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Miami head coach Jim Larranaga reacts during the second half of a third-round game of the NCAA college basketball tournament against the Illinois Sunday, March 24, 2013, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric ***)Dave George: Three state teams’ path to Sweet 16 shows madness of MarchBy Jorge Milian
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Coral Gables —
The buzzer signaling the end of the University of Miami’s 63-59 victory against Illinois on Sunday was still ringing in the ears of those in attendance at the Erwin Center in Austin, Tex., when recruits the Hurricanes are chasing began receiving text messages from the team’s coaching staff.
Miami is in enjoying the best year in program history – it continues Thursday with a Sweet 16 matchup against Marquette in Washington — and coach Jim Larranaga and his assistants are working to ensure the Hurricanes’ dream season translates into future success.
“What’s happened this year is special,” said ESPN recruiting analyst Dave Telep. “It’s impossible not to get an enormous bounce from that. Their program — whether in-state or regionally — has been validated. Jim Larranaga and his staff are going to go out recruiting this spring with an incredible amount of street cred.”
That doesn’t mean UM will compete for the nation’s very best prospects. The one-and-done types will continue to flock to Kentucky and Duke and UCLA.
But the doors that were once slammed shut in the faces of UM coaches have now been pushed ajar thanks to a season that’s included packed houses at the BankUnited Center, victories against some of college basketball’s traditional powers and unprecedented achievements that include a sweep of the ACC’s regular season and tournament championships.
When Larranaga and his assistants step on the porches of recruits after this season concludes, they will no longer be treated as unwanted traveling salesmen but custodians of – save for Florida Gulf Coast – college basketball’s biggest surprise.
And the attention given to the Hurricanes will only increase the longer they stays alive in the NCAA tournament. Brochures touting UM’s academic prowess and on-campus visits that include a stop on South Beach are helpful recruiting tools, but don’t compare next to Charles Barkley telling his TNT audience, “I love this Miami team.”
“People are talking about us in a very positive fashion and that’s not always the case,” said Larranaga, alluding to the NCAA investigation into the UM athletic department that involves rogue booster Nevin Shapiro. “Every bit of the exposure helps us to recruit the next student-athlete here at the university. We just want to keep this going for as long as we possibly can for the present players, for sure, but also to give hope to our future players.”
The recruiting bump UM gets from its improbable season may not be felt immediately. The Hurricanes have signed three players for the 2013-14 season and still have four or five spots available. At this point in the recruiting calendar, most of the nation’s top players have already signed.
Larranaga will most likely fill the remaining vacancies with junior college players and transfers from other schools — an avenue that provided UM with the services of Kenny Kadji (Florida), Trey McKinney-Jones (Missouri-Kansas City) and Shane Larkin (DePaul).
The big impact could come in next year’s recruiting class, according to Telep.
“I think the class of 2014 is going to be where you see Jim Larranaga and his staff really shine,” Telep said. “I think they’re in for a bigger haul than anyone anticipates.”
UM, which could lose its top six players to graduation or the NBA draft, already has an oral commitment from Adonys Henriquez, a four-star 6-foot-6 shooting guard from Orlando ranked No. 66 among Rivals’ top 150 prospects for 2014.
Henriquez typifies the kind of recruit UM’s crew is targeting – a state-grown product who can play multiple positions and is a very good talent, but one that the traditional powers might under-recruit .
“They go into recruiting knowing that spending time with Duke’s No. 1 target really isn’t a good idea,” Telep said. “Spending time with guys that are good enough and signable is the whole key at Miami. That’s what they do a very good job of.”
UM assistant Chris Caputo said the staff is also putting emphasis on raising a fence, or at least a stop sign, around south Florida. In recent years, the area has produced top prospects like Kenny Boynton, Brandon Knight, Joel James and Tim Hardaway Jr., who have chosen to go elsewhere.
