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5 questions with Miami’s Jim Larranaga

Jim Larranaga has his eyes on the prize. After leading Miami to the Final Four last spring, the veteran head coach is determined to take the Hurricanes back to college basketball’s most hallowed showcase. I caught up with Larranaga this week in Coral Gables to discuss how his life has changed since the conclusion of last season, Wooga Poplar, and what it’s going to take for Miami to return to the Final Four in 2024.

Jon Rothstein: Has your life changed at all since taking Miami to the Final Four?

Jim Larranaga: Just more recruiting. It’s really funny —- everyone thinks things will get better, but as a coach you want to capitalize on the success so you work even harder to get involved with the best players that you can get involved with. And when you do, then you’re competing against the blue bloods because they want those guys. So things don’t get easier — they get more complicated.

Rothstein: How does going to the Final Four at Miami compare to going to the Final Four at George Mason as you did in 2006?

Larranaga: It was the first time in school history at George Mason that the program went to the Final Four and it was the first time here at Miami. It was very similar. One of the differences was at George Mason we were seeded as an 11 seed and were a tremendous underdog. Last year at Miami, we won the regular season title in the ACC and anytime you’re a conference champion going into the NCAA Tournament, you should feel very confident. We were not an underdog although most of the experts picked Drake to beat us in the first round. You have to remember that when you get to the NCAA Tournament everyone is good. The teams either won their tournament or they were picked as a team that earned an at-large bid. So with us, we felt like we didn’t win our tournament and we needed to be very sharp in our first game against Drake to give ourselves a chance to move on in the NCAA Tournament. Once we got rolling, we played terrific all the way to the Final Four. We just played our worst game of the season against UConn.

Rothstein: You lost two of your best players from last season in Isaiah Wong and Jordan Miller, but everyone around your program seems to want to talk about Wooga Poplar — why?

Larranaga: He’s a pro. He’s 6-4 or 6-5 and 200 pounds. He’s a dynamic shooter, a dynamic athlete. He works extremely hard on both ends of the court. I think he’s going to be a first-round pick when he makes the decision to turn pro.

Rothstein: You’ve openly said that one of the biggest keys for your team this season is developing a bench. How would you assess that area right now as we’re six weeks away from the first game?

Larranaga: I think our young guys have really progressed. We have two outstanding freshmen in Kyshawn George and Michael Nwoko and we have two sophomores that have really improved in A.J. Casey and Christian Watson. So those four guys are going to make up a big part of our bench and I think that any one of them could move into our starting lineup because I think they give us a different dimension. Michael (Nwoko) gives us more size. A.J. (Casey) is much stronger than he was a year ago so he gives us more of a physical presence. Kyshawn (George) can play three positions — he’s very versatile — and Christian Watson can shoot the three-point shot.

Rothstein: In each of the past two seasons, you’ve been in position to go to the Final Four. Two years ago, you lost in the Elite Eight to Kansas and last season you reached the Final Four. What do you have to do between now and next March to be in position to go to the Final Four for the second consecutive season?

Larranaga: We won’t know how good this team is until we play great competition. We’ve got a great non-conference schedule. We’re at Kentucky in the first ever ACC/SEC Challenge. We’re in a tournament in the Bahamas and we have Colorado at the Barclays Center. Those games will give us a good indication of where we are going to into league play and the league is very improved. There’s a lot of guys returning and there’s a lot of new transfers who are going to help their programs quite a bit.

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