Jamal Murray's dad says UK has contacted

[ZaytovenCat]

How anybody can say Newman vs Murray at Hoopfest was a toss up is crazy. Malik abused him. Murray is a very good player but he's not Malik Newman. Callaway really had nobody other than Newman, Orangeville had Murray, Maker and Maker's brother. They doubled and even tripled Newman at times and he got whatever he wanted.

Murray is a great player no doubt. And he's not some unknown. He's been a top 30 junior for over a year. But Newman is at worst the 3rd best player in the senior class. Newman is one of the best offensive players in over a decade. Murray is not. He's very good but not special like Newman.

I also thought Murray jacked quite a bit as well. Our fans make way too much out of one game and these allstar games in general.

 

[BigBlueManSouthCentralKY]

Is this what Cal was talking about? "Enjoy it, because it won't happen again." Is our run on 5 star recruits running out?

 

[Teachable Moe]

Originally posted by Blue_Reality:

Originally posted by bucsrule8872:
Love to have him and Newman together if they could coexist. With Ulis leading the way, I think they could work together.

Starters
G Ulis
G Newman
G Murray
F Poythress
F Labissiere

Key Reserves
G Briscoe
F Lee

That would be a pretty awesome 7-man rotation. Lots of scoring power. All three guards starting can shoot the 3. Spacing would be very good.

Not sure about defense since Murray seems small (weight wise) to play at the 3, but man would we be able to spread the floor with that team.

That would be a disaster.........third or fourth in the SEC and out first weekend of NCAA

[Insert Tony McAuliffe response here]


That looks like a fantastic set of players.

 

[Lumpy 2]

Murray looked good in that game but it's hard to judge a player after 1 allstar game. The World Team had better big men in the game than Team USA which got better looks and opened up driving lanes for their guards. Without players like Skal and Simmons around him, Murray probably wouldn't have looked so good.

 

[Teachable Moe]

Originally posted by Lumpy 2:
Murray looked good in that game but it's hard to judge a player after 1 allstar game. The World Team had better big men in the game than Team USA which got better looks and opened up driving lanes for their guards. Without players like Skal and Simmons around him, Murray probably wouldn't have looked so good.

Well, if that's the case, he should definitely come to UK!

 

[WallMashKyBall]

So Teachable Moe, you think the USA Defenders where executing a defensive game plan to guard the World bigs? Please, it was an all star game. Murray got his points slashing, taking his man on and finishing at the rim with athletic creativity and impressive focus. Your comment is like this was a game between two well coached teams that implemented Defensive schemes. Murrays' single minded focus to get to the rim would have worked on either team.

 

[funKYcat75]

Great. Another Jamal ...

Jamal Mashburn
Jamaal Magloire
Jamal Bradley
Jamal Crawford
Jamal Young
Cotton 'Jamal' Nash
Jamal Orbzut
Jamal Wall
Jamal Noel

Where will it end????!?!?!?!?!

 

[BigBlueManSouthCentralKY]

Thornton to Duke would seem to help here.

 

[SkyPrince1]

Originally posted by Lumpy 2:
Murray looked good in that game but it's hard to judge a player after 1 allstar game. The World Team had better big men in the game than Team USA which got better looks and opened up driving lanes for their guards. Without players like Skal and Simmons around him, Murray probably wouldn't have looked so good.

Looked pretty damn good again in a Canadian All Star game.

Went for 29.

 

[SilentsAreGolden]

Originally posted by BigBlueManSouthCentralKY:

Thornton to Duke would seem to help here.

Only if Murray reclassifies. If he doesn't, Duke getting Thornton is very bad..

 

[AnarchoNeoLuddite]

Ah big deal, dook gets thronton, they dont have the bigs next year to be a threat and we have Kobi Simmons as our 16 pg on lock.

 

[mj2k10]

Originally posted by SilentsAreGolden:

Originally posted by BigBlueManSouthCentralKY:

Thornton to Duke would seem to help here.

Only if Murray reclassifies. If he doesn't, Duke getting Thornton is very bad..

Duke is probably going to get someone. Better Thornton (even though I like him a lot) than returning Tyus Jones, or Murray. Anything that helps push Murray away from Duke is good in my eyes.

