Miami-Dade College is hoarding talent

Miami-Dade is well known in college basketball circles for churning out talented players. Next year, they will have five players suiting up with a DI team: Will Coleman (Memphis), Darnell Dodson (Kentucky), Trevor Mbakwe (Minnesota), James Beatty (Rutgers), and Rico Pickett (Manhattan).

This season should be much of the same as Miami-Dade has added three recent cast-offs that have been in the news: Eloy Vargas, Freddie Asprilla, and Terrence Boyd.

Vargas was a bench player as a freshman for Florida last season, but was unable to get himself academically eligible to play for the Gators this season. There have been rumors circulating that Kentucky is interested in him. Asprilla made headlines earlier in the summer because Florida International would not grant him a release to transfer to another DI school after the hiring of Isiah Thomas. Miami has been a rumored destination for Asprilla. Boyd was supposed to be enrolled at Western Kentucky right now, but was released from his scholarship in August.

That's the great thing about JuCo's like Miami Dade. It is a chance for these kids to get a second chance. Now, the reasons why they ended up at a JuCo may differ - Vargas just didn't keep up in the classroom, while Asprilla got a bit of a raw deal from FIU - but the result is that there is a place for these kids to play.

Whether it is just a season they need to bide their time before they can enroll at another institution, a year to get their grades up, or a second chance to learn the discipline and behavior required to be a major college athlete, these kids get that opportunity.

Out of the limelight.

Without the pressure to succeed.

And while not every story is going to be one of success, the fact that these kids get the chance is what matters. How they utilize that opportunity is up to them.