GREENVILLE, S.C. — Miami head coach Katie Meier smiled and gave a brief, humble head nod as she passed through press row to a roar of cheering Hurricanes fans who made the trip. Entering into the program's first Elite Eight, she had scouting to do to keep the Cinderella run going for her No. 9 seed.
“Who wouldn’t want this?” Haley Cavinder, who had never played in the NCAA tournament, told Yahoo Sports. “As a young basketball player growing up, this is the moment you want to do. Being able to get to my first Dance, in this moment with this team, Elite Eight, you can’t beat that feeling.”
Hanna Cavinder comes off the bench for key minutes, prompting those Miami fans to yell “go twin” any time a Cavinder touches the ball. Miami was barely over .500 in a competitive ACC and lost in the tournament’s semifinals. The Hurricanes have hovered around that point for much of the last decade, reaching nine of the last 12 tournaments heading into this one, but losing in the first or second rounds.
Meier has been at Miami since 2005-06 and after the win, went over to embrace her mother, Phyllis, in the Hurricanes’ section. Phyllis and Hunter Reno, Meier’s wife, sat in the media room as Meier soaked in the moment before going back out to scout. Meier didn’t call her team’s upset of No. 1 Indiana the biggest win of her career, and she won’t do it now.Mulkey probably wouldn’t want to either.
Miami, LSU and any other program in the country could look very different next season as players continue to enter their names into the transfer portal and coaches recruit veterans while still coaching to the natty. “I know we can take it all the way and that’s what we’re going for,” Poole told Yahoo Sports. “So job’s not done.”
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