Headed to Houston

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Jim Larrañaga has walked outside the doors of his office countless times.

Never, though, has Miami’s head men’s basketball coach encountered a scene like the one he and his players experienced on this warm, sunny Wednesday afternoon when hundreds of fans gathered outside the Watsco Center to send the Hurricanes off to Houston.

There, on Saturday night, Miami will play for the first time on college basketball’s biggest stage: the Final Four.

Understandably, those fans were plenty excited to be a part of the journey.

They cheered as Larrañaga and the Hurricanes made their way through the crowd to board the buses that took them to the airport. They snapped pictures. And more than once, they chanted the seven words that have been heard during many of this season’s most memorable moments.

“It’s great…to be…a Miami Hurricane,” they sang.

Each had their own reason to be there. Some of the fans brought their young children to meet the Hurricanes players; others were Miami students showing their classmates their support.

All, though, wanted to make sure the Hurricanes knew the Miami community was behind them.

“For me, I’ve always really been into college basketball,” said Sadie Collins, a sophomore at UM who hails from Fort Myers. “I love watching our team play and I just want to make sure I give them some school spirit before they head off, to encourage them a little bit.”

Added fellow Miami sophomore Georgia Macey of New York, “I just wanted to support the team. I’m actually on the dance team here, but we’re not able to travel to Houston, so I just want to support them every chance I could.”