Larkin: He Gone

Shane Larkin has gone from being best known for being baseball hall of famer Barry Larkin's kid (and having his hot mom cheering him from the stands, garnering numerous gratuitous camera shots), to being a likely first round pick in the NBA draft. He will test those NBA waters, his father announced today, leaving Miami with just a shell of the roster that won both the regular and conference tournament championship in the ACC for the first time in 2012-13.

Larkin is leaving along with seniors Durand Scott, Kenny Kadji, Julian Gamble, Reggie Johnson, and Trey McKinney-Jones. That strong supporting cast helped Larkin emerge from lightly regarded recruit (he was rated as the #28 point guard in his class by Scout and was not a top 100 prospect; VCU and Colorado were the only NCAA tournament caliber teams to offer him) to possible lottery pick in just two seasons. And the loss of all the talent makes going from first to worst a real possibility for Canes' head man Jim Larranaga.

Larkin was an all-ACC performer and a second team Associated Press all-American. He averaged 14.5 points and 4.6 assists (but also 2.3 turnovers) for the Canes. He led the ACC in both minutes played and steals a season ago. He shot over 40% from the bonusphere and only Duke's Mason Plumlee had more win shares (6.9 to 6.6).

Larkin joins N.C. State's Lorenzo Brown and C.J. Leslie, UNC's Reggie Bullock, and Maryland's Alex Len as early defections.