#6 R.P.I. Miami @ #96 R.P.I. Virginia Tech:

#7 Nationally ranked Miami has called: “next” and hopes to secure at least an A.c.c. first-place tie (with U.n.c.) in this one!

24 up and 5 down sure reads like a daisy to me.
And so does in the 13-4 in Atlantic Coast intra-league  maker. As does 4-1 since we last saw the U and were beaten by a 49-65 margin that came mostly in the final 20 minutes, against.

Miami  ain’t half bad men, not at all. And all the more so when the pre-season mag’s had you tabbed A.c.c. mid-range at 7th through 9th, and yet as of this writing, the actual and factual A.c.c. standings have you tabbed as standing in at 2nd-place.

That does not suck.
And neither does this 2015-2016 Miami men’s hoops club which has come up -and smartly- by any and all pre-season metrics thus far.

As coach Jim Larrañaga has won a buncha games the last few seasons down on So.Beach, by being pretty good at most things, and yet not quite dominate at anything. That’s coaching folks. And this one is gonna be one tough hommie, even inside our very own Cassell.

The U at a glance:

• 11th fewest fouls whistled against (469, total)
• 17th fewest Turnovers  (3o1, total)
• 2oth in FT percentage (75.3%)
• 34th in Scoring Margin (+10.2 ppg)
• 35th in shooting overall (47.4%)
• 41st in scoring D allowed (65.7 ppg)
• NO injuries listed (thank God!)
• 1 SUSPENSION listed: Ja’Quan Newton, a 3 game sit for “a violation of team rules” which is typically code for a testing violation… eligible to return for the A.c.c. Tourney! ESPN’s Dick Vitale has called Newton: “the best sixth-man in the country” this season for his ability to add that spark off the bench!

‘cane Returning Starters=3

Miami Strengths:

• I’d have to say that 6’5” 2o5 lb. r-senior year lead-G’s #10,  Sheldon McClellan, and his team leading 15.6 ppg on a splashy looking 5o.4% overall, counts. So does 86.1% from the charity-stripe (on 151 FTA’s); as does a cool looking 40.2% from beyond the arc. That’s no shallow marksmanship –if you can get it, from the Texas transfer by way of H-town (Houston). Shelly has been said to be a bit of a self-first gunner, who can score, though who never won anything real special in high school despite being a showcase outburst scorer who was ranked 47th in the nation. A pure Wing player, who has a decent passing element to his game, when he plays a more plural game. Also has very sharp handles for such a heavy volume shooter. Can score equally inside-and-out, and does court a pretty decent defensive rep’ when he wants too. A second best 1 spg and 3.2 rpg help fill out his stat sheet and although he may be prone to indeed playing some me-ball at times, Sheldon is a pretty damn efficacious me-ball player. You gotta give him is efficiency love, as Sheldon may take a lotta shots, though he (generally) takes and/or creates marketable shots for himself. Has an overseas career waiting for him as I type. Says his favorite food is a homemade sloppy Joe’s and I’ve never ever read that one before now. (OVERALL play since we last saw him: ↓ or chilled out a bit as his metrics are down across the board, does get to the FT-line, though only has one game north of 13 points in the meantime as well)
• after Sheldon, scoring drops off to 11.8 ppg or less and takes on a committee stylized approach; however, there are things worth observing here… among them…
• (SUSPENDED): 6’2” 180 lb. sophomoric Philly native, Ja’Quan Newton -same as Sheldon McClellan, lives at the FT-line and as he has banked 121 FTA’s of his own (on 72.7%) thus far this campaign. Something of a surprise or breakout baller this year, as he only started 3 games last season, after being the #1 recruit in my home state of Pennsylvania the year before that. Accordingly, I’d have to say that an unexpected and second-best on the team 1o.9 ppg on 35% from range counts. As does the potential 2018 ceiling to this Newton kid; who has the look-n-feel of a guy who finishes his scoring career somewhere in the high-teens. (OVERALL play since we last saw him: ↓ or down had been Newton’s play of late, not badly, just enough to notice.  And this suspension after an “undisclosed illness” for our previous game.)
• 5’10” 181 lb. r-senior Point man and K-State transfer Angel Rodriguezhas fallen back to Earth -so to speak- a bit this season, or at least he has not come up hardly any at all from where he has been in the last 40-60 games or so. That is indeed steady enough of him, though you’d like to see a bit more production from a guy who has a rep’ as a pure born leader and winner, when you need it the most. Angel is one of the more menacing individual backcourt defenders in the whole entire A.c.c. The team lead at 1.4 spg, the second at 11.8 ppg and the team lead again at 4.4 dimes per game is solid enough. In particular for a guy who came in with a very impoverished shooting scholastic dossier down in Puerto Rico; and has unfortunately regressed to a career low from range (at 31.1%). Angel is great at what he does (defense); and good at what his position (Pt.G) asks him to be, the Qb of the ‘cane offense. Beyond that? I’d say he’s down about all he can do with his Gift’s. I find that fair of him, even if there is still some he should do more, noise. (OVERALL play since we last saw him: ↔ or level, though a bit better from distance)

