KeaneyBlue - The URI Basketball Forum

I find it pretty fascinating that the people who say uri should ignore the family are the ones that spend the most time talking about them

I don't talk about them......I talk about ignoring them....and only in response to those who think it wise to continue to fruitlessly kiss their posteriors....

Lotta Napoleon complexes among our fans eh?

You've got to get your "no's" to get to your "yes's". I would think hurley and Murphy understand that. A lot of people here seem to get offended when someone says no, it's part of it. It is what it is you can't take it personal and it doesn't mean someone four years from now won't come here. Must be a bunch of pharmacist majors here who have never had a sales job.

And I never advocate kissing someone's posterior, but paying attention and showing them what the program is all about...you don't stop that.

Sure, let's throw stones at posters, just because they have an opinion you
disagree with.
Napoleonic complex? Not salesmen? Just ludicrous.

If your potential client has no interest in your product....at what point do you stop "selling" him on it? Do you never stop? Keep stopping by the client's location to say hello? Wasting your time?

Remember...the client has no interest in your product...you think other clients will admire your dogged pursuit of the un-obtainable?

Call me Napoleon, please.....I wouldn't waste my time....it is too valuable....

Work smarter not harder. There will never be a Murphy on URI. Put your time and resources to be better use. That is what a good salesman would do.

Identify what the "client" is looking for.
Show how you can provide it.
If they go elsewhere; you took your swings.
NEVER assume just bc it's a "no" today...it will always be so.

Ranked #21 and a 5 star prospect in ESPN's new rankings.

Something a little different for "Murphy Next."
Alex Kline @TheRecruitScoop · 15m
RT @AdamFinkelstein: 2017 PF Tomas Murphy will transfer to Northfield Mount Hermon (MA) next year.

Wanted to play with other top players, which obviously wasn't the case at Prout but also not the case at St. Marks

Same school as Aaron Falzon ...

Ha, nice! I wonder if that's from Saturday. The kid he dunked on looks to be Joe Sekator, who's probably a D2 or D3 prospect that goes to SKHS. I was playing with him on Saturday afternoon at Old Mountain Field, but he left to go play at Boon Street.

SGreenwell wrote:Ha, nice! I wonder if that's from Saturday. The kid he dunked on looks to be Joe Sekator, who's probably a D2 or D3 prospect that goes to SKHS. I was playing with him on Saturday afternoon at Old Mountain Field, but he left to go play at Boon Street.

How often do you play at old mountain?

Micheal_Phelps_22 wrote:

SGreenwell wrote:Ha, nice! I wonder if that's from Saturday. The kid he dunked on looks to be Joe Sekator, who's probably a D2 or D3 prospect that goes to SKHS. I was playing with him on Saturday afternoon at Old Mountain Field, but he left to go play at Boon Street.

How often do you play at old mountain?

I used to play more like two or three years ago, but lately, I've managed to make it down there or to Boon two or three times a week. The Dude and I managed to play a couple pick-up games a few years ago. I'm 5'9", not particularly fast and not a great shooter, so I tend to be mostly filler in a pick-up game. Both Joe Mbang and Lazarre have dunked on me in games, so I do have that going for me.

SGreenwell wrote:Ha, nice! I wonder if that's from Saturday. The kid he dunked on looks to be Joe Sekator, who's probably a D2 or D3 prospect that goes to SKHS. I was playing with him on Saturday afternoon at Old Mountain Field, but he left to go play at Boon Street.

He must have heard that Steve Mello was at Boon Street dominating play and went to check it out for himself..

SG if you need another guy to play hit me up. I don't have as much time as I used to, but I can usually make it with a little bit of notice.

so I do have that going for me.

which is nice...

Same goes for me SG. I grew up playing a OMF, was just down there playing the other day. Always looking for people to play with.

Latest ESPN rankings have Murphy as a 4* and on the outside of their top 60 recruits

WHY HASN'T HE VERBALED YET!!!!

I wonder if Murphy is still targeted for Florida now that Donovan is gone?

So you're telling me there's a chance...

Please....father Murphy thinks his sons are all word in basketball. His sons are excellent players no doubt. The truth is that URI would be a great fit in the fact that he would likely play right away and be able to represent his state. His family and friends could see his games live..etc. Murphy will not go to URI or PC. He will got to a top 10 school and likely ride the pine his freshman year like his brothers did. All 3 Murphy's are great players and I would have been thrilled to have any of them attend URI. At the end of the day none of them are going to be in the NBA. I'm just sick and tired of our program catering to this family. They have been using our facilities for years...free tickets to all our games...etc. I hope I'm wrong but I'm just fed up with the freebies this family gets from our program. The first 2 Murphy's didn't give us any type of consideration and now we we should think that Tomas will? Yes our program has made huge strides and will likely be a tournament team but trust me it won't ever be good enough for the Murphy's.

I don't really have an issue with how things are going with the Murphy family.

From the Murphy's perspective, I have no issues with a player wanting to go to a top program like Florida or Duke instead of their local school. It's not like they refuse to consider URI and are going to a different mid-major school or low-major school. Plus, it's hard to argue that the decision didn't work out for Erik Murphy, since he did get drafted by an NBA team.