And honestly, we know nothing about Murray in terms of his recruiting profile. We don't know his academic status (always mysterious with Canadian players), we don't know what schools he likes (and every kid has schools he likes more than others, whether he comes out and admits that or not), we don't know how much he cares about being "the" point guard, whether he sees himself as a star, or has more of a "just fit in" attitude. Nothing, because he wasn't really on anyone's radar until less than a week ago. Some of that stuff we'll never know, but we'll get a better idea in the next few weeks.

Thornton might be easier for Duke, and they might jump at that because Murray is such an unknown. They have a gaping hole at PG now, and they've been on Thornton all year. They know his background. With Murray, we don't even know if he'll be able to reclassify. That might push him away from Duke, hopefully right into UK's arms (especially if Newman falls through).

 

[Cats192]

Originally posted by mj2k10:

Originally posted by GonzoCat90:

Originally posted by BostonCat2001:
its funny to me that some players can jack up 25 shots in a game and fans will love them. but when others do it....they are labeled selfish.

Definitely odd.


Also interesting that a four-star junior that 95-percent of the board had never heard of and has only played one game that those posters have seen is suddenly this high-priority guard. Meanwhile, similarly ranked players that no one has heard of yet are "sky is falling back-up plans" that mean we aren't going to land any of our targets.

I do like Murray though, and would like to see him as a Cat either this or next season. I think he'd be wasting his time spending another year in high school, and he has that sneaky bounce and change of pace like Brandon Roy did.

Great size, good skill, but you're right that when someone like Brandon Knight took a lot of shots in meaningless games, folks were freaking out. Of course, it's to be expected when these are the only games most people watch before the guys step on campus anywhere. The same ones think Zimmerman can't play.

Both of you guys are sort of right, but the difference is that Murray hit a lot of those shots. He wasn't throwing up bricks while he kept chucking.

And Murray WAS an unknown 4 star junior. That performance at the Hoop Summit was so good, and so good in multi-faceted ways, that it got everyone's attention. not just UK fans, or fans of any team that might recruit him. No one had heard of Dirk Nowitizki before that game, or Tony Parker. And Enes Kanter went from a "we'll put him in the top 25 for the 2010 class because we hear he's really good" to a projected top 5 pick because of that game. Murray (right or wrong) is next in line with that kind of bump.

Murray had a little more exposure than those guys, but not much more. Now it's a totally different thing for him, which may or may not be an overreaction based on one game, but goes way beyond just knee-jerk fans.

I don't think it's about bricks or hitting shots.

Typically, high profile guys that we were after that go other places--they're selfish if they shoot too much. I'm interested to see what's said about Newman after he commits. I thought he looked really bad in the McD's game. If he commits here--"It's just an All-Star game, you can't really tell anything from that, those guys don't take those seriously, yada yada." If he goes to MSU or LSU--He's a ballhog. Did you see those awful shots he was chucking?

 

[*Bleedingblue*]

You guys blasting Murray are full of it and you know it. I've seen him several times in person with my eyes not on tv and he was tremendous, I've played ball for years and have played against a lot of pros and other colleges. I have watched top 10 recruits for 30 years and have seen thousands of kids over the years. I was on here proclaiming that Otto Porter was a tremendous talent that nobody has heard or seen about and Uk needs to get in on him. At the end of his senior year he was finally ranked and he went pro after his soph year. I stated that I watched this Jamal Murray kid was going to be damn good and we need led to keep an eye on him. His team went to hoopfest and I watched him their as well and he put on another show going for over 30+ scoring 14 straight for em. Best player on the team by far.
I told all you guys before this game was played that we needed to get on Murray and he was them playing in this game and he went off once again.
Keep doubting but all your gonna do is make yourself look stupid. Dude is a future pro, I've seen enough of em to see the skill set to be one and he has it.

 

[brianpoe]

Originally posted by AnarchoNeoLuddite:
Ah big deal, dook gets thronton, they dont have the bigs next year to be a threat and we have Kobi Simmons as our 16 pg on lock.

Caneintally is that you?

 

[BigBlueManSouthCentralKY]

Lot of contact with Duke and UK. But also others like Syracuse and UL checking in. Dad says still discussing the move up to 2015. But it seems either us or Duke if he classifies up. Glad they may get Thornton monday. we need his scoring much more than Duke.

Noticed last year Oregon was his biggest interest but we was tied for 2nd on his list then. Good that we have been on his mind for some time.

