The Dewan Hernandez situation that has hovered over Miami’s program all season seems finally to have come to an end with Monday’s announcement that the NCAA not only has extended his suspension for the rest of the season but also into the first 40 percent of next season’s schedule as well.
It was a second and last appeal by the junior forward who was the team’s leading returning scorer (11.4 ppg) and rebounder (6.7 rpg) this season.
The penalty for next season won’t matter because shortly after the NCAA’s decision was announced, Hernandez to the surprise maybe of only someone living in deepest, darkest China said he will enter next summer’s NBA draft.
Hernandez, who until this season went by the name of Huell, had clung to the hope that somehow he might be reinstated after it was revealed just before the regular season started that his name had come up in the FBI’s investigation into corruption in college basketball.
Reports said that a prospective agent had offered him money and other benefits. According to the reports, a $500 offer to Hernandez, who had considered entering the 2018 NBA Draft, would have been converted into a loan should he have decided to return to school for his junior year.
There apparently was no evidence that any cash had exchanged hands, though the NCAA in its release reported that “According to the facts of the case, which were agreed upon by the university, Hernandez agreed to receive monthly payments from an agent and accepted other benefits from the individual.”
Miami athletic director Blake James, however, disputed that in his release: “Based on the totality of the facts, the University is not in agreement with the decisions and interpretations of this case and made it well-known to the NCAA staff that we have many reservations about the reliability of evidence and ultimate conclusions. Dewan was cooperative throughout this process and was transparent about what had occurred, admitting to the mistakes that he made.”
So now coach Jim Larranaga is left to pick up the pieces in a season that is headed to be his worst since his first year at George Mason (1997-98) when his team was 9-18. The Hurricanes have lost three in a row going into Wednesday night’s game against No. 12 Virginia Tech, and at 9-10/1-6 are under .500 overall and at the bottom of the Atlantic Coast Conference Standings.
Larranaga had clung to the hope that his star forward would be reinstated at some point this season and allow him to get back to the plans he had made for the 2018-19 Hurricanes’ season. Frankly, it seemed like a realistic possibility at the time.
Those plans included redshirting center Rodney Miller, who frankly needs the work and would have been fourth in the rotation up front behind Hernandez, center Ebuku Izundu, and backup Deng Gak.
When Gak went down with a season-ending knee injury, Larranaga didn’t even consider taking the redshirt off Miller because he didn’t think it would be fair to the 7-0 junior at that point. He isn’t likely to change his mind now despite the Hurricanes’ troubles.
That means the Hurricanes now will be relying on Izundu to stay out of foul trouble and 6-10 Sam Waardenburg to provide some relief inside, though he obviously is much more comfortable on the perimeter and at only 216 pounds doesn’t have the muscle to be much of a factor.
Waardenburg actually has taken the sixth-most 3-pointers this season for Miami, making only 9 of 32. He did flash some aggressiveness in last Sunday’s loss to Florida State and finished with 13 points, but it’s scary to think of him competing against the likes of Duke’s Zion Williamson later this season.
Guard DJ Vasiljevic, who is 7 inches shorter, has more rebounds than Waardenburg (85-66) and even guard Zach Johnson (8 inches shorter) has 62.
Compounding the issue for Miami is the sudden slump of leading scorer Chris Lykes. Lykes went into last week’s game against Syracuse averaging over 21 points a game in conference play. He had scored in double figures in all but one game, but was held to just eight points in the loss to the Orange and one against the Seminoles.
In his last two games, Lykes is 0-for-15 from 3-point range and 4-of-27 from the field overall.
“I can’t explain it right now,” Larranaga said.
He was answering a question about Lykes’ shooting woes, but he just as well could have been talking about the situation with Hernandez.
