The Heat are still in the playoff hunt, trying to set themselves up in the best possible position once the regular season ends.

But two local college programs are already in the postseason. The Miami Hurricanes men’s team earned a No. 10 seed in the NCAA tournament, while the Hurricanes’ women’s team is a No. 8 seed in their tournament.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said he previously reached out to Miami men’s coach Jim Larrañaga to congratulate him on a two-year contract extension that was announced on March 9. Spoelstra, who has two NBA titles under his belt, said he thinks Larrañaga is doing a good job with UM’s program.

“I think coach Larrañaga has done a phenomenal job of building up the basketball program here,” Spoelstra said. “There’s been terrific interest in their program for the decade-plus that he’s been here. I’ve learned a lot from him. We’ve had some coaching talks over the years and it’s fun, and the same for the women’s program.”

Spoelstra said he’s hoping the two Hurricanes teams can help his bracket out.

“I’m glad they both got in and I’m going to fill out my brackets,” Spoelstra said. “Hopefully, they carry me with some wins.”

Heat looking to take advantage of slower week

With March Madness starting this week, Spoelstra said his team’s calendar reminded him of a college schedule. After last playing on Saturday, the Heat play a pair of home games against Detroit on Tuesday and Oklahoma City on Friday.

“It feels like a week of the college schedule where you only play two games,” Spoelstra said. “I do want to take advantage of all these different things. We want to take advantage of an opportunity to rest and get guys healthy. We also want to be able to practice a couple of times and work on our rhythm and work on some of the details on both sides of the ball. Hopefully, we’ll be able to accomplish all that and have some good competitions as well.”

Miami’s schedule picks up again the following week with a road game in Philadelphia before a four-game homestand.

Martin still out of practice

Miami forward Caleb Martin has missed the Heat’s last two games with a hyperextended left knee and was still not back at practice on Monday.

Spoelstra said Friday that Martin, who has played 22.8 minutes per game in his first season with Miami, tried to convince Spoelstra and his staff to let him play, but the staff said no.

“He was able to do some good rehab on the side,” Spoelstra said. “He definitely is making progress but he wasn’t able to go through practice.”

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