In the maddening March moments before their ACC Tournament championship game yesterday against North Carolina, here was Jim Larranaga, the intensity etched on his Bronx face, imploring his Miami Hurricanes:
“They can’t stop us if we act like we can’t be stopped. … We need to be the aggressors from start to finish! Let’s go!”
His Hurricanes have been one of the best stories of the college basketball season, embraced by LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, not as hot as the Heat but plenty hot — enough to be a long shot in the conversation for a No. 1 seed at the Dance when the showdown for their first ACC Conference title began, and a No. 2 seed in the East Region against No. 15 Pacific at the end of the day.
Larranaga, still mourning the death Wednesday night of Jack Curran, his legendary coach, mentor and role model at Archbishop Molloy High School, fielding a team in every sense of the word, a team Curran would have been proud of without question. A team that started four seniors — all of them 22 or older — and a sensational sophomore point guard named Shane Larkin.
Larranaga has changed everything since he arrived two years ago, the 63-year-old college basketball version of Tom Coughlin, the only difference being Larranaga and his players delivered pizza and chicken wings to the student dorms to drum up interest in a program long in the shadows of the football team. Even as an NCAA scandal he had nothing to do with swirled.
And then, 26 seconds into the game, Durand Scott, a kid out of Rice High School in Harlem, got bludgeoned under the boards and was taken to the locker room. Scott had scored 32 points in the semifinal victory over North Carolina State.
Now the Hurricanes had to weather the storm. Against a resurgent Tar Heels team that had been embarrassed twice by the ’Canes and was looking for revenge. In the hostile surroundings of Greensboro, N.C.
It was Larkin, son of the Hall of Fame Reds shortstop, who steadied the Good Ship Larranaga before Scott returned with 13:17 left in the half. Larkin finished with a career-high 28 points in leading Miami to an 87-77 victory.
When he wasn’t draining three 3-pointers, he was penetrating and distributing in a display of hit-the-open-man basketball that would have made the late Red Holzman smile. The ’Canes needed all of it, because P.J. Hairston, with eight stitches in his left hand, was filling it up from somewhere near Chapel Hill. Miami 44, Carolina 41 at the half.
“This,” Larranaga said, “is a great college basketball game.”
Hairston (28 points) would not go away. A pair of 3s early in the second half gave him six. Carolina had made 13 of its first 23 3s. The ’Canes had made 8 of 17. Roy Williams, looking for his 700th career win, stymied Larkin with a zone. So Larkin drilled a 3-pointer over the zone. Larranaga went small.
“Our guards did a fantastic job with no rest,” he would say.
Hairston finally missed a 3, in and out. A Trey McKinney Jones 3-pointer from the left corner made it Miami 69, Carolina 67. Larkin penetrated and dished to Julian Gamble for the jam that made it 72-67 at the end of an 8-0 run.
Miami Madness.
Barry Larkin wore a big smile in the stands as his wife rested her proud head on his shoulder.
No one thought Larranaga could drag George Mason to a Final Four. He did that in 2006. No one thought he could take Miami to ACC regular-season and conference titles.
Here he is. ACC Coach of the Year. Probably more than that. Here come the Hurricanes. No one on the team has played in an NCAA Tournament game. No matter. If you don’t think Larranaga can take Miami to a Final Four, in a year that is more wide open than any before it, think again.
They can’t stop them if they act like they can’t be stopped.
steve.serby@nypost.com