Miami Hurricanes Basketball: Five Observations from Canes Open Practice

By Austin Sapin | Oct 23, 2015

As we head to the end of October and the football team hits their annual swoon, the Miami Men’s Basketball team has begun to gear up for the start of the season which arrives in just a few weeks.

On Thursday afternoon, I got the chance to watch this talented and promising Hurricanes squad go through a two-hour practice. Here are my five observations:

Not that you need to be reminded, but Sheldon McClellan is a beast.

We all know Sheldon McClellan made a tremendous impact in his first year as a Cane last season. He led the team in scoring, could fill it up from deep and had the ability to always make himself an outlet on the break and above the rim. After watching him Thursday, don’t expect that to stop this season.

For two straight hours, the Houston, TX native was nearly unstoppable as he was able to create any shot he wanted off the dribble or spot up from behind the arc. No matter who was on him, McClellan showed why he was named to the Jerry West Award Watch List earlier this month.

As a redshirt senior, McClellan has both the experience and the talent to take this team far. Don’t be surprised at times to see the Texas transfer get the ball in his hands for a few possessions in a row, especially if the Hurricanes need points fast. We saw at times last year where McClellan would become the main ball-handler and had the freedom to attack his defender at will. Crazily enough, I think his offensive game has improved and we could see even more of the McClellan-heavy offense this year.

Obviously, I only saw one practice and maybe he was just on fire, but going off of what I saw last year, this wasn’t a fluke. McClellan has the ability to take this team far and if he plays like he did Thursday, I wish his defenders good luck.

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Kamari Murphy is the piece the Canes missed last year.

I don’t know about you, but I am drinking all the Kamari Murphy Kool-Aid I can get right now. Whether it was hearing him talk about proving the doubters wrong during media day or what he showed at practice on Thursday, I think Murphy is going to be absolutely vital to this team.

Not only is Murphy an obvious leader on this squad, but he also provides them with some grit and size up front that I don’t think they had last season. Don’t get me wrong, I loved what I saw from Tonye Jekiri last season, but adding the Oklahoma St. transfer fits everything Coach Larranaga was missing.

They now have a true power forward that can work in the post and will be a big rebounding asset. What makes Murphy’s game so special though is his ball-handling ability and speed at 6’9’’. Multiple times the Brooklyn, N.Y. native even ran the ball up the court for the Canes and was able to flash his mid-range game.

Everyone has had such praise for Murphy and you could tell he’s earned the respect of his teammates by the way in which they interacted with him at practice.

Miami lost a few transfers just after last season ended, but man did they pick up a good transfer of their own.

While it may take time, Ebuka Izundu is a diamond in the rough.

Now before people judge this kid on this season, just remember Tonye Jekiri as a freshman, raw, but plenty of potential.

Izundu didn’t necessarily have a good practice Thursday as he was involved with a couple miscommunications on the offensive end and then struggled to contain Jekiri on the boards on the defensive end. The thing is, you can see what he can blossom into.

As a freshman, Izundu is 6’10’’ and 210 pounds and his wingspan is absolutely scary to think about when he hits full potential. For this season, I could see the Nigeria native coming in as a defensive specialist to block shots at the rim or maybe try to help on the glass. He does have a nice left-hand hook shot though which Larranaga continuously pushed him to use and that could develop into a solid post game over the next few years.

With Jekiri as a model and a mentor, Izundu has someone he can learn from and the competition between the two at practice is just phenomenal.

After the center threw down a couple tomahawk slams during a break, it was clear this kid has some real potential for the coming years.

Davon Reed is the underrated glue guy no one is talking about.

Like Murphy, I just love everything Davon Reed brings to the table for Miami.

I don’t know why he’s not talked about often. Maybe it was because of his injury last season and then his attempt to try and get back to 100% where he struggled a bit. People have to remember the heart and determination he showed to get back when he did though. Reed wasn’t even supposed to play until 2015 and he made his first appearance in early December 2014.

The junior maybe doesn’t jump off the page with extreme athleticism or a perfect shot, but he is such a solid player that does everything well. I think maybe his most valuable asset is his defense, which he displayed throughout Thursday’s practice. While he maybe doesn’t have that extreme athleticism or perfect shot he can still score in multiple ways including from beyond the arc.

With two gritty guys like Reed and Murphy that have the talent to go along with it, the Canes have found a perfect balance for their starting lineup this season.

This team LOVES three-pointers

I don’t know if this is a good or bad thing, but if you go to a Miami Hurricanes game this year get ready for a barrage of three-pointers.

This team is excellent at shooting from deep and they’ll probably get a ton of points from the three, but sometimes last season the Canes would settle too often for the long shot. Teams can live or die by the three and that was the case for Miami last season.

At practice, I saw more of the same and these guys were knocking them down one after the other. I hope this season the Hurricanes can look to at least penetrate and dish rather than settling after dribbling the ball around the arc.

To be fair, most of the three-pointers put up on Thursday afternoon were off some dribble-drive action, but if they are going to shoot 22 three’s a game like they did last year, you want to see open shots rather than settling for those shots.

If they are hitting them like they did on Thursday however, let this guys take three’s from wherever.

This team looks ready and hungry to go far this season. They may not be the most talented team, but the leadership, experience plus a still pretty good amount of talent could make this a special team. So many things from this team mirror the 2012-13 team, we can only hope we get similar results.

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