After an absolute disaster of a season last year, finishing 15-17 on a 10 game loss streak, Jim Larranaga’s Hurricanes have revamped the team, and are ready for a more successful 2024-25 campaign. They have a nice combination of returning talent with some impactful transfers and a freshman who can make or break their season. The deep pockets of the donors made this team, so let’s see how they did.

Returners:

This roster only has 3 returners, with many of their main contributors from last season transferring away. However, two of their starters from last season are coming back for their senior seasons, Nijel Pack and Matthew Cleveland. Pack is the point guard and leader of this Miami team, who averaged 13.3 points and 3.6 assists last season. He is a great shooter, at 35.7% on over 5 attempts per game, and his game managing ability from the point guard position will be key for the many newcomers. Cleveland is a dynamic wing who averaged 13.7 points and 6.1 rebounds per game last year. He is an athletic presence who can impact the game on both ends, with both his frame and shooting abilities. Joining those two is sophomore wing Paul Djobet. While Djobet didn’t play much in his freshman year, he flashed potential to stretch the floor and be a good rebounder at 6’7. He may find his way into a larger share of minutes this year, depending on the effectiveness of the transfers.

Transfers:

The Hurricanes have 6 newcomers on the transfer front, all of which are seniors, so basically one year rentals. The projected starters from this group are Brandon Johnson, a power forward from East Carolina, and Lynn Kidd, a center from fellow ACC school Virginia Tech. Johnson is a 6’8 forward who is an aggressive scorer at the rim, averaging 13.5 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. However, he is also a very good shooter, shooting 35.8% from three last season on nearly 6 attempts per game. With a most likely smaller usage at Miami, that percentage could likely improve. Kidd is more of your typical post up scorer, but was very effective last year, averaging 13.2 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. His season was highlighted by a 31 and 11 performance versus American, in which Lynn was 14/15 from the field. He isn’t an elite interior defender by any means, but has good size and will be surrounded by other lanky athletes.

Joining those two are combo guards Jalen Blackmon and AJ Staton-McCray, as well as backup bigs Yussif Basa-Ama and Kiree Huie. Blackmon was a great scorer at Stetson, although it was low level competition. He averaged 20.9 points per game on the season, highlighted by 43 points.. yes you heard me right, 43 points in the ASUN Championship game. He also had 32 points against Cincinnati and 26 against UCF, two Big 12 opponents. We will see if he can be as effective consistently at the higher level, but he will be exciting to watch nonetheless. Staton-McCray hails from Samford and their unique “Bucky Ball” scheme, but should mold into a nice bench piece for the ‘Canes. He averaged 11.5 points per game last season, shooting 41.4% from three. AJ also looks great defensively, but it is yet to be seen whether that was just the system he was in. By great, I mean that he was in at least the 90th percentile on almost all important advanced defensive analytics. So if that carries over, it will be huge. Basa-Ama averaged just over 1 point per game last year at Yale, so he likely will play little to no role on this team, while Huie will likely get more minutes off the bench. Huie averaged 11.2 points and 5.6 rebounds per game at Idaho State, and fits the same archetype as Lynn Kidd, operating mainly out of the post. He looks to be an effective bench presence as a big body to throw out there.

Recruits:

Now to the difference maker, top 10 recruit in the nation, Jalil Bethea. The lefty guard/wing is an elite level scorer and NBA level talent for Larranaga and the ‘Canes. He should easily be scoring in double figures and be a key component of the Miami offense. Joining Jalil are three more incoming freshman, Austin Swartz, Isaiah Johnson-Arigu, and Divine Ugochukwu. Swartz is the highest regarded of the three, ranked 65th in the nation according to 247 Sports. He is a great shooter, and there has been hype building around him in Miami as well. Johnson-Arigu will also get some depth minutes off the bench as a forward, and although he’s undersized, he has good instinctual defense, which could make him useful this year. Ugochukwu is likely not to play any significant minutes, as he was an unranked recruit coming out of high school, and there is already a backload of guards going for minutes.

Season Outlook

I can confirm that this season will go better for Miami than last year, unless something goes horribly wrong. Hurricanes fans definitely have a lot to be excited about, however I think the hype for this team has gone a little too far. People are expecting Pack and Cleveland to be much better than they were last year, which is somewhat unrealistic to me, and I’m not sold on some of these new pieces ability to be difference makers at the high level that is the ACC. This team is currently ranked 27th by Barttorvik, which is third in the ACC. In my opinion, this team should be somewhere in the 5-8 range to start the year, even with giving them the benefit of the doubt while Jim Larranaga is at the helm. I predict that this team can make the NCAA tournament, and that should be their goal. Anything past that seems like people getting ahead of themselves, as I could very realistically see the ‘Canes not even making it to the big dance. Does Larranaga still have it? I guess we’ll find out.

(P.C. Miami Herald)