2008 Miami Basketball Picks & NCAA Predictions
Written October 5, 2008 by Jack Jones
It seems strange that the Miami Hurricanes basketball team is turning more heads than the football team these days, but we see that trend continuing into this season. There are skeptics out there who felt that the 23-11 record Miami put up a year ago was a fluke, but we are not one of them. Head coach Frank Haith has his top five leading scorers coming back and they landed a top recruit in DeQuan Jones. This is a program that is on the up and up and should be mentioned with the conference elites for the years to come. If you want to take a chance with the Hurricanes this year, head to BetUS where a $100 bet on Miami to win the national championship would net you $7,500.
The Hurricane frontcourt needs big play out of Dwayne Collins this year. The junior averaged 8.6 points and 6.5 rebounds a year ago, but seems to go missing at times. We do think that senior Jimmy Graham will be poised for a nice senior campaign. He can’t really do much for Miami on offense, but defensively he provides great hustle, can block shots, and rebounds well. Cyrus McGowan also comes over as a transfer from Arkansas to provide the team a little depth. James Dews average 10.3 points last season from the wing spot, and you’ll likely see the freshman Jones see a lot of time right away. He has the talent to make a big impact on the offensive end.
Senior Jack McClinton might be the best shooter in the ACC and will be the focus of opposing defenses again this year. He is coming off a junior campaign that saw him put up nearly 18 points per contest, while shooting 43% from behind the arc. He got plenty of attempts too, making 2.94 threes per game. At point guard will be Lance Hurdle. Hurdle is not a very good shooter but does a good job of running the show for the team. You might see Dews play some at the guard spot if Jones comes through as expected, as there isn’t a lot of depth in the backcourt.
Final Analysis
Miami is coming off one of the most successful seasons in the school’s history and almost all of the key players are back. This means that you should see improvements off of the 8-8 conference record as they end up just slightly behind Duke in the final standings, which is were we have them in our ACC basketball predictions. If things go right and the team can pull off an upset or two while take care of the teams they should, North Carolina might have to watch out. The only bad thing is that after last year’s turnaround the team isn’t going to sneak up on anyone. If you want to bet on basketball this year, head to BetUS and get a 145% signup bonus on your first deposit.
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