SoFla Guide Editors
The Miami Hurricanes are starting the 2026-27 season as a Top 15 team, ESPN reported, landing at No. 14 in the AP Preseason Top 25 released October 19. That is a big, shiny number for Jai Lucas and a program that went 7-24 the year before he took over. Now comes the fun part: proving it on the court.
From 7-24 to the Top 25
Rewind to March 6, 2025. That’s when Miami named Lucas its 14th men’s basketball head coach, replacing Jim Larrañaga, who stepped down on December 26, 2024, in the middle of a 2024-25 season that ended at 7-24 under interim coach Bill Courtney. Nobody in Coral Gables was printing playoff T-shirts.
Then Lucas went to work. In his first season, 2025-26, Miami went 26-9, finished third in the ACC and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament. That’s a 19-win improvement over the year before. In basketball terms, that’s going from “we’ll get ’em next year” to “wait, we’re actually good?”
Miami noticed. Lucas agreed to a five-year contract extension, announced August 12, 2026. When a school locks you up for five more years after one season, that’s the athletic department equivalent of putting a ring on it.
Can Lucas live up to No. 14?
Here’s the thing about preseason rankings: they’re a compliment and a target at the same time. A year ago, Miami got to sneak up on people. This year, every opponent on the schedule knows exactly who the Canes are.
For a little perspective, Miami has been ranked in the preseason AP poll before. The Canes started at No. 25 in 1999-2000, No. 17 in 2008-09, and No. 13 in both 2017-18 and 2023-24. So No. 14 isn’t uncharted territory for the program. What’s different is the speed. This ranking comes one season after Lucas inherited a team coming off a 7-24 year.
The real question for South Florida hoops fans is whether Year 2 can match the energy of Year 1. A 26-win season with an NCAA Tournament run is a tough act to follow, and the voters clearly expect more of the same. Lucas doesn’t get to be the scrappy new guy anymore. He’s the coach with the new contract and the target on his back.
That’s a good problem to have. Ask any Miami fan who sat through that 7-24 season.
What it means for South Florida
Miami is a pro sports town that loves a winner and has zero patience for anything else. A Top 15 college basketball team gives local fans one more reason to care about hoops in November instead of just counting down to spring.
Home games are at the Watsco Center in Coral Gables, which seats 7,972. If the Canes play like a Top 15 team, those seats should be a lot harder to come by than they were a couple of years ago.
What’s next: Florida, Tampa, ESPN2
Lucas and the Canes won’t be easing into anything. Miami opens the 2026-27 season on November 2 against Florida in Tampa, ESPN reported, and the game will air on ESPN2.
And yes, it’s that Florida. The Gators sit at No. 1 in the same AP Preseason Top 25 that put Miami at No. 14. So the Canes’ first test of the season comes against the team the voters think is the best in the country, in a neutral-site, in-state showdown, on national TV. No pressure.
If you can’t make the drive up to Tampa, flip on ESPN2. Either way, by the end of the night on November 2, everyone will have a much better idea of whether that No. 14 next to Miami’s name is a promise or just a nice preseason headline.
One thing’s already settled: Miami basketball is interesting again. Two years ago, that would have been the hardest sell in South Florida.
