Cavinder twins say they’re leaving Miami after 1 season

Associated PressApr 11, 2023, 3:27 PM EDT

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CORAL GABLES, Fla. — For Haley and Hanna Cavinder, the Elite Eight apparently was enough and their time at Miami is over.

The Cavinder twins – two of the most prominent athletes in the name, image and likeness era of college athletics – announced Tuesday that they will not return to the Hurricanes next season, ending their Miami tenure after one year with the program.

The Cavinders – who are 22 and were listed as seniors on the Miami roster – both played four seasons in college, but they could have played next season, too, because of the NCAA ruling that restored a year of eligibility to all athletes who went through a pandemic-affected season.

They transferred from Fresno State to Miami in April 2022 with hopes of playing in the NCAA Tournament and probably exceeded even their own expectations by helping the Hurricanes fall just short of reaching the Final Four.

“We would like to thank our teammates and coaches for bringing us in as family and being part of a historic season,” the twins said in a statement. “With that being said, Hanna and I have decided to not take our fifth year and start a new chapter in our lives. The U will always be home and we are forever proud to be Hurricanes.”

Haley Cavinder ended this season with 2,065 career points, which was 19th-most among all active Division I players. She averaged 12.2 points per game this season, a team best for Miami – and her 65 makes from 3-point range was another team high, by a wide margin.

Hanna Cavinder averaged 3.8 points this season for Miami. The Hurricanes lost a regional final to eventual national champion LSU, ending the year with a 22-13 record.

The decision was a bit of a surprise, at least from the standpoint of one of the twins. Haley Cavinder said before the NCAA Tournament that she planned to return to the Hurricanes next season for what would have been her final year of collegiate eligibility. Hanna Cavinder said at that time she was leaning toward no longer playing after this season.

And that begged the question: Would one Cavinder twin play without the other? Barring a change of heart, their announcement Tuesday provided the answer.

“I love basketball,” Hanna Cavinder told The Associated Press last month when she discussed leaning toward not playing. “I ride or die basketball. I’ve given basketball so much of my life. And sometimes I’m like, ‘I just want to breathe.’ I really just want to breathe. I want to live. I don’t want to be on a plan. I don’t want to be on a schedule. But at the end of the day, I’m so competitive in life that I don’t know if I’m going to regret it or not.”

The twins have 4.5 million followers on TikTok, part of their enormous footprint in the social media space. When the NIL era started on July 1, 2021, and NCAA rules began allowing athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness, the Cavinders were among the first stars: Boost Mobile signed them immediately, touting the deal with a giant advertisement in New York’s Times Square, and many other deals followed.

“What started as us playing basketball 16 years ago turned into something bigger than we could ever imagine,” the twins said Tuesday.

Their decision to come to Miami was scrutinized, and a probe by the NCAA led to coach Katie Meier missing the first three games of this season through a university-imposed suspension that was handed down in anticipation of sanctions surrounding how the twins and their family met with a Hurricanes booster before signing.

The NCAA probe never accused the Cavinders of wrongdoing. Miami eventually was placed on one year of probation after the school and the NCAA agreed that coaches arranged impermissible contact between the booster and the Cavinders.

Dan Hurley’s rebuild complete as UConn returns to Final Four

Associated PressMar 29, 2023, 1:26 PM EDT

Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

STORRS, Conn. – Before every home game, UConn’s hype man gets on his microphone and greets the crowd with, “Welcome to the basketball capital of the Wooooorrrrld!”

With four men’s NCAA championship banners hanging from the ceiling at Gampel Pavilion along with 11 women’s banners, it’s not an entirely empty brag.

The Huskies (29-8) are the biggest name left playing basketball this season, making the Final Four as a No. 4 seed, joining Miami (29-7) and San Diego State (31-6), both No. 5 seeds, and ninth-seeded Florida Atlantic (35-3).

But while Connecticut can boast the most titles of any school in college basketball over the last quarter-century, this week’s trip to the Final Four is the men’s first since their last championship in 2014.

In between, UConn went through a down period that included three straight losing seasons between 2017 and 2019 while languishing in the American Athletic Conference. It fired coach Kevin Ollie, lost a subsequent legal battle over his salary and endured NCAA sanctions.

