Denise Murphy expects her son Taran Buie to be back on the court playing basketball soon.
She just doesn’t know for what school.
After being suspended from the Penn State men’s basketball team at the end of December, Buie’s future is very cloudy. Part of the uncertainty is his status with Penn State, and Murphy admitted she doesn’t know if he will be accepted back with the team.
“I don’t want to say that Penn State is out of the question,” Murphy said Sunday. “Taran would like to stay at Penn State, but I don’t know if that’s in the cards.”
Murphy said she’s unaware of interest from other schools at this point and unsure if other colleges are allowed to talk to Buie, who is still on Penn State’s roster.
In the meantime, Murphy said she just wants her son to finish up the year at Penn State, saying Buie owes it to the school, the community and himself to prove that he’s more than what he has presented thus far.
After the year is over, Buie will address his basketball future.
“We really haven’t discussed it,” Murphy said. “I think we’re going to try to wait until school finishes and see what his options are at that point.”
Buie, who was a four-star recruit and the No. 82 prospect in the country according to ESPNU, also hasn’t spoken to coach Ed DeChellis yet about his status on the team, Murphy said.
At his end-of-the-season press conference last Wednesday, the coach said he still hasn’t talked to the suspended freshman. Buie’s mother said she hasn’t heard of any contact between the two about her son’s future on the team.
“I don’t think they’ve spoke,” Murphy said. “I think there are intentions to speak, but [DeChellis] has had a really busy season. They will soon, but it hasn’t happened yet.”
Murphy said she could not comment on the reason why her son was suspended, simply saying it was DeChellis’ decision.
Buie last saw action in the Nittany Lions’ home loss to Maine on Dec. 21. He had averaged 5.8 points and 15.2 minutes in 11 appearances.
Buie had been cited twice over the summer — once for underage drinking and once for fighting — but the reason for his suspension was never made public.
“I haven’t really talked to [DeChellis] about it, other than when he told me, ‘He’s not the player that represents Penn State. His actions off the court, his behavior and his classwork,’ ” Murphy said. “I just think Ed was giving him a chance and said, ‘Look, I’m giving you this wake up call, take care of your life.’ I credit coach DeChellis for that.”
Talor Battle, Buie’s half brother, said on Wednesday that he believed the freshman — who received offers from Maryland, Syracuse and Georgia Tech, among others —would have gotten in trouble wherever he went.
However, Murphy doesn’t necessarily think that would have been the case. She said he would have made wrong decisions, but she knows it’s hard to speculate if Buie would have gotten in trouble if he had played somewhere else.
“Different towns have bigger problems to deal with, so it wouldn’t have been as noticeable,” Murphy said about State College. “I’m not condoning his actions. Like Talor said, he probably still would have made those dumb, stupid, immature decisions. We’re fortunate it has happened so that maybe nothing bigger will.”
