Hurricanes lose Anthony Walker, two freshmen from Final Four team to transfer portal
Less than a week after returning to campus from the Final Four, three University of Miami players announced they have entered the transfer portal.
Forward Anthony Walker, a key reserve, made his announcement Wednesday after four seasons at Miami. He has one year of eligibility remaining, as student-athletes were granted an extra year for the COVID disruptions.
Walker played in all 37 games for the Hurricanes this season. He averaged 2.8 points and 1.2 rebounds per game in 10.2 minutes this season. The 6-9 forward averaged 4.9 points and 1.8 rebounds over his UM career and started 19 games. He played in all five games during the NCAA Tournament, and had seven points and two blocks against Houston in the Sweet 16.
Favour Aire, a 6-11 center who was a four-star recruit, is also leaving after playing 14 games for the Hurricanes. He played 40 minutes the entire season. The District Heights (Md.) Bishop McNamara prospect scored nine points and had eight rebounds and did not make any appearance during the NCAA Tournament.
Danilo Jovanovich, a three-star prospect from Whitnall High School in Wisconsin, also put his name into the portal. He played just two minutes this season.
“Starting my collegiate basketball journey at the University of Miami is something that I will never forget,” Aire posted on social media. “After evaluating this past year, with my family and close circle, I have decided to enter the transfer portal…I believe this decision will give me the best opportunity to grow as a player.
“I will forever be appreciative of Coach Larranaga, his staff, my teammates and the entire University of Miami fan base for giving me the opportunity to be a part of this historic season.”
Jovanovich posted a similar message:
“First off I want to thank the University of Miami and its coaching staff for an incredible experience,” he wrote. “I will forever be grateful for the bonds that I built and I will never forget the historic season that we had.
“After a difficult discussion with my family and those closest to me, I’ve decided to enter the transfer portal and pursue other basketball opportunities.”
Larranaga had anticipated there may be movement, as the portal exploded the past two years.
“I don’t even know how many guys we’ll have back because we may have guys who want to transfer,” Larranaga said last week during the NCAA Tournament. “We don’t know. We were one of only nine teams last year that did not have a single transfer, nine teams, out of 363. That’s 356 teams that had a transfer.
“We’ll do our due diligence in finding out who might be interested in us and see how many scholarships we have to fill. But I think every school has that challenge because the portal for everyone is like recruiting a McDonald’s All-American in a fast-forward situation, because the portal starts basically now in this past week or so, and it’s only going to last until May. When you recruit high school kids, it starts when they’re sophomores, juniors in high school, and you recruit them for a year or two.
“This is like speed dating. It’s like going on match.com. I have never been on match.com. I don’t want anybody to get the wrong impression.”
Miami will also lose senior Jordan Miller, who is graduating.
The Hurricanes, who were ranked No. 3 in the post-season USA Today coaches poll, lost in the semifinal to eventual national champion Connecticut. The 13-point margin of defeat was the slimmest among all of UConn’s opponents in the tournament.