From the URI perspective, it's never a bad thing to have talented players constantly hanging around your program. What's the downside to giving them free tickets and access to the facilities?

Ultimately, it helps build a relationship with a talented basketball family, which is never a bad thing. Recruiting is all about relationships and building one with the Murphys can be very beneficial for URI, whether or not Tomas ever put on a URI uniform.

Tom98 wrote:Please....father Murphy thinks his sons are all word in basketball. His sons are excellent players no doubt. The truth is that URI would be a great fit in the fact that he would likely play right away and be able to represent his state. His family and friends could see his games live..etc. Murphy will not go to URI or PC. He will got to a top 10 school and likely ride the pine his freshman year like his brothers did. All 3 Murphy's are great players and I would have been thrilled to have any of them attend URI. At the end of the day none of them are going to be in the NBA. I'm just sick and tired of our program catering to this family. They have been using our facilities for years...free tickets to all our games...etc. I hope I'm wrong but I'm just fed up with the freebies this family gets from our program. The first 2 Murphy's didn't give us any type of consideration and now we we should think that Tomas will? Yes our program has made huge strides and will likely be a tournament team but trust me it won't ever be good enough for the Murphy's.

Agree 100% on this. The father thinks his kids are All Americans. Constantly taking advantage of the program, yet not even considering us when it comes to picking a school. Tomas will go to some P5 school and barely play, mark it down.

I'm in the camp that thinks catering to the Murphys is a waste of time.
What makes anyone think it will be any different with Tomas than
the other two?
Does anyone think the family is going to tell him,"Ah, forget Duke, Kentucky,
and the big time, and stay home"?
I got into it with Koch on Twitter last night.
He said, "How can you say 'never happen'? Don't you think the program has
changed?'"it would be neglegent not to go after a kid who lives 10
minutes from campus', 'Why would Hurley waste his time, if he didn't feel
there was a chance?'" Like having someone at practice was such a huge
time eater.
Sure go after him, but don't expect the outcome to be a positive one.
I don't care how much the program has changed,
we aren't the big time the Murphy's seem to crave.
When the middle Murphy was transferring from Duke, how much did he
really consider URI or PC? Probably media pipe dream.
So, he sat on the bench at Florida for two years, instead of playing
at a mid major.
Jay Murphy's been hanging around URI at least since Jim Harrick's time.
I used to see him at practices, then.
So, I hope I'm very wrong, but the history of the family says I won't be.

Count me as one of the folks who sees no problem with letting Tomas (and Erik and Alex before him) use our facilities and meet with or coaching staff. As a program, we literally lose nothing by doing this. There are zero negative outcomes. All three are very talented and grew up in our backyard, no ill will for kids choosing to attend Florida and Duke-then-Florida instead of URI. I think it is worth building a relationship with them because through word of mouth they can pass along news of our improved facilities and the excellence of our coaching staff. I think it would be a bit more shady if Hurley only let them use the facilities if Jay Murphy PROMISED US HIS THIRD-BORN SON (said in a deep, evil villain voice).

I don't know anything about the Murphy's, but when Eric and Alex were choosing their schools, Jim Baron was our coach. I wouldn't blame our biggest fan for not putting their son's potential professional basketball career in Jim Baron's hands. When Alex transferred, Hurley was here and I guess that would have been an opportunity but they did choose a coach and a program that they were very familiar with.

There's an old saying... "You can't close a sale if you don't ask for the order"

What's the downside of recruiting this kid, especially with the recruiting for our '16 class completed. There is none.

Who knows, he's the youngest son, maybe he's his Mom's favorite and he decides to play close to home. Stranger things have happened in recruiting...

I really don't see the problem here. This is recruiting. Just because his 2 brothers didn't want to play for A) Jim Baron or B) sign on for a rebuild project (you can't blame those kids for either), I don't get why you still wouldn't try to build a relationship and recruit a very talented local kid. You can't treat every recruit the same. I don't know why it's bad to have any local basketball family, nevermind one with big program or NBA ties, to have a good relationship with your local program.

Not every player that you recruit and offer says yes. But everyone would be all over this staff if we weren't offereing 4 star guys. People would whine because we were only going after surefire yesses and not "thinking big."

The program has changed leaps and bounds since his older brothers looked at it. From the coaching staff, to the facilities, to the ryan center, to the talent on the roster, to the talent in the incoming classes, to the local and national press recognition, to the nationally televised games, to the A10's number of bids in a tournament...this is a completely different program than 3 or 4 years ago.

Not for nothing, Hurley already secured 4 studs in a completed recruiting class before October. Why is it a bad thing to try and go after a stud like Murphy when you have plenty of time to start focusing on your next year class this early?

I figured with all the success that everyone on this staff has had in every aspect of this program, especially on the recruiting trail, people would finally just be able to trust Dan and be happy with whatever the hell he's doing.

We're at the start of probably the best season of URI basketball in almost 2 decades. Most likely set up for a run of success that this program hasn't ever seen before. For Christ's sake can we just enjoy the ride?

