Post by Quijote on Mar 5, 2007 13:38:51 GMT -5
The Herald ran a very interesting story on UM basketball and how, generally speaking, it has failed in almost all aspects since their move from the Miami Arena to their on campus arena. I'll paste it here so everyone can read and offer their contrasting point of views in relation to the FIU program. Its interesting to note that FIU isn't the only big name university in South Florida struggling to advance their basketball program. It seems that perhaps, relatively speaking, FAU has done the best job as of late in advancing their basketball program. Very interesting read!
SUNDAY FOCUS | UM BASKETBALL
Hurricanes basketball stuck in neutral
UM officials felt an on-campus arena would bolster the basketball program, but attendance is down and the team hasn't reached the NCAA Tournament since 2002.
BY MANNY NAVARRO
mnavarro@MiamiHerald.com
Andrew Uloza
Third-year coach Frank Haith, top, is 11-19 this season, and his team has been playing in front of consistently small audiences at BankUnited Center.
- UM athletic director Paul Dee discusses the state of UM's men's basketball program.
UM president Donna Shalala and new associate athletic director Jim Frevola on the state of UM men's basketball program and attendance at BankUnited Center.
Canes take the hard road
UM lets another one slip away
A little more than four years ago, the University of Miami basketball program seemed to be living a dream.
The school's long-sought, on-campus basketball arena had just opened with a magical overtime victory against North Carolina on Jan. 4, 2003, and many viewed it as a sign of glorious things to come.
UM athletic director Paul Dee told The Miami Herald at the time that the impact of the $48 million arena was ``going to be more than any of us can imagine, even beyond home-court advantage.
''I think we all have visions,'' Dee said, ``but this place will exceed them.''
Not thus far. The Hurricanes completed an 11-19 regular season Saturday -- their worst under third-year coach Frank Haith -- with a 98-90 overtime loss against Florida State in front of just 4,503 at BankUnited Center. That was their third-largest crowd of the season. Unless they win next week's Atlantic Coast Conference tournament in Tampa, the Hurricanes will miss the NCAA Tournament for the fifth consecutive season.
Clearly, Dee's grand vision has not materialized. The Hurricanes are struggling to compete not only in the ACC standings, but in other key aspects of major-college basketball, such as attendance, recruiting and travel.
Consider:
• Attendance has dropped at the new arena. The average turnout for men's games at BankUnited Center (3,815) is worse than in the previous 4 ½ seasons at Miami Arena (4,130).
• UM, which has the smallest arena capacity (7,000) in the ACC, has ranked a distant last in the conference in attendance in the three seasons it has been a part of the league. This season's average attendance is nearly 4,500 fewer than the next-worst team in the ACC, Florida State (7,829).
• Student support has been a problem. Though students now are close enough to the arena to walk from their dorm rooms, they barely fill more than half of the 1,000 free seats allotted to the student body on a nightly basis.
• The big-time recruits who were supposed to fall in love with the new on-campus facility have passed on the Hurricanes thus far. Since McDonald's high school All-American Darius Rice completed his UM career in 2004, no coach has been able to convince a consensus Top 50 national recruit to choose the Hurricanes.
• The home-court advantage UM expected to have in an on-campus arena has not come to fruition. UM's record at Miami Arena was better in its final four-plus seasons (53-13) than its record (45-31) at BankUnited Center.
• The Hurricanes have yet to catch up with their ACC counterparts in areas such as travel. UM travels on commercial flights regularly, even though the rest of the conference often spends more for chartered flights -- an advantage that allows for more practice and study time.
`DOUBLE RESPONSIBILITY'
Dee maintains the vision he once had for the program still can become reality.
''I think the program is in good hands,'' Dee said. ``We have a tremendous coach and we're very pleased with him.
``With regard to the other aspects, our attendance hasn't been where we'd like it to be. We sold a lot more tickets than we have people coming to our games. We have a double responsibility to not only get our ticket holders to come to the games, but our students to come, and these are things we have to build.
``We've never had a tradition of an on-campus facility. We've never had a tradition where students came to games in large numbers. But putting that all aside, this team deserves to have a better fan appreciation, and I'm pleased with the people that are coming. But we need to get more people to our ball games. We have to work at it every day.''
