Miami Among Finalists for 5-Star Guard Deron Rippey Jr

Rippey spoke about each of the schools he is considering, and had this to say about Miami:

"Their whole staff has reached out. Jai Lucas is in his first year over there. He’s been following me since Duke. So him being able to still recruit me at Miami, as a head coach, I think is important. He definitely loves my pace and my leadership. He says I can come in, be the next Tre Donaldson that they already have over there.”

Rippey has been pursued heavily by Mark Pope and Kentucky in recent weeks, and his dream school growing up was North Carolina, but coach Lucas and the 'Canes have been very aggressive on the recruiting trail since he took over in early March and would love to snag one of the best high school guards in the country out from under a pair of blue bloods.

Miami has been connected to quite a few of the best prospects in the 2026 class, including 5-star guard Tay Kinney (No. 11), Miami native and 4-star forward Caleb Gaskins (No. 16) as well as another Miami native and 4-star forward in Jaxon Richardson (No. 19).

The 'Canes already proved they are capable of making noise on the recruiting trail under Lucas, landing a trio of 4-star prospects in the 2025 class in Shelton Henderson, Dante Allen, and Treyvon Maddox.

Combined with Lucas' outstanding work in the transfer portal, where he landed Tre Donaldson, Malik Reneau, Ernest Udeh, Tru Washington, Marcus Allen, and Jordyn Kee, the Hurricanes are looking to be among the most improved teams in all of college basketball this upcoming season.