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October 29, 2000

Murphy downplays latest honor

By TOM NOIE

Junior Troy Murphy is much more excited about the upcoming season than being named Big East Preseason Player of the Year (ISR Photo/JOE RAYMOND)

A steady stream of reporters approached Notre Dame junior All-America Troy Murphy last Wednesday, all wanting answers.

How--many clutching microphones, notepads and tape recorders wondered--did it feel to be named the 2000-01 Big East preseason player of the year?

Those who know well of Murphy's persona should know better than to pose such a query. The power forward had an answer ready and waiting during Big East media day at Madison Square Garden in New York.

"It's nice, but I don't think about it," Murphy repeated at least a dozen times. "It's just a name on a piece of paper."

Murphy was also selected to the preseason All-Big East first team. Should he duplicate as the conference's top player, Murphy would join Pittsburgh's Charles Smith, Patrick Ewing of Georgetown and former St. John's sharpshooter Chris Mullin as the lone repeat winners.

A year ago, Murphy became the first player in league history to lead the league in scoring and rebounding. Individual honors, at least for now, mean little to Murphy.

"Once you've done it once," he said, "you want to do something new."

Like what?

For starters, Murphy knows his collegiate career will not be complete without a trip to the NCAA Tournament. Notre Dame won 22 games and advanced to the Postseason NIT a year ago, something that's already a memory for Murphy. Irish players earned honorary watches for their NIT run, but you'd never know it looking at Murphy's bare wrist.

"I don't know where that is," Murphy said. "I think I buried it somewhere."

Popular party

While some players leafed through the league media guide or caught a quick nap, Notre Dame's trio of Murphy, junior small forward David Graves and senior point guard Martin Ingelsby were kept busy for much of the hour set aside to speak with assorted players during the Big East media day.

It was different from two years ago, when almost nobody spoke with former Irish players Phil Hickey and Antoni Wyche.

"We're stepping into the national spotlight which is where we belong," Graves said. "It reflects upon what we've built here."

A native of Lexington, Ky., Graves could do without the maniacal pace of Manhattan, which moves a bit quicker than life in the Blue Grass State.

"Too metropolitan for me," Graves said.

Rave review

St. John's coach Mike Jarvis, who predicted last January that Murphy would be in the NBA this

MURPHY

season, offered plenty of praise after working with him this summer.

Jarvis served as head coach for Murphy and the USA Select Team that played an exhibition game against the USA Olympic Team in Hawaii on Sept. 2.

"The worst part about coaching Troy Murphy is you can only have him for a week instead of a career," said Jarvis. "He is every bit the person that I had hoped he would be -- dedicated, hard-working, team-oriented -- a nice guy to be around."

All may not have been perfect in paradise. Murphy indicated that there are two games circled on his calendar -- the Feb. 14 game at Rutgers and the Feb. 5 Joyce Center visit from St. John's.

Bathroom break

Notre Dame is not the lone Big East school with aspirations of returning to the NCAA Tournament this season.

Georgetown, like the Irish, was an NIT team last spring, a fact Hoya coach Craig Esherick won't let his players forget.

Esherick hung an NIT banner in the team's bathroom.

"Coach Esherick has ways of getting to us," said Georgetown guard Kevin Braswell. "You always see it. We don't want to be there this year."

Garden party

Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese announced that the league has signed an agreement with Madison Square Garden to keep the league's postseason tournament in the "World's Most Famous Arena" the next 11 years.

"The Big East conference has been a very important part of the Garden," said MSG President and CEO David Checketts. "It was a priority for us to lock up this event."

From the baseline

Notre Dame's basketball traveling party returned from New York late last Wednesday afternoon before head coach Mike Brey held tryouts that evening for potential walk-ons to this season's team.

Brey has been flooded with e-mail inquiries from Notre Dame students over the possibility of adding non-scholarship players.

"We may not add somebody right away," Brey said. "We may not add anybody at all."

Notre Dame currently carries two walk-ons -- guard Charles Thomas and forward Hans Rasmussen. Five walk-ons suited up last season.