NCAA Basketball: Ranking teams in the 2019 Charleston Classic

3. Miami (FL) Hurricanes

Now, I will concede that I am a smidge higher on the Hurricanes than most, but I believe their ranking on this list is warranted. However, they have appeared in the Charleston Classic twice before, and won it both times.

Head coach Jim Larranaga has seemingly remedied the shortcomings of last year’s 14-18, 11th place ACC team. While the ‘Canes didn’t lack perimeter talent, they were incredibly thin in the frontcourt. Those issues appear to have been resolved with Rodney Miller coming off of a redshirt season, Keith Stone arriving as a graduate transfer, and a hopefully healthy Deng Gak. Combine those three with junior stretch big Sam Waardenburg and four-star freshman Anthony Walker III and Larranaga has options.

Miami also returns one of the best offensive players in the ACC in Chris Lykes. The 5-foot-7 point guard averaged 16.2 points and 3.2 assists per game as a sophomore and solidified himself as a legit alpha.

The Miami coaching staff has also recovered admirably after being implicated in the early stages of the FBI investigation. After being cleared and removed from the reports, the ‘Canes welcome two four-star guards in Isaiah Wong and Harlond Beverly along with the aforementioned Stone and Walker III. Former Oklahoma Sooner Kam McGusty will also be eligible this season after sitting out 2018-19 due to transfer rules.

My expectation would be for sniper Dejan (DJ) Vasilijevic and McGusty to start on the wings alongside Lykes. In the frontcourt, I would expect to see Stone at the four and Miller at the pivot. If the latter can live up to his four-star prep billing, the ‘Canes should be in business. If he underwhelms, it wouldn’t be shocking to see Waardenburg deployed there.

Regardless of who starts, Miami will have talent, depth and shooting this year. While their preseason expectations aren’t high coming into this season, it wouldn’t shock me to see them in the bubble hunt come March.