When Dan Hurley took the job in 2018, his charge was to restore luster to the brand.

“The timeline, with the way that we did it, building a culture and doing it without cheating, without lying and doing it with integrity and building it the right way, I mean, we’re exactly on time,” Hurley said Tuesday.

Hurley credits good recruiting, including the additions this year of freshmen Alex Karaban, a starting forward from nearby Southborough, Massachusetts, and Donovan Clingan, a 7-foot-2 center from Bristol. UConn followers growing up, both have played key roles.

And there were the transfer portal pickups, including starting point guard Tristen Newton and role players Joey Calcaterra, Nahiem Alleyne and Hassan Diarra.

“I would definitely say the history was a huge component of why I came here,” Karaban said. “Seeing the four banners up there and seeing what coach (Jim) Calhoun had built and for it to be close to home for me as well was a major factor. It was something I wanted to do in my college career. I wanted to win national championships and make it to the Final Four and I wanted to add myself to history, to what was a super-cemented, historical program.”

Calhoun, the Hall of Fame coach who built UConn from a regional powerhouse into a national one, winning titles in 1999, 2004 and 2011, said Hurley has done a good job capitalizing on that foundation, including filling the school’s practice facility with pictures of past championships and Huskies who went on to the NBA.

The school’s decision to leave the American and rejoin the Big East in 2020 also was a factor, he said.

“It helped, there’s no question,” Calhoun said. “It helped get recruits. The competition, the opportunity to go great places and play great places. Nothing against the American, but the Big East is one of the two or three best basketball conferences in the country. We have teams that traveled very far in the tournament.”

The Huskies haven’t lost a nonconference game all season, and the battles in the Big East, where they lost eight times, have helped harden them for the tournament, Calhoun said.

Hurley said he’s been relying heavily on advice from Calhoun and women’s coach Geno Auriemma on how to prepare his Huskies for everything that surrounds a trip to Houston and a date with Miami.

The Hurricanes are coached by Jim Larrañaga, who rose to fame when he coached 11th-seed George Mason to an upset win over Calhoun’s top-seeded UConn team in the 2006 regional finals. Larrañaga sees a lot of similarities in that matchup and this one – a shorter underdog against a much bigger blue blood with a longer history of success.

“We’re like 6-4, 6-6, 6-7 and UConn is huge,” he said. “So, it’s an interesting matchup in terms of contrasting bigs versus smalls.”

But while the Huskies are 8-1 in Final Four games, Hurley said the program’s tradition won’t help his team on Saturday.

“Having an incredible brand, it’s great, because that means you have a huge fan base and generally there’s going to be a pretty good commitment in terms of resources,” he said. “But if you don’t have the right people – if I don’t have the right coaching staff – being a blue blood doesn’t, I mean, there’s a lot of teams at home right now that are blue bloods.”

Miller, Wong rally Miami past Texas 88-81 for 1st Final Four

Associated PressMar 26, 2023, 10:36 PM EDT

Jay Biggerstaff/USA TODAY Sports

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — On the eve of Miami playing for a place in its first Final Four, the quiet conversation floating through the team hotel did not revolve around all that the Hurricanes had accomplished this season. Instead, they talked about what had happened to bring last season to a close.

The sting of an Elite Eight defeat was fresh to those who were there. And they made everyone else feel it, too.

“That loss sat with me for a really long time,” the Hurricanes’ Jordan Miller said. “It doesn’t go away, and the fact that we had the opportunity to come back and make amends, make it right, that’s what was pushing me.”

Miller responded with a perfect performance against second-seeded Texas in the Midwest Region final Sunday. Along with Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year Isaiah Wong and March dynamo Nijel Pack, Miller rallied the Hurricanes from a 13-point second-half deficit for an 88-81 victory that clinched that long-awaited trip to the national semifinals.

“How hard we fought to come back in this game, especially on a stage like this, it’s an amazing feeling,” said Pack, one of Miami’s newcomers. “I know how much these guys wanted to win this game, especially being here last year and losing the Elite Eight, and now being able to take it to the Final Four is something special.”

