UM lands Sun Belt Player of the Year Norchad Omier, a 6-7 Nicaraguan with Miami ties
The good news keeps coming for the resurgent University of Miami basketball program.
Sun Belt Player of the Year Norchad Omier, the first Nicaraguan athlete to play Division I college basketball, announced on Tuesday that he is transferring from Arkansas State to UM. His other top choices were Florida State, Texas Tech and Georgetown.
“Ever since I got to Miami from Nicaragua I always knew about the great University of Miami program,” Omier said on Field of 68 media network. “Being the first do something from your country makes me proud and happy, makes my parents proud, my last name. It feels good, showing people that Nicaragua has talent.”
He said UM made the most sense for him among his finalists.
“They have a great coaching staff, Coach L [Jim Larranaga], Bill Courtney, great players. It was the best fit for me. Their style of play, the league they’re in, the exposure. It was everything I was looking for.”
Omier, a 6-7 and 240-pound forward who has drawn interest from NBA scouts, is the latest high-profile transfer to choose Miami in the past six days.
All-Big 12 guard Nijel Pack, a Kansas State transfer, on Saturday chose the Hurricanes over Ohio State and Purdue. Pack is rated the second-best player in the transfer portal according to ESPN and The Athletic, as well as third best by 247Sports.
Last Thursday night, twin guards Haley and Hanna Cavinder, who have more than four million TikTok followers and 800,000 combined Instagram followers, announced they were transferring from Fresno State to Miami to play for the Hurricanes women’s team. Haley was Mountain West Player of the Year in 2020-21 and led the conference with 19.8 points per game last season. The siblings combined for 34 points per game.
Pack and the Cavinder twins signed NIL deals with Miami booster and billionaire John Ruiz, who is paying UM athletes to promote his companies, LifeWallet and Cigarette Racing. Ruiz boasted that Pack’s two-year deal is worth $800,000 and includes a new car. Terms of the Cavinder deal were not disclosed. The Cavinders have been at the forefront of NIL sponsorship deals and some published estimates say they are worth close to $1 million.
As an international student-athlete on an F1 student visa, Omier is not allowed to accept any off-campus employment on U.S. soil, Dan Raben, UM Associate AD for Compliance, confirmed. But international students could sign an NIL deal in another country and do promotional work on foreign soil.
Omier was rated No. 8 in the transfer portal by ESPN. He is expected to compete for a starting job with the Canes and would replace starter Sam Waardenburg, whose eligibility expired. He is a low-post force who averaged 17.9 points per game and 12.2 rebounds for the Red Wolves in 2021-22. He shot 63.2 percent from the floor and 72.9 from the foul line. He posted 20 double-doubles, tied for sixth most nationally, in 29 outings.
Omier led the Sun Belt in rebounding, offensive rebounding, defensive rebounding and field-goal percentage. He ranked second in scoring and blocks.
“Our coaching staff is extremely excited to add Norchad to the Miami basketball program. While his stats and accomplishments speak for themselves, what we love most about Norchad are his non-stop motor and competitive fire,” Larrañaga said. “In addition to being among the most dominant rebounders I’ve seen at the college level, Norchad is also an efficient scorer and a prolific defender who has proven himself as one of the best forwards in the country. We are eager to welcome Norchad and his family to The U.”
Through his two years at Arkansas State, Omier averaged 15.6 points, 12.2 rebounds, and shot 59.4 percent from the floor. He has three years of eligibility remaining.
“It was a stressful process, but a good stress,” Omier said..
Omier has ties to Miami and is well known to Nicaraguan fans in the South Florida community and back in his home country. He played a year of post-high school basketball at Miami Prep and was coached by Art “Pilin” Alvarez, a longtime Miami coach who has a pipeline to Latin American players. Alvarez was instrumental in bringing Puerto Rican point guard Guillermo Diaz to Miami, and Diaz wound up becoming a UM star before having a pro career in Europe.
Larranaga has had good success with transfers in the past. His Sweet 16 teams included transfers Shane Larkin, Sheldon McClellan, Trey McKinney Jones, Kenny Kadji and Angel Rodriguez. The Hurricanes team that reached the Elite Eight last month included transfers Charlie Moore and Jordan Miller. Moore’s eligibility expired, but Miller will be returning next season.
Guard Isaiah Wong announced on Monday that he is testing the NBA Draft waters by submitting his name to a league advisory committee that evaluates him, but he can retain his college eligibility so long as he pulls his name from the draft by June 1. He underwent the same process last spring and returned to the Hurricanes.
This story was originally published April 26, 2022 at 3:07 PM.