Miami Hurricanes enter NCAA Tournament with chip on their shoulder

The majority of experts in college basketball seem to be picking against the Miami Hurricanes in their NCAA Tournament opener on Thursday against Loyola-Chicago.

That has given the Canes extra motivation to come out and show the country how good they and the ACC are. Miami Hurricanes Head Coach Jim Larranaga, Sophomore forward-center Dewan Huell and Freshman guard Chris Lykes all spoke to the media on Tuesday about the doubt in the Hurricanes chances to hold their seed against 11th seeded Loyola.

The Ramblers enter the NCAA Tournament 28-5 with a 10 game winning streak. They have won 17 of their last 18 games and were the Missouri Valley Conference regular and postseason champions.

Some of the reasons given for picking Loyola have been the Ramblers experience, their packline defense and ability to spread the floor offensively with four adept three-point shooters.

Other than Lykes and fellow Freshman Lonnie Walker and Sam Waardenburg, every player in Miami’s rotation has played in an NCAA Tournament game. Waardenburg was part of last season’s team that lost to Michigan State in the first round, but he was redshirting.

Juniors Anthony Lawrence and Ebuka Izundu and Senior Ja’Quan Newton will all part of the Hurricanes team that reached the Regional Semifinals in 2016.