Preview:
Our last home stand begins on Thursday. It is obvious that we won't be hosting anything after the regular season, so this is truly the end of the line for our seniors playing at home. Still, before we get to senior day on Sunday, we have Thursday's evening game against Miami.
Miami is 14-13 overall, 4-12 in conference, so they look similar to us, on paper. Massey has them at 66, and before you conclude that makes them an easy win--66 is slightly better than Virginia and Clemson. Miami just beat Wake Forest but they previously lost 5 in a row. That win over Wake Forest was actually one of only two quality wins for them--the other being Florida. Their offensive and defensive ratings are about equally mediocre. Massey gives us an 81% chance to win and predicts a double digit 74-63. They are 2-6 on the road and this trip will be a doozy for them. The only time they have left the Eastern time zone this entire season was to play at a tournament in Hawaii.
Miami is led by 5'6" grad student guard Haley Cavendar. She is playing in her 5th year after playing 3 at Fresno State. She averages 18ppg, takes 3/4 of her shots from inside the arc but is also shooting 44 three pointers on the year at about a 31% clip. She also has 124 assists to 80 turnovers. While Miami has some other capable players, they are not a balanced offense, which means we should be scheming to stop Cavendar. Haley, that is.
Miami's second leading scorer is a 6'3" grad student forward Cameron Williams. She played 4 years at Michigan and just grad transferred to Miami for her 5th year of eligibility. That makes two 5th year Covid players among their starters. Williams is making 58% of her shots and 12 ppg, and leads the team in rebounding. Another tough post matchup for or less athletic "bigs" to attempt to contain.
But Cameron Williams is NOT the only post. Miami also starts 6'5" grad student center Natalija Marshall. She played for Notre Dame for 4 years before grad transferring to Miami for her 5th year of eligibility. That makes three 5th year Covid players among their starters. She is making only 38% of her shots, so she is not the offensive threat inside that Williams is. But (unlike Marshall) she also shoots the three, at 32%. Defending a 6'5" three point shooter will be interesting.
Also a regular starter is Hannah Cavender, and (you guessed it) she is a 5'6" grad student guard--Haley's twin sister who also came over from Fresno State and is playing in her 5th year of eligibility. That makes FOUR transfers playing in year 5 of their eligibility. These twins have very similar shooting percentages and assist to turnover ratios, but Hannah just takes many fewer shots than Haley.
The twins have a big social media presence. Last year they committed to TCU before they were lured back to Miami. I do not know the price tag for that. They seem to have a lot of money for clothes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peRLRZSam8M&t=2s
Media reports indicate that they each rake in almost one million annually in NIL deals.
And there you have it. Miami is one of the bottom feeding teams in the conference that we are competing with to make it into the ACC. I am not sure why they have had such a bad year, when the previous year they made the elite 8. But I would love to kick them while they are.....jet lagged.
Our last home stand begins on Thursday. It is obvious that we won't be hosting anything after the regular season, so this is truly the end of the line for our seniors playing at home. Still, before we get to senior day on Sunday, we have Thursday's evening game against Miami.
Miami is 14-13 overall, 4-12 in conference, so they look similar to us, on paper. Massey has them at 66, and before you conclude that makes them an easy win--66 is slightly better than Virginia and Clemson. Miami just beat Wake Forest but they previously lost 5 in a row. That win over Wake Forest was actually one of only two quality wins for them--the other being Florida. Their offensive and defensive ratings are about equally mediocre. Massey gives us an 81% chance to win and predicts a double digit 74-63. They are 2-6 on the road and this trip will be a doozy for them. The only time they have left the Eastern time zone this entire season was to play at a tournament in Hawaii.
Miami is led by 5'6" grad student guard Haley Cavendar. She is playing in her 5th year after playing 3 at Fresno State. She averages 18ppg, takes 3/4 of her shots from inside the arc but is also shooting 44 three pointers on the year at about a 31% clip. She also has 124 assists to 80 turnovers. While Miami has some other capable players, they are not a balanced offense, which means we should be scheming to stop Cavendar. Haley, that is.
Miami's second leading scorer is a 6'3" grad student forward Cameron Williams. She played 4 years at Michigan and just grad transferred to Miami for her 5th year of eligibility. That makes two 5th year Covid players among their starters. Williams is making 58% of her shots and 12 ppg, and leads the team in rebounding. Another tough post matchup for or less athletic "bigs" to attempt to contain.
But Cameron Williams is NOT the only post. Miami also starts 6'5" grad student center Natalija Marshall. She played for Notre Dame for 4 years before grad transferring to Miami for her 5th year of eligibility. That makes three 5th year Covid players among their starters. She is making only 38% of her shots, so she is not the offensive threat inside that Williams is. But (unlike Marshall) she also shoots the three, at 32%. Defending a 6'5" three point shooter will be interesting.
Also a regular starter is Hannah Cavender, and (you guessed it) she is a 5'6" grad student guard--Haley's twin sister who also came over from Fresno State and is playing in her 5th year of eligibility. That makes FOUR transfers playing in year 5 of their eligibility. These twins have very similar shooting percentages and assist to turnover ratios, but Hannah just takes many fewer shots than Haley.
The twins have a big social media presence. Last year they committed to TCU before they were lured back to Miami. I do not know the price tag for that. They seem to have a lot of money for clothes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peRLRZSam8M&t=2s
Media reports indicate that they each rake in almost one million annually in NIL deals.
And there you have it. Miami is one of the bottom feeding teams in the conference that we are competing with to make it into the ACC. I am not sure why they have had such a bad year, when the previous year they made the elite 8. But I would love to kick them while they are.....jet lagged.
