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 since Larrañaga’s retirement.
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.”
Miami targeting Duke assistant Jai Lucas to replace Jim Larrañaga as Hurricanes coach
Matt Norlander
A dynamic has been created in which Lucas finds himself balancing his current role at Duke with looming questions about his future. On Monday during the ACC’s weekly teleconference, Scheyer was able to go into more depth on his feelings about what could be a potentially awkward situation three weeks out from Selection Sunday — which will see the transfer portal open for basketball, which would be when any new coach would want to start building his roster.
“Look, for me, it’s unusual times. It’s unusual times, right?” Scheyer said. “Jai and I have been completely connected with all of this. Until something is final and done, I’m not going to speculate on what may or may not happen. I can tell you, Jai and I, we started this thing three years ago, and our intention is to finish it. But again, I don’t want to get into that until I know when something is final and done, where we’ll have to cross that bridge when the time comes.”
On the other hand, Miami fans got something they don’t often get during a coaching search: a chance to watch their leading candidate in action. Sure, watching an assistant operate isn’t the same as evaluating a sitting head coach, but assuming the reports are true and Lucas takes over, it was a great opportunity to get to know him.
Now in his third year on the Duke sideline, Lucas is the Blue Devils’ defensive coordinator, and the Miami scout was his. After ranking No. 16 overall on KenPom for defensive rating each of the last two years, Lucas has Duke at No. 4 this season, and Miami fans certainly got an up-close look at the suffocating defense he has designed.
As much as an assistant can prove their chops as a coach, Lucas is doing that as a renowned, superstar recruiter who has been preparing for this moment for some time. He played a pivotal role in landing Duke’s current star, Flagg, and was instrumental in the recruitment of 2025 standouts Cameron Boozer and Cayden Boozer, who Miami was the runner-up for. The Boozers, who live in Miami, signed their paperwork with Duke in November. Lucas was the key factor in Duke landing 2025 five-star Shelton Henderson, who plays at Bellaire High School in Houston, where Jai played, and was part of the Nike EYBL program Jai’s older brother John runs.
Miami does not have the basketball pedigree of conference rivals Duke and North Carolina, but don’t sneeze at the Hurricanes. They made the Final Four in 2023 with a loaded roster full of handsomely-compensated players (via NIL), including Nijel Pack, who was ahead of his time in landing a publicized two-year, $800,000 deal. The revenue-sharing era that whirls into action this summer could level the playing field some, but if Miami’s backers are committed to spending to be competitive in basketball, this will be a quick rebuild — and we doubt Lucas would leave the cozy confines of Cameron Indoor without such assurances.
The son of former NBA Rookie of the Year and longtime head coach John Lucas II, Jai has been around the game his entire life. His older brother, John, played and coached in the NBA and is now with the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces. A member of the high school class of 2007, Jai himself was a McDonald’s All-American before enrolling at Florida and finishing his playing career at Texas.
Before landing at Duke, Lucas also had stops on the sidelines at his alma mater and Kentucky. At 36-years-old, he has built an impressive résumé.
Personally, I’ve known Jai since he was a sophomore in high school. I’ve covered him as a recruit, spent time with him in gyms scouting players since he became a coach, and been on set with him when he joined our show at the 2023 Final Four in his hometown of Houston — back when Miami was in the Final Four and Duke was trying to figure out how to get back. All the great things Miami fans have been reading about him, I’ve been able to see firsthand over the last 20 years. He has the type of passion and drive that can’t be faked.
Years from now, nobody is going to remember that Duke trounced Miami on a Tuesday night in February. However, if the reports come to fruition, there may be many Canes fans who remember their first glimpse at Lucas—a potential rising star in the coaching industry who looks like the favorite to usher in a new era of Miami basketball.
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