The upcoming FIBA Americas Championship, held in Mexico City from Aug. 31-Sept. 12, could result in Canada clinching a berth in the 2016 Olympic Games. Kentucky freshman Jamal Murray is currently in camp with the team trying out and it’s looking like he could make the team as the backup point guard, according to a report from TSN’s Josh Lewenburg.
While Toronto Raptors point guard Cory Joseph will be the starting lineup for Canada this summer, Murray has come on strong in recent months, first with a dominating performance at the Nike Hoop Summit in April and most recently, leading Canada to a silver medal at the Pan American Games in Toronto three weeks ago. That has put Canada in a position where they would like the 18-year-old Murray to compete with them through the middle of September, which cuts into his early class time at Kentucky. The fall semester begins on Aug. 26.
Missing early classes could put Murray’s eligibility in limbo and Canadian Basketball officials have been in contact with Kentucky head coach John Calipari about the matter.
This wouldn’t have seemed like an issue a couple of months ago, but credit Murray for elevating his play enough to compete for the senior national team. With a lot of young talent on its national team, led by recent Kansas wing Andrew Wiggins, Canada Basketball could be putting a nice core together and they obviously see Murray as a future part of that team.
I hope that things get resolved so that Murray can compete with the senior national team. It’s not great that he would miss some class time early in the year, but if some kind of arrangement could be made to let him play, he’d be getting some great experience competing for a spot in the Olympics with Canada.