Miller finished with 27 points, going 7 of 7 from the field and 13 of 13 from the foul line, while Wong scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half against the Longhorns, who had been the top remaining seed in a topsy-turvy NCAA Tournament.

Now, the No. 5 seed Hurricanes (29-7) have a date with No. 4 seed UConn on Saturday night in Houston. Two more Final Four newbies, fifth-seeded San Diego State and No. 9 seed Florida Atlantic, will play in the other national semifinal.

It’s the first time since seeding began in 1979 that no team seeded better than No. 4 made the Final Four, so perhaps it is fitting that Miami coach Jim Larrañaga is involved. He took George Mason there as an 11 seed 17 years ago to the day.

Miami was a 10 seed last year when it lost 76-50 to eventual national champion Kansas in a regional final.

“No one wanted to go home,” said Miller, coincidentally a George Mason transfer, who joined Duke’s Christian Laettner as the only players since 1960 to go 20 for 20 combined from the field and foul line in an NCAA tourney game. “We came together. We stuck together. We showed really good perseverance and the will – the will to just want to get there.”

After Miami climbed back from a 64-51 deficit with 13:22 to play, the game was tied at 79-all when Norchad Omier was fouled by the Longhorns’ Brock Cunningham while going for a loose ball. He made both of the foul shots to give the Hurricanes the lead, then stole the ball from Texas star Marcus Carr at the other end, and Wong made to more free throws with 34 seconds remaining to keep them ahead for good.

Miller kept drilling foul shots down the stretch to ice the Midwest Region title for the Hurricanes.

Wooga Poplar scored 16 points, and Pack followed up his virtuoso performance against top-seeded Houston with 15, as the same school that once dropped hoops entirely in the 1970s advanced to the game’s biggest stage.

“You just love when your players accomplish a goal they set out before the season,” Larrañaga said.

Carr led the Longhorns (29-9) with 17 points, though he was bothered by a hamstring injury late in the game. Timmy Allen added 16 and Sir’Jabari Rice had 15 in the finale of a season that began with the firing of Chris Beard over domestic violence charges that were later dropped and ended with interim coach Rodney Terry consoling a heartbroken team.

“These guys more than any group I’ve worked with in 32 years of coaching have really embodied, in terms of staying the course, being a team,” Terry said, choking up so hard on the postgame dais that he could barely speak. “They were so unselfish as a team, and they gave us everything they had. They really did.”

The Longhorns revealed about 90 minutes before tipoff that Dylan Disu, the Big 12 tourney MVP and early star of the NCAA Tournament, would miss the game with a foot injury. He hurt it in the second round against Penn State and only played about 90 seconds in the Sweet 16 against Xavier before watching the rest of that game in a walking boot.

Without their 6-foot-9 star, the Longhorns’ deep group of dangerous guards resorted to potshots from the perimeter against Miami’s porous defense. Rice hit two 3s early, Carr two of his own, and the Longhorns stormed to a 45-37 halftime lead.

On the other end, Texas tried to keep Pack and Wong from producing a sequel to their 3-point barrage against Houston.

Pack, who dropped seven 3s in the regional semifinal, didn’t even attempt one until there were 7 1/2 minutes left in the first half, and his best shot – a looping rainbow as he fell out of bounds – didn’t even count because it went over the backboard.

Wong took as many shots and scored as many points (two) as he had turnovers in the game’s first 20 minutes.

The Longhorns’ advantage stretched to 13 in the second half, and tension built on the Miami bench. At one point, Harlond Beverly and Larrañaga got into a verbal spat and the 73-year-old coach yanked the backup guard from the game.

Fortunately for the ’Canes, Pack and Wong were poised, Poplar and Miller seemingly possessed.

Still trailing 72-64 with about eight minutes to play, Pack and Wong joined Miller and Omier in turbocharging a 13-3 run to give the Hurricanes a 77-75 lead, their first since the opening minutes. When Rice answered at the other end for Texas, Miller calmly made two go-ahead free throws to begin his late-game parade to the line.

Carr made a nifty turnaround jumper to tie the game again for Texas, but the Miami momentum never slowed. Omier made two free throws with a minute left, swiped the ball from Carr at the other end, and Miller and Co. finished it off.

