The press conference was sent for 6pm ET this Sunday, but based on Dad’s revelation, doesn’t sound like any earth-shattering news will take place.
Barry Larkin stated today that his son, junior-to-be Shane Larkin, indicated that he’ll announce his intentions to declare for the NBA Draft as this weekend winds to a close.
Sunday is the deadline for underclassmen to declare and under new NCAA rules, once a player officially declares, he cannot return to school.
We did a little write-up on the Larkin situation here at allCanesBlog.com days back and while we stated that whatever decision the point guard decided to go would be the right one for him, we’d be remissed not to say that one more year really seems like it’d have been best for all parties involved.
One can obviously understand the allure to leave early, as reaching the NBA has been a life-long dream of Larkin’s.
Unfortunately, youth has a way of altering perspective and while another year might seem like an eternity to wait for the ultimate prize, the collegiate experience of a highly-esteemed college athlete is something that money can’t buy.
This is arguably the last time in Larkin’s sports career that he’ll be “the guy” and the face of a program. He has the potential to have a nice NBA career, but he’s definitely not a franchise player or top pick.
Larkin can be a role player and asset to a team, but it will pale in comparison to the role he played at Miami this past season – a role that would’ve been even bigger in 2013-2014 due to the mass number of departing seniors.
Should Barry’s revelation be true and should Shane be NBA-bound, a hearty thank you for the two years he spent with this program – especially this last one. Larkin’s efforts took the Miami basketball program to levels never dreamed of. He has nothing left to prove at UM and doesn’t own this program another year.
It simply would’ve been nice to see a kid soak up the experience instead of chasing the pay day and speeding up this phase quicker than it needed to be.
Best of luck, #0.