 

[Fawrules]

Originally posted by BigBlueManSouthCentralKY:
Lot of contact with Duke and UK. But also others like Syracuse and UL checking in. Dad says still discussing the move up to 2015. But it seems either us or Duke if he classifies up. Glad they may get Thornton monday. we need his scoring much more than Duke.

Noticed last year Oregon was his biggest interest but we was tied for 2nd on his list then. Good that we have been on his mind for some time.

So does the general consensus seem to be that Duke going ahead and locking up Thornton would give us the edge over them in landing Murray? Or is this a situation where the two would be open to playing together?

 

[BigBlueManSouthCentralKY]

Originally posted by Fawrules:

Originally posted by BigBlueManSouthCentralKY:
Lot of contact with Duke and UK. But also others like Syracuse and UL checking in. Dad says still discussing the move up to 2015. But it seems either us or Duke if he classifies up. Glad they may get Thornton monday. we need his scoring much more than Duke.

Noticed last year Oregon was his biggest interest but we was tied for 2nd on his list then. Good that we have been on his mind for some time.

So does the general consensus seem to be that Duke going ahead and locking up Thornton would give us the edge over them in landing Murray? Or is this a situation where the two would be open to playing together?

No, I'm just hoping it helps us.

 

[AnarchoNeoLuddite]

Originally posted by brianpoe:

Originally posted by AnarchoNeoLuddite:
Ah big deal, dook gets thronton, they dont have the bigs next year to be a threat and we have Kobi Simmons as our 16 pg on lock.

Caneintally is that you?

were going to miss out on every recruit we truly want from here on out, get used to it little biiatches.

 

[jwhite123]

If we could somehow land Murray and Newman our backcourt scoring would be out the roof.

 

[BigBlueManSouthCentralKY]

Originally posted by jwhite123:
If we could somehow land Murray and Newman our backcourt scoring would be out the roof.

If we landed either and get Mulder we are set. Ulis, Briscoe, Hawkins, Murray, Mulder and Matthews at the 1, 2 and 3 would be solid IMO. Or replace Murray with Newman if we don't get Murray. Cal talking to Ingram today, that would take up the 3 spot if he gets him. Things starting to look up some.

 

[doc4UK]

Seems that Cal tips off what he has heard by recruiting the next option. Example was Zimmerman and the kid from Charlotte. Clearly he has an option 1 and then a contingency plan. He will not let another 2013 season unfold again. He guaranteed that right after the 2013 season

So I think the recruitment of the JUCO is a solid inidicator that we are not getting Newman or at least Cal does not feel very confident for some reason.

We will be more than Fine with the two kids mentioned above. Not sure it is a national championship contender but no one is really returning a great team so it looks wide open. Skal and Biriscoe and Ulis and Lee are a good nucleus to build around. Plenty of time for Willis and Hawkins as well. They will contribute more than expected.

Getting Murray in my opjnion would be an unbelievable get and could push us over the top ! In fact I think for team unity he might be a better get than Newman at this point. I think Cal may be thinking this as well.

 

[jwhite123]

Ulis
Briscoe
Ingram
Poy
Skal

Murray
Lee
Thorne
Matthews
Mulder
Hawkins
Willis

I could very well handle that. But if we're going to compete for a title we have to have Newman. He is a must get.

This post was edited on 4/17 10:03 AM by jwhite123

 

[BigBlueManSouthCentralKY]

Originally posted by doc4UK:
Seems that Cal tips off what he has heard by recruiting the next option. Example was Zimmerman and the kid from Charlotte. Clearly he has an option 1 and then a contingency plan. He will not let another 2013 season unfold again. He guaranteed that right after the 2013 season

So I think the recruitment of the JUCO is a solid inidicator that we are not getting Newman or at least Cal does not feel very confident for some reason.

We will be more than Fine with the two kids mentioned above. Not sure it is a national championship contender but no one is really returning a great team so it looks wide open. Skal and Biriscoe and Ulis and Lee are a good nucleus to build around. Plenty of time for Willis and Hawkins as well. They will contribute more than expected.

Getting Murray in my opjnion would be an unbelievable get and could push us over the top ! In fact I think for team unity he might be a better get than Newman at this point. I think Cal may be thinking this as well.

Yeah, Ulis, Briscoe and Murray would be an ideal situation with what each player offers.

