Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboy Basketball Inks Three
November 09, 2011 | Cowboy Basketball
Nov. 9, 2011
Stillwater, Okla. — Three players have signed National Letters of Intent with the Oklahoma State Cowboy Basketball team, it was announced today by head coach Travis Ford. All three players will enter OSU for the 2012-13 academic year.
"We're very excited about all three signees," Ford said. "All three have very distinctive skills, but they all have something in common. They're all high-character guys that love winning. They love to play the game. All three of them are gym rats and live in the gym. All three of these guys really fit my personality and I'm excited about them."
Marcus Smart, a 6-4, 220-pound wing out of Marcus High School in Flower Mound, Texas, is a unanimous five-star recruit and a unanimous top-15 player nationally. Clark Francis of HoopScoop has Smart rated as the No. 2 player in the country. The Texas Gatorade Player of the Year averaged 15.1 points, 9.2 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 2.5 steals per game last season as a junior. Smart chose the Cowboys over a host of schools, including North Carolina, Kansas, Stanford, Arizona, Texas, Marquette, Oklahoma, Missouri and Baylor.
"Marcus Smart is a guy who can play the one (point guard), two (shooting guard), three (small forward) or four (power forward). He's just an overall winner. He does everything. He plays at a level of energy that hasn't been matched by many people that I've seen. He's the ultimate competitor. He can really shoot it for his size, he'll get down there and bang it, he's athletic, he can rebound, and he does all these things for his high school team. He might play the point for a while, he might play the two for a while, he might go down there and post for a while. He's the most versatile player in the class of 2012. You ask anyone, and they all say, 'he's a winner and can do so many different things to help you win'. He's a great leader, and it's very contagious."
Phil Forte (for-TAY), a 5-11, 165-pound guard and high school teammate of Smart, is a versatile guard who can play the point or off-guard position. He averaged 17.2 points per game while connecting on 120 three-pointers his junior season. He is a three-star recruit and was ranked as the the No. 27 point guard in the country according to Scout.com. He is also a three-star prospect according to Rivals.com. Forte received scholarship offers from several Big 12 schools, including Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma and Texas Tech.
"Phillip is probably THE premier shooter in the country," said Ford. "I have not seen a close second. He can really shoot, which is his number one strength. His other strengths are that he's really, really strong with the ball in his hands. He can create and is a really good ball handler. When I watched him play this summer, the better the competition was, the better he played. And his AAU team played against THE best competition in the country. It was just impressive to watch him raise the level of his game all summer long. He's used to winning. He wakes up every morning and before he goes to school, he goes to the gym. Phillip is a winner and has always been a winner. I look forward to coaching him every day."
The Flower Mound Marcus duo led their team to the Texas Class 5A state championship with a 40-38 victory over Garland Lakeview Centennial this past March. The Marauders finished with a 39-1 record, just one year after finishing 37-3 and falling to Fort Bend Bush 45-43 in the title game when Smart and Forte were both sophomores. Smart was named the MVP of the 2011 state championship, recording 16 points, 11 rebounds, four steals and two assists in the title game. Forte scored 14 points and dished out five assists in a semifinal win over Fort Bend Hightower.
"First of all, they're both unbelievable individuals," said Flower Mound Marcus associate head coach Kenny Boren. "They've worked above and beyond to get where they are today. Phillip makes between 700-900 shots a day … makes, not shoots, and that's every day. Marcus is the same way. All that hard work over the years has really paid off for them on this special day. There's no other way to explain it, except for the word 'winners'. They've won their whole life, whether it be on the AAU team, their summer-league team, or their school teams. They're unbelievably hard-working kids and they are winners."
Kamari (kuh-MARR-ee) Murphy, a 6-8, 210-pound forward originally from Brooklyn, N.Y., is spending a post-graduate year at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. Murphy spent the previous two years playing for Lincoln High School in Brooklyn — the same school that produced Stephon Marbury, Sebastian Telfair and Lance Stephenson. Murphy averaged 17 points and more than 10 rebounds per game as a senior, helping lead the Railsplitters to the PSAL Class-AA title game as a senior and the Brooklyn regular-season crown and borough title.
"Kamari is an ultra-athletic player with a very high motor, another guy who gets raves from his coaches on how hard he works every single day," Ford said. "They say he never has an off day as far as effort. He's an incredible young man who's got a great attitude. I think he's got a great upside as far as his athleticism, his length at 6-8 or 6-9, and how he fits our system. He can knock down the 15-foot jump shot with consistency. He does have to continue to work on his low-post game, but he does have a low-post game. The way we play, he could possibly be one of the premier shot blockers because he's athletic, he runs hard and has an extremely high motor. He's prepping (going to prep school) for a year which is only going to help him get bigger and stronger and come in here ready to play."
Murphy, a three-star prospect according to Rivals.com, selected Oklahoma State after being recruited by Florida, Miami, Auburn, Missouri, Pittsburgh, Arizona and Connecticut.
"Oklahoma State has everything that I was looking for in a college," Murphy said. "The facilities are great and the team is supported by the community. When talking to Coach Ford, it felt like I was with friends and family already."
