Caleb Murphy enters NBA draft, will remain in transfer portal
A rough year for USF men’s basketball went from bad to worse Monday as freshman guard Caleb Murphy entered the transfer portal, according to multiple reports.
After initially deciding to transfer, Murphy announced Thursday that he would also be putting in his name in the 2022 NBA draft on his Instagram. He also decided to keep his name in the portal and maintain his college eligibility.
Murphy was one of the program’s highest-rated recruits when he first arrived in Tampa for the 2020-21 season. After being named to the AAC All-Freshman team last year, he led the Bulls (8-23) in scoring in his second year with the team, averaging 11.4 points per game.
He also finished the season as USF’s assists leader with 105.
Coach Brian Gregory will likely have to go through the difficult task of replacing his two best scorers as he also loses senior Javon Greene, who averaged 8.8 points per game and used up his last year of eligibility with the Bulls.
Despite the immense amount of potential that Murphy showed throughout his time at USF, he couldn’t flourish into the type of game changer that most people expected from the four-star recruit. He never shot better than 20% from three-point range, which handicapped him a bit offensively.
Nevertheless, Gregory and the program will lose not only Murphy’s experience, but also some much needed continuity for a team that had 10 new players this past season.
Murphy is the second player to enter the transfer portal joining sophomore forward Jalyn McCreary, who chose to explore his options after a single season at USF.
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