Traudt’s jumper gets increasingly less wet the further it moves from corn-producing regions, apparently.
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Miami hasn’t posted extensive stats but here’s what I could find for the guys they posted across all three games (not necessarily their starters but they posted stats for Casey for all three games and not Bensley Joseph who I assume is starting for them):
Nijel Pack: 9ppg, 4.3rpg, 3.67apg, 1.33spg
Norchad Omier: 15.7ppg, 9rpg, 2.67apg, 3spg, .67bpg
Matthew Cleveland: 16ppg, 7.67rpg
Wooga Poplar: 20.3ppg, 6.3rpg
AJ Casey: 11.67ppg, 6.3rpg
Main story being that Poplar had a great few games for them (which they need to replace Wong’s production), Pack not as much but Omier and Cleveland played really well.
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I’ve got Miami as my clear #2 in the ACC right now behind Duke. The Matthew Cleveland addition to a roster largely in tact from the Final Four is pretty filthy. I know we joke about the Ruiz NIL dumpster fire, but for the moment they’ve got it rolling.
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Miami will be interesting next year. I assume they’ll fall off a bit with Wong gone, but if Poplar steps up, and Joseph is decent, and Cleveland fits well, then they could be Sweet 16 caliber or better
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Yeah I think they might still miss Wong’s scoring in late game situations but they have a pretty strong starting 5 and have been pretty good playing with minimal depth the last few years so that’s about where I’m at now as well. Probably 2nd in the preseason poll just based on what they bring back, who their coach is, and their team’s upside.
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Still say Traudt will only ever be a meh college player. No visible fire in that dude at all.
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My only concern with Miami is the 5-spot. Yes they obviously were successful last year with the undersized Omier at center, but they’ve got nothing but questions when it comes to depth behind him. Surprised they weren’t more successful finding a good-enough transfer to be a 5-capable backup.
They will be interesting to watch. I am not as high on them as others seem to be. I honestly don’t consider losing Wong and Miller to be a team that is “largely intact”. I understand those are only two guys, but they were two studs for sure. I am not convinced their impact will be so easily replaced. They will elevate the overall strength of the conference though.
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For sure. I imagine they’re hoping AJ Casey might be able to help there along with their freshman Michael Nwoko, but both are very far from a sure thing at the 5 spot even if they’re playing small. If Omier gets in foul trouble or gets injured that could be a huge problem
I’ve learned from this Wordle-for-country-exports game that a lot of the Caribbean countries mostly produce recreational boats.
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Matthew Cleveland should absolutely be a capable replacement for Miller, he’s incredibly talented with great length and will do for them what Hunter did for us.
Wong’s loss is more meaningful, they’ll need some of their young guards to step up for sure. Poplar and Pack are good guards, but they need Bensley Joseph and probably one other guy to be ready to complement them.
I actually disagree - Cleveland doesn’t have the game impact that Miller did … so many things that don’t show up in the box score… for me - Cleveland replaces Wong and nobody replaces Miller - will have to do it by committee.
Miller was their Ty Jerome.
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Cleveland is kind of that age old question – can you take a high usage / high scoring, but low efficiency guy and put him in a better offensive context, and have him be lower usage and higher efficiency, and still put up decent traditional box score stats.
Agree. Coach Larranaga was adamant every time he talked about Miller that he was the most underrated player in college basketball.
Edit: Agree with @DavetheWave. Replied to the wrong person.
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I know we are talking about guards but Norchad Omier easily felt like their most important player all last season - far beyond Wong. He is going to drive teams nuts. So damn good.
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With Miami, they played 3 of their best 9 games in the NCAA Tournament, which is impressive, but also leaves a little bit of a rosier view of them as a team than their full season body of work might suggest. I see their offense taking a little bit of a step back without Wong and Miller and their defense not improving enough to make up for that.
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You missed the opportunity to say less wet the closer he is to the ocean. Or something else relating to water and being wet.
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I mean he is from a place called Island in land locked Nebraska…
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Agreed, too many distractions at Creighton.
