KANSAS CITY. It didn’t take long for Jim Larranaga to find the motivation his team needed when Miami Hurricanes entered the dressing room after the break, eight points behind Texas Longhorns in the Elite Eight of the 2023 NCAA Men’s Tournament.

“I said, look, against Kansas we were up six in the lead, but they gave us trouble and kicked us out of the building,” Larranaga told reporters after securing Miami’s first place in the Final Four, 88–81. defeat the longhorns. “I said we should do it with Texas and we did it.”

Miami men’s basketball had never reached a regional final in the program’s history before he hired Larranhaga in 2011. Now the Hurricanes were in the Elite Eight for the second year in a row, and both times no one believed they were supposed to be there. Like last season, no. 10th, Miami was 20 minutes from the Final Four to the eventual national champion. Kansas Jayhawks beat them in the second half, forcing losses, getting to the foul line and breaking the Hurricanes’ shaky defense. Kansas beat Miami 47–15 in the second half to end the season.

So many of the key players on Miami’s roster this year were also last year. Isaiah Wong, Jordan Miller and Vuga Poplar felt the pain of last year’s defeat and didn’t want it to happen again. The Hurricanes have an extra boost this year: Nigel Pack is the most talked about transfer of the offseason after signing an $800,000 zero deal. Kansas State Miami said another deadly shooter. Norchad Omier left Arkansas State to provide toughness and rebounding inside.

Miami earned a portion of the ACC regular season championship with Virginia and moved up to No. 1. 12th in the AP Poll after not ranking once last season. A dynamic offense from a year ago got even better when Pak appeared in the line-up. Unfortunately, the defense wasn’t much better, and that made the Hurricanes feel like a team that could beat anyone in their best games and lose anyone in their worst.

With 13 minutes left, Texas was ahead of Miami by 13 points. The Longhorns themselves were bigger, deeper and with great defensive play. After everything Texas has been through this season since the sacking of head coach Chris Byrd on domestic violence charges, it seemed like interim coach Rodney Terry and his Horns were something of a team of destiny. Miami had other plans.

The comeback began with a viral game: after hitting the ball under his basket, Poplar bounced the ball off the back of Timmy Allen of Texas and completed a simple layup for two points.

For the remainder of the game, Miami would beat Texas 37–17.

The Hurricanes voluntarily made it to the free throw line and completed an outstanding 28-of-32 from the free throw line. They constantly got stops and forced losses throughout the game. Wong, who scored only two points in the first half, fired up in the second and led the attack with a typical set of pull-ups that look like bad throws until they crash against the net.

A year ago, Miami lost to Kansas in the second half and missed out on the Final Four. This time Miami is the team that made the raid.

“This loss haunted me for a very, very long time,” Miller said after the game, looking back on last year. “I had to leave it in the past because it was a new season. To be able to almost correct your mistakes and overcome things that used to baffle you is a wonderful feeling.”

On the face of it, the story is pretty believable: last year the team made it to the Elite Eight, added arguably the best transfer in the country, learned from their mistakes and defeated their demons en route to the Final Four this year. Such neat packaging may be true, but it doesn’t take into account how unlikely Miami’s run is this year.

In a tournament full of frustrations, the Hurricanes had to play the top seed at every opportunity. Their biggest test unbelievably happened in the first round against No. Drake with 12 seeds: The Hurricanes were eight points behind with five minutes left, but finished the game 16-1 to take the win.

No. The 4-seed Indiana was supposed to cause trouble for Miami with a stud like Trace Jackson-Davis on the front court, but the Hurricanes took the lead early and were close again to blow their ticket to the Sweet 16. Houston waited for the next, perhaps the most big favorite of the tournament. The Cougars’ size, tenacity, and defense should have been too much for Miami, but instead, a great offense defeated a great defense, and the Hurricanes landed a knockout blow after the break for a landslide victory.

Texas was supposed to be too big and deep for Miami, and it was for the first 30 minutes or so. Miami bounced back by dictating the game: getting small with Miller in center, playing aggressively, trapping a ball-pressing defense, and then burning slower Texas defenders on dribbles to get to the foul line. When Miami launches its offensive avalanche, it seems almost impossible to stop the tide.