  

• Final year, #23, 7′ 249 lb. springy true-Center Tonye Jekiri, may not be epic, though he is a Nigerian double-double just looking for a place to happen and a lane to anchor on defense. As this is a hard cut, physically strong, sweaty workhorse Five down low. Might even be an fringe overseas guy for his team leading Windex work (9.2 rpg) and team leading swats (1.1 bpg). 53.4% shows you how close he plays to the basket where Jekiri makes his offensive living on put-backs and dunks (8.3ppg). Does all the dirty work, and he does real fine dirt-work at that. Not a fun guy down low; has slowly developed some measure of ~10′ range, and runs the floor like a gazelle for being such an impressive physical specimen. Almost signed with Virginia Tech, and has one of the higher revving motors in the post in the A.c.c. Every team needs lead-pipe worker-bee such as Mister Jekiri. (OVERALL play since we last saw him: ↓ or just a bit lower, not bad, though not up, either)
• 6’6” 2o8 lb. third year Swing, Davon Reed, I grafted into this preview because he now must do (even) more, in lieu of the suspended Mister Newton. And Mr. Reed gives good work. He has brought his scoring up to a near second-best 11.1 ppg, he is very versatile inside-out type baller on offense and can score from anywhere on the court. Lindy’s says he has a good shooting eye (36% from downtown) and he can pitch-in and help-out on the glass (4.5 rpg). Has had a history of dings and dents at Coral Gables which have retarded his overall progress/development a bit. Is a member of the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll, proppers on miami.edu that! (OVERALL play since we last saw him: ↑ a bit and has done some smart outburst scoring efforting for the U)

Miami Weaknesses:

• pretty much all of my pre-season magazines publish the very same ‘cane nag, i.e. depth; or the lament thereof. Top-4 scorers and defenders all returned and not a whole lot else behind that. And yet sans foul-trouble, with judicious use of timeouts? You may never know the difference. You will however know a difference in the second-game of the A.c.c. Tourney if/when Miami wins game one on zero days rest.
• and BTW: the backcourt has more higher end 1-2 talent, although no depth vis-à-vis the more uniformly talented albeit at a noticeably lower level and therefore somewhat deeper frontcourt does. A very solid and backcourt heavy squad, that is frontcourt materially somewhere in between middleocore to just barely low-post good enough.

Hurricane Bench: (depth= 1.5 to 2 ballers) lead primarily by Mr. Ja’Quan Newton up above and with some love from fr. 6’7” 185 lb. S/F, Anthony Lawrence Jr.and 6’10” rookie year string-bean 2o5 lb. true-Center Ebuka Izundu. Lawrence nets you 4.3 ppg and is said to be mister versatile, whereas mister Izundu brings you internal substitute rebounding and defense, and not much O (2.5 ppg).

Illation, conclusion (s) and OPT digits:

the takeaway:
The takeaway here is… this is still a pretty damn good Miami hoops team –suspension not withstanding; and therefore a pretty damn salty basketball game to win, even at home.

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Miami is .6oo on the year out on the road and comes into this one on a roll having won eight of their last nine overall. The U drops by about 4 ppg, and 4% from the floor and from beyond the arc as the visitor. Miami also softens by 2% from the floor and 4% again from downtown as the road team. So there is some Home/Away movement in terms of the splits in Virginia Tech’s favor there. Likewise the Hurricanes have dried up a bit offensively of late, not having busted 73 points since the beginning of February. Although the ‘Cane defense is just a scosche better; whereas the U’s rebounding margin has gone -4 rpg to the negative in Miami’s last five (contests).

Or in other words, yes the U is winning.
Do we deny this?
No.

However, they are not playing better on offense of late, except from distance where the U’s 3-point shooting has improved by a staggering near 7% per game in their last five as coach Jim is said to have made some rather heady changes to floor-spacing as his offensive sets go. That’s a critical point to make, as points may very well be at a premium in this one folks as Buzz’s stop-unit has tightened some scoring defense screws of its very own having held six of the last eight Gobbler opponents under 67 ppg. However, and this one bugged me out when I found it… Miami is about 8-9% better from the charity-stripe for the year and in these two squads’ most recent five games. And that could very well prove to be your tipping point in what appears to be a hotly and tightly contested contest in the making.

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That being said… and yah; I know Miami prolly wins at least 7 or 8 outta 10 here, I’ma gonna pick the big bad favored ‘canes? ‘rong! I’ma gonna pick Virgina Tech, and coach Buzz, who must be butter, because they are truly on a roll. That and So.Beach sources whisper that McClellan has a ailing ankle in tow for this one.

So it is Tech to somehow, someway, comeback from a double-digit deficit, and to steal this one right at the buzzer.

(32% confidence interval)
Virginia Tech=69, Miami=68

“LETS GO!”

“Hokies!”

 bourbonstreet**