It’s not Jim Larranaga, the coach who has led the Miami Hurricanes to consecutive Sweet 16 NCAA Tournament appearances.

It’s not Isaiah Wong, the ACC Player of the Year.

No, the success of the Hurricanes men’s basketball team this year is just that – it’s a team.

When Larranaga ran out of timeouts with 6:04 remaining – never an ideal situation for a coach – the Hurricanes players rallied to defeat Drake, 63-56, in a opening round of the NCAA Tournament last week.

Wong, by the way, had just 5 points on 1-for-10 shooting, but the Canes got 21 points from Nijel Pack, 15 from Wooga Poplar and 12 points and 15 points from Norchad Omier.

Then, when Poplar injured his tailbone in a 2nd round against Indiana, Wong stepped up and scored a game-high 27 points on 9-for-17 shooting in an impressive 85-69 win over the Hoosiers.

“I didn’t perform up to my potential in the (Drake) game,” Wong said. “I’m glad my team gave me the chance to perform again.”

In that same game, Pack wasn’t as good as he normally is, shooting just 2-for-8 on 3-pointers. Poplar was held to 6 points before departing with his injury, and Omier had only 7 points – although he was a monster on the boards with 17 rebounds.

No worries, though. Jordan Miller stepped up with 19 points.

Sense a pattern here?

It’s hard to stop all 5 Canes starters, and Miami has gotten good minutes off the bench from Bensley Joseph, who puts intensive defensive pressure on opposing guards; Harlond Beverly, who has had some stellar games; and Anthony Walker, who is effective when attacking the rim and passing up his unwise temptation to shoot 3-pointers (he is 2-for-22 from deep this season).

Next up, 5th-seeded Miami (27-7) will face top-seeded Houston (33-3) on Friday night.

Don’t expect Miami – the only ACC team still standing – to be intimidated.

The Hurricanes have won low-scoring games this season such as their upset over 6th-ranked Virginia, 66-64, on Dec. 20. Earlier that month, Miami won a shootout, defeating Cornell 107-105, in one of the wildest games of the season. They have also won big games on the road as evidenced by their 78-74 victory over No. 20 Clemson on Feb. 4.

In fact, the last time Miami lost – to Duke in the ACC Tournament semifinals – the biggest factor was losing Omier to an ankle injury just 66 seconds into the game.

That once again proves the point that the strength of this team is – primarily – the quality of their 5 starters, with each one capable of carrying the team in a particular game.

Wong leads the Canes with a 16.1 scoring average, but there is a case to be made that Miller should have been the ACC Player of the Year instead.

Miller is 2nd on the Canes in scoring (15.1), rebounding (6.2), assists (2.6) and steals (1.3). In other words, he does a little bit of everything. He does whatever the Canes need and is better than Wong in several facets, including rebounding, two-point percentage (.594) and fewer turnovers.

“I love coaching him,” Larranaga said of Miller. “I call him the most underrated player in the country. The guy is like an All-American.”

Wong, though, is the better 3-pointer shooter and foul shooter.

Then there’s Omier, who is probably the most valuable player on the team because Miami simply has no replacement for him.

We saw what happened when Omier went down against Duke. He leads Miami in rebounds (10.1), blocks (1.2) and field-goal percentage (58.0). He is also tied for 3rd (with Pack) in scoring (13.4), and you can’t play “Hack-a-Shaq” with him because he makes 72.3% from the foul line.

“I like playing with my teammates,” Omier said. “They motivate me to do what I do.”

Pack is a crucial piece of the puzzle, too, because he leads the team in 3-pointers (2.4 per game) while connecting on 39.0%. And it’s not just that he makes those shots – it’s how deep he is on the court when he releases. Pack’s range opens up the court for his teammates.

“We have a lot of versatile guards on the floor,” Pack said. “It’s hard for teams to guard all of us.”

Then there’s Poplar, Miami’s lowest-scoring starter at 8.4 points per game. Poplar, though, leads Miami’s regulars in 3-point shooting (40.2). He is also a sensational leaper, and we’ve seen glimpses of that on shot blocks and rebounds.

The sense is that’s there’s a lot more to Poplar than we’ve seen so far, but he is playing his role as Miami’s 5th scoring option.

Joseph is Miami’s 6th man, averaging 20.4 minutes. That’s just 3 minutes less than Poplar. Joseph’s defense, as mentioned, is his calling card, but he is also shooting 39.3% on 3-pointers, and he attacks the rim.

Beverly is the wild card. He is the veteran of Miami’s bench with 88 career games, including 21 starts. He is aggressive offensively, and he is capable of exploding.

Larranaga, who can be fairly questioned for not recruiting enough quality support players for Omier in the post, must also be enthusiastically credited for the chemistry on this team. The players seem to genuinely care about one another and their coaches.

There do not appear to be any jealousies as to who gets the credit as long as the team wins.

By seeding, Miami’s run should end against mighty Houston. But maybe this “all for one” Canes team has at least a little more magic left to their season.

Perhaps Larranaga summed it up best.

“We’re not the tallest team,” he said. “We’re the heaviest team. So, to be successful, we have to be the fastest team. And if we’re not, we have to believe we are.”

Right now, the Canes believe.