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Jalen Duren

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IndayArtHauz said:
I’ll speak to this from my own personal perspective.

The basketball program is dead, and no one in charge seems to care. I cannot expend the energy to care about an ICU patient if the doctors show no concern about its recovery. L brought the program back to life once and gave us some of the most exciting years of my fandom. I never imagined we’d hit those heights, I never foresaw us cratering to these lows either.

I don’t bother to follow recruiting anymore because it’s irrelevant. Even if we sign a talented kid he’s gone within a year - not to the NBA, to the portal. This last year absolutely killed it for me, especially Cross leaving and whatever nonsense happened with Lykes. I’m stoked about the future one week and literally a few days later the kid is gone? Nah, I actually don’t have time for that. Not for a team fighting for the basement of the ACC for the third year in a row.

I’m a long suffering fan (if you’re a Miami fan, you’re long suffering), but I check out when it appears that I have more concern about the chronic failures of a program than the AD and head coach. I know that’s an exaggeration, of course they care more, but I don’t see a single thing being done about it. I can suffer through a lot of futility, but this thing is beyond suffering through some bad years.

Basketball is dead on the vine right now, and so is my emotional support. It’s harsh, but it’s where I’m at right now.
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Sadly I can't disagree with anything you're saying. L has been a deadweight coach for several years now, and his staff hasn't done him any favors. It's just sad that the administration stands back and does literally nothing about it.
 
King of Allapattah said:
It was definitely a courtesy visit. He might be back in a few weeks though and if the staff can get him back on campus for an unofficial, then who knows? Stranger things have happened.
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If we can get him back for an unofficial that would be a great sign. I still think it's either Kentucky, Michigan, or G League.
 
Gables Canes said:
Sadly I can't disagree with anything you're saying. L has been a deadweight coach for several years now, and his staff hasn't done him any favors. It's just sad that the administration stands back and does literally nothing about it.
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Other than forcing staff changes the administration was in no position to do something until this offseason. Two bad years after three straight NCAA appearances at a program like Miami wasn't gonna be enough to spur something dramatic. Not for the most successful coach in the program's history. It could've been done after this past season. The losing coupled with high profile transfers show a program on the brink. But the Miami way unless your name is Randy Shannon is to keep a coach at least a year longer than they should.
 
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Gables Canes said:
Sadly we don’t have many Canes basketball fans…
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It's a tough sell with the recent output. This isn't baseball who has the pedigree (earned the follow). We got a taste of winning & then completely Miami'd it.

I watch when I can. Follow sparingly. Just not die hard for mediocrity. Maybe I shouldn't jump back on board if we ever get good again but I will. Lol. Nature of the beast.
 
If we could just hit gold one year and get this thing going. I thought when Walker arrived it was do or die time. We all know how that ended. I miss the old Big East days with Hamilton. Coach L‘s reputation gets his foot in the door on a lot of these kids, but just isn’t closing the deal.
 
Not sure how much to take stock in this, but some interesting quotes in this recent Kentucky Sports Radio article about Duren. I bolded the more interesting ones:

So will Duren actually play college hoops, and if so, will it be next season? Well, it was an issue that we jumped right into on Thursday’s Aaron Torres Podcast (which you can download here), as recruiting guru Jake Weingarten joined KSR’s Aaron Torres.

Torres asked Weingarten straight up: If he had to bet on Duren being somewhere this fall, a high school campus, a college campus or with a professional team, where does Weingarten think he’ll be?

His answer was somewhat surprising.

“If we’re at December 1st,” Weingarten said. I’d say the college route.”

And his logic was actually pretty simple. The fact that Duren is legitimately taking college visits right now is a good thing. It doesn’t guarantee he’ll end up in college, but is promising.

“Look at a guy like Emoni Bates,” Weingarten said. “Like, I think if a guy like Emoni Bates was really, seriously considering college, he would have already visited a college campus. Emoni Bates did say he was going to take his visits, but the fact that he hasn’t yet makes me feel like he’s going pro.

