ESPN names Jack McClinton best Miami basketball transfer
University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame 2022 inductee Jack McClinton was named the best transfer in Hurricanes history by ESPN. McClinton played for the Miami basketball program from 2006 through 2009 after transferring from Siena. McClinton holds multiple records in the ACC and Miami basketball history.
McClinton scored 38 points, 32 in the second half in a 78-64 Miami NCAA Tournament win over St. Mary’s in 2008. McClinton made 44 percent of his three-point field goal attempts at Miami which is still an ACC record. Miami has had a long run of success with transfers, particularly since McClinton played for the Hurricanes.
All three of the Miami runs to the NCAA Tournament regional semifinals under Jim Larranaga have featured transfers critical on the Hurricanes’ roster. McClinton played for former Miami coach Frank Haith. Three of the five Miami starters who led the Hurricanes to the 2022 Midwest Regional final were transfers.
Larranaga has continued to place an emphasis on the transfer portal. Miami signed Sun Belt Player of the Year forward Norchad Omier and first-team All-Big XII guard Nijel Pack to the 2022-23 roster. Miami should continue its ascension in the ACC after three straight losing seasons. ESPN summarized the Miami transfers.
“Miami Hurricanes
Best transfer in: Jack McClinton, 2006-2009
McClinton’s college career offers one of the best rags-to-riches stories of the last two decades. In his first season, he started 23 of 30 games for a Siena team that was 6-24. (The Saints then fired the head coach, and replaced him with 45-year-old Fran McCaffery.)
Four years later, as a senior at Miami, McClinton was named first-team All-ACC alongside Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson, Gerald Henderson and Toney Douglas (see Florida State, above).
That dramatic ascent gives McClinton bragging rights over a who’s-who of UM in-transfers like Kameron McGusty, Sheldon McClellan, Malcolm Grant, Kenny Kadj, Angel Rodriguez, Charlie Moore, Donnavan Kirk and Kamari Murphy.
(But not over Shane Larkin, who doesn’t qualify: While he did transfer from DePaul, Larkin never played for the Blue Demons.)
Most significant transfer out: James Palmer Jr., 2014-2016
Palmer’s decision to transfer from Miami to Nebraska attracted little notice in May of 2016. He had averaged 3.6 points and a little more than 12 minutes over two seasons with the Hurricanes, but apparently Cornhuskers head coach Tim Miles saw something there.
Miles ran much of Nebraska’s offense through the former UM reserve right from the start, and Palmer was a first-team All-Big Ten selection in 2018.”
Manu Lecomte is another former Miami basketball player who left the Hurricanes and had success elsewhere. Lecomte averaged 7.8 points per game from 2013 through 2015 with Miami starting 41 of the 70 games he played. Stuck behind McClellan and Rodriguez, Lecomte transferred to Baylor following the 2014-14 season.
In two seasons at Baylor, Lecomte started 65 of the 66 games he played, averaging 14.2 PPG, two rebounds, 3.8 assists and made 162 three-point field goals. The Miami basketball program has gained far more than they have lost from transfers. Omier and Pack should continue the success from the transfer portal for Miami.
