Miami’s (OH) Michael Weathers Latest Transfer Possibility to Emerge For Hurricanes
After announcing in his postseason press conference that the Miami Hurricanes were seeking a transfer guard from a four-year school, candidates have emerged who will fill that role.
The marque player that the Hurricanes seem to be targeting is Rice’s Marcus Evans. Evans announced he has narrowed his final three schools to Miami, Virginia Commonwealth, and Arizona.
The latest transfer candidate to emerge is Michael Weathers from Miami (OH). Weathers had an outstanding Freshman season for the Redhawks.
He averaged 16.7 points, 4.2 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 1.8 steals and 1.4 blocks. He was by far the best player on an 11-21 team. He had the team lead is scoring, assists, steals and blocks and was third in rebounding.
Weathers was one of only four freshmen in the country to average at least 16 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per the Sporting News’ Sam Vecenie. The other three are expected lottery picks this June, Washington’s Markelle Fultz, North Carolina State’s Dennis Smith Jr., and De’Aaron Fox of Kentucky.
Weathers’ twin brother Marcus was a forward for Miami and is also seeking a transfer. Jim Larranaga had mentioned the Hurricanes were also seeking a forward. UM wants a post forward that can play right away.
At 6’5 Marcus is more of a wing and he would have to sit out in 2017-18. He averaged 9.9 PPG and 5.9 RPG.
Miami (Ohio) transfer Michael Weathers tells me he will visit Boise State on 4/14, Miami on 4/18, and Xavier on 4/20.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) April 3, 2017
Weathers is a versatile player that sounds somewhat of a cross between Bruce Brown and Ja’Quan Newton. Similar to Evans and Newton, he needs to improve on his turnover ratio. He had 150 assists and 146 turnovers in 2016-17. That was eerily similar to Newton’s 105 to 101 and Evans 131-128.
Weathers also struggled with his three-point shot last season. He connected on just 22.1 percent from beyond the arc. Similar to Brown though he is a multi-faceted player as his all-around stats prove. Even Brown didn’t reach the lofty numbers that Weathers did.
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Should he wind up with the Hurricanes, Weathers would sit out this season and then likely start with DJ Vasiljevic and Chris Lykes in 2018-19.
Like Evans who is considering Arizona and VCU with the Hurricanes, Miami could be facing tough competition to land Weathers. He led Shawnee Mission North High School in Suburban Kansas City to a state championship in 2016.
The Weathers brothers hope to land at the same school, but it’s not a deal breaker. He does hope to play closer to home. That would seem to limit Miami’s chances for landing the Weathers.
Michael spoke to KansasCity.Com about the process:
"“We just want to be closer to home or have a different opportunity…We feel like now is the right time for the decision for both of us to go into a new program and help a team win…My dream was always to play at KU.”"
Weathers added that the most important thing to do is to be able to help a team win, but that he would like to be closer to his home in the KC area if possible.
"“As long as I can go into a program right away and help that team win, it doesn’t matter where it is, but yeah, I would love to play closer to home if possible.”"
Next: Miami Hurricanes in the Running For Rice Transfer Marcus Evans
Weathers seems to be very early in the process compared to Evans. He is considering between five and 10 schools at this point. Larranaga mentioned the process of recruiting a potential transfer could last into June.