Kentucky Wildcats next stop for Murray
Canadian hoops star chooses U.S. college powerhouse, likely sure-fire one-and-done
It was an hour or so before he de- clared his American college intentions in a first-of-a-kind nationallytelevised announcement, and Jamal Murray was wandering around a TSN studio.
He had on the requisite suit kids wear when they are going to be in the spotlight, but draped over his back was a giant Canadian flag.
“I’ve always had it, I had to wear it,” the Kitchener native said. “I’m Canadian.” And in what some would seem as a very American production — a teen prodigy announcing where he’d take his prodigious basketball talents — Murray’s Canadianism shone through.
He finally settled on the greatest NCAA basketball factory of the era — the University of Kentucky — but the 18-year-old point guard made sure he paid respect to his roots.
“I didn’t attend school in the States, I stayed in Canada, stayed at my home,” said Murray, who just finished up at Orangeville’s Athlete Institute prep school.
“I thought it was necessary for me to wear the flag and honour my country. It’s done a lot for me, I wouldn’t be in this spot if it wasn’t for Canada.”
Murray’s also done a lot for Canada, at least in the way of furthering this country’s burgeoning reputation for producing blue chip basketball prospects.
The six-foot-five guard, who sources say will play for Canada at the Pan Am Games next month, is seen today as a surefire one-and-done Wildcat. He was the most valuable player at the 2013 Jordan Brand Classic and also at the 2015 Nike Hoop Summit, and was as heavily recruited as any Canadian basketball player ever has been.
He had feelers from a reported 30 schools and narrowed his decision to Kentucky and Oregon, finally settling on Kentucky because of its tra- dition and in part because his parents will be more easily able to see him play.
And unlike so many of his contemporaries, Murray eschewed the higher profile American prep schools, proving once again that if you’re talented enough, the big universities will find you regardless of your high school.
Perhaps the unprecedented hype of Tuesday’s announcement will show younger players there are all kinds of routes to the top.
“It helps move us in the right direction, we want young kids to watch this and to be inspired, to think ‘in 10 years that’s going to be me,’ ” said Rowan Barrett, the assistant general manager of Canada’s national senior team.
“His expectations, you can hear when he speaks, are very high. At the same time, to do that with humility . . . sometimes that’s not an easy road to walk; he does that well because he is a humble kid.”
Not a kid without lofty goals, though.
After seeing Andrew Bennett and Andrew Wiggins become the first two Canadians chosen first overall in the NBA draft, Murray figures “why not me?”
“I try not to pay attention to the attention, just focus on the end goal and where I want to be,” he said.
“I’m sure everyone wants to do it. I don’t know why I wouldn’t be able to say it. I just see myself as working hard and trying to get to the top . . . try to be the No. 1 draft pick.”