Jai Lucas knows what Miami's identity is on the court, and he believes that what the Hurricanes do has been proven to be successful in the postseason.
Lucas was a guest on Dan LeBatard's webcast shortly after the Hurricanes found out they were going to be a No. 7 seed and heading to St. Louis to play Missouri in what amounts to a road game. But Lucas has not been deterred and explained to Le Batard that Miami's big, physical style of ball has consistently won and there's recent proof of that.
"We play big, we're physical, and we play to our strengths. So we're going to lean on that," Lucas said.
Jai Lucas has proof that physical play wins in March
It's a style that Le Batard called 'Miami physical' and referenced to the rough style that the Hurricanes played in their ACC quarterfinal win over Louisville. Lucas might just be 37 years old, but he is gloriously old school. He believes that you win with size and rebounding and rim protection. And despite Le Batard's statement that the Hurricanes will gladly "stick an elbow in your ear", they don't commit a lot of fouls.
Lucas adds that physical play has always won in the tournament and anyone that disputes that can look as far as last season.
"When I was at Duke, we were good last year because we were bigger than everybody. You get to the Final Four — Auburn, Houston, Florida — everybody plays the same brand. It's where basketball is going," Lucas said.
The Hurricanes attempt 18.6 3-pointers a game, which is among the lowest totals in the country, but they hit 34.7 percent of those outside shots, which is very comparable to Duke (35.1%), UConn (35.2%) and much better than Florida, who barely shoots about 30% and still managed to score a No. 1 seed in the South region.
"I know a lot of analytics people will tell you that you've got to shoot the three, and you've got to do this or that, but just read the eye test and, it'll tell you what's winning," Lucas added.Â