Off-season updates on UM basketball teams, Isaiah Wong, Jordan Miller, Ja’Leah Williams

After a historic year for men’s and women’s basketball at the University of Miami, Hurricanes coaches and athletes are entering the offseason with no intentions to slow down.

Men’s coach Jim Larrañaga and women’s coach Katie Meier held a news conference to wrap up the season in the Watsco Center on Tuesday. Players Kameron McGusty, Jordan Miller and Destiny Harden also shared their thoughts.

The future of Hurricanes basketball was a hot topic.

Both Harden and Miller confirmed that they will be returning to UM in the fall. They will not be accompanied by fan favorites Charlie Moore, Sam Waardenburg, Kam McGusty or Kelsey Marshall as they have exhausted their years of eligibility and are transitioning into the next steps of their lives. All four are looking to play professionally next season.

Meier also sees a lot of change for the future of UM basketball with Dan Radakovich, the school’s new athletic director.

“I’m so fired up. I’ve been here 17 years and I’ve had ideas, things I want to get done,” she said. “It’s the person [Radakovich] and the time, the university is empowering athletics a little bit more and making some big, bold moves and that has a lot to do with the community stepping up and the president saying `Yes, I like this.’ I think so much is going to happen in these next two years that are going to blow people away.”

She added that “there aren’t any quick no’s anymore”, stressing that it was not a knock on previous athletic directors, but that the university as a whole “now knows what athletics can do for us.”

Coach Larrañaga said he is equally excited to work with Radakovich.

As for what it meant to lose in the Elite Eight to Kansas, the team that won it all, Larrañaga said “it shows you how close we were.”

Other topics discussed at the news conference:

Isaiah Wong

The future is up in the air for Wong, the third-year sophomore who withdrew his name from the NBA Draft to play out the 2021-2022 season with the Hurricanes. “We’ve given him space to pursue his goals,” said Larrañaga when asked about where Wong will be in the fall. “I need to work in order to improve my draft stock,” Wong said during an interview with ESPN in 2021. The decision of what is to come will be completely up to Isaiah and his mother.

Ja’Leah Williams

“She knows how she can be a very special player and she knows she can do it,” said Meier, who added that Williams, a freshman, entered her postseason meeting with the coach fully aware of all the goals the staff has for her. Williams earned a spot on the ACC All-Freshman Team and the All-ACC Academic Team. Harden spoke about how Williams will have to step up as a leader to the incoming freshman this fall and how the current freshmen will soon become the identity of the team.

THIS AND THAT

▪ Five members of Hurricanes basketball have earned an All-ACC Academic distinction for the 2021-2022 season. Charlie Moore, Sam Waardenburg, Ja’Leah Williams, Kelsey Marshall and Destiny Harden all had above a 3.0 GPA. Waardenburg, a grad student, carried a 3.9 GPA and Moore, also in grad school, a 3.767.

▪ Meier was unable to reveal names, but says that the incoming freshmen are “very good, and our country is aware of how good they are.” She added that the group will include height, alluding to players taller than 6-4, and that several will be representing their countries in competitions this summer.