Miami basketball loses its only remaining 2025 signee in 5-star Matthew Able

Matthew Able, who was the lone remaining signee in the 2025 Miami class, was released from his agreement with the Hurricanes on Friday per Joe Tipton of On3. Miami previously released center Ben Ahmed from his agreement, Able and Ahmed signed with Miami during the November Early Signing Period.

Tipton referred to Able as a, "four-star shooting guard and one of the major stockrisers in the 2025 class." Able is the No. 27 overall prospect, No. 11 shooting guard and No. 7 player in Florida out of Tampa, Sagemont Prep. Tipton reported Able will visit Tennessee on March 1, Alabama on March 5 and Baylor on March 8. Per the 247Sports Composite, Able is ranked a 5-star guard.

Able chose Miami over Baylor, Boston College, Northwestern, Wake Forest and Xavier per his On3 profile. The retirement of head coach Jim Larranaga in December influenced Able's decision to open things up. Miami will remain in contention to land Able for its 2025 class.

Whoever the new Miami coach is will have a major rebuilding job with the roster. Guards redshirt junior A.J. Staton-McCray, sophomore Paul Djobet and freshmen Jalil Bethea, Austin Swartz and Divine Ugochukwu are the only scholarship players on the 2024-25 Miami basketball roster with eligibility.

Duke assistant Jai Lucas has been widely reported to be the next Miami head coach. Lucas is known as an elite recruiter and could quickly rebuild the Miami roster. Miami would have to hope Lucas can flip players from other programs, maybe some from Duke, with the possibility of convincing Able to re-sign with Miami as well.

The transfer portal will almost definitely be a focus of emphasis on building the 2025-26 Miami roster whether or not the next head coach is Lucas or someone else. Louisville added 13 new players this season and has exceeded its win total solely in the ACC than it had in the past two seasons overall combined.