But where do the Hurricanes, a Sweet 16 team only seven seasons ago, begin their trek? Texas coach Rick Barnes, who helped fellow ACC rival Clemson and most recently the Longhorns rise from mediocrity, said it starts at the top with a financial commitment to the basketball program.
''When I got to Clemson, there was an apathy about [basketball],'' Barnes said. ``It was football, football, football. You walked into the lobby of the athletic hall and it was mostly all football. Every way you turned, it was football.
``First thing we did was get our own full-time strength coach. We built a weight room of our own in the basketball complex where we didn't have to walk across the street and lift where all the football players were.
``When you're in the ACC, you've got to compete on every level, from travel to recruiting to facilities to home-court advantage. Not only do recruits look at it, but your competition does, too. And believe me, they'll use it against you. Like I said, it will not get done unless it's a priority with the administration.''
Barnes backs Haith, one of his former assistants at Texas. In 2004, Haith was named Rivals.com's Recruiter of the Year for pulling in the nation's No. 1 class at Texas, getting commitments from LaMarcus Aldridge, Daniel Gibson and Michael Williams.
''I'm telling you, Frank knows how to get it done,'' Barnes said. ``He's been there. He understands the ACC and he knows what he's up against. They've got to be willing to help him get it done without him having to beg for it.''
TALENT SHORTAGE?
When Miami was dominating the Big East in the late 1990s, many UM fans figured playing basketball well into March was going to become a tradition.
But since UM made three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances from 1998 until coach Leonard Hamilton left after the 1999-2000 season, the Canes have reached the NCAA tourney once -- a one-and-done trip during Perry Clark's second season in 2002.
Now, Haith says after two trips to the NIT and a season of struggles, the lessons freshman center Dwayne Collins and starting sophomores Brian Asbury, Jack McClinton and Denis Clemente learned this season -- along with the influx of next season's recruiting class -- will make UM an NCAA Tournament team again.
But Haith was excited about this season's team, too. Injuries and youthful struggles ultimately proved insurmountable, although some blame Miami's struggles on a lack of talent.
''I don't think Coach Haith has done a bad job by any means, but I don't know that he's necessarily taken the recruiting to the level it would need to be at for Miami to make that jump in such a tough conference,'' Rivals.com national recruiting coordinator Jerry Meyer said. ``I think the next couple of recruiting classes are pretty pivotal. They need some guys to overachieve.''
Scout.com reported last month that one of the nation's premier 2008 recruits, 6-7 swingman Devin Ebanks from Oakdale St. Thomas More, Conn., has made UM his college leader. Ebanks is rated the 14th-best recruit regardless of position in the country and the No. 2 small forward in his class by Rivals.
''I think with a guy like Devin Ebanks, if they can finish that out and get a signature from him, you're having a Darius Rice situation where he was the pied piper for some other guys,'' said Scout.com national recruiting director Dave Telep, who likens Ebanks' style to former UConn star Rudy Gay. ``He's going to bring more guys with him.''
But Meyer said that until players such as Ebanks start arriving at UM with regularity, the Canes will not be good enough to contend for conference titles as they did in the Big East.
''I think they have a solid class coming in, but I don't think it's a great class, though,'' said Meyer, who rates all three UM 2007 recruits with three stars. ``I don't think it will take UM to that next level or next two levels Miami wants to get to.''
Of UM's three 2007 recruits, Meyer believes 6-0 Miami High guard Edwin Rios is the most capable of improving the Canes. Two years ago, Rios was being tabbed as one of the nation's top-10 players. But he now is rated outside the Rivals.com Top 100.
''The guy knows how to play,'' Meyer said of Rios, who averaged 26.3 points, 5.7 assists and 7.2 rebounds this season. ``I think if he gets some athletic guys around him who can score and open up the floor, Rios can be a good floor general for them.''
LACK OF SUPPORT
Haith, who signed a five-year extention and passed on offers from other schools last summer after leading UM to back-to-back NIT berths, said he has been pleased with the help he has received from school administrators. But he also said the help of students in creating a fun college environment is critical to helping UM recruit better players and win more games.
''Obviously it helps to have support,'' Haith said. ``When we played at Wake Forest, they were in last place. There were 14,000 people there. Hopefully, our fans will one day understand how important they are to us in creating a home-court advantage and making it a tough place to play. That's such an advantage when you have an environment that's imposing.''