“We just all bought into staying together, keeping that hope alive,” Miller said, “and the way we just willed this one through, I think everybody played really well, and I think it really shows the poise of this squad.”

Miami beats No. 1 seed Houston; all four top NCAA seeds out

Associated PressMar 25, 2023, 1:23 AM EDT

Jay Biggerstaff/USA TODAY Sports

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Nijel Pack and Miami hit shots from near and far against the stingiest defense in the country to beat Houston 89-75 on Friday night in the Sweet 16, leaving the NCAA Tournament without a single No. 1 seed among its final eight teams for the first time since seeding began in 1979.

Miami (28-7), only the fifth team this season to score at least 70 points against Houston (33-4), will play second-seeded Texas or No. 3 seed Xavier in the Midwest Region final for the chance to go to the Final Four.

About 30 minutes before Houston’s loss, top overall seed Alabama fell to San Diego State in Louisville, Kentucky. Fellow No. 1 seeds Purdue and Kansas lost during the tournament’s first weekend.

The fifth-seeded Hurricanes reached a regional final for the second straight year just a few hours after Miami’s ninth-seeded women’s team hung on to beat Villanova and advance to the Elite Eight for the first time. Miami and UConn are the only schools with teams remaining in both tournaments.

This is the first time in three years Houston didn’t make it to the Elite Eight.

The Cougars simply couldn’t stop a multifaceted Miami offense led by Pack’s 3-point shooting. He had season highs of seven 3-pointers on 10 attempts and 26 points.

Isaiah Wong’s mid-range game helped get the ‘Canes out to a fast start, and he finished with 20 points. Jordan Miller hurt the Cougars with his penetration and had 13 points, and Norchad Omier was his usual rugged self under the basket while recording his 16th double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds.

It resulted in a heartbreaking end for a Cougars team that was in the Sweet 16 for a fourth straight time, had won 15 of its last 16 games and had the season-long goal of playing in next week’s Final Four in its home city.

Miami coach Jim Larrañaga, much to his players’ delight, busted out dance moves in the locker room befitting a 73-year-old man harkening to the disco era. Then Wooga Poplar and Joseph Bensley joined him up front for an impromptu line dance.

Larrañaga will seek his first Final Four with Miami and second overall – he took George Mason there as an 11 seed in 2006.

Miami used a 16-5 run spanning the halves to go up by double digits, with Omier’s three-point play and Jordan Miller’s short bank-in with the left hand making it 47-36 and forcing Houston coach Kelvin Sampson to call timeout less than two minutes into the second half.

Houston battled back to make it a two-point game, but then Pack made three 3s and Miller and Wooga Poplar hit one each to fuel a 16-2 run that put the Canes ahead 70-53. The lead grew to as much as 17 points, and Houston never got closer than 11 the rest of the way.

There was no denying it was Miami’s night after Houston made a mini run with under five minutes to play. With the shot clock running down, Omier was forced to put up a jumper just inside the free-throw line. It bounced off the front of the rim, then the backboard, then the front of the rim again before dropping through. A minute later, Houston’s Jarace Walker missed from point-blank range.

Walker led the Cougars with 16 points. Jamal Shead added 15 and All-American Marcus Sasser and Tramon Mark had 14 apiece for the Cougars, who shot just 37% overall and 29% from distance.

Houston – which came into the game as a 7.5-point favorite, according to FanDuel Sportsbook – found itself behind at half for the second straight game after the Hurricanes played their sharpest half of the tournament.

Miami turned the ball over just once the first 20 minutes, converted Miami’s six turnovers into 15 points and shot 6 of 14 from distance against the second-best 3-point defense in the country.

Pack made four of them, and all were timely. His first three gave Miami leads and his fourth broke a 31-all tie.

Houston-Miami matchup a battle for respect

Associated PressMar 24, 2023, 11:59 AM EDT

Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports

Top-seeded Houston is in the Sweet 16 for the fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament, but the Cougars don’t feel they receive the proper respect.

Heading into the second weekend of the tournament, that feeling lingers despite the Cougars being just one victory away from their third straight Elite Eight appearance.

