The University of Miami has one of the best teams in college basketball. One of the oldest, too.
According to Statsheet.com, the Hurricanes have the 10th most-experienced roster among 347 programs playing Division I this season. On a scale of 1 (freshmen) to 4 (seniors), UM’s average of 3.35 is highest among any team from a major conference.
Kenny Kadji, the Hurricanes’ leading scorer and a fifth-year senior, will turn 25 on May 19. The NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder start three players younger than Kadji.
UM’s starting lineup includes a sixth-year senior (Julian Gamble), two fifth-year seniors (Trey McKinney-Jones, Kadji) and Durand Scott, another senior and four-year starter. Reggie Johnson, the first player off coach Jim Larranaga’s bench, is a fifth-year senior.
“The thing that makes them dangerous is that they’re old,” Maryland coach Mark Turgeon said.
Turgeon and his ACC cohorts have learned that first-hand this season. Heading into Saturday’s game (2 p.m., ESPN) against North Carolina at sold-out BankUnited Center, the eighth-ranked Hurricanes (18-3, 9-0) are on a 10-game winning streak, lead the conference standings by two games and are threatening to break into the Top 5 for the first time ever.
What has set the Hurricanes apart, opposing coaches say, is a mental edge that comes with experience. Unlike younger teams that become flustered in tight spots or come apart under the weight of increasing expectations, Miami maintains its composure.
In back-to-back road wins last week against Virginia Tech and North Carolina State, UM fell behind by double digits in hostile environments but never resorted to poor shot selection or panic. Miami came back to win both games.
“We don’t get rattled too easily,” said Johnson, the 6-foot-10, 292-pound center whose tip-in with 0.8 seconds beat N.C. State last Saturday. “Been there, done that.”
The victories at Virginia Tech and N.C. State are part of a perfect 5-0 ACC record on the road for UM.
How impressive is that? The 11 other ACC teams had combined to win 10 conference road games coming into this week.
Before this season, the Hurricanes had never won more than four away games in the ACC during a single season.
“They’re coming together and making everybody pay for what they’ve learned,” FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said after his team was routed by UM, 71-47, on Jan. 27. “They’ve gained a lot of wisdom and savvy from the challenges they’ve had to overcome. Now, they’re a mature team that’s surprising everybody except me.”
Hamilton aside, the Hurricanes are surely the nation’s biggest surprise. A month ago, UM was unranked and considered a fringe NCAA Tournament possibility. On Friday, CBSSports.com projected Miami as a No. 1 seed for the NCAA Tournament.
While UM may be built around seniors, its success would be impossible without sophomore point guard Shane Larkin. The 20-year-old was named a finalist this week for the Cousy Award, which goes to the nation’s best point guard. With Larkin running the show, the Hurricanes rank 11th nationally with 10.8 turnovers per game and have committed the fifth fewest total turnovers (227) in the country.
Larkin said playing on a veteran team is “really comforting because I know I’m out there with dudes that have been through the ACC a couple of times, through tough games. It’s definitely a calming factor.”
The combination has been unbeatable of late.
“You have a team that has an incredible amount of confidence and a team, that if they do the little things, they could be really, really good,” said Boston College coach Steve Donahue after his team was trounced, 72-50, on Tuesday by UM. “They’re talented, older and they don’t have a lot of weaknesses.”
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