Eye on the U

Hurricanes baseball coach Jim Morris expected to be released from hospital tomorrow to return to Miami

Jim Morris' Miami Hurricanes finally won a baseball game in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament -- a 7-0 victory against Clemson.

Unfortunately, Morris wasn't there to see it.

Morris, 63, who has had a lingering cough through much of the season, was taken by ambulance from the team bus to Duke Hospital during batting practice at Duke's field.

"He wasn't feeling well but he was at breakfast with the team,'' UM assistant coach Gino DiMare told Miami Herald correspondent Dave Droschak. "On the bus is when he started taking a turn for the worse. I know they are running some tests.''

 DiMare called it "a tough day, tough circumstances with coach Morris not being here. If coach is not here you know he's not doing well. Our thoughts are with him and hopefully he's OK.''

  I talked to UM deputy athletic director for business Tony Hernandez on Saturday night, and he told me he visited Morris during the game. Hernandez said Morris' ailment "is not expected to be serious and we're hoping he'll be joining us in Miami Sunday.''

  Hernandez told me he kept Morris informed of what was happening during the game through Morris' wife. “He was kept abreast of the score the entire game,’’ Hernandez said.  

  As for the game, the only ACC tourney win after getting 10-run ruled (10-0) by North Carolina and then falling 7-1 to North Carolina State, UM got another gem by left-handed ace Bryan Radziewski. B-Rad allowed four hits in eight shutout innings.

  The Hurricanes should get into the NCAA Tournament, but it's hard to be optimistic about how they'll do.

   Hopefully Coach Morris, who has been getting plenty of fan criticism for another sub-par season, gets well soon.

   SUSAN MILLER DEGNAN 

 

Check out these duds! From Maryland to Notre Dame (Beneficiary: The Miami Hurricanes)

 So, look what Miami is getting in the Notre Dame game. Not just The Irish, but the Irish with attitude -- compliments of adidas.

The Hurricanes got a dose of uniform wackiness at Maryland last season. I think I was the only person on the planet who liked those bizarre Maryland duds.

Here's the statement Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly made about the unis:

“The Shamrock Series is a great opportunity for our football program to play in an exciting venue located in an area with so many Notre Dame fans,” Kelly said. “This year’s game at Soldier Field will be part of an incredible weekend for the University in Chicago and will be a great experience for our team. The players absolutely love the uniforms designed by adidas for this game and they will help make it a memorable night.”

By the way, note that Kelly said "in an area with so many Notre Dame fans.''

Soldier Field is definitely NOT a neutral site for this game. (I changed that line for those of you who thought I even considered that Soldier Field is neutral.)

Maybe the uniforms will help give the Hurricanes an edge.

UM will be wearing its traditional unis, I'm sure to Al Golden's delight.

Addendum: Did you like when MIami wore its Pro Combat unis? Or do you prefer traditional?

SUSAN MILLER DEGNAN

 

 

Thursday camp notes: Golden not pleased, Chick in yellow, Hurns in red, few in black

The question was fitting, especially if UM Hurricanes Coach Al Golden needed to light a fire under his weary troops.

"How do you think you guys have done up to this point? Are you guys hitting a wall?"

"They've got to fight through it -- the proverbial wall. There's no light at the end of the tunnel right now. We've got a long way to go. We've got two today, one tomorrow, and then the scrimmage, so we've got a long way to go. We have four next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and then we'll break camp.

 "We're not where we need to be right now..."

Golden was asked if this is the hardest part of camp. Fall camp opened Aug. 3, two weeks ago Friday.

"This is it right here,'' Golden answered. "This is the hardest part, this is where teams can get divided with that self-preservation mode set in. Two today, one tomorrow, and then a scrimmage, so we're trying to fight that. We don't want to just survive this portion of camp; we want to thrive, unite and rise above it."

Golden said that "everybody's going through it and we've got to get that selfishness out of our locker room. There's no place for it. It's hard on everybody. It's hard on the coaches, who don't see their families for these two weeks. It's hard on the players, it's hard on everybody that supports them. Having a bad attitude or being negative -- the negativity -- we have to get that out of our building.

"We're not where we need to be yet in terms of that, but we're a lot further than we were last year.''

Golden even pointed out that middle linebacker Denzel Perryman, no longer in a first-team black jersey (only two players had them on Thursday), needs to be pushed through the end of camp so he can "be the playmaker we know he can be.'' The coach said Perryman was "in that little camp rut right now.''

*The only players wearing the  black jerseys Thursday were punter Dalton Botts and defensive end Shayon Green.

* There were several players on offense wearing the first-team orange jerseys.

INJURY REPORT

* DE Anthony Chickillo, an integral part of this defense, was in a yellow jersey for the second consecutive day. Chick told reporters he had a stomach flu yesterday, Golden told us he had a sinus infection. Today, Golden said of Chickillo: "I don't know how much he'll do. If he can handle that then he'll progress back to a jersey.''

* WR Allen Hurns, who Golden raved about this camp, is wearing a no-contact red jersey. "Allen's being held out right now,'' Golden said. "I don't know for how long, but we're just being careful with his head. I don't really discuss the injuries. I'm just telling you it's a head injury ad we're holding him out.''

* LB Gionni Paul (knee) "is doing better,'' Golden said. "I was pleased that he fought through the [special teams] scrimmage.''

GONE AGAIN

Junior OT Seantrel Henderson was not at camp again (yesterday, too). Coach told us Henderson left Wednesday for another funeral in Minnesota, but I think at this point he is strictly focusing on who is at camp, not who is missing.

"He's definitely not back today. He's not cleared yet. He's home right now. I'll let you guys know when he's cleared and when he's back. Obviously this is practice 15 or 16. He hasn't taken any of them yet.''

SUSAN MILLER DEGNAN