Miami Hurricanes head coach Jai Lucas spoke with the media today, speaking on the roster, expectations, and the upcoming exhibition game against the Vanderbilt Commodores.
Check out everything he had to say down below:
On rebuilding the roster for a second straight year: Yeah. I mean, for me, it's hard to say, because you win 26 games. That's not easy to do. But I do like the group we have. I do like the piece that we brought in. I like where we're headed. I do feel we're a lot deeper than we were last year, and so that was a big priority this offseason to make sure we have just some more depth off the bench, and we can play a bunch of different ways, and we can play small, we can play big. We can do a lot of different things with this roster, and that's the thing I'm most excited about.
On if Malik Reneau coming back late threw things out of whack: It didn't really throw things out of whack for us, because, last year the team was kind of built around and through Malik. This year this team was built without him in mind, and so being able to add him and what he does is kind of a bonus. So the way the team is built, it wasn't built like, Malik, we just need to do that. He just kind of comes in and is able to enhance us, and he kind of just plays into some of the stuff we were already doing and already playing. But it didn't throw that big of a wrench in it, and I say that now. You get a game, it may look different, but at the moment it hasn't looked that way.
On integrating Malik Reneau while maintaining team chemistry: You just tell them the truth from the beginning. That's all you can do, is tell them. And what I told them, this wasn't anything we had planned. This wasn't anything in works. This wasn't anything we thought we were going to do. We had this opportunity, especially for Malik to come back and be able to finish his degree and get his degree from the University of Miami was huge for me, with him actually being from Miami, being from South Florida, be huge for him and the rest of his life. And then just told them how everything works and how I see it and how I see it playing out for us and the opportunity it gives us. And, everybody has been on board with it, and we've been able to operate and move forward.
On why the 26-win season last year looked so easy: It may look easy to you. It wasn't easy at all. It wasn't easy at all, but, it was just the blessing of having the group we had last year and their ability to get better throughout the year and their ability to gel and buy into the plan and buy into what we were talking about. And it's the same thing with this group. Hopefully we'll get better throughout the year and being able to plan to gel, and then by the time we get to conference and getting into hopefully January, February, March, we're where we need to be. And that's the goal every year as a coach.
On handling the expectations surrounding Miami in year two: I guess it's a twofold answer. This is a situation we want to be in every year. This is why I took this job. This is something I want to be, where we have these expectations to be really good and have expectations to compete for championships. That's the whole point of why I do this as a coach and why we do this as a program. So moving forward, this is something we have to get accustomed to, and this is just our next step in this program. Now, it happens a year or two with a whole new team, but it's going to be every year, like you explained. And so now it's getting them to understand that, but not add pressure, and just getting them to understand this is what we want. This is why we did the schedule the way we did the schedule, and why we had these kind of markers throughout the preseason as checkpoints, kind of seeing. We start the year with a checkpoint, or a reality check, as I like to call it, and it can go either way. It could be a good reality check. It could be a bad reality check. But championships aren't won in November. What I mean? So for me it's just all about getting better. How do we get better from game to game? How do we get better from practice to practice? And for them, it may be that expectation early, but as long as we're there by the end of the season, that's all that matters to me.
On Miami's expectations by the end of the season: I mean, I think I have a whole new team, and by the end of the year, I think if we stay healthy and get to where we can get to, I think we'll be able to compete with anybody in the nation. And starting the year, the first game is a good one because you're playing someone who has a lot of retention and also has a lot of expectation going into the year. So you get to see early what you do good, what you get better at, and then you move on from there. It's the first game of the year. That's all it is, and that's what you want.
On adjusting Miami's style of play throughout the season: It changes, I don't want to say daily, but it changes a lot because you can have an assumption of what you think it looks like and how you think you'll play. But then getting everybody on the court together, it makes you adapt and change. All right? So, some lineups you might think work out, they may not work out, but then you get in the game and they work. So it's just having to play these games and having to get some experience. That's why next week, Friday vs. Vanderbilt is great for us. We need something like that to kind of figure out who we are and what we have.
On Miami's starting lineup ahead of the Florida opener: Nah, that's still in flux. That's still in flux. We have a bunch of guys who have earned the opportunity to start, and now it's about putting the right lineup and the right combination out there that helps throughout. So just figuring out what's our best lineup. We have probably eight guys who have earned the right to start, but it doesn't mean you put five out there who may not be per se your best five, but they may be the best fit, and it may be the best team that gets us going and gets us started.
On if he will keep the same lineup throughout the season: I would like to cement one, but I think it can change throughout the season because it just depends on, one, how people start to guard you, what are people doing, how they play you, if they adjust and adapt to that. Then you have to adapt your style of play, and that's all said kind of fluid until you find your rhythm and find your routine and find your rotations. And for me, that probably won't happen until end of December, going into conference, middle December, hopefully. By the time we get to Texas, somewhere in there, we'll kind of have a rotation and things kind of figured out.
