Aaric Murray: WVU Center Cut from U.S. Basketball Team

When most college students are at home visiting family and friends or down at the shore enjoying the sand and sun, Aaric Murray was playing basketball.

The transfer from La Salle spent the summer practicing and working on his game as he tried out for the US Basketball team in the World University Games.

Murray had made the first cut when the initial roster of 21 collegiate players from across the country was cut to just 14.

Then on August 3rd, the team was cut to a 12-man roster, of which, Murray was not included.

That roster does include: Scoop Jardine (Syracuse), Draymond Green (Michigan State), Marcus Denmon (Missouri), Ashton Gibbs (Pitt), Tim Abromaitis (Notre Dame), Greg Mangano (Yale), Trevor Mbakwe (Minnesota), Darius Miller (Kentucky), Ray McCallum (Detroit Mercy), Orlando Johnson (UCSB), John Jenkins (Vanderbilt) and JaMychal Green (Alabama).

Murray had transferred from La Salle after deciding it would be a better choice of school for him to get some additional exposure.

Unfortunately, due to NCAA player transfer regulations, he will have to sit on the bench and wait out this season, but he hopes to be on the court next year. He will also not be able to join the rest of his team in August when they travel to Italy for some exhibition games.

In his two years at La Salle, Murray averaged 13 points, seven rebounds and two steals per game. Toward the end of his second season, he began playing much better, almost averaging a double-double for the Explorers.

His 6'10" frame will add much needed height to a Mountaineers squad who could use some taller players to match up with the other star players of the powerhouses in the Big East conference.

Despite having to wait another season, Aaric Murray is showing he could end up being great.

By that time the Mountaineers may be back to running things the way Ole Bob Huggins, likes to run offense, fast.

Although in the past few seasons we've seen a very slow, grind-it-out type of game plan by the Mountaineers, I fully expect the coach to get back to what won him so many games when he coached at Cincinnati.

Murray seems to have come to appreciate the game more after participating in the World University Games tryouts, hopefully this will encourage him to encourage his teammates to come together and accomplish the ultimate goal of bringing home a championship to Morgantown.