When projecting the 2018-19 Miami Basketball season many prognosticators look at the loss of the entire Hurricanes backcourt. Lonnie Walker and Bruce Brown left early for the NBA. Ja’Quan Newton graduated.
The Hurricanes have plenty of talent returning and welcome two key newcomers. Last season Miami Basketball Coach Jim Larranaga often lamented the lack of experience on his team. Brown and Walker left for the NBA after their Freshman and Sophomore seasons.
Freshman Point Guard Chris Lykes frequently started with Newton and Walker after Brown was lost for the season with 12 games remaining. Miami also often played Sophomore Dewan Huell and Freshman Sam Waardenburg up front. Even with the losses of Brown and Walker, the 2018-19 Hurricanes will have more experience.
In addition to the returning players, Miami also welcomes a pair of players who will play significant roles this season to give the Hurricanes more experience.
Four ACC Centric or ACC team-specific sites were used to get a consensus on where the Miami basketball program falls in the power rankings for the 2018-19 season. These were all updated after the deadline for early entrants to the NBA Draft made their decisions.
Huell was going to join Walker and Brown in the draft. He did not sign with an agent and decided to return to Miami for his Junior season. He has two more years of eligibility remaining. Huell would be wise to use both of those years at Miami.
The Louisville Courier-Journal, Canes Warning’s partner sites the Louisville Cardinals’ site Big Red Louie and general college basketball site Busting Brackets and ACCSports.Com were used to create a consensus of where Miami basketball is in the ACC pecking order.