On opening the season against Florida and preparing for a top contender: For me, it's trying to get them to the point where it doesn't matter who we play. We prepare and do things the same way, whether it's Florida or whether we were playing, North Carolina A&T. I'm just throwing a school out there. But getting them to understand this is a standard. This is what we do here. This is how we operate and this is what it looks like. And so getting them to understand that. But hopefully we're on edge for that game because, if you ain't on edge for that game, you in for a long night.
On preparing for Vanderbilt before opening the season against Florida: That's why we wanted to make sure our exhibition game was a big-time game because of what the first game is. And so playing somebody who has size, playing somebody from the same conference, playing somebody who also is really, really good and really well coached was important. So, you take it and we'll treat it like a real game. Now, I probably will say we'll probably play more people than we would in a real game. Like everybody will get an opportunity. We've done that with some of our stuff that we've done so far. And so just getting a good look. It still is an exhibition game, and that's why you play it, to try to get a better feel. But we'll treat it as much like a real game as possible.
On Miami's depth and distributing minutes throughout the lineup: Yeah, I think we definitely a group like that. For me my goal for this group is exactly what you said. I think we should have at least five to six guys in double figures. Now, I don't think we'll have anybody like Malik, who was at 19.5. We have a bunch of people, between, let's just call it nine and 14 or nine and 15. If we have five or six guys in there, then we're what we're supposed to be. But we have great depth, and my whole thing is I want to play 40 minutes where there's no real drop-off in who's in the game, how we're playing, our intensity, our effort. And we may not have a 36-, 37-minute guy. You know, we may have one or maybe two guys at 30 minutes, but then we'll have a bunch of people right there in that 20-minute range.
On Caleb Gaskins this summer: Someone like him, a freshman who comes in as a McDonald's All-American with a lot of accolades, can try to come in and try to just force themselves into the program, into the team. He has continued to be who he's always been, which is being a basketball player in its purest form, where he doesn't have to force anything. He lets everything come to him. He can guard multiple positions. He's been shooting the ball from outside at a really high level. He's somebody that we play on the perimeter. We play him as like a guard, as a bigger guard, and he's shown the ability to be able to handle pressure, play out of ball screens, play out of actions. And for me, that was a bigger jump than I expected him to be at this time and this point. Now you get into college, get into playing games, he's going to hit some type of freshman wall. Everybody does. Shelton's first seven games was that, and then after Ole Miss he kind of turned the corner. Same thing with Dante. Once we got to conference, he kind of turned the corner. So it's going to happen to Caleb. It's inevitable. But just his ability and us trying to let him know it's going to happen and work through that. But he has done everything I've asked of him.
On his relationship with Mario Cristobal: No, it's great. It just goes to our culture here at the University of Miami, especially in athletics. We're all connected and all tied together. We're all rooting for each other and their success. And he's been great. Anything I ever need from him, he's always there, always answers, which you don't expect with somebody running a big operation. But he's been there for me. We support him. We're at every football game. We do whatever we can to help support. But all the coaches, everybody here has been great, just as a freshman year and moving forward.
On Miami's move from Adidas to Nike: Adidas has been great. This is my first time being with Adidas. This past year was my first experience with them, and they were phenomenal with just the communication and giving us everything we need, even from, even like a recruiting standpoint and everything like that. I had prior relationships with Nike, so it was a smoother transition. But, both partners have been good, but I think it's good for us to kind of get back to our roots of who we are as a university and how we started this thing. And so it's kind of exciting to kind of bring it all back together.
On Miami's All In initiative and community outreach: Yeah, that's the most important thing, is what you just explained. It's just making the Watsco, making basketball, and letting the city know that we're a part of them, and we want them here, need them here. Anything we can do to kind of help with that, we're gonna do. And we're their team, not only Coral Gables, but the city of Miami. Everybody. We want everybody to come out and show up and be a part of this, especially moving forward. So this is just kind of our first step of doing that, and I thought it was a very cool initiative just to get it out there in front and get everybody kind of excited going into the season.
On the team's defensive progress and expectations: No, not really. I have a better sense when we get to Vanderbilt and get to see it live. But I like where we're heading. I feel we are getting better and trending. With this team, I will say it's different than last year's team because when you have a lot of players who can play in the game, it takes a longer time to kind of get things plugged down. I guess last year, when you know you're only going to play six or seven guys, those guys, they get so many reps and so many minutes where it happens a little bit quicker. Where this team is trending in the right direction, but we literally have like ten guys that can play in the game, ten, eleven guys that can play in the game. So just finding out, like I said earlier, the best mix of that. But they are moving to where the standard is and what we do here. And so it's trending. I like where we're headed. I do.
