CORAL GABLES — Jai Lucas had a clean slate when he arrived at Miami.

The first-year coach starting his head coaching career with the Hurricanes had the daunting task of building UM’s roster from the ground up. Not a single player from the 2024-25 team remains on the roster. But that gave Lucas the opportunity to build a roster from scratch, the way he wanted it.

“The way I built the team, I really wanted to … have great size,” Lucas said on Monday, the first day of preseason practice. “So we do have great size, great physicality. We should be able to be really good defensively and rebounding. And so the small things I felt that go into winning, I really wanted to attack that right away, especially this first year.”

Lucas imported his roster from a multitude of sources. He signed Shelton Henderson (a five-star prospect), Dante Allen, John Laboy II and Treyvon Maddox out of the high school ranks. Center Salih Altuntas and Timotej Malovec played in Turkey and Serbia, respectively. And, of course, Lucas tapped into the transfer portal to recruit experienced players from around the nation.

With the entire roster coming to Miami from around the world, one of Lucas’ biggest offseason tasks has been building chemistry among the group.

“You really have to manufacture it nowadays because you have people that live off campus, on campus, different backgrounds,” Lucas said. “So we really had to make sure we’re really intentional just with what we did to do team-building and build those relationships and build that bond, because it is the hardest part in this day and age of building the team is just the bond that comes with it.”

A lot of that team bonding comes outside of any organized activity — several players attended ESPN’s “College GameDay” when it came to UM for Miami’s home game against Florida last weekend — but one activity that Lucas instituted is “What’s your why Wednesdays.”

“Each day, a coach and a player have to go up and kind of explain why they do what they do and what’s their motivation behind doing it,” Lucas said. “So just getting to know each other on a deeper level is important.”

Now the Hurricanes are into their preseason preparation as their season opener — Nov. 3 at home against Jacksonville — looms a little more than a month away.

“Everybody’s super excited for the first day of practice,” transfer forward Malik Reneau said Monday. “I think just the build-up from just the summer and the previous little workouts we were doing before. I think everybody’s ready to go. It’s going to be a fun time. (We) have a great energy out there on the court.”

With a whole new roster and coaching staff, it is easy to turn the page on the dismal 2024-25 season. After Jim Larrañaga stepped down, the Hurricanes finished 7-24 — the program’s lowest win total since 1954-54. This year’s team has a more optimistic outlook.

“It’s going to be a really fun team to watch, for sure,” transfer guard Tre Donaldson said.

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2025/09/25/hurricanes-preseason-practice/