STrib: UNC guard could've played with a Gopher

BleedGopher

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per Marcus:

UNC guard could've played with a Gopher

North Carolina guard Kenny Williams remembers how excited he was to be part of Shaka Smart’s Virginia Commonwealth 2015 recruiting class with Jordan Murphy.

Williams and Murphy were both expecting to be impact freshmen together at VCU, but Smart changed their plans after he left for the Texas job two years ago Sunday.

“It kind of shocked us when it happened,” Williams said from the Final Four. “I texted back and forth with (Murphy and Tevin Mack) when it happened to see what they were going to do. We talked about it a little bit. We all kind of had a mindset about getting our release. We wished each other luck and were gone from there. It kind of hit us all hard when he left. It was a rough time.”

It turned out to be best thing for Murphy and Williams, not so much for Mack.

The 6-foot-6 forward from South Carolina followed Smart to Texas. He averaged a team-best 14.8 points in the first 15 games for the Longhorns this season, but he left the program after being suspended twice.

Murphy, a 6-6 forward, signed with the Gophers and ended up earning All-Big Ten freshman team honors last season. He took a step forward with Minnesota this year, earning All-Big Ten honors on an NCAA tournament team.

“I had seen him play when we all signed,” Williams said of Murphy. “I knew he had a great game. It’s kind of no surprise now seeing what he’s doing on the court.”

Williams, a 6-foot-4 sophomore from Virginia, averaged 6.2 points and 3.3 rebounds this season. He was arguably the team’s best perimeter defender. He suffered a right knee injury in practice in mid-February and was lost for the season. But Williams has enjoyed the Final Four experience for the second straight season and seeing teammates get a chance to play for a national title again.

“When you come here that’s kind of what you expect to make tournament runs and to win a championship,” he said. “I got lucky. We were just talking about it in practice, being appreciative of being able to be here again. Some people don’t get to go once. And we’re here two years in a row.”

Gophers coaches at Final Four

Three former Gophers coaches are at the Final Four with Monson, Clem Haskins and Tubby Smith. But Minnesota's current coach Richard Pitino decided not to make the trip to Phoenix.

"I don’t usually go unless a team I’m coaching or Louisville is in it," he said. "I’d rather stay home and spend some time with the family."

http://www.startribune.com/dan-monson-says-gonzaga-can-get-back-to-ncaa-title-game/418010113/

Go Gophers!!
 


Where is Tevan Mack going?
 





I had no idea Kenny Williams was ever committed to VCU. I remember Pitino offered him, so I figured the article would be about how a guy with a Gopher offer just won a national championship.
 


VCU could have become Gonzaga of the East Coast had Shaka stayed.
 






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