Miami went into the Final Four with the top five players on offense and defense, which quiet falls out of the Division 1 top 100. The Hurricanes have never had the size of a traditional defensive power, but they can still fight back by hitting perimeter handlers and maintaining discipline in their close quarters. Sometimes the other team just misses, and when that happens, Miami’s scorers go into the race.

“An important factor I would say is that we know we’re pretty good offensively, but what will decide the game for us comes down to how many stops we can make,” Miller said after the game. “Even though we were shooting at such a high percentage, they were also scoring and we knew we couldn’t just keep scoring back and forth because they had the advantage. So we had to dig deeper, find a way to make stops.”

If the game had been played on a spreadsheet, Miami’s defense wouldn’t have been good enough to eliminate the likes of Houston and Texas and make it to the Final Four. However, Miami has enough fight on the court to allow their offense to win.

Miami had no history of hoops to speak of when he hired Larranhaga five years after his Cinderella made it to the Final Four with George Mason. Larranyaga was 61 years old when he joined Coral Gables, and most of them were wondering how an elderly middle coach could change a dormant power conference program.

How stupid it looks now. Larranaga, at 73, still seems as young in spirit as ever. He is the coolest grandpa in college basketball, giving his players a fun way to play on the court and not shying away from the new realities of the sport.

Few programs in America have adapted to the changing college basketball landscape better than Larranaga’s Hurricanes. On the court, this means giving his players the freedom to attack to bomb transition threes, rise and fall, and bend the opponent’s defense in punch and slam play. The Miami offense is similar to the NBA offense, only without the size. It’s easy to imagine players observing their style and deciding they want to be part of the party.

And then there is the NIL and the transfer portal. Park wanted to leave Kansas State in part because he wanted to prove to NBA teams that he could play point guard, and the Wildcats already had a great point guard in this year’s March Madness star Markkis Nowell. Miami gave him the opportunity to play point guard… and also gave him $800,000 and a car thanks to wealthy booster John Ruiz and his Life Wallet company.

When Park hit seven 3-pointers in the Sweet 16 and knocked down No. 1. 1 seed Houston, that money was certainly a bargain.

When Park agreed, the other Miami players Wong, Miller and Norchad Omier didn’t need the money to feel welcome either. Life Wallet picked them up too. Not everyone was happy: Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim, 78 went viral in February in which he said that Miami “bought” his team. Boheim retired or was ousted at the end of the season due to his program slipping. Larranhaga never objected to players being paid. He adapted, and so did Miami.

As his team cut the nets in the foreground, Larranhaga was asked what it would be like to be the oldest head coach ever to win a national championship if his team could win two more games.

“I’m not that old!” exclaimed Larranaga.

He definitely doesn’t want to. Larranaga may be an older man, but no one plays college basketball better. So much has changed in the sport since Larranhaga brought George Mason to the Final Four with the No. 1. 11 seed 17 years ago when he took the second seed in the Final Four of his career in Miami. Unlike many of his fellow coaches, Larranaga was not intimidated by these changes. Because of this, Miami is two wins away from the national title.

The Baltimore Ravens are on the verge of losing one of the NFL’s top young quarterbacks after Lamar Jackson requested a trade from the team that selected him in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft.

Jackson tweeted that he requested a trade on March 2 because the Ravens “were not interested in matching my cost”. Jackson was looking for a contract similar to the $230 million fully guaranteed deal that Deshawn Watson signed with the Cleveland Browns last year.

“I love football and my dream is to help the team win the Super Bowl.” Jackson tweeted on Monday. He added that the Ravens fans are “great, but I had to make a business decision that was best for me and my family. No matter how far I go or where my career takes me, I will continue to be there for my Baltimore fans. Flock of the nation and the entire state of Maryland. You will see me again.”

