Miami basketball head coach Jim Larranaga stepped down from his head coaching duties earlier this season, and the Hurricanes have been on the hunt for his replacement. It looks like Miami has found their guy as Duke associate head coach Jai Lucas has reportedly signed a deal to become the next head coach of the Hurricanes.

“NEWS: Duke associate head coach Jai Lucas has signed a deal to become the next head men’s basketball coach at Miami, sources told ESPN,” Jeff Borzello said in a post. “Expected to be announced on Thursday. Lucas will leave Duke and join Miami after the conclusion of the regular season, sources told ESPN.”

The Miami basketball team went to the final four just a couple of seasons ago with Jim Larranaga leading the way, but things have gone downhill for the program since then. The Hurricanes also went to the Elite 8 the year before that, but they failed to make the NCAA Tournament last season, and things have now gotten even worse.

Miami is currently in last place in the ACC, and this is a down year for the conference. The ACC is typically one of the best conferences in college basketball, but there are a lot of traditionally good programs that are having down years. Miami is one of them.

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The ACC could end up having the national champion this year as Duke is once again one of the best teams in the country. However, the conference only has three ranked teams, and they could only have three teams make the NCAA Tournament. Duke, Louisville and Clemson will all be in, but any other team with a chance is on the bubble.

Miami will not be making the NCAA Tournament this year. The Hurricanes are one of the worst power conference teams in the country as they are currently 6-24 on the season and 2-17 in ACC play. Jai Lucas has an uphill battle to fight, that's for sure.

Lucas has been coaching since 2016, and this will be his first head coaching gig. He started his career at Texas as an assistant, and he has also spent time with Kentucky and Duke.

Jai Lucas is a former player as well as he played for Florida and Texas in college. He never played in the NBA, but he did spend time playing for BK Valmiera in Latvia, and also for the Idaho Stampede, Sioux Falls Skyforce and the Canton Charge. He is now the head coach of the Miami basketball team.