The evidence mounts with each passing March as Jim Larranaga and Katie Meier’s teams continue to march.
Jim Larranaga and Katie Meier have each been at Miami for over a decade, the clear, recognizable faces of programs that always find a way to delight and surprise, and yes, establish the Hurricanes as a basketball school.
They have provided not only stability but also a clear identity for their respective teams born out of the same mindset and mentality: toughness, grit and relentless determination, no matter the odds.
While their teams’ runs to the Elite Eight might feel improbable considering where they were seeded headed into the tournament (the men at No. 5, the women at No. 9), Larranaga and Meier have worked hard to earn this moment at a school that does not get nearly the same attention as others within the ACC.
Larranaga has been here before, of course, taking the men to the Elite Eight a season ago — a first in program history. Now this year, Meier has led the women to their first Elite Eight in program history. That they are here together is worth celebrating and embracing, despite being some 900 miles apart at their respective tournament sites in Greenville, South Carolina, and Kansas City, Missouri.
The men’s team watched the women beat Villanova on Friday to advance to the Elite Eight, hours before tipoff of their own game against Houston. Then the Miami women watched the men close out the top-seeded Cougars to join them in the next round.
« I think it’s a really, really big deal, » Meier said Saturday. « The two programs have a lot in common. We’re very competitive, like a big brother/little sister or big sister/little brother, depending on who won that week. We get that way with each other, and I love it. Any opportunity you have to have somebody push you, whether you’re on the training table next to somebody, one player next to the other player saying, ‘Why did you miss that shot?’ They’re right there competing with each other in a very loving way. I think it’s elevated both of our programs. »
ACC commissioner Jim Phillips noted the way Miami has represented itself despite perhaps not having the tradition of some of the blue-blood brands like Duke and North Carolina that define the way ACC basketball is viewed. Miami has been in the ACC only since 2004, but it has done more than hold its own in waving the conference flag.
« The commitment the university has made to athletics has shown itself in a lot of ways, » Phillips told ESPN.
« What has been tremendous for the conference is it’s a statement that we have a variety of programs that maybe have had a long history in college basketball and maybe some that haven’t had as much as others, but at any moment those programs can rise to the top and stay there. »
Indeed, both teams have become NCAA tournament mainstays. In her 18 years at Miami, Meier has made the NCAA tournament 10 times. In his 12 seasons, Larranaga has led Miami to the tournament six times — including those two Elite Eights and two other Sweet 16 runs.
This year, not only did they both make it to the Elite Eight but they both beat a No. 1 seed. Larranaga specifically mentioned the women beating No. 1 seed Indiana, on the road in the second round, during his postgame comments Friday.
But he also scoffed at the characterization that Miami is a basketball school. But the truth is, the Hurricanes basketball programs have had more postseason success in recent years than football — the most identifiable sports program from a national perspective.