Keith ''Fletch'' Fletcher, the advisor to UM's student spirit programming board, Category 5, said UM students need time to establish a love affair with basketball.
''Miami is a relatively new university in terms of years established, and it is absent of a lot of cool traditions longer schools have had and public institutions have had,'' Fletcher said. ``I think our student body in large part is not overwhelmingly spirited.
``I don't think enough excitement is generated around our men's or women's program right now. I don't know where that blame lays. With the students? Of course I'd be foolish not to say the more money you pump into anything, the more excitement you can generate. I still don't think we are where we need to be in terms of letting students know about games. I still don't think we are where we need to be in terms of creating the exciting in-game atmosphere that will bring students back. It's a process; we're taking steps.''
Those steps have included adding a disc jockey for games and the establishment of three student-fan programs. But where there has been growth, there also has been apathy.
''UM really does not do a good job of promoting any sports team on campus, even football,'' said Paul Burkart, a senior who wears an orange wig to all UM home games. ``We held two pep rallies for football this year on campus, but they were not particularly well-attended. There are no signs or banners anywhere on campus advertising sports teams except for a small sign in front of the bookstore, and no one knows how many students even see that sign.''
E-MAILS AND FLIERS
Fletcher said most UM students receive e-mail promotions and fliers before games. This season, Fletcher said, UM filled its student section only once -- for Duke. Fletcher said UM rarely fills more than two-thirds of its student section.
''I don't think we've made a good enough effort to convince first-year students the cool thing to do is to go to Miami athletic events,'' Fletcher said. ``I think Miami itself faces cultural issues, because there is so much to do on campus and in the community. It's not where it's a large state institution where the cool thing to do is go to the basketball game.''
Therein lies the challenge for Dee and Haith. Dee said Wednesday the school recently hired a new associate athletic director to help with marketing and is in the midst of doing more promotions for next season.
''The answer is, we thought we were doing enough, but obviously it's not enough,'' Dee said. ``We have to do more. We have to get people there.
``We're looking at the gamut to see what we can do. It's a struggle. If you go back when were in the Big East, we did all types of things to get people to come to games.
``It's something we're working on, and sometimes it depends on how we're doing, but our people should come out and support our team regardless, and that's what our ultimate goal is.''
SUNDAY FOCUS | UM BASKETBALL
Hurricanes basketball stuck in neutral
UM officials felt an on-campus arena would bolster the basketball program, but attendance is down and the team hasn't reached the NCAA Tournament since 2002.
BY MANNY NAVARRO
mnavarro@MiamiHerald.com
Andrew Uloza
Third-year coach Frank Haith, top, is 11-19 this season, and his team has been playing in front of consistently small audiences at BankUnited Center.
- UM athletic director Paul Dee discusses the state of UM's men's basketball program.
UM president Donna Shalala and new associate athletic director Jim Frevola on the state of UM men's basketball program and attendance at BankUnited Center.
Canes take the hard road
UM lets another one slip away
A little more than four years ago, the University of Miami basketball program seemed to be living a dream.
The school's long-sought, on-campus basketball arena had just opened with a magical overtime victory against North Carolina on Jan. 4, 2003, and many viewed it as a sign of glorious things to come.
UM athletic director Paul Dee told The Miami Herald at the time that the impact of the $48 million arena was ``going to be more than any of us can imagine, even beyond home-court advantage.
''I think we all have visions,'' Dee said, ``but this place will exceed them.''
Not thus far. The Hurricanes completed an 11-19 regular season Saturday -- their worst under third-year coach Frank Haith -- with a 98-90 overtime loss against Florida State in front of just 4,503 at BankUnited Center. That was their third-largest crowd of the season. Unless they win next week's Atlantic Coast Conference tournament in Tampa, the Hurricanes will miss the NCAA Tournament for the fifth consecutive season.
Clearly, Dee's grand vision has not materialized. The Hurricanes are struggling to compete not only in the ACC standings, but in other key aspects of major-college basketball, such as attendance, recruiting and travel.
Consider:
• Attendance has dropped at the new arena. The average turnout for men's games at BankUnited Center (3,815) is worse than in the previous 4 ½ seasons at Miami Arena (4,130).
