Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
The Atlantic Coast Conference has been strong for a very long time now. For a few decades, the ACC has been battling it out with the Big East Conference for supremacy in the realm of college hoops. While it has been very debatable lately, the argument can be made much more easily for the ACC now that the Big East is going to look different and the ACC will be bringing in some historic power teams from their rivals.
With that being said, a lot has been made about Angel Rodriguez heading to the Miami Hurricanes. The transfer — which happened because Rodriguez wanted to be closer to home — does deserve the attention it has gotten, although it is only a stopgap measure for the Hurricanes rather than a cure-all.
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Miami has just lost a slew of players to graduation, another to early entry and it is more of a rebuilding time for Jim Larranaga than it is a reloading period. That is not to say Larranaga won’t be able to make the Hurricanes as relevant as they were last season, but it would be unfair to think gaining one good transfer somehow offsets losing a handful of players in one offseason.
Rodriguez still has to apply for a hardship waiver to try to become immediately eligible. Who knows how the NCAA will rule on the matter. To be fair though, Miami as a program might be better off having him sit out a year and save his eligibility. With so many players gone and only one proven player left (coming in), it is hard to imagine the 2013-14 Hurricanes being anywhere near as competitive in the ACC as they were this past season.
In the short term, sure, having Rodriguez be immediately eligible to play would help slow the damage the upcoming ACC schedule might inflict. Still, it is not like he has superhuman abilities and will be able to stop the impending flood of ACC greatness from drowning Miami — for at least one season.
Joe is a Senior Writer for Rant Sports. Follow him on Twitter @JosephNardone
