watch as the 73-year-old former Naismith College Coach of the Year showed off some delightful dance moves in front of his team:

This isn’t the first example of Larrañaga, who trolled Charles Barkley after leading Miami to the Sweet 16 last season, having fun on the dance floor.

We’ve seen Larrañaga share some classic celebration dances for years.

More than seven years ago, we got to watch him as he learned how to whip and how to nae nae. If his team is able to advance another round and win in the Elite Eight, who knows what kind of dancing we can see next!

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Jim Larrañaga shared an extremely cool moment with fans after Miami advanced to the Elite 8

Jim Larrañaga and Miami just made a ton of history.

Jim Larrañaga and the Miami Hurricanes made quite a bit of history with their 70-56 win over Iowa State on Friday.

For the first time in the history of the basketball program, they’re going to the Elite 8. They’ve knocked on the door several times with Sweet 16 appearances. They’ve had a number of cool tournament moments in their history, too.

But they have never actually been this far. Until today, that is. Larrañaga also made a bit of history himself. He became the first head coach in NCAA tournament history to lead two different programs to the Elite 8 as double-digit seeds.

He did it with George Mason in 2006. Now he’s doing it again with Miami here. That’s pretty awesome.

 

So, of course, they’re excited about Friday’s big win. They’re one step away from the Final Four.

Larranaga shared some of that excitement on Friday after the game with some of the fans in the stands. It was a pretty cool moment they shared here.

“Thank you. I’ll see you Sunday,” Larrañaga said before he moved on to the tunnel to go be with his team.

He said exactly what needed to be said. Let’s see how far they take this thing.

Jim Larrañaga immediately trolled Charles Barkley after Miami’s dominant win over Auburn

Charles can’t seem to win, can he?

Life can’t get it much better for Miami Men’s head basketball coach, Jim Larrañaga. As the respected leader of the Hurricane program for over 11 years now, Larrañaga has brought stability and (occasional) excellence to Miami.

On top of that, I don’t mean to digress:  He lives in Miami! Eternal sunshine and beautiful weather by the beach year-round! It genuinely hurts to be this jealous.

Another place where you might be envious of Larrañaga is his program’s ongoing success during this year’s March Madness. After dismantling No. 2 Auburn (+6.5 favorites) 79-61 and humiliating their prized talisman in the process, you can forgive Larrañaga if he’s proud of his players.

It’s not often you win wire to wire over a No. 2 seed.

Next weekend will have been the first time Miami’s played in a Sweet Sixteen since 2016. We’ll cut their coach some appropriate slack.

But with Larrañaga clearly riding on cloud nine after his team’s statement victory, no one was safe from his crosshairs. Not even dancing Auburn legend Charles Barkley.

You see, Barkley had asserted that he’d take his shirt off in the event of a Tiger victory over Larrañaga’s Hurricanes during his studio show. In his postgame comments, it was a moment that the coach was all too happy to share how unhappy he’d be to see Barkley like that.

Ouch. I might suggest a rebuttal if I was in Barkley’s shoes, but that might be opening a larger can of worms and a string of insults down the line.

Larrañaga: 1.

Barkley: 0.

Miami: To the Sweet Sixteen.

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