Canes Play "Horribly" in Win

Last night the Miami Hurricanes basketball team remained undefeated with an easy cakewalk win over North Florida 85-63. Jack McClinton and Dwayne Collins led all scorers with 13 apiece. In fact, just about everyone who played solid minutes for Miami hit double figures in scoring. This team is time and again proving that it is a team. Rarely do you see anyone above 15 points, but you see a bunch of players scoring between 9 and 14. That's going to make this team tough to beat with so many options offensively, though having a proven scoring option is also something you need in crunch time.

Despite the easy victory, Frank Haith was not pleased. He called last night the Canes "worst performance" yet. The game wasn't televised so theres not much I can say to verify that statement, but I was a bit concerned that after breaking a 23 point halftime lead, the Canes let North Florida play with them stride for stride in the 2nd half. Regardless, I think it's a great thing if your coach is ripping into you after a 22 point victory. It shows this team is better than that and is capable of great things, and that Frank Haith is intent on keeping his team focused through all their success.

Dominating Performance by the Canes

Newly ranked Miami Hurricanes basketball defeated Stetson 89-53 last night in a game that was never in doubt. This despite missing Jimmy Graham who was held out of the game to rest his injury. The win was propelled by a great night from the field, including 11/22 from the 3 point line. The victory leaves the Canes at 10-0 and rolling towards 4 more easy games on paper before playing Georgia Tech in January.

Last night's game was a good indicator of how focused this team is by not experiencing a let down against an inferior opponent. That's the mark of a Top 25 ball club. Win the games you are supposed to win. Frank Haith's plan is finally coming to fruition it seems. Unfortunately, despite their efforts the Canes only managed to draw about 1900 fans to the game. Surely this will go up during ACC play, especially vs North Carolina, but it remains as proof that 1) this is a football school and 2) we have some really fair weather fans down here in the Miami area.

Canes Receiving Lofty Praise

For those of you with ESPN Insider access, I suggest reading Andy Katz' blog entry about the Canes basketball team. Our undefeated run went mostly unnoticed by the major media outlets, but now that Miami is poised to get to 14-0 and are sitting atop the RPI Poll, people are paying attention. Apparently Frank Haith's former boss at Texas, Rick Barnes, has kept an eye on his protege's team and has high praise for it. The Longhorns are also undefeated at this time by the way. Next time the Top25 Polls get announced, expect Miami to be there at around 23rd or 24th.

Miami Hurricanes #1?

If you check out the CBSSportsline RPI Poll, you might be in for a surprise. Yes the Hurricanes are #1, and this isn't football we're talking about. Granted it's early and I sincerely doubt we've played a top 5 schedule up to this point, but the Canes are currently the only bright spot in local sports, other than the moderately successful FAU Owls. At 7-0 and facing a beatable FIU team tonight, the Canes could easily be looking at 14-0 going into ACC play.

Let me say this, this year's team is good. Not just NCAA worthy, but I fully expect them to make some noise this season. I'm not talking Final Four, or even Sweet 16, but this year's Canes look much better than the recent teams we've seen and they are 10 deep (well 9 with the loss of Thomas). I'll go out and say it now, they will pull off a UNC-Duke level upset this season by surprising a top tier team with a weak bench. Heres to hoping Frank Haith and his boys make us proud this season.