Check out everything he had to say down below:
On rebuilding the roster for a second straight year: Yeah. I mean, for me, it's hard to say, because you win 26 games. That's not easy to do. But I do like the group we have. I do like the piece that we brought in. I like where we're headed. I do feel we're a lot deeper than we were last year, and so that was a big priority this offseason to make sure we have just some more depth off the bench, and we can play a bunch of different ways, and we can play small, we can play big. We can do a lot of different things with this roster, and that's the thing I'm most excited about.
On if Malik Reneau coming back late threw things out of whack: It didn't really throw things out of whack for us, because, last year the team was kind of built around and through Malik. This year this team was built without him in mind, and so being able to add him and what he does is kind of a bonus. So the way the team is built, it wasn't built like, Malik, we just need to do that. He just kind of comes in and is able to enhance us, and he kind of just plays into some of the stuff we were already doing and already playing. But it didn't throw that big of a wrench in it, and I say that now. You get a game, it may look different, but at the moment it hasn't looked that way.
On integrating Malik Reneau while maintaining team chemistry: You just tell them the truth from the beginning. That's all you can do, is tell them. And what I told them, this wasn't anything we had planned. This wasn't anything in works. This wasn't anything we thought we were going to do. We had this opportunity, especially for Malik to come back and be able to finish his degree and get his degree from the University of Miami was huge for me, with him actually being from Miami, being from South Florida, be huge for him and the rest of his life. And then just told them how everything works and how I see it and how I see it playing out for us and the opportunity it gives us. And, everybody has been on board with it, and we've been able to operate and move forward.
On why the 26-win season last year looked so easy: It may look easy to you. It wasn't easy at all. It wasn't easy at all, but, it was just the blessing of having the group we had last year and their ability to get better throughout the year and their ability to gel and buy into the plan and buy into what we were talking about. And it's the same thing with this group. Hopefully we'll get better throughout the year and being able to plan to gel, and then by the time we get to conference and getting into hopefully January, February, March, we're where we need to be. And that's the goal every year as a coach.
On handling the expectations surrounding Miami in year two: I guess it's a twofold answer. This is a situation we want to be in every year. This is why I took this job. This is something I want to be, where we have these expectations to be really good and have expectations to compete for championships. That's the whole point of why I do this as a coach and why we do this as a program. So moving forward, this is something we have to get accustomed to, and this is just our next step in this program. Now, it happens a year or two with a whole new team, but it's going to be every year, like you explained. And so now it's getting them to understand that, but not add pressure, and just getting them to understand this is what we want. This is why we did the schedule the way we did the schedule, and why we had these kind of markers throughout the preseason as checkpoints, kind of seeing. We start the year with a checkpoint, or a reality check, as I like to call it, and it can go either way. It could be a good reality check. It could be a bad reality check. But championships aren't won in November. What I mean? So for me it's just all about getting better. How do we get better from game to game? How do we get better from practice to practice? And for them, it may be that expectation early, but as long as we're there by the end of the season, that's all that matters to me.
On Miami's expectations by the end of the season: I mean, I think I have a whole new team, and by the end of the year, I think if we stay healthy and get to where we can get to, I think we'll be able to compete with anybody in the nation. And starting the year, the first game is a good one because you're playing someone who has a lot of retention and also has a lot of expectation going into the year. So you get to see early what you do good, what you get better at, and then you move on from there. It's the first game of the year. That's all it is, and that's what you want.
On adjusting Miami's style of play throughout the season: It changes, I don't want to say daily, but it changes a lot because you can have an assumption of what you think it looks like and how you think you'll play. But then getting everybody on the court together, it makes you adapt and change. All right? So, some lineups you might think work out, they may not work out, but then you get in the game and they work. So it's just having to play these games and having to get some experience. That's why next week, Friday vs. Vanderbilt is great for us. We need something like that to kind of figure out who we are and what we have.
On Miami's starting lineup ahead of the Florida opener: Nah, that's still in flux. That's still in flux. We have a bunch of guys who have earned the opportunity to start, and now it's about putting the right lineup and the right combination out there that helps throughout. So just figuring out what's our best lineup. We have probably eight guys who have earned the right to start, but it doesn't mean you put five out there who may not be per se your best five, but they may be the best fit, and it may be the best team that gets us going and gets us started.
On if he will keep the same lineup throughout the season: I would like to cement one, but I think it can change throughout the season because it just depends on, one, how people start to guard you, what are people doing, how they play you, if they adjust and adapt to that. Then you have to adapt your style of play, and that's all said kind of fluid until you find your rhythm and find your routine and find your rotations. And for me, that probably won't happen until end of December, going into conference, middle December, hopefully. By the time we get to Texas, somewhere in there, we'll kind of have a rotation and things kind of figured out.
