ItsAUThing.com — Formerly allCanesBlog.com — It's All About 'The U'!

He’d been hinting towards it since a semi-cryptic Twitter message soon after Miami’s loss to Marquette in the Sweet Sixteen, but today Shane Larkin made it official – he’s forgoing his final two years of eligibility at UM and is headed to the NBA.

While Larkin has professed his love for the college game, the University of Miami, playing under head coach Jim Larranaga as well as the City of Miami itself, he still felt it was time to go, coming off a banner season.

Larkin averaged a team-high 14.5 points- and 4.6 assists-per-game. He earned ACC Player Of The Year runner-up (behind Erick Green of Virginia Tech), but was the ACC Tournament MVP, helping lead the Hurricanes to both a regular season title, as well as the conference tournament championship, saving his best for last with 28 points and seven assists against the Tar Heels in the ACC title game.

Larkin is projected to be a late first round / early second round pick in this year’s draft, which will take place on June 27th. April 28th was the final day for underclassmen to declare, which is why Larkin chose to share his news with the world today.

Best of luck to #0. As mentioned in previous posts, Larkin didn’t owe Miami anything and in no way is his legacy tarnished by choosing not to return. He will arguably go down as one of the best ever to play the position at UM and was an integral part of this year’s special run.

Money wasn’t the chief motivator in this case, as Shane’s father is Hall Of Fame baseball player Barry Larkin.

Putting food on the table and helping family stay afloat may be part of the decision for other athletes who left school early, but in this case, it was simply Larkin feeling his stock would never be higher, that the dream season was in the rearview and that it was the optimum time to take that step towards reaching his life-long goal of playing in the NBA.

Because of that, coupled with what he did for UM during his time here, it’s impossible to fault the kid.

Best of luck in your journey, Shane and thanks for the memories.

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