Through the 2013 NBA Draft on June 27, former Florida Gators forward Erik Murphy, the team’s leading three-point shooter last season (.453), will be keeping you up-to-date on his Path to the Draft via a weekly blog entry here on OGGOA.

Murphy got in touch with OGGOA on Friday to discuss three more workouts he participated in over the last week. He has at least five more to go, possibly more, before the process concludes next week.

Picking back up from last time I checked in, last Friday I had a workout with the Cleveland Cavaliers. It followed the same format that most of the others did, but it was definitely the hardest one due to the length, intensity and the type of drills they had us running. The focus was mostly on skill work with some shooting at the end. What stood out the most from Cleveland was that it was the nicest facility I have been in so far.

After the workout, I met with Žydrūnas Ilgauskas – the Cavs’ assistant general manager – and other members of the front office. It was a good experience all-around; I definitely had a good experience there.

I got back to Las Vegas, NV, later on Friday and took Saturday off. [Editor’s Note: Murphy is training with Impact Basketball in Las Vegas.]

On Sunday and Monday, I did some light workouts, nothing too strenuous, because I found out I was flying to Portland, OR, Monday night for a workout with the Portland Trailblazers that was added to my schedule for Tuesday.

Continue Reading » Erik Murphy – Path to 2013 NBA Draft: Workouts II

Tags: Cleveland Cavaliers, Draft, Erik Murphy, Houston Rockets, NBA, Portland Trailblazers

Through the 2013 NBA Draft on June 27, former Florida Gators forward Erik Murphy, the team’s leading three-point shooter last season (.453), will be keeping you up-to-date on his Path to the Draft via a weekly blog entry here on OGGOA.

In the middle of a week that has him working out with four different teams, Murphy got in touch with OGGOA to discuss his first four workouts and the experience he had at a Pro Day hosted by Impact Basketball in Las Vegas, NV, from May 30-31.

Just one day after my last entry, on May 25, I flew out to visit with the San Antonio Spurs. My workout with the team was scheduled for May 26, so the day I got in I just went to the gym to get some shots up and grabbed dinner. Some of the other players I was there with, we ended up watching San Antonio play Memphis that night while still at the facility. The Spurs won 104-93 in overtime, so everyone was in a good mood.

The next morning, I got up around 8 a.m., showered and ate breakfast and then went straight into an interview with members of the scouting department. Next was some on-court testing, which was a nice warm-up for the workout that started around 10:30 a.m. There were shooting drills, three-on-three play and then more shooting and skill drills. It was definitely a good day overall, and the workout went well for me.

Andy [Miller], my agent, got some great feedback from San Antonio and president R.C. Buford, who was there to see my workout.

Continue Reading » Erik Murphy – Path to 2013 NBA Draft: Workouts

Tags: Detroit Pistons, Draft, Erik Murphy, Indiana Pacers, Kenny Boynton, NBA, Orlando Magic, San Antonio Spurs

It took her a few days, but Lauren Embree found her smile again.

The jovial, outgoing and exceedingly accomplished star of the Florida Gators women’s tennis team faced the toughest stretch of her playing career one week ago while being uncharacteristically upset in a pair of singles matches within a three-day span. Her college career, which she thought could end with a third team national title and perhaps even a singles championship, came to screeching halt sooner than she, her family, teammates or coaches could ever have expected.

Entering a 2013 NCAA Tournament semifinal round showdown with Stanford on May 20, Embree had not lost as a singles competitor in dual match play. The No. 1 player in the country was 20-0 on the season, 11-0 against top 25-ranked opponents.

But none of that mattered when she lined up across from No. 13 Nicole Gibbs, who had Embree’s number from the get-go. Gibbs thwarted her 6-0, 6-1, not only earning a huge upset victory over arguably the best player in the country but also putting Florida’s season on the brink in the process.

The rest of the Gators fought hard but ultimately lost, dropping the match 4-3 to the Cardinal and getting knocked out before the finals for the first time since 2009.

