“The will to succeed is important, but what's more important is the will to prepare.” - Bobby Knight. Bobby Knight is considered a college basketball “god” who has had a tremendous amount of success in his career. This year, the University of Miami has had a “Cinderella Story” type of season as Bobby Knight likes to call it. Miami this year has taken down top ranked teams, but their season hasn’t really been one for the record books like some analysts say.
By definition, lucky is defined as, “Having, bringing, or resulting from good luck”. This year in men’s college basketball, the University of Miami Hurricanes fit directly under that category of “lucky”. The Miami Hurricanes have shocked the entire nation this year in men’s college basketball, upsetting some ranked team. Miami doesn’t have a history of being “this good”, and as one analyst puts it, “Yes, that Miami team that couldn’t beat itself for the most part when in the Big East.” Their play so far this season has had some analysts speculating a championship win for the Hurricanes. The team with a reputation of having a solid basketball program has squeaked into the top 10 for the first time in 14 years. The question springing debate among analyst is whether the Hurricanes are good, or is it just a hoax. In my opinion, Miami isn’t as good as many analysts are saying.

Miami is having a good season, but it is purely because of luck. So far this season, the Hurricanes (24-6) have knocked off top teams such as Duke, Michigan State, and NC State. Besides the few ranked teams the “U” has faced, Miami really has had a “walk in the park” kind of season. Miami is placed in their current situation by squeaking past some top ranked teams, yet a good chunk of their wins are against teams that are sitting at the bottom of their conference. Fourteen of the 30 teams they faced in the 2012-2013 season had a losing conference record. The only argument Miami has going for them is their play against ranked teams; which when broken down, is not even that impressive. They have gone 3-2 against these ranked teams, which for most college basketball programs is great, even by Miami’s standards. But when facing teams within the top 10, they are 1-2; really not as impressive. Yes they defeated number 1 ranked Duke, but they also lost to them later in the season. The main reason why Miami won the first time against Duke was because Duke’s best player was injured. The two other ranked teams they beat, Michigan State and NC State, weren’t even ranked in the top 10.

When Miami beat Duke for the first time the entire nation was shocked, and when they knocked off Michigan, they were considered the team to beat. But they definitely are wrong. Miami this season has been good when they are playing against teams with little success, but when it comes to the big game against the big team, they don’t have the talent to beat a top 10 ranked team consistently. They did beat Duke, but Duke got revenge later in the season. They also lost to 4th rank Arizona, which is the 2nd best team they faced all season.

Nearly all past National Championship winning teams have one or two star players that lead the team to victory, and Miami just doesn’t have that guy. Duke had the Plumlee brothers, Connecticut had Kemba Walker, Kentucky had Anthony Davis, but the best Miami has is Kenny Kadji. Kenny Kadji is a player that is expected to go 45th in next year’s draft and will most likely spend the rest of his career overseas or in the D-League. A championship bound team can’t lean on a D-League caliber player. Some analysts only jump on the Miami bandwagon because they claim no one has the talent to beat them. What about 5th ranked Georgetown with an actual leader and potential 1st overall pick Otto Porter? The Hurricanes can’t compete with teams with NBA talent. Also the “U” is a very young team, “I told our guys this was going to be a game where we are going to have to play tough defense, they are young players but they aren’t playing like freshman.” Jim Larranaga, the head coach of Miami, told the press that he had a young team who weren’t playing like freshman. But there is a problem with a team that is pronominally freshman; they do not have experience.
When Miami is in a “loser-goes-home” type of matchup, Miami will be at a disadvantage against veteran teams.
Miami is currently sitting at 9th in the country with a few games left in the season. The Hurricanes haven’t been as good as of late. The hot start to the season brought them to 2nd in the country a few weeks ago. The things the “U” has accomplished aren’t good enough for a National Championship team. The bottom line is, Miami’s season has been lucky and they aren’t as good as analysts say. The “U” has been considered good by some, but just about every other top 10 team is better.