“A lot of people were pushing for us to lose,” Houston guard Tramon Mark said. “They didn’t believe we were a real 1 seed because of the conference (American Athletic) we play in. But I think we’re one of the best teams in the country still, and we proved it.”

The Cougars (33-3) look to take the next step when they battle fifth-seeded Miami (27-7) on Friday night in Midwest Region play in Kansas City, Mo.

Houston spent the entire season near the top of the national rankings and surely isn’t a surprise Sweet 16 participant.

“I put ourselves in a whole different category,” forward J’Wan Roberts said. “I don’t compare us to other teams. We just stick to what we do, and it shows. Other No. 1 teams got beat, but we didn’t.”

The Cougars and Alabama are the No. 1 seeds still playing. Purdue lost in the opening round and Kansas fell in the second.

Houston coach Kelvin Sampson tries to simplify the approach during March Madness.

“We’ve been here many times in the final 16,” Sampson said. “The next 40 minutes are going to be big. We’ve got to find a way to get the next 40 minutes, and then we’ll move on from there. If not, it’s over.”

Star guard Marcus Sasser (groin) is still gimpy despite scoring 22 points in Saturday’s 81-64 win over Auburn. On Thursday, Sasser proclaimed he will be “around 90 percent” for the game. Teammate Jamal Shead (knee) said he is 100 percent recovered.

Mark scored a career-high 26 points against Auburn.

The Hurricanes are in the Sweet 16 in consecutive seasons for the first time in program history. Last season, they reached the Elite Eight before being routed 76-50 by eventual national champion Kansas.

Star guard Isaiah Wong said it is a great era for the Hurricanes, who are just two victories away from matching the school record.

“It’s just an honor being part of this program, with the history we have,” Wong said. “We have a great team this year and last year too, and I feel like it’s great to see how we came up.

“My first year we wasn’t as good, but for the last two years, we’re going to the Sweet 16, and last year the Elite Eight.”

Still, guard Jordan Miller said that Miami also doesn’t receive the level of respect it should.

“I wouldn’t say underappreciated, but at the end of the day, all we can do is just come out and win basketball games,” Miller said. “I feel like winning a game in itself is a way to get recognition. We’re going to the Sweet 16. That’s a lot of recognition. We don’t necessarily care about what the media says.”

Wong averages a team-best 16.1 points and Miller is right behind at 15.1 Nijel Pack and Norchad Omier both average 13.4 points with the latter collecting a team-leading 10.1 rebounds per game.

Omier grabbed 17 rebounds in Sunday’s 85-69 victory over Indiana. That was a program record for boards in an NCAA Tournament game, surpassing the 14 he collected two nights earlier in a 63-56 victory over Drake.

“If I’m being honest, I really don’t know,” Omier said of his success. “I just like playing with my teammates. They always motivate me to go do what I love to do, and I love rebounding.”

Wong scored 27 points against Indiana.

Miami guard Wooga Poplar, who injured his back against Indiana, has yet to be cleared but will be in the starting lineup if he can play.

Houston holds a 9-5 series edge over Miami but the schools haven’t met in 52 years.

The winner faces either second-seeded Texas or third-seeded Xavier in Sunday’s regional final.

Miami holds off Indiana rally to advance in March Madness

Associated PressMar 20, 2023, 11:02 PM EDT

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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Destiny Harden made a shot in the lane with 3.5 seconds left to send ninth-seeded Miami past top-seeded Indiana 70-68 on Monday night, lifting the Hurricanes to their first Sweet 16 since 1992.

The Hoosiers (28-4) became the second No. 1 seed to be eliminated in two nights. Stanford was upset Sunday on its home court.

Harden finished with 18 points and Lola Pendade had 19 points for the Hurricanes (21-12), who never trailed.

Indiana tied the score at 68 on Yarden Garzon’s 3-pointer with 6.6 seconds left but couldn’t get the defensive stop it needed and turned the ball over on the final possession to seal their only home loss of the season.

UP NEXT

While the Hoosiers head home earlier than expected, the Hurricanes head to Greenville, South Carolina, for a showdown with fourth-seeded Villanova, which was ranked No. 10 in the final Associated Press Top 25.