NEW YORK — Alex Murphy re-classified from the class of 2012 to bypass his final year of high school and become a member of Duke’s 2011 recruiting class.
Yet it certainly appears that the 6-foot-8 Murphy will redshirt this season and actually start his college career in 2012.
“It’s still to be determined but a redshirt is most likely that’s going to be the plan,” Murphy told SNY.tv after No. 5 Duke beat Washington, 86-80, Saturday at Madison Square Garden.
Murphy said he was actually looking forward to redshirting in order to prepare and get stronger for next season when senior Miles Plumlee will have graduated and junior Mason Plumlee could be in the NBA.
“I’m excited about it,” he said. “If it does go into the works, I think having that extra year to just sort of take a back seat and watch this team and watch some of the older guys, and then also taking this year for myself to get stronger and just get more accustomed to the game with speed and stuff like that. And just working on my own game as well. So an extra year, it can’t hurt.”
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski previously said no official decision would be made about Murphy or 6-11 fellow freshman Marshall Plumlee until after the season. Neither has played during the regular season.
“You don’t make a decision like that now,” he told FayObserver.com earlier this year. “There’s no such thing as redshirting a guy until the end of the season. There is no mechanism like that. You have to wait until the end of the season. Then, if he hasn’t played, then you ask for a redshirt.”
