By NICHOLAS BRUENS<\/p>\n
For years, the University of Miami has been known as a football-centered university. \u00a0It hasn’t been until recently that basketball has found it’s way into prominence onto the Coral Gables campus.<\/p>\n
Under head coach Jim Larra\u00f1aga, Miami has won the ACC regular season championship, \u00a0the ACC tournament championship and made two appearances in the Sweet 16. \u00a0But Coach L’s greatest\u00a0accomplishment may have occurred on Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n
Five-start guard and the 19th-ranked recruit by ESPN, Lonnie Walker, committed to The U and signed a national letter of intent. \u00a0He is the highest rated recruit to commit to Miami in the history of the school’s basketball program. \u00a0The ground-breaking acquisition has cause a lot of reactions in the news media.<\/p>\n
Many were quite surprised by Walker’s choice. It was believed that the Arizona Wildcats were the favorites for Walker to choose. \u00a0This was represented Ben Roberts’ article<\/a> on kentucky.com.<\/p>\n “[Kentucky] weren’t necessarily considered favorites to land his commitment,” Roberts wrote. “but Miami wasn\u2019t the frontrunner, according to any recruiting analysts, entering the early signing period last week.”<\/p>\n Matt Norlander<\/a> of cbssports.com<\/a> also wrote how Walker’s commitment is\u00a0“the most surprising commitment by any five-star player in the 2017 class.”<\/p>\n But that is not the only angle being taken by media. \u00a0This has also provided the media with opportunity to give coach Larra\u00f1aga credit for the amazing job he has done with the program. \u00a0Jerry Steinberg of stateoftheu.com<\/a>\u00a0called Larra\u00f1aga a “master chef” \u00a0which is fitting with the magic he is cooking up in Coral Gables.<\/p>\n It’s clear that the news media are wanting to approach Walker’s commitment with an angle relatively new to the university. \u00a0The angle of a university that is new to the idea of a top tier basketball team and their rise to prominence. \u00a0It is also noted that more is expected to come from the Hurricanes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By NICHOLAS BRUENS For years, the University of Miami has been known as a football-centered university. \u00a0It hasn’t been until recently that basketball has found it’s way into prominence onto the Coral Gables campus. Under head coach Jim Larra\u00f1aga, Miami … Continue reading