In case anyone has missed it, something special has been brewing in South Florida.

The University of Miami men's basketball team--for years the laughingstock of both the city and the school--has stormed onto the national scene.

In four short seasons, the Hurricanes have gone from being one of the sorriest excuses for a basketball team in the country--going 0-18 in Big East play in 1993--to jumping into the Associated Press top 25 for the first time since 1960. And now that Miami has secured a No.2 seed in the East bracket of the NCAA Tournament, you can consider the comeback complete.

The road back was anything but easy, however.

The University of Miami basketball program reached the height of its popularity and success in the 1960s under the leadership of future NBA great and Hall-of-Famer Rick Barry. But soon after Barry's departure, sagging attendance and declining interest led the university to abolish the program in 1971.

Not until 1985 would there be college hoops for the Hurricanes. And the return of basketball was not met with great enthusiasm as detractors claimed that Miami, a notorious football town, could never support a college basketball team.

And for a while it seemed as if they were right.

Miami simply couldn't compete on the national level. While Hurricane baseball and football were competing for, and winning, national championships, basketball struggled to reach .500, and the lack of fans at games had people questioning whether it was worth having a team at all.

Furthermore, the lack of a decent on-campus arena, a fanatical crowd or a basketball tradition eliminated Miami's chances of landing top-notch recruits.