On Friday, after the first round of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off, we previewed the remainder of the weekend's action in San Juan with these timeless words of wisdom:

The deepest and best field of the weekend belongs to the Puerto Rico Tip Off. Which, with all due respect, is thanks primarily to its potential Butler-Utah finale. That remains a possibility after Thursday, when the Bulldogs crushed Missouri State, and Utah handled partners in plane travel Texas Tech. Then again, we might also be deeply disrespecting Miami, which pounced on Mississippi State early and never looked back en route to Friday's semifinal matchup with the Utes.

So, yeah: We were deeply disrespecting Miami. We're sorry, Miami. It won't happen again.

As it turns out, a 105-79 blitzkrieg of Mississippi State -- in 77 possessions -- had less to do with the Bulldogs being totally overmatched than with the Hurricanes being awesome at basketball. Twenty-four hours later, Miami did the same thing to Utah, winning a 67-possession game 90-66. Once again, the Hurricanes held an opponent close to the one-point-per-trip mark; once again, they scored by the truckload (1.34 ppp). The only difference was the understood quality of the opponent. Thrashing a rebuilding program with a first-year coach is one thing; doing the same thing to a No. 16-ranked, senior-laden, Pac-12 title contender with a future lottery-pick center is another.

Then on Sunday, for good measure, the Hurricanes made Sunday night's Puerto Rico Tip-Off title game -- another matchup with a top-25 team -- look nearly as easy in an 85-75 win over No. 21 Butler.

Again: We're sorry, Miami. Seriously. Our bad.

Tonye Jekiri (23), Ivan Cruz (33) and Miami took care of Butler and the rest of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off field over the weekend. Ricardo Arduengo/AP Photo

Now, that apology can only extend so far. On the one hand, yes, it was fair to expect Jim Larranaga's team to improve this summer, as a 2014-15 team that relied primarily on new faces became a 2015-16 group with more experience and cohesion at nearly every position. On the other hand, the Hurricanes were deeply unreliable a season ago, capable of both winning at eventual national champion Duke (Jan. 13) and losing at home to Georgia Tech by 20 points 15 days later. Miami failed to make the NCAA tournament for valid reasons, and even the most bullish offseason assessments of the Canes topped out at the low reaches of the Top 25. No one could have seen this coming.

Not that it matters now. Angel Rodriguez and Sheldon McClellan are providing extremely sharp, experienced, efficient guard play. (McClellan scored 27 points on 10-of-12 shooting -- including 7-for-7 inside the arc! -- against Utah). Center Tonye Jekiri has added more effective post work to his already impressive rebounding acumen. The Hurricanes, 5-0 with neutral-court wins over Utah and Butler, are an ACC title contender through and through. And now we know.

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