“It’s not like Florida State and Florida are going to go away, but you would hope we have become a prominent option in their minds,” Caputo said. “We want kids in south Florida to say , ‘Man, this is not only the hometown team and a great institution, but they have a great basketball program.’ ”
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/s...ope-to-get-recruiting-bounce-from-succ/nW4C7/
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Coral Gables —
The buzzer signaling the end of the University of Miami’s 63-59 victory against Illinois on Sunday was still ringing in the ears of those in attendance at the Erwin Center in Austin, Tex., when recruits the Hurricanes are chasing began receiving text messages from the team’s coaching staff.
Miami is in enjoying the best year in program history – it continues Thursday with a Sweet 16 matchup against Marquette in Washington — and coach Jim Larranaga and his assistants are working to ensure the Hurricanes’ dream season translates into future success.
“What’s happened this year is special,” said ESPN recruiting analyst Dave Telep. “It’s impossible not to get an enormous bounce from that. Their program — whether in-state or regionally — has been validated. Jim Larranaga and his staff are going to go out recruiting this spring with an incredible amount of street cred.”
That doesn’t mean UM will compete for the nation’s very best prospects. The one-and-done types will continue to flock to Kentucky and Duke and UCLA.
But the doors that were once slammed shut in the faces of UM coaches have now been pushed ajar thanks to a season that’s included packed houses at the BankUnited Center, victories against some of college basketball’s traditional powers and unprecedented achievements that include a sweep of the ACC’s regular season and tournament championships.
When Larranaga and his assistants step on the porches of recruits after this season concludes, they will no longer be treated as unwanted traveling salesmen but custodians of – save for Florida Gulf Coast – college basketball’s biggest surprise.
And the attention given to the Hurricanes will only increase the longer they stays alive in the NCAA tournament. Brochures touting UM’s academic prowess and on-campus visits that include a stop on South Beach are helpful recruiting tools, but don’t compare next to Charles Barkley telling his TNT audience, “I love this Miami team.”
“People are talking about us in a very positive fashion and that’s not always the case,” said Larranaga, alluding to the NCAA investigation into the UM athletic department that involves rogue booster Nevin Shapiro. “Every bit of the exposure helps us to recruit the next student-athlete here at the university. We just want to keep this going for as long as we possibly can for the present players, for sure, but also to give hope to our future players.”
The recruiting bump UM gets from its improbable season may not be felt immediately. The Hurricanes have signed three players for the 2013-14 season and still have four or five spots available. At this point in the recruiting calendar, most of the nation’s top players have already signed.
Larranaga will most likely fill the remaining vacancies with junior college players and transfers from other schools — an avenue that provided UM with the services of Kenny Kadji (Florida), Trey McKinney-Jones (Missouri-Kansas City) and Shane Larkin (DePaul).
The big impact could come in next year’s recruiting class, according to Telep.
“I think the class of 2014 is going to be where you see Jim Larranaga and his staff really shine,” Telep said. “I think they’re in for a bigger haul than anyone anticipates.”
UM, which could lose its top six players to graduation or the NBA draft, already has an oral commitment from Adonys Henriquez, a four-star 6-foot-6 shooting guard from Orlando ranked No. 66 among Rivals’ top 150 prospects for 2014.
Henriquez typifies the kind of recruit UM’s crew is targeting – a state-grown product who can play multiple positions and is a very good talent, but one that the traditional powers might under-recruit .
“They go into recruiting knowing that spending time with Duke’s No. 1 target really isn’t a good idea,” Telep said. “Spending time with guys that are good enough and signable is the whole key at Miami. That’s what they do a very good job of.”
UM assistant Chris Caputo said the staff is also putting emphasis on raising a fence, or at least a stop sign, around south Florida. In recent years, the area has produced top prospects like Kenny Boynton, Brandon Knight, Joel James and Tim Hardaway Jr., who have chosen to go elsewhere.
“It’s not like Florida State and Florida are going to go away, but you would hope we have become a prominent option in their minds,” Caputo said. “We want kids in south Florida to say , ‘Man, this is not only the hometown team and a great institution, but they have a great basketball program.’ ”
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/s...ope-to-get-recruiting-bounce-from-succ/nW4C7/