Embree was understandably devastated yet had no choice but to regroup quickly as she was also competing in NCAA singles action two days later. She never could have guessed what would happen next.

Matched up against No. 21 Jacqueline Cako from Arizona State, Embree put up a better fight than she did two days earlier but was still defeated 6-3, 6-2 despite having numerous opportunities to make a run in the second set.

After a career that earned her the well-deserved nickname “Ms. Clutch,” her most recent outings left her feeling like she was anything but.

“Obviously those were not good performances,” Embree said in a conversation with OGGOA on Tuesday. “It was heartbreaking, and it’s definitely a feeling that I had my freshman year in the finals [loss]. You don’t want to ever feel like that, but it’s a part of sports and it happens.

“Starting with the [loss in dual match play] and then having to play individuals, kind of regroup and try to get my mind clear, it was obviously not the way I wanted to go out and end my college career.”

Continue Reading » Lauren Embree prepared to move on after bitter conclusion to her outstanding Florida career

Tags: Alex Cercone, Caroline Hitimana, Erik Murphy, ITA, Lauren Embree, NCAA, NCAA Tournament, Player of the Year, Roland Thornqvist, Rookie of the Year, SEC, SEC Tournament, Sofie Oyen, women's tennis

Through the 2013 NBA Draft on June 27, former Florida Gators forward Erik Murphy, the team’s leading three-point shooter last season (.453), will be keeping you up-to-date on his Path to the Draft via a weekly blog entry here on OGGOA.

Between workouts in Las Vegas, NV on Thursday, Murphy got in touch with OGGOA to discuss his experience and performance at the 2013 NBA Combine and what he has been doing to get ready for the draft over the last week.

The week leading into the combine, we kept doing what we were doing at Impact Basketball in Las Vegas. We practiced drills that we knew they would test us on at the combine and just tried to make those become second nature. I flew up there Tuesday night and by the time we got to the JW Marriott, I just relaxed and went to sleep.

Wednesday was the first day of the combine, when everybody started to arrive. I got up early in the morning and basically did all kinds of media stuff. By the time I got done with the 10-15 interviews, it was the middle of the afternoon. Some guys had team interviews afterward but that was not on my schedule for the day. I hung out, saw a bunch of guys I met and knew from over the years (Peyton Siva, Deshaun Thomas, Ryan Kelly, Mason Plumlee, Gorgui Dieng, etc.), and then went to the gym to get some shots up and get a workout in before Thursday. It is kind of a long, boring day overall.

On Thursday we woke up around 6:30 a.m. and went downstairs to a ballroom. The first thing we did was take a urine test and then we had our blood drawn – a lot of blood. Then they took all of our measurements, a process that took about a half hour. We did a quick workout and then had breakfast before actually beginning the major workout part of the combine. There were a lot of drills, some of them specific by position – ball-handling, quick shots, one-on-one, two-on-two, three-on-three, transition drills, catch-and-shoot, finishing at the rim. The workout probably lasted 60-75 minutes, and it was definitely a tough because you’re out there with a bunch of talented players.

Continue Reading » Erik Murphy – Path to 2013 NBA Draft: Combine

Tags: combine, Draft, Erik Murphy, Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Clippers, Memphis Grizzlies, NBA, San Antonio Spurs

1 » Here is Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah dancing outdoors at a house party.

2 » The Baltimore Ravens are searching for a new No. 2 receiver, and it appears as if former Florida Gators pass catcher Denote Thompson “has the inside track” on the job, according to The Baltimore Sun. “[Thompson] could sneak in there, he looks different, is fast and catches everything,” head coach John Harbaugh said. “I’ve always said, the best player will play.” Thompson thinks his athleticism and speed mean the “sky is the limit” for what he can accomplish with the Ravens. He also discussed why he struggled with the Gators and how things have changed for him. “We had a new offensive coordinator and new coaches at Florida my last year and the whole offense didn’t play well,” he said. “We were just trying to find a rhythm. But here, I think I have adjusted and I can play outside or in the slot, it doesn’t matter. A year ago, I didn’t know what to expect, but now I know what it is going to take. One of the hardest things was learning defenses, the audibles and the different coverages.”

