Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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WHERE HAVE YOU GONE? transition in Irish basketball history, Matt Doherty (2000) had a one-year stopover before taking the post at his alma mater, North Carolina, and then Mike Brey began what has now been a 16-year run. Prior to a 12-year NBA career in which he played for six teams, Mur- phy received an excellent primer in college on adjusting to different per- sonalities and schemes. "I enjoyed playing for all three," Murphy said. "Each was totally differ- ent and it kind of prepared me actually for the NBA because I had a new coach every year — maybe eight or 10, so it was a piece of cake. "Coach Doherty ran the Carolina stuff, Coach MacLeod a lot of pro, quick-hitting things, and then Coach Brey kind of let us play. … There's nothing better than that. You're able to be a basketball player and you're not a robot. It's huge. "Beyond the offensive schemes, it was different personalities to adjust to and it helped me in the long run." He led Notre Dame in scoring and rebounds in each of his three sea- sons, averaging 21.8 points and 9.2 rebounds per game as a junior, 22.7 points and 10.3 rebounds per contest his sophomore year, and 19.2 points and 9.9 boards per outing as a fresh- man. He also became a Big East icon. Murphy is one of four players to win Big East Player of the Year twice. The others were Chris Mullin (St. John's), Patrick Ewing (Georgetown) and Rich- ard Hamilton (Connecticut). He also is the lone player in conference history to win player of the year and rookie of the year accolades in consecutive seasons, and he became the second Big East player to ever lead the conference in scoring in back-to-back campaigns, and the first to average a double-dou- ble. The decision to turn pro after his junior year was not a simple one. In addition to seniors Graves and Swa- nagan still in Murphy's class, the Irish had added two more future NBA players — Ryan Humphrey and Matt Carroll — in the lineup. Plus incom- ing McDonald's All-American Chris Thomas was enrolling that fall to play point guard. That group had a poten- tial Final Four run in it. Murphy declared for the 2001 NBA Draft following his junior season Ringing In The New Troy Murphy became the eighth member of Notre Dame's basketball Ring of Honor that began in 2010. Chronologically, it opened with Luke Haran- gody (2010) and then Ruth Riley later that year, followed by Austin Carr (2011), Adrian Dantley (2012), Skylar Diggins (2013), head coach Rich- ard "Digger" Phelps (2014) and Tom Hawkins (2015). If there is a "Final Four" that is conspicuously absent, it would include Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame members Edward "Moose" Krause (1930-34) and basketball coach George Keogan (1923-43); All-American Dick Rosenthal (1951- 54), who also served as his alma mater's ath- letics director from 1987-94; and three-time All-American Kelly Tripucka (1977-81). Rosenthal and Tripucka both led back-to-back Elite Eight runs, while Tripucka also registered a Final Four berth. — Lou Somogyi