USD Loses Two Players

According to other WCC boards, Ray Murdock and Josh Miller have left USD. And judging by their official roster, it looks like it's true:

http://usdtoreros.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/usd-m-baskbl-mtt.html

This is a big loss for the Toreros. Murdock is a really good, solid all-around player and was easily one of their top players this year. He had missed a few games due to injury, but still... I'm pretty shocked by this one.

Miller was a RS Freshman who didn't play much... not as surprised by this one, especially since he was one of Holland's recruits.

San Diego was already undermanned (they've been playing walk-ons pretty regularly), and losing Murdock will really hurt their chances in the WCC. Also, they just dropped a game at home to CS-Bakersfield (jeesh, what a pain in the WCC's butt - they just blew out LMU... we better be careful when they come up here in February), with Brandon Johnson out with injury. If Johnson doesn't come back in time for this weekend, yikes... USD might be in trouble.

Anyway... not sure where Murdock will end up and I know that intra-conference transfers don't really fly, but hey - I would take him as a Pilot in heart beat.

Murdock was definitely not one of USD's top players this year. He started at the beginning of the year, but he became probably the 4th guy off the bench the last couple weeks. He never seemed to live up to his ability and showed a real lack of motivation on the court. Grier has been playing the talented freshman a lot lately (Jones, Ginty, Johnson, Houston), and so Murdock was barely seeing the court. If this frees up a scholarship, it's a good move for USD because I don't think that they had any left to offer (no seniors on the team.) Murdock still has talent, so he can be a good player at another mid-major or could possibly be a top player at a small D1 school.

Miller was unlikely to see any playing time, so no surprise about him leaving.

I did read in an article that both were planning on staying in school at USD which is an interesting decision. Usually when a player leaves the team, they don't remain at the university unless they are close to graduation (which neither are).

Brandon Johnson was hobbled yesterday, but he still played. Definitely struggled, but USD still beat USF. The Dons are sure down this year. Toreros apparently played one of their worst games of the season.