Jim Larranaga

Miami coach Jim Larranaga's team averaged a meager 58.5 possessions per 40 minutes. Playing at the nation's most plodding pace allowed the limited Hurricanes to shorten games and remain competitive far more often than not.

(AP Photo | Gerry Broome)

Putting a bow on the ACC basketball season, from worst to first. Time to break down Miami, which mostly remained competitive despite facing significant talent differentials against the top half of the league.

Record: 17-16 (7-11 ACC)

Last seen: Running out of gas in the final four minutes of an ACC tournament loss to N.C. State, a setback that occurred a day after the Hurricanes clinched an improbable winning season.

What went right: Rion Brown provided the quality senior season Miami direly needed, and freshman Manu Lecomte came on in the second half of the season to provide some stability at point guard. Forward Erik Swoope was exceptional late in the season as the Hurricanes won five of their last eight games.

More than anything, Jim Larranaga offered yet another reminder of his uncanny ability to figure out how to get the most out of any roster he has in front of him. Miami adopted a zone defense fairly early in the season, and it was more than content to play at a slower pace than anyone else in the country. Rare was the night when Miami didn't aggravate a more talented opponent; just ask North Carolina and N.C. State, which both lost to the Hurricanes at home.

What went wrong: Things looked ugly early, as the Hurricanes lost to St. Francis Brooklyn and needed overtime to upend Georgia Southern to start the season. A left wrist injury cost guard Deandre Burnett his entire freshman season, and Miami could have used a pure scorer to complement Brown.

The Hurricanes also bizarrely lost to lowly Virginia Tech twice, which made their 7-11 conference mark all the more difficult to attain. Scoring 50 points was never a sure thing for this bunch (they failed to reach that plateau six times), but that wasn't a surprise after graduation and Shane Larkin's jump to the NBA gutted the 2013 ACC champions.

Who's leaving: Four of the top seven scorers — Brown, Adams, Swoope and forward Donnavan Kirk — are out of eligibility. Brown, who scored at least 12 points in 15 straight games to close out his career, provided the most oomph out of any of the departures.

What will be new: The backcourt. Between Burnett presumably being healthy and transfers Sheldon McClellan (Texas) and Angel Rodriguez (Kansas State) becoming eligible, Larranaga should have options on the perimeter to go with Lecomte and rising sophomore Davon Reed.

Program trajectory: Up. Larranaga did his best MacGyver imitation this season, doing the basketball equivalent of taking some spare parts, tying them together with pipe cleaners and Twizzlers and escaping some imposing jams as a result of he and his staff's ingenuity. He cajoled a winning record out of a team whose path to victory was exceptionally narrow. That's not to say the Hurricanes had no talent, but they didn't have much relative to the rest of the league.

The Big 12 backcourt transfers, coupled with a full recruiting class, should allow Miami to play at a more reasonable pace and expand its margin for error. There's going to be enough to make a jump back to the middle of the conference and perhaps even contend for an NCAA tournament berth.

This much is certain: If there's one team that played on the opening day of the ACC tournament that's a good bet to not to do so next season, it is Miami.

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