Dave Hyde: Its season ends, but Miami has a rising star at helm
There have been so many great moments for Jai Lucas this season, so many surprise comebacks to create a surprise season that his Miami team figured Sunday would become just another one in the final minutes against Purdue. Shelton Henderson, who doesn’t look or play like a freshman, drove the ball hard to the basket looking to cut Purdue’s lead to four points with under two minutes left. Purdue came out with the ball.
Hurricanes guard Tre Donaldson, shooting for a miracle, missed a 3-pointer that would’ve pulled Miami to within three points with 49 seconds left. And so, finally, the Darwinian stakes played out the way they always do this time of year. Win, like Purdue did, 79-69 , and it was off to the Sweet 16.
Lose, like Miami did, and there were a lot of handshakes that ended with, “Nice season. ” Not nice, though. Great.
If you stand back and look at it from a view beyond Sunday, it’s as pretty a picture as Miami could have drawn last summer. That’s when all the coaches and players were new. The questions were endless.
Now add it all up as Lucas walks through the door into this offseason. His team had 19 more wins than last season, tying an NCAA record for improvement. It finished third in the ACC.