Cavinder twins say they’re leaving Miami after one season

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — For Haley and Hanna Cavinder, theElite Eight apparently was enough and their time at Miami isover.

The Cavinder twins — two of the most prominent athletes in thename, image and likeness era of college athletics — announcedTuesday that they will not return to the Hurricanes next season,ending their Miami tenure after one year with the program.

The Cavinders — who are 22 and were listed as seniors on theMiami roster — both played four seasons in college, but they couldhave played next season, too, because of the NCAA ruling thatrestored a year of eligibility to all athletes who went through apandemic-affected season.

They transferred from Fresno State to Miami in April 2022 withhopes of playing in the NCAA Tournament and probably exceeded eventheir own expectations by helping the Hurricanes fall just short ofreaching the Final Four.

“We would like to thank our teammates and coaches for bringingus in as family and being part of a historic season,” the twinssaid in a statement. “With that being said, Hanna and I havedecided to not take our fifth year and start a new chapter in ourlives. The U will always be home and we are forever proud to beHurricanes.”

Haley Cavinder ended this season with 2,065 career points, whichwas 19th-most among all active Division I players. She averaged12.2 points per game this season, a team best for Miami — and her65 makes from 3-point range was another team high, by a widemargin.

Hanna Cavinder averaged 3.8 points this season for Miami. TheHurricanes lost a regional final to eventual national champion LSU,ending the year with a 22-13 record.

The decision was a bit of a surprise, at least from thestandpoint of one of the twins. Haley Cavinder said before the NCAATournament that she planned to return to the Hurricanes next seasonfor what would have been her final year of collegiate eligibility.Hanna Cavinder said at that time she was leaning toward no longerplaying after this season.

And that begged the question: Would one Cavinder twin playwithout the other? Barring a change of heart, their announcementTuesday provided the answer.

“I love basketball,” Hanna Cavinder told The Associated Presslast month when she discussed leaning toward not playing. “I rideor die basketball. I’ve given basketball so much of my life. Andsometimes I’m like, ‘I just want to breathe.’ I really just want tobreathe. I want to live. I don’t want to be on a plan. I don’t wantto be on a schedule. But at the end of the day, I’m so competitivein life that I don’t know if I’m going to regret it or not.”

The twins have 4.5 million followers on TikTok, part of theirenormous footprint in the social media space. When the NIL erastarted on July 1, 2021, and NCAA rules began allowing athletes toprofit from their name, image and likeness, the Cavinders wereamong the first stars: Boost Mobile signed them immediately,touting the deal with a giant advertisement in New York’s TimesSquare, and many other deals followed.

“What started as us playing basketball 16 years ago turned intosomething bigger than we could ever imagine,” the twins saidTuesday.

Their decision to come to Miami was scrutinized, and a probe bythe NCAA led to coach Katie Meier missing the first three games ofthis season through a university-imposed suspension that was handeddown in anticipation of sanctions surrounding how the twins andtheir family met with a Hurricanes booster before signing.

The NCAA probe never accused the Cavinders of wrongdoing. Miamieventually was placed on one year of probation after the school andthe NCAA agreed that coaches arranged impermissible contact betweenthe booster and the Cavinders.