Miami's Jim Larranaga reveals Final Four lessons learned from George Mason

Jim Larranaga made it to the Final Four before with George Mason and now he knows what to expect for his Miami team. The Hurricanes take on UConn for a shot at the national championship.

Larranaga took George Mason to the Final Four in 2006 on a Cinderella run but fell to eventual champion Florida. Miami was a respected squad this year and the head coach finally broke through with the program to get to this stage.

Larranaga joined Pardon The Interruption and revealed the lessons learned from 17 years ago.

“Well, Tony, I appreciate being on PTI and giving you the inside scoop on how we’re preparing. I know you’ll like that,” Larranaga said. “But playing in the 2006 Final Four was this: playing in a football stadium, 80,000 people on hand, you’re almost playing like outdoors, and the players have to get comfortable and really confident that they can still play great basketball in that environment. I think in ‘06, our guys might have been a little bit overwhelmed. 

“I thought we played well against Florida, but we could have played a good bit better. I think this Miami team is very well prepared. We’ve played against so many terrific teams in the ACC and in the NCAA Tournament. I think we should be very, very sharp come Saturday.”

Jim Larranaga prepares for Final Four matchup vs. UConn

Danny Hurley and the Huskies stand in the Hurricanes’ way. This might be the toughest test all season for Miami.

“Yeah, well, Michael you know Danny Hurley has done an incredible job of building that program,” Larranaga said. “He comes from a basketball family. Bobby Hurley, the great player from Duke and head coach of Arizona State, Bob Hurley Sr, you know one of the legendary high school coaches who’s in the Hall of Fame. And I think UConn is very much a reflection of their families personality. They’re tough. They’re hard nosed, they’re aggressive. They attack you at each end of the floor with their offense with their defense. 

“And it’s going to be up to myself and my staff to figure out first of all, how we guard these guys. We just finished a practice that I thought the guys did a pretty good job with the initial impression, but it’s going to take several days for us to prepare for this UConn team.”

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Miami takes on UConn in the Final Four Saturday with a trip to the national championship on the line.