It looks like Jamal Murray’s home country could be on the outside looking in when it comes to him playing in the FIBA Americas in early September.
Mike DeCourcy of The Sporting News writes there is a scheduling conflict when the tournament is played and when school begins at the University of Kentucky.
It doesn’t sound like Murray will be making the trip to Brazil to me.
Between Aug. 31 and Sept. 12, Canada will participate in the FIBA Americas Championship, which serves as the regional qualifier for the 2016 Olympic Games. Canada very much wants its surging talent pool to be represented in Rio and could have such NBA players as Andrew Wiggins, Nik Stauskas, Cory Joseph and Tristan Thompson available in addition to the players who earned a Pan-Am silver medal. The top two teams in FIBA Americas qualify for the Olympics; two semifinal losers enter a qualification tournament staged in advance of the Games.
Murray’s presence for FIBA Americas previously did not seem to be essential, and that was a good thing because the University of Kentucky begins fall semester classes on Aug. 26. If he is selected to represent Canada through the end of the tournament, then he could potentially miss two weeks of classes. But after he played so well in the Pan Ams, it’s possible Canada would not be able to field its best team without him.
Kentucky coach John Calipari told Sporting News he provided Canada Basketball officials with a “drop-dead” date Murray would have to arrive on campus to begin the fall term and be eligible to compete in NCAA basketball for the full season.
“We’ll see if there’s any way he can do both, because that’s what I want,” Calipari said. “The kid absolutely wants to play for the national team, and we want that. But the NCAA has really clear guidelines on this.
John Calipari also spoke about Murray’s addition to the 2015-16 roster and it sounds like he is extremely happy he won’t have to run a bunch of plays.
“Those games were huge games. He is playing games that matter, and the kid is becoming better and more confident,” Calipari said. “It changes who we are, like real fast. We’re different now. Now you have 2-3 guys you can play off their instincts. You don’t have to run 6,000 plays. It’s good stuff.”
Sounds like a lot of dribble drive this season.
