Boys’ basketball: ‘Little guys’ give it a go

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For every Roy Williams or Billy Donovan in the stands at the various Las Vegas prep showcases this week, there are two or three Tim Murphys.

Murphy is an assistant coach at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, a team that ranks low on the name-recognition scale and must attempt to unearth so-called sleeper prospects.

As he sat in the stands at Foothill High, Murphy watched a player from Texas put on an impressive display. “We’re not going to get involved with him, but Kentucky, Kansas and those guys will,” Murphy said. “We’re looking at different people.”

Is it frustrating to watch top players and know that you can’t land them?

“I wouldn’t say it’s frustrating,” Murphy said. “It’s just a reality of the business. We’ll give it a go until we get a ‘No’ from somebody. But there’s a lot of players here in Las Vegas and a lot of teams. Sifting through it all is just what we’ve been doing for a whole career, 25 years in coaching.”

--Ben Bolch