But the fact that Jalen Duren started taking his visits and is continuing to plan more means that he’s really intrigued by the college route. And I said this before, a guy like Jalen Duren might turn around and say ‘I want to win a national championship and be a lottery pick next year’ and play in college against guys that I grew up with.”

Of course while college is one legitimate option for Duren, it’s worth noting that it is far from a done deal. First, we know about the pro options that will inevitably be on the table (if they aren’t already). Beyond that though, is this: Reclassifying is legitimately hard, and there’s no guarantee Duren will want to, or be able to, finish a year’s worth of high school work to enroll in the fall.

As someone who once spoke to Johnny Juzang’s dad about the process, it isn’t easy, and referenced another Wildcat who went through the same process – the late Terrence Clarke.

“Terrence Clarke, God rest his soul, Terrence Clarke had to take six months’ worth of courses in two months to qualify,” Weingarten said. “So that’s something to think about. Is Jalen Duren going to want to sit down and take six months worth of courses in two months so he can reclassify. There’s a lot of stuff that goes into it that a lot of people don’t understand, so this will be a thing where we might have to wait to find out.”

Finally, let’s say Duren is able to do the work. The logical next question is simple: Is there a favorite in his recruitment right now. As Jack Pilgrim reported, Duren is planning to visit Miami, Memphis and Kentucky before the end of the month, and could conceivably hit some other schools too. He’s originally from Philadelphia so Villanova is in the mix, and as Michigan, with rising head coach Juwan Howard.

Weingarten was hesitant to name a favorite, simply saying that Miami – with an assistant coach from Philadelphia and one of Duren’s old friends, guard Isaiah Wong on the roster – is in a good spot. So too are of course Memphis, Kentucky and others.

“Miami, I wouldn’t say they’re in the driver’s seat,” Weingarten said. “That’s an exaggeration. But I think Miami is in a good spot. They had a great visit with him, the ties to his old coach. But Miami, Memphis, Kentucky, Villanova, Michigan.”
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mtsucalico85 said:
Not sure how much to take stock in this, but some interesting quotes in this recent Kentucky Sports Radio article about Duren. I bolded the more interesting ones:
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Did not know he is good friends with Wong. That plus the DJ Irving connection is at least giving us a chance. Still, when weighing your options against a pro deal, blue bloods like Nova and Kentucky, and Miami, is that really enough to get us over the hump? Probably not.
 
hotshot said:
Think they have a low salary strucure -- like $20-25,000 for a 6 month season.
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Nope. For these top end 5 star kids they offer 500k to play the season. 17 year old Scoot Henderson took a 1 million dollar deal to play for them recently but I think it's two years.
 
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tcgrad1014 said:
Inday-

I think we've had what, 2 sweet 16 appearances since Ham left 20 years ago? The one issue I take with your post is there haven't really been any "great heights." Bottom line is this is an ACC basketball program averaging 1 sweet 16 appearance per decade. It's embarrassingly bad.
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On the whole, you’re right. The height was a blip.

However 2013 and the years surrounding it are the most fun I’ve ever had with this program. The 2013 basketball season is up there with the most exciting and rewarding sports consumption of the entire decade for me, and I never expected that from Miami.

The wins vs Duke, taking the conference season and tourney outright, just amazing.
 
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Da_Lucky_One said:
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He is a legit talent and program changer. He is such an incredible player and his athletic profile is crazy. Wherever he goes I expect a Zion esque college season from him and if it all goes well he ends up the #1 overall pick over who was once considered the best prospect in all of high schol, Bates.
 
hotshot said:
Could easily be wrong but I think maybe we were also runners-up for Ron Mercer and maybe Ron Artest, back in the day.
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Wrong Miami. Ron Artest committed to Miami, Ohio and switched to St. Johns on signing day. He talks about it on Rex Chapman's new podcast.
 
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