3 » Gators forward Erik Murphy participated in the 2013 NBA Combine late last week. He measured 6’8.75” without shoes, 6’9.5” with shoes and had a 6’10.5” wingspan and 9’0” reach. Murphy also checked in at 239.8 lbs. with eight percent body fat, 8.75” hands and 9.75” hand width. Here are his on the court results: three-quarter time (3.57 seconds), lane agility time (12.19 s), modified time (2.96 s), standing leap (24.5”), maximum leap (29.5”). Murphy will check in with OGGOA later this week with his second “Path to the Draft” blog post to recap the combine, but the Orlando Sentinel reports that he had a one-hour workout with the Orlando Magic last Thursday.

4 » Greg Luca of The Alligator penned this piece back in April on Ron “Moose” Davis, the fan who can always be found behind the basket at Florida basketball games wearing a moose hat and waving a neon Speedo in hopes of distracting opposing foul shooters. Plenty has been written about Davis over the years, but this piece provides great background and a thorough look at one of the Gators’ biggest fans.

Tags: Baltimore Ravens, Chicago Bulls, combine, Deonte Thompson, Erik Murphy, Joakim Noah, NBA, NFL, Orlando Magic

Through the 2013 NBA Draft, which is set for June 27, former Florida Gators forward Erik Murphy, the team’s leading three-point shooter last season (.453), will be keeping you up-to-date on his Path to the Draft via a weekly blog entry here on OGGOA.

Between workouts in Las Vegas, NV on Thursday, which he is taking part in as preparation for next week’s 2013 NBA Combine, Murphy got in touch with OGGOA to discuss what he has been doing to get ready for the draft over the last month.

After the tournament, I took a little bit of time off, about a week and a half to just hang out, relax and unwind. I did not even meet with any agents during that time. Eventually I met with a couple people – B.J. Armstrong and Art Tellem (Wasserman Media Group), for example – with my dad, who came down, Coach [Billy] Donovan and others were there to help me. I was talking with Mark Bartelstein (Priority Sports and Entertainment) because he’s [the agent for Chandler Parsons, Bradley Beal and David Lee], but I just decided that Andy Miller (ASM Sports) was the best choice for me.

I just felt really comfortable with him. Going through the process of being with the agents, getting to know them a little more, it’s a partnership hopefully for a long time, so you want to be comfortable with the person. They’re all great and do what they do well; it was just a comfort level and getting along with him really well that made the decision pretty easy at the end.

Part of my conversation with Andy was laying out a plan for the entire process. Most of the guys Andy signs, as long as they find it agreeable, he sends them out to Las Vegas to train at Impact Basketball. I’ve actually been out here before when I was young, training for a couple weeks during the summer, but Impact is a different spot, of course. He basically set me up out here with Impact and [founder/president] Joe Abunassar.

I’ve just been out here for the last three weeks, except when I went back to school for graduation, working out every day, lifting, getting in really good shape and getting a good feel for what I’ll be doing during the combine. It’s a good idea to get comfortable with the process, get acclimated before the combine.

Continue Reading » Erik Murphy – Path to 2013 NBA Draft: Las Vegas

Tags: Billy Donovan, combine, Draft, Erik Murphy, Kenny Boynton, NBA

One of three former Florida Gators basketball players in the process of training and preparing for the pre-draft camp in Chicago, IL and the 2013 NBA Draft in June, four-year forward Erik Murphy has agreed to join ONLY GATORS Get Out Alive as a guest blogger to chronicle his entire process from now through the draft.

Murphy will check in with OGGOA each week to discuss what he is up to in his quest to raise his stock and continue his basketball-playing career on the professional level.

Readers will be able to tag along as Murphy trains privately in Las Vegas, NV, participates in the NBA’s pre-draft camp, travels across the country to meet with individual teams and is hopefully selected at some point on Thursday, June 27.

