UM women put NCAA probe aside to focus on tourney
The University of Miami women’s basketball season began with an announcement on the eve of the season opener that coach Katie Meier was suspended for the first three games while the school cooperated with an NCAA enforcement issue.
The regular season ended on Sunday with a win over Virginia on Senior Day, less than 48 hours after the NCAA announced that the Hurricanes program was being sanctioned for recruiting violations involving transfers Haley and Hanna Cavinder.
Despite the NCAA investigation hanging over the team all season, the Hurricanes finished 18-11 overall, 11-7 in the ACC, and earned the No. 6 seed in the conference tournament, which began on Wednesday.
After a first-round bye, the Hurricanes will play either the 11th-seeded
Boston College Eagles (15-16, 5-13 ACC) or the 14th-seeded Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (13-15, 4-13 ACC) on Thursday. Tipoff is at 8 p.m. at the Greensboro (N.C.) Coliseum and the game will air on ACC Network.
Meier said the hardest part of dealing with the NCAA probe was seeing the toll it took on her players, and the timing of the announcements — on the eve of the opener and the eve of the finale.
“The difficult part in this whole situation has been the timing, really unfortunate for my team,” Meier said Monday. “Beginning of the season, a sudden announcement, and the announcement now, Part Two. I feel like my team has suffered twice and I don’t like that and wish I could have stopped that from happening. It’s really important that somebody recognizes that my team did not deserve any of this and none of my players have done anything wrong at all. They didn’t deserve that.”
The Hurricanes are determined to put the issue behind and focus on the postseason.
The Hurricanes went
3-0 against Boston College and Georgia Tech this season, sweeping the Yellow Jackets in a homeand-home series and routing Boston College 86-65
in late January.
Miami went on an impressive run in January, but stumbled late in the season, losing three of four games before recovering against a Virginia team that dressed just six players.
The Hurricanes were picked to finish sixth in the preseason ACC poll and that is where they ended up. Graduate student Destiny Harden and transfer Haley Cavinder, one half of the Cavinder twins, have been the most consistent players for UM all season.
Haley Cavinder is the team’s leading scorer, finished in the top 10 in ACC scoring and leads the conference in free throw percentage. She is one of the most accurate free throw shooters in the nation. Harden was the hero of last year’s Miami upset of Louisville in the ACC tournament semis and remains the heart and soul of the team.
Freshman Kyla Oldacre is a 6-6 presence in the paint and is coming off a career game against Virginia.
“We’re not as consistent as some of the great teams I’ve had, as far as the same players doing the same thing every game, but there are some great surprises on this team,” Meier said. “Kyla Oldacre and Hanna [Cavinder] had great games on Sunday. We surprise people with who pops up every game, so we’re tough to scout.”
As the team was preparing for the most recent game against Louisville, Meier used the film session as a teaching moment.
“What I pointed out was not Destiny Harden highlights,” she said. “I told them to watch Lola Pendande’s defense at the end of that game. We held an amazing offensive team scoreless for five minutes and these are the plays I want us to remember.”
Notre Dame won the regular season and claimed the ACC tournament’s top seed. The Irish (24-4) will play in Friday’s second quarterfinal at 2 p.m. Duke (24-5) is the No. 2 seed. Virginia Tech (23-4) is the No. 3 seed. Louisville (21-10), despite losing to Notre Dame on Sunday, is the No. 4 seed.