Miami basketball social media praise with men and women in Elite 8

The Miami basketball team advanced to the Regional Final for the first time in the NCAA Women’s basketball tournament. Only Connecticut, Creighton and Texas have had their Men and Women earn an Elite Eight berth in each of the last two NCAA Tournaments. The Miami men advance to their second straight Elite Eight Friday.

Miami alums, fans and celebrities without a connection to the program reacted to the Hurricanes’ win to send them to the Elite Eight. As they have throughout the season and especially in the NCAA Tournament, the Miami women’s basketball team showed a lot of grit, guile and guts to defeat Villanova.

Miami led 46-33 at halftime and scored the first eight points of the third quarter to extend the lead to 21. Villanova got back into the game by pressing and when Miami got in foul trouble. The Wildcats went on an 18-3 run to close the deficit to 57-51 at the end of the third quarter. Villanova took its first lead at 60-59.

Maggie Siegrist finished the game with 31 points, eight rebounds and five steals but made just eight of her 29 shot attempts. Siegrist led the nation averaging 29.1 points per game and added 91. rebounds. Siegrist finished the season with 1,081 points which is the second most in a season in women’s college basketball history.

The run from the Miami’s women’s basketball team in the 2023 NCAA Tournament is similar to the men advancing to the Elite Eight last season. Miami defeated seventh-seed USC, second-seed Auburn and 11th-seed Iowa State as a 10 seed on their way to the Elite Eight in the 2022 NCAA Tournament.

Miami women’s basketball guard Hanna Cavinder posted a scene shot of her and her sister Haley face-timing with rapper Lil’ Wayne. The Cavinders have brought a lot of attention to the Miami women’s basketball program. Haley Cavinder proved she could ball earning honorable mention All-ACC.

The tweet from Magic Johnson was the second time this week he praised the Miami women’s basketball team. Johnson also praised Miami after their upset win at number-one seed Indiana on Monday night. Miami basketball is getting noticed nationally with both the men and women in the 2023 Elite Eight.

Audibert is a Canes Basketball alum and is currently the radio and television studio analyst for the Miami Heat. Miami basketball is generating excitement, earning accolades and creating publicity for its success. Miami men’s head coach Jim Larranaga was asked if the Hurricanes are now a basketball school.

Larranaga answered that Miami is a top 50 school nationally academically and praised the success of the baseball and football teams with nine combined national championships. The support from the administration led by athletic director Dan Radakovic was also mentioned by Larrananga.

Amazingly the Miami men’s and women’s basketball teams are each one win away from the Final Four. The men will tip off at 5:05 PM ET per Adam Lichtenstein of the Sun Sentinel. The women’s regional finals will tipoff at 7 PM. With four games on Sunday, it’s not likely the Miami men and women will overlap.