• UM, which has the smallest arena capacity (7,000) in the ACC, has ranked a distant last in the conference in attendance in the three seasons it has been a part of the league. This season's average attendance is nearly 4,500 fewer than the next-worst team in the ACC, Florida State (7,829).
• Student support has been a problem. Though students now are close enough to the arena to walk from their dorm rooms, they barely fill more than half of the 1,000 free seats allotted to the student body on a nightly basis.
• The big-time recruits who were supposed to fall in love with the new on-campus facility have passed on the Hurricanes thus far. Since McDonald's high school All-American Darius Rice completed his UM career in 2004, no coach has been able to convince a consensus Top 50 national recruit to choose the Hurricanes.
• The home-court advantage UM expected to have in an on-campus arena has not come to fruition. UM's record at Miami Arena was better in its final four-plus seasons (53-13) than its record (45-31) at BankUnited Center.
• The Hurricanes have yet to catch up with their ACC counterparts in areas such as travel. UM travels on commercial flights regularly, even though the rest of the conference often spends more for chartered flights -- an advantage that allows for more practice and study time.
`DOUBLE RESPONSIBILITY'
Dee maintains the vision he once had for the program still can become reality.
''I think the program is in good hands,'' Dee said. ``We have a tremendous coach and we're very pleased with him.
``With regard to the other aspects, our attendance hasn't been where we'd like it to be. We sold a lot more tickets than we have people coming to our games. We have a double responsibility to not only get our ticket holders to come to the games, but our students to come, and these are things we have to build.
``We've never had a tradition of an on-campus facility. We've never had a tradition where students came to games in large numbers. But putting that all aside, this team deserves to have a better fan appreciation, and I'm pleased with the people that are coming. But we need to get more people to our ball games. We have to work at it every day.''
But where do the Hurricanes, a Sweet 16 team only seven seasons ago, begin their trek? Texas coach Rick Barnes, who helped fellow ACC rival Clemson and most recently the Longhorns rise from mediocrity, said it starts at the top with a financial commitment to the basketball program.
''When I got to Clemson, there was an apathy about [basketball],'' Barnes said. ``It was football, football, football. You walked into the lobby of the athletic hall and it was mostly all football. Every way you turned, it was football.
``First thing we did was get our own full-time strength coach. We built a weight room of our own in the basketball complex where we didn't have to walk across the street and lift where all the football players were.
``When you're in the ACC, you've got to compete on every level, from travel to recruiting to facilities to home-court advantage. Not only do recruits look at it, but your competition does, too. And believe me, they'll use it against you. Like I said, it will not get done unless it's a priority with the administration.''
Barnes backs Haith, one of his former assistants at Texas. In 2004, Haith was named Rivals.com's Recruiter of the Year for pulling in the nation's No. 1 class at Texas, getting commitments from LaMarcus Aldridge, Daniel Gibson and Michael Williams.
''I'm telling you, Frank knows how to get it done,'' Barnes said. ``He's been there. He understands the ACC and he knows what he's up against. They've got to be willing to help him get it done without him having to beg for it.''
TALENT SHORTAGE?
When Miami was dominating the Big East in the late 1990s, many UM fans figured playing basketball well into March was going to become a tradition.
But since UM made three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances from 1998 until coach Leonard Hamilton left after the 1999-2000 season, the Canes have reached the NCAA tourney once -- a one-and-done trip during Perry Clark's second season in 2002.
Now, Haith says after two trips to the NIT and a season of struggles, the lessons freshman center Dwayne Collins and starting sophomores Brian Asbury, Jack McClinton and Denis Clemente learned this season -- along with the influx of next season's recruiting class -- will make UM an NCAA Tournament team again.
But Haith was excited about this season's team, too. Injuries and youthful struggles ultimately proved insurmountable, although some blame Miami's struggles on a lack of talent.
''I don't think Coach Haith has done a bad job by any means, but I don't know that he's necessarily taken the recruiting to the level it would need to be at for Miami to make that jump in such a tough conference,'' Rivals.com national recruiting coordinator Jerry Meyer said. ``I think the next couple of recruiting classes are pretty pivotal. They need some guys to overachieve.''
