Miami forward Norchad Omier says ankle is 'feeling great'

Miami forward Norchad Omier made a big return Friday for the Hurricanes in their NCAA Tournament first round win over Drake. While he didn’t miss any games, Omier’s availability with an ankle injury was the biggest question mark for the Hurricanes heading into the Big Dance.

Omier played and played a lot. He finished with just under 36 full minutes of action, scoring 12 points and grabbing 14 rebounds as Miami won 63-56.

He was asked after the game how he was feeling playing with his ankle, that was not yet 100%.

“I’ve just got to keep getting used to it. It’s something new to me. But I’m feeling great, if I’m being honest,” Omier said.

Omier had injured the ankle originally against Duke in the ACC Tournament semifinals. He practiced Wednesday and Thursday but his inclusion in the lineup was a gametime decision.

A report from Jon Rothstein ahead of the game stated Omier would play “if his ankle doesn’t swell overnight.”

When Miami head coach Jim Larranaga talked with the media Monday, he said he did not have any updates on his injury.

“There’s really no update at this point,” Larranaga sad. “We’ve got our fingers crossed and we wish him the best but we’ve got to prepare both ways. We’ll have him or we don’t have him. Because we don’t know what his status will be for quite a while.”

Jim Larranaga demands more respect for ACC

The ACC has not had the best season, according to the general college basketball landscape. Many teams went through the regular season.

But Miami head coach Jim Larranaga wants none of that as Norchad Omier and the Hurricanes prepare to play Indiana.

“I’m disappointed that the ACC is not given the respect I think it’s due,” Larranaga said. “I think we’ve got a great league. We had the preseason Number 1 team in the country in North Carolina. They did not have the year that people expected them to have, but they’re still pretty darn good; so is Duke, (and) so is Virginia. We’ve got a lot of good teams. This has nothing to do with our game tomorrow against Indiana, but if you go back to November, early December, the ACC won the ACC-Big Ten Challenge 8-6. So I think the leagues are very comparable. Hopefully, we’ll play well tomorrow and represent the ACC very well.”