Miami Hurricanes Basketball Preview: The First-Year Guys

Deandre Burnett, RS Freshman 6’2” 195 lbs — Carol City High School (Miami, Fla.)

There’s some people who were brought into this world to drop buckets. Deandre Burnett is one of those people. This kid can flat-out score and the Canes are going to benefit tremendously for his ability to get his own shot. Burnett missed last season after fracturing his wrist right after the exhibition game against Florida Tech, where he scored 16 points for Miami. I added him to this list of freshmen because he’s yet to play a game after redshirting last season. The Miami back court is filled with good players but nobody can create for himself quite like Deandre Burnett. How good is he? He averaged 37 points per game his senior year of high school.

Ja’Quan Newton, Freshman 6’2” 185 lbs — Neumann-Goretti High School (Philadelphia, Pa.)

If I had to describe Ja’Quan Newton in one word, it would be “baller.” The Neumann-Goretti High School product is Coach L’s best recruit in his time at Miami. Newton was a consensus top-6o player in every major recruiting ranking. Much like Burnett, he can also light up a scoreboard and is good at creating for himself, as well as others. He is the leading scorer in Philadelphia’s Catholic School League and for Neumann-Goretti. It’ll be interesting how much playing time Newton gets right off the bat in a stacked back court, but if he does things like this, he’ll be in good shape.

James Palmer, Freshman 6’5” 200 lbs — St. John’s College High School (Washington, D.C.)

Here’s a guy that isn’t as good of a natural scorer as Burnett and Newton, but James Palmer can flat-out shoot the ball. With good size at 6’5”, Palmer should be able to spread the floor and let the scorers on the team penetrate easily with his ability to spread the floor to the three-point line. I initially thought Palmer was heading for a redshirt season to get his body in tune for the college game, but after Davon Reed went down with the knee injury, I don’t think that’s an option now. The Canes are going to rely on Palmer to hit down timely threes and he’s going to be guarding tough wings throughout the season. I don’t know how many minutes Palmer will rack up, but he’s one player that I’m really intrigued to watch during Thursday’s exhibition. Coming in quietly behind Newton and the transfer guards, Palmer is looking to sneak up on some people and produce for Miami.

Omar Sherman, Freshman 6’8” 260 lbs — Duncanville High School (Duncanville, Texas)

Omar Sherman is probably the least talked about incoming recruit, but he also might be the most important one. We’ve talked about the questions in the Miami front court, and we’ll continue to do so until they prove they can compete with limited depth. Sherman was the only big man brought on board this recruiting class and he’s a good one. He has good moves down low, but he tends to fall in love with the outside shot. Even though he can hit the jumper, I would rather have his 260 pound body banging down low and scoring close to the basket. Sherman averaged almost 9 rebounds a game in high school which shows that he’s a capable rebounder. The 6’8” forward out of Texas is going to get a good amount of minutes early on, especially with the suspension to Ivan Cruz Uceda.

Chris Stowell, Freshman 6’6” 190 lbs — Tilton High School (Exeter, N.H.)

Stowell is a walk-on so he’s not expected to see the court unless the game is out of reach. The life of a walk-on is always difficult, but these guys take part in practice so they have to play at a high level or they’ll get tossed around against the guys on scholarship. Hopefully we see Stowell take the court aplenty with the Canes up by a couple dozen points.

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This is easily Jim Larrañaga’s best recruiting class during his tenure at Miami and he’s going to need them to perform and early. Miami gets Florida on the road the second game of the season, and the schedule doesn’t get any easier after that.

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