Hello All,
I work in television for a living.
I am obsessed with great TV dramas. I watch them, I GChat my
buddies about them, I read books about them; I try to watch them as both a fan
and as a critic might.
One of the great fears of the people that create television
shows (which, one day, I hope is me), is that they will make a finale that
overshadows what they did with the rest of the series.
The Sopranos is perhaps the greatest drama series of all
time. The highs it hit had never really been seen before; hell, pretty much nothing
that show did had ever been seen before. That one tv show completely changed the business model for HBO. And yet,
when you ask people about the show, they inevitably talk about whether they
loved or hated the finale. It is infuriating for anyone that cares about the legacy
(and don’t be fooled…David Chase DEFINITELY cares about legacies) of the show.
The same can be said of LOST…a show the revolutionized how
we look at broadcast dramas is now only remembered for its crappy finale (which,
by the way, SUCKED and still sucks and will forever suck, no matter what you
try to tell me).
The same cannot be said for shows like Friday Night Lights
(as I wrote in this space at the time) and The Wire….those shows ended
beautifully, and now the finales are viewed as merely a well done final chapter
to a great book.
I say all that to say this: it is very important that, as
fans, we do not forget the season that our Miami Hurricanes basketball team
just put together because of a bad finale.
I have wanted to write about this for a few weeks, to say
that we should savor every moment of this squad, because the odds of seeing one
like it again are not great. After all, this is still Miami, where football
comes 1st, 2n d and 3rd, and then we worry about baseball
and basketball. I was afraid to jinx it, though; I don’t know if y’all notice,
but every time I say something positive in the present tense about our team
without a litany of disclaimers, it serves as a curse.
So now the season is over and I can confidently say: this
was a Dream Season in every sense.
The ‘Canes blew out a Duke squad that was #1 in the country.
It could be argued that the Duke squad was at less than full strength, but to
that I say *handwank motion*. That was a team that hasn’t left the AP Top 10
for 4 years (think about that). The ‘Canes then almost went in and won the
rematch AT CAMERON INDOOR, and would have if not for the greatest game Ryan
Kelly will ever play.
The ‘Canes went 3-0 against Roy Williams coached UNC.
The ‘Canes beat Michigan State.
The ‘Canes won both the regular season conference title AND
the ACC Tournament, a tournament which CONSISTENTLY is of higher caliber than
the NCAA equivalent.
The ‘Canes made the freakin’ Sweet 16.
Shane Larkin was conference player of the year, as voted by
the coaches.
Durand Scott was conference defensive player of the year, as
voted by the coaches.
Jim Larranaga was conference coach of the year, as voted by
the coaches, and most likely will win every national coaching award given out.
Julian Gamble was resurrected as a 6th year
senior.
Trey McKinney Jones and Rion Brown finally flourished as
role players.
Tonye Jekiri showed flashes that he might be a building
block for the program.
In other words, this was the best season in the history of
the program; and that was just on the court.
This is the team that energized a campus that had grown to
used to mediocrity in competition.
This is the team that brought you photobombs and freestyle
raps to celebrate wins and unprecedented press access and primetime games and
court storming and MOMMA MADE PIZZA ROLLS and Jim Larannaga’s Ali Shuffle.
This was a team that knew exactly how good they were because
they knew exactly how bad they had been, and they appreciated every second of
it.And better: they made us a part of it.
Coming in to the season, the following was the projected
high: if everyone plays to their ability and has made some progress and stays
healthy, we could finish 5th in the conference and be a dangerous 8
or 9 seed in the Big Dance.
Think about that.
Sure, we managed to time our worst game since December to
coincide with Marquette’s best shooting game of the season.
But if I had told you in December we would make the Sweet
16, lose to the Big East regular season champion and be disappointed by it, you’d
have tried to sell me your Oceanfront Property in Arizona, because clearly I
was insane.
So let us not dwell on a bad finale. This team, like The
Sopranos or LOST, just put together one of the great runs we will ever see
behind an incredibly likable ensemble cast.
We will remember Larkin and 40 Minutes of L (props to our
students for actually being creative for once), but let’s not forget the Rion
Brown game against Illinois, or the Durand Scott explosion in the ACC Semi-Finals,
or the Reggie Johnson tip in to beat NC State on the road.
Let’s not forget how amazing this ride was, because I know
the following: in 20 years, I won’t remember who won the NCAA Tournament this
year without a little bit of thought.
I will ALWAYS remember this ‘Canes squad when I think about
great college basketball teams.
