Checking in with Jim Larranaga on the morning after UM reached its first Final Four

The ecstatic, but exhausted University of Miami men’s basketball team arrived back to campus just before 4 a.m. Monday after an extended locker room celebration in Kansas City and a two-hour flight delay.

UM coach Jim Larranaga was running on fumes as he scrolled through 400 text messages and did a conference call with media later in the morning. He said it was a quiet flight home. The moment the players boarded the plane, they collapsed in their seats and slept.

“There was not a sound being made,” said Larranaga, a stark contrast to the music that blared during their midcourt party Sunday night.

The fifth-seeded Hurricanes had just pulled off their third upset in a row, 88-81 over No. 2 seed Texas, to advance to the Final Four for the first time in school history. The road has not been easy for Miami, which rallied to beat Drake in the first round, overcame a size disadvantage in a win over No. 4 Indiana, and then overwhelmed top seed Houston in the Sweet 16.

“It’s been a very long 24 hours, but very satisfying,” said Larranaga. “I thought our team played extremely well, to battle back from a 13-point deficit when there’s an opportunity to get to the Final Four, our guys rose to the occasion.”

Larranaga knows a thing or two about taking an underdog to the Final Four, having done it in 2006 with 11^th-seed George Mason, one of the lowest seeds ever to get that far. He and Larry Brown are the only coaches in history to take teams seeded No. 5 or lower to the Final Four from two different schools.

Critics said that George Mason team didn’t belong in the NCAA Tournament. They shocked the nation, knocking off 2005 Final Four team Michigan State, defending national champion North Carolina, Wichita State and 2004 champion UConn before losing to eventual champion Florida.

Before playing Carolina, Larranaga told his team: “Their fans think they’re Supermen. Our fans know we’re kryptonite.”

Now, here he is again, two wins away from a national title. Though it has been 17 years, Larranaga can recall every detail of the ride with George Mason and his two Final Fours as an assistant with the University of Virginia in 1981 and 1984.

He will use that wisdom to advise this group of players and assistant coaches.

Larranaga is known as a professor of basketball, and the lessons have already begun.

Lesson No. 1: It will be loud in Houston. Extremely loud.

The biggest difference between the college basketball in the 1980s and 2006, he explained, is that the Final Four started to be held in massive domed arenas. With 72,000 fans expected at NRG Stadium in Houston this weekend, the spatial relationship is different.

“I told my coaches you can scream as loud as you want, the players won’t hear you because of the noise, how high the ceiling is, the acoustics just don’t work for communication, so it leaves it in the hands of your players to communicate with each other because they’re closer,” he said.

Lesson No. 2: Anybody can beat anybody.

Miami’s semifinal opponent on Saturday is UConn, the heavy favorite to win it all. George Mason beat UConn in the 2004 Elite Eight.

“The UConn team of ’06 was an overwhelming favorite because we were an 11 seed and UConn was the No. 1 seed,” he said. “Everyone thought, despite the fact that we got to the Elite Eight, that we had no shot because of UConn’s size.”

The Huskies’ front court that year measured 6-9. 6-10, 6-11. George Mason’s stood 6-4, 6-5, 6-7.

“Quite honestly, there’s a lot of similarities now because we’re 6-4, 6-6, 6-7 and UConn is huge,” he said.

While fans and pundits may be surprised to see the Hurricanes in the Final Four, Larranaga and the players insist this was their plan since last summer.

Miller said the Elite Eight loss to Kansas last March sat with him for quite some time.

“I had to put it in the past because it was a new season, but having the opportunity to kind of right your wrongs almost and get past something that stumped you previously is a great feeling,” said the senior guard.

“We just all bought into staying together, keeping that hope alive. And the way we just willed this one through, I think everybody played really well, and I think it really shows the poise of this squad.”

From the moment the 2022-23 preseason training began, the veteran Hurricane players have been infusing the newcomers with belief.

“Our two senior starters from the Elite Eight last year, Isaiah Wong and Jordan Miller, have preached to the team all year long, `We’re good enough to reach not only the Elite Eight, but into the Final Four and to win the national championship,’” the coach said.

Larranaga uses the book “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” as a life guide, and he has passed that on to his players. The first habit is to be proactive and have a plan. The second is to begin with the end in mind.

“You have to have to a goal where you’re going, like putting your destination into your GPS,” he said. “We put in Houston as our destination. That was our roadmap. Thank goodness we don’t have to drive it.”