Nobody is saying not to take the shot.
They don't lose much in time and money,
chasing Tomas.
Just don't hold your breath on it happening.
Sorry we all don't just become mindless zombies
and think every single thing done in Kingston is just perfect.
This is a discussion board. If you want to stifle discussion,
this isn't the place.
Don't like any sort of remotely realistic viewpoints,
don't read it.

Rod vs. Koch in steel cage match at halftime of URI-PC game!

I agree with Rod.....against my better judgement.....keep recruiting the kid....we have that obligation because he is local.....recruit him until they say no to us......but I don't believe there is any residual benefit with other recruits....they won't care if we recruited him or not.....Jay Murphy is not going to go tell the world how great Rhode Island and Hurley are if his kid goes to any other school.....

We should recruit every great player within 60 miles of Kingston until they tell us no.....we should recruit every great player who plays high school ball with any of our recruits or players.....we should recruit every great player who played AAU ball with our current players.....until they tell us know....

I might be mistaken, but I also believe there is a bit of a handshake or unspoken agreement when it comes to top basketball prospects, college players and pros that they're allowed access to some of the better facilities if they're in town. Meaning, when EC or Hassan or whoever goes home for the summer, they're probably working out at a college gym or a good high school or something equivalent. It seems to be reciprocal almost everywhere - Lamar Odom worked out at URI this past year, and a bunch of pro players go to UCLA and USC for summer pick-up games - so I don't see what the issue is for that reason as well.

Former alumni go back to their schools and obviously have and should enjoy carte blanche use of facilities. The Murphy kids are not alumni so I don't think the above analogy is apples to apples. Lamar and his shot helped make the Ryan Center, he should have his own key.

That said, i am of the camp that its no harm no foul to let the kid hang around the gym and program. If we can sell him the New URI great, if he is just using us for a great local gym to get shots up then that is fine too. There aren't a ton of basketball families with NBA pedigree within 10 minutes of our campus so this is a unique situation that should be treated as such.

Does anyone know the rules for if and how players not in a program can practice with URI players? It seems like at least a cursory effort at recruiting should be spent on Tomas Murphy, but if him and his brothers can practice with URI players then all efforts should be made to have a great relationship with the family. Having our players being able to play against and get reps against talent like that is extremely valuable to the program even if Tomas doesn't come here.

RhowdyRam02 wrote:Does anyone know the rules for if and how players not in a program can practice with URI players? It seems like at least a cursory effort at recruiting should be spent on Tomas Murphy, but if him and his brothers can practice with URI players then all efforts should be made to have a great relationship with the family. Having our players being able to play against and get reps against talent like that is extremely valuable to the program even if Tomas doesn't come here.

I might be mistaken, but I think that as long as its not organized by the school - like a mandated practice session or coaches present - then it is OK. Back in the day, the Boon Street summer league would get a bunch of college players, and some of the summer leagues in California at college campuses feature a mixture of high level players (high school, college, pro).

I'm not counting my Chik-fil-A local prep school star before he hatches-- for 2017 or whenever he transfers from some glorified Top 10 Program -- so, if Coach Hurley is indeed recruiting him, good luck, and at the $1.25 for gas expenses round-trip from his office to the Murphy Homestead, woo-hoo.
I'd laugh though, if Tomas wanted to make URI one of his officials just so that he and some buddies could party on Goat Island.
Personally, I'd rather invest the time and expenses in the 2017 Version of The Invisible Man.
P.S. Also, I wouldn't be shocked if he ended up at Davidson, a beautiful place, a great school, and Coach McKillop.

I don't even get the argument here. We should what, punish Tomas because his brothers went to school somewhere else? I disagree with that idea in so many ways and on so many levels that it's hard to know where to start.

SGreenwell wrote:I might be mistaken, but I also believe there is a bit of a handshake or unspoken agreement when it comes to top basketball prospects, college players and pros that they're allowed access to some of the better facilities if they're in town. Meaning, when EC or Hassan or whoever goes home for the summer, they're probably working out at a college gym or a good high school or something equivalent. It seems to be reciprocal almost everywhere - Lamar Odom worked out at URI this past year, and a bunch of pro players go to UCLA and USC for summer pick-up games - so I don't see what the issue is for that reason as well.

You're right on this - I used to date a girl at Virginia Tech, whenever I went down there during the offseason the coaching staff would let me use their practice facilities during off hours. Likewise, the Murphy brothers used to come by URI and work out with us during the summer. They're great guys and as others have said, it can only help having players like that come by to change things up. It gets repetitive playing with the same guys everyday...same as having older players who are overseas come back for pickup.

Regardless of whether Tomas comes to URI or not, having the Murphys around is a net benefit to the program.

TruePoint wrote:I don't even get the argument here. We should what, punish Tomas because his brothers went to school somewhere else? I disagree with that idea in so many ways and on so many levels that it's hard to know where to start.

Haha I thought I was the only one who had clue here. No idea what we are talking about. I'm pretty sure Hurley gets it. Of course you recruit him and of course you let him visit as much as possible. And if he goes somewhere else who cares. There's a couple scorned lovers in here

I admit that I am a mean and vindictive person....

Tomas was at the STAC game with two of his buddies, FWIW.