The question isn’t whether college basketball will ever catch up to the popularity and the power of football in this state. Ain’t gonna happen.
Think instead of how the overall quality of college basketball in the state of Florida is catching up to the haughty giants of America’s more traditional hoop markets, with the most startling progress being made by the suddenly ranked and seriously rowdy Miami Hurricanes.
On this stunning Saturday in February, both Florida and Miami are unbeaten in their respective conferences and strutting toward March with growing confidence. Florida State, meanwhile, has lost its footing at 12-8 but the Seminoles did win the ACC tournament last year so absolutely anything is possible, right?
All three programs are worth watching Saturday, and will be watched all over the country wherever gym rats thrive.
At 2 p.m., it’s Duke at FSU on ESPN, followed at 4 p.m. by Miami at North Carolina State on CBS and finally, at 7 p.m., Ole Miss at Florida on ESPNU.
That’s enough to burn half a weekend, or at least to stage a snack-happy rehearsal for Sunday’s Super Bowl marathon. Holding the nacho cheese sauce somewhere between bubble and burn, that’s the trick, and it takes some practice.
Same goes for seeing the Hurricanes on top of the ACC standings, where giants customarily camp.
The mystery is figuring out how these guys lost to Florida Gulf Coast in the early season. You don’t lose to a sparring partner like that and then demolish former No. 1 Duke by 27 points. Heck, Al Golden’s Miami football team beat Duke by only seven.
For those who remember Jim Larranaga taking George Mason all the way to the 2006 Final Four, it comes as no surprise.
This is no mid-major success story he’s writing now, though. It’s major-major, with the Hurricanes 7-0 in conference play and two games up in the standings on Tobacco Road’s usual toughs. All the way up to No. 14 in the AP poll, Larranaga is using the scoring of former New York City high school star Durand Scott and the shotblocking of 6-foot-11 Kenny Kadji to do what he said he would do upon taking the Hurricanes job in 2011.
“Our challenge,” he said that day, “is to build a program that can sustain success over an extended period of time so that everyone in this community is going to be dying to get a ticket and a seat to watch us play.”
So far, so good, with another sellout probably coming next Saturday when North Carolina visits Coral Gables. Today’s game at No. 19 N.C. State will settle that for sure.
Florida, on the other hand, has been hot before, with back-to-back national championships in 2006 and 2007. Still, the No. 4 spot in the current poll is worth more than just a pat on the back for coach Billy Donovan, especially when Will Muschamp is being celebrated just for getting the Florida football team back into the top 10.
The SEC is down this season, minus the usual Kentucky shine, but no conference opponent has scored more than 52 points on Florida. Matter of fact, it was everything South Carolina could do to scratch out 36 on Wednesday night.
No. 16 Ole Miss makes it more interesting tonight for Florida, with a showboating guard named Marshall Henderson who has bounced from school to school and even did a little jail time last year but has made an instant headline out of himself as the SEC’s leading scorer. This kid, with the crazy eyes and the monster mood swings, even comes off as a little spooky to his coach and teammates. Yeah, it’s good television.
FSU and No. 5 Duke is, too, because the Seminoles never seem to back down to Coach K. Last year FSU stopped the Blue Devils’ 45-game home winning streak on a three-pointer at the buzzer by Michael Snaer. Later, in the ACC tournament, the Seminoles beat Duke and North Carolina back-to-back for the title.
Folks don’t talk about this stuff down here the way they do about college football. Makes the breakthroughs a little brighter, though.
Makes you wonder if Florida Gulf Coast might make the NCAA Tournament, too.
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