On opening the season against Florida and preparing for a top contender: For me, it's trying to get them to the point where it doesn't matter who we play. We prepare and do things the same way, whether it's Florida or whether we were playing, North Carolina A&T. I'm just throwing a school out there. But getting them to understand this is a standard. This is what we do here. This is how we operate and this is what it looks like. And so getting them to understand that. But hopefully we're on edge for that game because, if you ain't on edge for that game, you in for a long night.
On preparing for Vanderbilt before opening the season against Florida: That's why we wanted to make sure our exhibition game was a big-time game because of what the first game is. And so playing somebody who has size, playing somebody from the same conference, playing somebody who also is really, really good and really well coached was important. So, you take it and we'll treat it like a real game. Now, I probably will say we'll probably play more people than we would in a real game. Like everybody will get an opportunity. We've done that with some of our stuff that we've done so far. And so just getting a good look. It still is an exhibition game, and that's why you play it, to try to get a better feel. But we'll treat it as much like a real game as possible.
On Miami's depth and distributing minutes throughout the lineup: Yeah, I think we definitely a group like that. For me my goal for this group is exactly what you said. I think we should have at least five to six guys in double figures. Now, I don't think we'll have anybody like Malik, who was at 19.5. We have a bunch of people, between, let's just call it nine and 14 or nine and 15. If we have five or six guys in there, then we're what we're supposed to be. But we have great depth, and my whole thing is I want to play 40 minutes where there's no real drop-off in who's in the game, how we're playing, our intensity, our effort. And we may not have a 36-, 37-minute guy. You know, we may have one or maybe two guys at 30 minutes, but then we'll have a bunch of people right there in that 20-minute range.
On Caleb Gaskins this summer: Someone like him, a freshman who comes in as a McDonald's All-American with a lot of accolades, can try to come in and try to just force themselves into the program, into the team. He has continued to be who he's always been, which is being a basketball player in its purest form, where he doesn't have to force anything. He lets everything come to him. He can guard multiple positions. He's been shooting the ball from outside at a really high level. He's somebody that we play on the perimeter. We play him as like a guard, as a bigger guard, and he's shown the ability to be able to handle pressure, play out of ball screens, play out of actions. And for me, that was a bigger jump than I expected him to be at this time and this point. Now you get into college, get into playing games, he's going to hit some type of freshman wall. Everybody does. Shelton's first seven games was that, and then after Ole Miss he kind of turned the corner. Same thing with Dante. Once we got to conference, he kind of turned the corner. So it's going to happen to Caleb. It's inevitable. But just his ability and us trying to let him know it's going to happen and work through that. But he has done everything I've asked of him.
On his relationship with Mario Cristobal: No, it's great. It just goes to our culture here at the University of Miami, especially in athletics. We're all connected and all tied together. We're all rooting for each other and their success. And he's been great. Anything I ever need from him, he's always there, always answers, which you don't expect with somebody running a big operation. But he's been there for me. We support him. We're at every football game. We do whatever we can to help support. But all the coaches, everybody here has been great, just as a freshman year and moving forward.
On Miami's move from Adidas to Nike: Adidas has been great. This is my first time being with Adidas. This past year was my first experience with them, and they were phenomenal with just the communication and giving us everything we need, even from, even like a recruiting standpoint and everything like that. I had prior relationships with Nike, so it was a smoother transition. But, both partners have been good, but I think it's good for us to kind of get back to our roots of who we are as a university and how we started this thing. And so it's kind of exciting to kind of bring it all back together.
On Miami's All In initiative and community outreach: Yeah, that's the most important thing, is what you just explained. It's just making the Watsco, making basketball, and letting the city know that we're a part of them, and we want them here, need them here. Anything we can do to kind of help with that, we're gonna do. And we're their team, not only Coral Gables, but the city of Miami. Everybody. We want everybody to come out and show up and be a part of this, especially moving forward. So this is just kind of our first step of doing that, and I thought it was a very cool initiative just to get it out there in front and get everybody kind of excited going into the season.
On the team's defensive progress and expectations: No, not really. I have a better sense when we get to Vanderbilt and get to see it live. But I like where we're heading. I feel we are getting better and trending. With this team, I will say it's different than last year's team because when you have a lot of players who can play in the game, it takes a longer time to kind of get things plugged down. I guess last year, when you know you're only going to play six or seven guys, those guys, they get so many reps and so many minutes where it happens a little bit quicker. Where this team is trending in the right direction, but we literally have like ten guys that can play in the game, ten, eleven guys that can play in the game. So just finding out, like I said earlier, the best mix of that. But they are moving to where the standard is and what we do here. And so it's trending. I like where we're headed. I do.
