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Troy Murphy Enters Ring Of Honor

Murphy, with Notre Dame director of athletics Jack Swarbrick, joined the Ring of Honor.
Murphy, with Notre Dame director of athletics Jack Swarbrick, joined the Ring of Honor.

The Notre Dame record books show that in Troy Murphy’s three seasons at the school, the men’s basketball team made it to the NCAA Tournament one time and won only one game.

History shows that over the long run, Murphy’s impact was much more far reaching.

On Saturday, 15 years after his final game with the Fighting Irish before heading to the NBA after his junior year, Murphy’s impact was honored at halftime during Notre Dame’s victory versus Boston College at the Purcell Pavilion. He became the eighth member to be so honored, following six players — Luke Harangody and Ruth Riley in 2010, Austin Carr in 2011, Adrian Dantley in 2012, Skylar Diggins in 2013 and Tom Hawkins in 2015 — plus former men’s head coach Richard “Digger” Phelps in 2014.

From a pure numbers standpoint, Murphy had few peers in Notre Dame lore, but the honor was just as much about helping bring the Notre Dame basketball operation out from the wilderness. The 1990s were the darkest days in Notre Dame basketball annals. From 1991-99 it was 118-144, finishing under .500 in six of those nine seasons. It finally had to acknowledge that its independence status was destroying it internally. Thus, it joined the powerful Big East for the 1995-96 season.

Yet even with former Big East Player of the Year Pat Garrity at power forward in 1997-98, Notre Dame finished his senior year 13-14, including 7-11 in the Big East. Minus Garrity in 1998-99, even worse seemed on the way.

That’s where the freshman class with Murphy, David Graves and Harold Swanagan (current director of basketball operations for the Irish) came in. The 1999 Big East Rookie of the Year and then two-time Big East Player of The Year Murphy began a renaissance that helped the Irish win the Big East West title in his junior season (2000-01) with an 11-5 mark, receive the school’s first NCAA Tournament bid in 11 years and win its first such postseason contest in 12 years.

In the program’s darkest days, then Irish head coach John MacLeod found his beacon in the 6-11 Murphy from Delbarton High in Morristown, N.J. Murphy was a rare top-50 prospect interested in Notre Dame, but his stock rose immensely after being named the MVP in the prestigious Capital Classic All-Star game in which he scored 18 points and grabbed 21 rebounds. NBA legend and the late Moses Malone presented him the award — apropos because of Murphy’s hard-hat, blue-collar style similar to Malone.

“It helped a lot because I don’t think I played against the strongest competition during my high school years,” Murphy recalled. “It gave me the confidence to know I could excel at that level.”

He opted for Notre Dame over Vanderbilt, another stellar academic school (both of his parents are retired school teachers), for several reasons. One, instant playing time with Garrity needing a successor. Two, MacLeod’s history as a coach in the NBA for nearly two decades. And third, Notre Dame joining the Big East was a tipping point.

“It would have been tough,” Murphy said of choosing Notre Dame had it not joined the conference. “I liked the Big East — that’s what I grew up on in New Jersey — and I liked the physical style of play. It also gave my parents a chance to see me play more often at Seton Hall, Rutgers, St. John’s, Syracuse, Villanova, Georgetown …

“It was the opportunity to be part of building something. Notre Dame had a great tradition previously, and I believed in Coach MacLeod and what he was selling.”

Alas, Murphy had a unique distinction of having three different head coaches in his three seasons of college basketball: MacLeod (1999) was fired after nine seasons during a difficult 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, Murphy received an excellent primer in college on adjusting to different personalities and schemes.

“I enjoyed playing for all three,” Murphy said. “Each was totally different and it actually kind of prepared me 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, to be able to go out there and play. 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.”

Murphy played 12 seasons in the NBA.
Murphy played 12 seasons in the NBA. (BGI/Andrew Ivins)

He led Notre Dame in scoring and rebounds in each of his three seasons, averaging 21.8 points and 9.2 rebounds as a junior, 22.7 points and 10.3 rebounds in his sophomore year, and 19.2 points and 9.9 boards as a freshman. He also became a Big East icon.

• He is one of four players to be named the Big East Player of the Year twice. The others were Chris Mullin (St. John’s), Patrick Ewing (Georgetown) and Richard Hamilton (Connecticut).

• Murphy is the lone player in conference history to win player of the year and rookie of the year accolades in consecutive seasons.

• He became the second player in league history to lead the conference in scoring in back-to-back campaigns, and the first to average a double-double — 21.7 points and 10.3 rebounds in conference play — when he recorded that feat during his sophomore season in 1999-2000.

The decision to turn pro after his junior year was not a simple one. In addition to seniors Graves and Swanagan still in Murphy’s class, the Irish had added two more future NBA players — Ryan Humphrey and Matt Carroll — into the lineup. Plus incoming McDonald’s All-American Chris Thomas was enrolling that fall to play point guard. That group had a potential Final Four run in it.

Murphy declared for the 2001 NBA Draft following his junior season and was the 14th overall pick by the Golden State Warriors. He played 12 seasons in the NBA before retiring in November 2012. Murphy saw action in 729 contests (starting 482), and averaged 10.8 points and 7.8 rebounds per game.

“Unfortunately, with the way the NBA goes, you get almost penalized for staying,” Murphy said. “They had a lot of high school kids that year who came out [three of the first four selections were high school players Kwame Brown, Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry, with European Pau Gasol the other]. It was based on potential, and at that time the longer you stayed in college, the further back you kind of fell.

“I had to take advantage of the opportunity to go, I felt the time was right and went for it. I have no regrets. I had a wonderful experience here. It was time for me to go and see what I could do in the NBA.”

According to Basketball-Reference.com., Murphy made $66 million during his NBA career and averaged a double-double in points and rebounds in five different seasons. Along with LaPhonso Ellis, Murphy is the lone Notre Dame player recruited since 1978 to average double-figure scoring in the NBA.

Earning His Degree

After retiring from the NBA and living in New York City at the time, Murphy used 2013 to “train” for admission into Ivy League school Columbia, located in NYC. He needed to take an entrance exam, so he hired a tutor, brought SAT books, and reportedly studied 25 hours a week for a couple of months while taking nearly two-dozen practice exams.

Once he was admitted, the competitive drive on the hardwood for the now 35-year-old Murphy was transferred into the classroom.

“[Studying] was a difficult thing for me to do while playing,” he admitted. “… I appreciated it so much more going back. My mind was filled with basketball and trying to maximize whatever I could to make it to the next level. When that finished, your mind is more mature and your mind can see things differently.”

He just recently finished his degree requirements in sociology, even making the Dean’s List while earning a 3.8 grade-point average (4.0 scale) one of his semesters while taking classes in Organizing Innovation, Societal Adaptations To Terrorism, Introduction to Islamic Civilization and Spanish.

Still single, Murphy is unsure what the future holds for him, but life is good while living in California’s Malibu Beach while also having partaken in a relatively frugal lifestyle despite his high earnings.

“That was a driving factor for me,” said Murphy of his top priority the past two years to receive his college degree. “… In the NBA you get a certain mentality. Going back to school puts you in a different kind of mentality. I think I kind of transitioned out of that. I’m glad I had the experience and went back to school to get a different perspective.”

On the basketball court, he did his own schooling of many an opponent.

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