Earlier this month, the Ravens applied the non-exclusive franchise tag to Jackson, which means he will be paid $32.4 million this season but could join any team that offers a better deal. The Ravens would receive two first-round picks in exchange for Jackson, who has no agent and represents himself. When the Ravens applied the label, there appeared to be no offers for Jackson, leading many to believe that no other teams wanted to meet the quarterback’s requirements.

Ravens coach John Harbaugh said Monday that he believes Jackson will stay in Baltimore.

“I didn’t see the tweet. It’s an ongoing process,” Harbaugh said. “I’m following this very closely… I think about Lamar all the time. I think of him as our quarterback. We’re building an offense around that idea.”

It is reported by ESPN. that the 26-year-old backed out of a deal last September that would have given him $133 million in guaranteed signings and $200 million in general guarantees if he was with the Ravens on Day 5 of 2026 in the league.

Jackson was named the 2019 NFL MVP and his dynamic passing and running make him one of the game’s biggest stars. He is already one of only six quarterbacks in NFL history to reach 10,000 passing yards and 4,000 rushing yards. His 12 games with at least 100 yards rushing is an NFL record.

Jackson was injured at the end of his last two seasons and the Ravens didn’t reach the AFC Championship with him, but his impact on their offense is undeniable.

Randy Arozarena continues to gravitate towards Mexico’s World Baseball Classic drama as he was at the center of the semi-final game against Japan on Monday night.

His attention to the fans at the fence behind him was later even better than the game.

Japan’s Kazuma Okamoto pitched deep to the left of Patrick Sandoval and the ball was flying towards the fence where Arozaren was waiting to see if he had a chance to catch the ball. As he fell, Arozarena timed his jump perfectly and grabbed the ball with his glove before it could fly over the home run fence.

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The robbery was met with an immediate roar from fans across Miami’s Depot Credit Park as Arozarena, who stars in MLB’s Tampa Bay Rays, simply stood there with a deadpan expression after the game. He finally smiled as he threw the ball back.

But as soon as the next batter came to the plate, and the crowd sent text messages and tweets to their phones, Arozarena was seen signing baseballs and flags for the Mexican team he plays for instead of Cuba while the game was still in progress. on the.

Arozarena chatted with the fans before putting the glove back on and moving into position for the next batter.

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This world baseball classic brought a different energy to the football stadium than ever before, and some even say it’s a better atmosphere than the MLB World Series. In Mexico and Japan, frenzied fan bases went crazy over every strikeout, not to mention a home run… or a robbery in Arozarena’s case.

Randy Arozarena #56 of Team Mexico reacts to a single home run robbery off #25 Kazuma Okamoto of Team Japan in the fifth inning during the semi-final game of the 2023 World Baseball Classic at LoyedDepot Park on Monday, March 20, 2023, in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Daniel Sheary/WBCI/MLB via Getty Images)

Arozarena was also a great player for the Mexican team he was supposed to be a part of. He is from Cuba, but after fleeing to Mexico before making it to MLB, Arozarena’s relationship with his home country is severed.

For years, relations between the US and Cuba have been strained due to the latter’s communist regime following Fidel Castro’s rise to power. This affected many things including sports, where Cuba banned professional baseball in the country, leading to many defectors heading to the US.

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Today, players like Arozarena are the stars of the league, but in the eyes of their country, they seem disloyal due to leaving. The Cuban Baseball Federation allowed players who had defected to return to play for their national team in the WBC if they so desired, but Arozarena was not one of them.

Instead, he asked Mexico to grant him citizenship so he could play, which they did. It pays off for them too.

Arozarena was phenomenal for the team, hacking .421/.593/.842 with one homer, five doubles and nine RBIs in six games, entering Monday’s semi-finals.

#56 Mexico’s Randy Arozarena returns to the sixth inning dugout against Japan during the World Baseball Classic Semifinals at CreditDepot Park on March 20, 2023 in Miami, Florida. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)

Arozarena’s success on the pitch led to Mexico winning the tournament, and he’s been enjoying it ever since he donned the El Tri jersey. Fans of the Mexican national team also welcomed him with open arms.

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And a perfect example of his rise to fame among them was shown in left field in the middle of the game – a move simply unheard of in MLB.