 

[*Bleedingblue*]

Unknown jewel? He was/is a top 20 recruit in 2016

This post was edited on 4/13 3:35 PM by kyups01

And now he is a top 10 recruit in the loaded '16 class.
It's kinda funny reading these posts hating on the kid.

 

[UKWildcats#8]

One month later from the start of this thread...and nothing has really happened.

 

[bookerfan66]

Strange that really nothing has come out about him at all by now.I thought we would hear about some visits or something about reclassifying.

 

[stuway]

One month later from the start of this thread...and nothing has really happened.

Leads me to believe that he staying put and not reclassifying. But who knows....this whole spring signing class are a random bunch!!

 

[KMKAT]

I think our issue is having Ulis and Briscoe before Murray even decides, which to me is just a disadvantage to us and it would be for Duke.
We have players, and probably enough to contend with anyone; the question is will Murray be willing to share the load? No matter what, he's drafted come 2016 and Murray knows that.

 

[KA4Prez]

I'm not sure why people are reading into this. The school year isn't even over and as others have said, Murray can show up this summer, apply to enroll and will be given an automatic role on any basketball team he wants. Other than to appease the media, fans and get exposure, there's zero reason for any "news" about his plans to come out. At least until he's spotted meeting with coaches or on campuses this summer.

 

[Smashcat]

Murray's dad said he will be making visits but he didn't want a lot of media attention.

 

[kyfan606]

Murray's dad said he will be making visits but he didn't want a lot of media attention.

This is definitely not the place for him if he does not want attention.

 

[SilentsAreGolden]

This is definitely not the place for him if he does not want attention.

You would think it's not promising, but it might be that they just don't want it during the visits. I'm sure he's aware there will be all kinds of media exposure next year when he's preparing for the draft, and then in the league. If that is a primary factor, then he will probably go to Oregon if they have an opening. If not, he might stay put. I don't think that comment is really indicative though.

 

[kyfan606]

On visit he should be fine with no attention, but we all know this is the media circus of all college basketball.

 

[caneintally]

If he is visiting this week like someone reported you gotta like our chances .....

 

[*Bleedingblue*]

I think it will benefit us that their wasn't hords of fans hounding him here in KY. Some guys like that but most do not and find it creepy when 50 yr old guys want autographs and pics.
I'm hoping they come in during the week and fly under the radar and see our facilities and our personal chef (dig at the Swanagan rumor starters) and love it here. I think he has the potential to be a top 10 pick next year but more than likely fall out of the top 10 the yr after because the '16 class is so deep with insane talent. I have to add he is a top 10 prospect now even in that class. But teams will draft on needs and some teams will be drafting a big before him as he is prob the 2nd or third best guard in the '16 class. Is the best guard if he reclassifies in the '15 class.
I've seen this guy work some and he is very much as a hard worker as Randle was. I have always liked that in players, love a kid who is thirsty and hungry to get better and lives in the gym. Usually guys who do not work all the time just can't get passed that stagnant area of their game.

 

[BigBlueManSouthCentralKY]

It's been about two weeks since his dad said 'they would probably decide what they was going to do in two or three weeks.'

 

[ZZBlueComet]

If he is wanted by both Calipari and Krzyzshitski. I am going to assume the dude is a player.

No other way to look at it is there?

 

[Mike_Edwards]

So Uconn was said to be a player and they just landed Gibbs so one would think if it is 2015 UK would look pretty good -indy

 

[W_Heisenberg]

Duke is probably going to get someone. Better Thornton (even though I like him a lot) than returning Tyus Jones, or Murray. Anything that helps push Murray away from Duke is good in my eyes.

And honestly, we know nothing about Murray in terms of his recruiting profile. We don't know his academic status (always mysterious with Canadian players), we don't know what schools he likes (and every kid has schools he likes more than others, whether he comes out and admits that or not), we don't know how much he cares about being "the" point guard, whether he sees himself as a star, or has more of a "just fit in" attitude. Nothing, because he wasn't really on anyone's radar until less than a week ago. Some of that stuff we'll never know, but we'll get a better idea in the next few weeks.

Thornton might be easier for Duke, and they might jump at that because Murray is such an unknown. They have a gaping hole at PG now, and they've been on Thornton all year. They know his background. With Murray, we don't even know if he'll be able to reclassify. That might push him away from Duke, hopefully right into UK's arms (especially if Newman falls through).

We know a little bit, Meyer has said if he reclassifies he would rank him top 10.