If Jai Lucas is Miami’s next coach, Duke’s rout of Hurricanes offers glimpse of what’s possible
Lucas had the defensive scout for Tuesday’s game and played a large hand in recruiting Duke’s roster

Tuesday night, No. 2 Duke made its presence felt in Coral Gables against a Miami team that has struggled mightily since head coach Jim Larrañaga announced his retirement the day after Christmas (Miami is just 6-22).

As expected, the Blue Devils opened up a can of you-know-what on the Hurricanes, as potential National Player of the Year Cooper Flagg did his thing and fellow five-star freshmen wings Isaiah Evans and Kon Knueppel came up big in a 97-60 decimation of the Canes.

By the time the two teams tipped off, the game had taken on new intrigue. Multiple reports—including one from CBS Sports—were published Saturday stating that Miami was targeting Jon Scheyer’s top assistant, Jai Lucas, for its coaching vacancy.

All of a sudden, a forgettable late-February blowout had some meaning behind it. For obvious reasons, Lucas hasn’t commented on the reports that he is Miami’s leading candidate. But Scheyer has had no choice but to address that his associate head coach and close friend may end up taking over at a rival program, where interim coach Bill Courtney has been holding down the fort

Scheyer first addressed the reports Saturday, and he didn’t exactly deny them while endorsing his top lieutenant’s potential as a head coach.

“Absolutely he’s a head coach, no question about it,” Scheyer said. “It’s part of why I hired him, and the job he’s done for us has been incredible. Any report or anything that’s out there, I’m just getting wind of it now, but we’ll cross that bridge and figure it out. But I can tell you 100% Jai’s an amazing coach.”