Sunday, May 1, 2011
Posted: 10:25 a.m.
By Ryan Feldman
CSNPhilly.com Contributor
When Aaric Murray was an elite high school recruit, West Virginia was one of his top two choices. But the 6-foot-10 center ultimately chose La Salle. Now, Murray is leaving La Salle and transferring to West Virginia.
Murray, who decided more than a month ago that he would transfer and had been weighing his options ever since then, announced on his Twitter account on Saturday that he had chosen West Virginia.
Murray tweeted, Im the newest member of the west sic Virginia team! When Marreese Speights of the Sixers asked Murray via Twitter, O thats where u going sic, Murray responded, Yo yeah bro.
According to NCAA rules, Murray will have to sit out the entire 2011-12 season. He will be eligible to play for West Virginia beginning in fall 2012. He will have two years of eligibility remaining.
The choice coming out of high school to attend La Salle was a bit shocking to most. After all, Murray was ranked No. 35 in the class of 2009 by Rivals.com and, along with West Virginia, he had also received scholarship offers from fellow Big East schools Pittsburgh, Rutgers and Villanova. Instead, he chose the local route and became an Explorer under the guidance of John Giannini.
Murray attended high school at Glen Mills, which is located in Chester County.
Murray spent two years at La Salle. After averaging 12.2 points and 6.6 rebounds per game as a freshman, he averaged 15.2 points and 7.7 rebounds per game this season.
Murrays time at La Salle included its fair share of drama. Giannini benched him three times this season. There were clearly some problems between the coach and the star player that caused turmoil.
Despite having a top-50 recruit for two years, Giannini wasnt able to translate that into success. The Explorers were 12-18 during Murrays freshman campaign and 15-18 this season.
After Murray announced he was transferring, Giannini said in a statement, This was a very difficult decision for me, and I wish Aaric the very best for his future. I know Aaric always tried to do his best for La Salle, and we did all that we could to help him as a person and as a basketball player. We will continue to support Aaric in this process of finding another university.
West Virginia, coached by Bob Huggins, finished 21-12 overall and 11-7 in the Big East this season. The Mountaineers lost in the Sweet 16 to Kentucky after advancing to the Final Four the previous year.
The Mountaineers will lose five seniorsJohn Flowers, Joe Mazzulla, Casey Mitchell, Cam Thoroughman and Jonnie Westthis year. Junior forward Kevin Jones has entered his name into the NBA Draft, but he has until May 8 to decide if he wants to withdraw and return to school. Jones and Darryl Truck Bryant will be seniors next season.
By the time Murray is eligible, he will likely have to share the frontcourt rotation with Deniz Kilicli and Danny Jennings.
One of Huggins assistants at West Virginia is Billy Hahn, who was the head coach at La Salle from 2001-04. Hahn was forced to resign in 2004 when a women's basketball player claimed he discouraged her from reporting a rape she said occurred in April 2003 that allegedly involved one of Hahn's players.
Murray, who tweeted his announcement on Saturday while on a campus visit to West Virginia, had also visited Oklahoma State and was considering Kansas as well.
Ryan Feldman covers college basketball and the NBA Draft for his website, TheHoopsReport.com. He can be reached at rfeldman@thehoopsreport.com.