Scout.com reported last month that one of the nation's premier 2008 recruits, 6-7 swingman Devin Ebanks from Oakdale St. Thomas More, Conn., has made UM his college leader. Ebanks is rated the 14th-best recruit regardless of position in the country and the No. 2 small forward in his class by Rivals.
''I think with a guy like Devin Ebanks, if they can finish that out and get a signature from him, you're having a Darius Rice situation where he was the pied piper for some other guys,'' said Scout.com national recruiting director Dave Telep, who likens Ebanks' style to former UConn star Rudy Gay. ``He's going to bring more guys with him.''
But Meyer said that until players such as Ebanks start arriving at UM with regularity, the Canes will not be good enough to contend for conference titles as they did in the Big East.
''I think they have a solid class coming in, but I don't think it's a great class, though,'' said Meyer, who rates all three UM 2007 recruits with three stars. ``I don't think it will take UM to that next level or next two levels Miami wants to get to.''
Of UM's three 2007 recruits, Meyer believes 6-0 Miami High guard Edwin Rios is the most capable of improving the Canes. Two years ago, Rios was being tabbed as one of the nation's top-10 players. But he now is rated outside the Rivals.com Top 100.
''The guy knows how to play,'' Meyer said of Rios, who averaged 26.3 points, 5.7 assists and 7.2 rebounds this season. ``I think if he gets some athletic guys around him who can score and open up the floor, Rios can be a good floor general for them.''
LACK OF SUPPORT
Haith, who signed a five-year extention and passed on offers from other schools last summer after leading UM to back-to-back NIT berths, said he has been pleased with the help he has received from school administrators. But he also said the help of students in creating a fun college environment is critical to helping UM recruit better players and win more games.
''Obviously it helps to have support,'' Haith said. ``When we played at Wake Forest, they were in last place. There were 14,000 people there. Hopefully, our fans will one day understand how important they are to us in creating a home-court advantage and making it a tough place to play. That's such an advantage when you have an environment that's imposing.''
Keith ''Fletch'' Fletcher, the advisor to UM's student spirit programming board, Category 5, said UM students need time to establish a love affair with basketball.
''Miami is a relatively new university in terms of years established, and it is absent of a lot of cool traditions longer schools have had and public institutions have had,'' Fletcher said. ``I think our student body in large part is not overwhelmingly spirited.
``I don't think enough excitement is generated around our men's or women's program right now. I don't know where that blame lays. With the students? Of course I'd be foolish not to say the more money you pump into anything, the more excitement you can generate. I still don't think we are where we need to be in terms of letting students know about games. I still don't think we are where we need to be in terms of creating the exciting in-game atmosphere that will bring students back. It's a process; we're taking steps.''
Those steps have included adding a disc jockey for games and the establishment of three student-fan programs. But where there has been growth, there also has been apathy.
''UM really does not do a good job of promoting any sports team on campus, even football,'' said Paul Burkart, a senior who wears an orange wig to all UM home games. ``We held two pep rallies for football this year on campus, but they were not particularly well-attended. There are no signs or banners anywhere on campus advertising sports teams except for a small sign in front of the bookstore, and no one knows how many students even see that sign.''
E-MAILS AND FLIERS
Fletcher said most UM students receive e-mail promotions and fliers before games. This season, Fletcher said, UM filled its student section only once -- for Duke. Fletcher said UM rarely fills more than two-thirds of its student section.
''I don't think we've made a good enough effort to convince first-year students the cool thing to do is to go to Miami athletic events,'' Fletcher said. ``I think Miami itself faces cultural issues, because there is so much to do on campus and in the community. It's not where it's a large state institution where the cool thing to do is go to the basketball game.''
Therein lies the challenge for Dee and Haith. Dee said Wednesday the school recently hired a new associate athletic director to help with marketing and is in the midst of doing more promotions for next season.
''The answer is, we thought we were doing enough, but obviously it's not enough,'' Dee said. ``We have to do more. We have to get people there.
``We're looking at the gamut to see what we can do. It's a struggle. If you go back when were in the Big East, we did all types of things to get people to come to games.
``It's something we're working on, and sometimes it depends on how we're doing, but our people should come out and support our team regardless, and that's what our ultimate goal is.''