Set to graduate in May with a degree in recreation and event management, Murphy started for the second-straight year and led the Gators in three-point shooting (.453) during the 2012-13 season. He was also the team’s second-leading scorer at 12.2 points per game and was third in rebounding with 5.5 per contest.

He fought through multiple injuries (including a broken rib) and ailments throughout the campaign yet only missed a single game.

Murphy is the seventh former Florida player to guest blog for OGGOA. Offensive lineman Shannon Snell and catcher Teddy Foster currently write columns about football and baseball, respectively. Safety Josh Evans is wrapping up his tenure as a guest blogger detailing his path to the 2013 NFL Draft. Prior contributors include quarterback Danny Wuerffel (football), guard Adam Allen (basketball), and forward Chandler Parsons (basketball), who was the first to blog his path to the 2011 NBA Draft.

Keep a look out for Murphy contributions, which will begin after the NFL wraps up its draft, exclusively here on OGGOA in the coming weeks.

You can also follow Erik Murphy on Twitter by clicking here.

Tags: Draft, Erik Murphy, NBA

The three-seed Florida Gators (29-8) collapsed in their most important game of the season on Sunday as they got routed 79-59 by the four-seed Michigan Wolverines (30-7) in the Elite Eight of the 2013 NCAA Tournament at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, TX. After the game, head coach Billy Donovan and a number of his players met with the media to discuss what transpired in their failed Final Four bid.

OPENING STATEMENT

“They capitalized on our turnovers. I thought we dug ourselves a hole very early in the game. … I think in the first half we missed 11 shots within three feet of the basket. They got off to a hot start and us not being able to manufacture enough points I thought really, really dug us a hole. I thought we got the ball where we wanted to go. … But I thought our guys – to start the second half came out – we battled, we fought, but we hurt ourselves with the way we played. … I just didn’t think that we did enough things there on both ends of the floor. I thought our defense in the second half was a little bit more characteristic of the way we’ve played this year. I thought our offense in a lot of ways, because we had some very, very, I thought, good quality looks deflated us around the basket. Especially against a team that’s not a great shot blocking team.”

THIRD TIME IS NOT A CHARM

Florida became the first team in NCAA Tournament history (since the field expanded to 64 teams) to lose three-straight times in the Elite Eight. Yet while the Gators did drop the game, they did not even have the opportunity to choke it away like the previous two years because UF never led at any point in the game. In fact, once Michigan opened the contest on a 13-0 run, Florida never trailed by fewer than 11 points over the duration of the contest. It is for that reason why Donovan was not emotional after the game.

“This is a totally different feel than the last two. The last two to me we gave ourselves every opportunity to win,” he explained.

“The Butler game was an overtime game, the Louisville game was a two point game. This one we didn’t play well enough or deserve to win the game. Michigan deserved this game. They played better than us. They performed better. They did things that were necessary to beat us. The other two games I was heartbroken for our team because we were really, really close. We weren’t that close here [Sunday].”

Asked how, as a coach, it felt to lose in three-straight Elite Eights and not advance to the Final Four, Donovan brushed off those concerns. “Well, it’s not really about me. I’ve been fortunate enough to be there as a player and several times as a coach,” he said. “I feel more upset for [Kenny] Boynton, [Mike] Rosario and [Erik] Murphy, [guys] who don’t get a chance and have come so close. I’ve experienced the Final Four enough. I want our program to continue to experience it and our players.”

To their credit, the players also took the loss relatively well all things considering. Boynton kept his chin up about the situation, expressing his regrets but also his appreciation for what his teammates and coach have done for him.

Continue Reading » 3/31: Florida vs. Michigan post-game report

Tags: Big Ten, Billy Donovan, Cowboys Stadium, Elite Eight, Erik Murphy, Kenny Boynton, Michigan Wolverines, Mike Rosario, NCAA, NCAA Tournament, Patric Young, Scottie Wilbekin, Sweet 16