Tyler Van Dyke shares conflict as Miami basketball faces UConn in Final Four
Tyler Van Dyke is a Miami guy, obviously. The Hurricanes quarterback is in full support of the men’s basketball team in the Final Four in their matchup against UConn.
But therein lies the problem. Van Dyke, a Connecticut native, grew up a Huskies fan and knows quite a bit of people that attend the school.
But he maintained his support for Miami on the biggest stage of the season.
“It’s kinda weird coming here,” Van Dyke said. “I’ve always grown up a UConn basketball fan my entire life. Shabazz Napier, Kemba Walker. But now that I’m here, I’m a Miami basketball fan. It’ll be cool. I have a lot of friends that go to UConn. Just talking a little garbage with them. So it’s good. It’ll be fun.”
Childhood team compared to your current team. It can be a difficult proposition.
But if Van Dyke talked a little trash with his friends back up north, he’ll surely be rooting for his own school to get to the national championship game.
The Huskies are the favorite and the popular pick to take home the crown at this point. San Diego State and Florida Atlantic meet in the other Final Four matchup.
Mario Cristobal evaluates Tyler Van Dyke in Miami spring practice
Van Dyke took a bit of a step back in 2022, his first season under Cristobal. In 2021, he broke out with 25 touchdown passes and nearly 3,000 yards in the air.
However, Van Dyke threw for just 1,835 yards, 10 touchdowns and five interceptions in nine games last fall.
But there’s a new offensive coordinator in town: Shannon Dawson.
“It’s a great match. It really is,” Cristobal said on The Hard Count. “Those two, it’s exactly how you want to pair up a coordinator and your starting quarterback. But also, you have the two young guys because Jaccuri [Brown has] been off the charts and Emory [Williams] has done a really good job as a freshman. But right now, it starts with Tyler. Tyler really got nicked up last year. Schematically, it is what it is. Sometimes, things don’t fit. It’s not a knock on anyone or any scheme or whatever. Sometimes, it’s about the fit. And this is certainly the right fit.
“From an offensive standpoint, there’s a lot of autonomy, which Tyler’s a really smart guy. … We’re able to do a lot with him early. We’re I think about five, six days into practice, but we’ve installed just about 85-90% of the offense and we’re going to install more in the coming days. It’s been awesome to watch. Just a lot of progress and just a lot of excitement, a lot of buzz and a lot of juice around the building.”