March 21, 2022

There was a time earlier this basketball season when the whispers got louder about Jim Larranaga and whether it was time for the school to move on. The Canes fell to 4-3 after a 96-64 Thanksgiving weekend at Disney to Alabama. The 72-year old coach, who took George Mason to the Final Four in 2006, heard the noise about the program getting stagnant and maybe Miami needed a fresh face.

The Canes started playing better. They ripped off nine straight wins before a one-point loss at FSU. Miami then blew out North Carolina by 28 at home before another one-point setback to the Seminoles. An up and down finish to the regular season saw Larranaga's team finish 22-9. But retirement was never a thought. New Miami AD Dan Radakovich extended Larranaga's contract two additional seasons, through 2025-26. The Canes then went 1-1 in the ACC Tournament and earned a 10th seed in the NCAA Tournament. They have now beaten USC and blew out Auburn, a former number one team this season, to advance to the Sweet 16. Welcome to March.

One of Larranaga's best players is Charlie Moore. Moore is a sixth year redshirt senior who is on his fourth school. Moore started his career at Cal in 2016-17. He then played at Kansas in 2018-19, after sitting out a year with his transfer. He then moved to DePaul, where he played two seasons before coming to Miami as a graduate senior. Heck, Moore is his own bracket...

Iowa State beat Wisconsin and the Cyclones are headed to Chicago for the Sweet 16. Iowa State won two games last season...two!...Houston is in its third straight Sweet 16...St. Peter's Head Coach Shaheen Holloway played at Seton Hall and is likely headed to his alma mater to replace Kevin Willard who is likely to take the Maryland job...And yes, Rex Chapman paid tribute to Pete Gillen during a studio segment only to learn Gillen is indeed alive and not in basketball heaven....It's March Man...

Florida hired Todd Golden as its new basketball coach replacing Mike White. Is it a good hire? I have no idea. Golden comes from San Francisco, where he went 24-10 and lost in the first round of this year's NCAA Tournament. Golden is considered one of the young rising stars in his profession. Is he Mike White 2.0? Maybe. Can he recruit in the SEC? We will see, He is a big analytics guy, for whatever that means. Could Florida have done better? Who knows. Maybe this is the market for the vacancy and maybe it will turn out to be a great hire...

Sean Miller is back coaching with Xavier bringing Miller back to the school he coached before he went to Arizona. Despite the NCAA investigation and Arizona letting Miller go, he has found a home where he once coached. Why? Ask the Cleveland Browns.

The Browns said their research was "extensive" regarding Deshaun Watson before agreeing to trade for him. What the heck does that mean? Did they interview any of the 22 women who allege Watson was inappropriate with them? No. Did they talk to the attorney of the women? No. But then again, this is about winning and this is the NFL. I blame the NFL, the Browns, the NFLPA and us as fans. We have established a culture that justifies things like this. We talk about second chances, but this is not about a second chance for Watson. This is about basic common sense. If you owned a business, would you hire Watson based on what you know? No, you would not...

The legend, Gene Deckerhoff, has announced plans to retire from calling FSU games. He will finish out his Bucs contract before hanging up the mic. Gene is one of the greatest to ever do it. When I grew up listening to games on the radio, Deckerhoff was someone I wanted to be. My brother attended Florida State starting in 1978 and most FSU games were not on TV back then. But I could listen to Gene and Vic Prinzi call games on the old transistor radio. Gene's style was one of enthusiasm. He perfectly described games and made me want to be there but also not turn the radio off. I would go on and meet Gene in my early years at UCF and he was great then as he is now. He offered advice and treated me as an equal- even though I was anything but. I cherish the moments getting to talk with Gene and I am happy for him that he will go out on his terms because a legend like him deserves to call his own shot...

Final thought: Most people don't know Gene Deckerhoff is a graduate of .......the University of Florida.