It's official - former CWOSSA Star Jamal Murray Chooses Kentucky

Former Grand River Renegade Jamal Murray, who played his last two years of high school at Orangeville Prep, made his future official on Wednesday by signing with the Kentucky Wildcats of the NCAA's Southeastern Conference.

For those that missed it, here's the announcement that aired live on TSN:



It was widely known that, after reclassifying, Kentucky and Oregon led the potential suitors in the "Murray Sweepstakes".

A 6'5 guard, Murray joins a Kentucky team that went 38-1 last year, although the 'Cats will lose several pieces in tonight's NBA draft, most notably Karl-Anthony Towns who is projected to be drafted first or second overall.  Trey Lyles, another Canadian who was a key member of UK's 2014-15 team, is a projected lottery pick.

No matter for Kentucky, as the 'Cats will reload with a solid recruiting class keyed by Murray and Isaiah Briscoe, both "5 star" PG recruits.  Returning PG Tyler Ulis will add to the stacked UK backcourt, where some are suggesting that Coach John Calipari may invoke a "positionless basketball" lineup with Ulis, Murray and Briscoe all in the backcourt at the same time.

SNY's Adam Zagoria, in the post linked above, calls Murray "one of the best point guards — if not the best — on the planet not currently in the NBA."

Needless to say, it's been an astronomical climb for a kid from Kitchener who began his career at Grand River Collegiate, where we saw some of what he was capable of during the 2011-12 season, including this wild finish against Cameron Heights in the WCSSAA Semifinals, where Murray hit a game-tying three-pointer with about :40 left followed by a steal and the game winning buzzer beater:





It was during the summer following his grade nine season that Murray's stock began to rapidly rise; he played Senior basketball for the Rens in grade 10 (a season that was mostly wiped away due to the work-to-rule action by local teachers).  By then, the prep schools were clamoring for his services but Murray decided to stay close to home, in Orangeville, Ontario.

In his announcement, Murray made specific mention of how proud he is to represent Canada, and how playing in Canada presented a "unique opportunity" for him.

"A lot of people said 'I can't do what I'm doing here in Canada'," said Murray during his announcement, "but my response was, 'you can do anything you want as long as you put your mind to it."

Murray's Kentucky career will kick off the weekend of November 13th and 14th at Rupp Arena with home games against Albany and NJIT.  His first "big test" of his freshman season will come November 17th, when Kentucky takes on Duke as part of the "Champions Classic" at the United Center in Chicago.