Former walk-on McPhee living his dream as a Dog

By Tim Tucker

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

NASHVILLE -- When Georgia plays Arkansas in the final game of the opening round of the SEC basketball tournament Thursday night, Ricky McPhee will be in the Bulldogs' starting lineup, as he has been for every game this season.

McPhee, in fact, has played more minutes than any other Georgia player -- more than first-team All-SEC Trey Thompkins, more than high-flying Travis Leslie.

McPhee's considerable role represents a remarkable turn of events for a player who was ignored by major-college recruiters at Parkview High School and entered Georgia's program as a walk-on after giving up a scholarship at Gardner-Webb.

"It's crazy how things worked out," said McPhee, a 6-foot-1 senior guard whose college basketball career could end any day now. "I just kind of walk around the practice gym smiling all the time because I never thought in a million years I'd have a chance to start for UGA and be a contributor on the court and be a major minutes guy."

He might not have impressed the recruiters in high school, but he surely has impressed his Georgia teammates with his determination, work ethic and, oh yes, sharp shooting from 3-point range.

"I think he's the hardest worker on our team by far," senior center Albert Jackson said.

"We call him ‘McThree'," Thompkins said. "Everybody around campus calls him that, too."

In 29 starts and 31.9 minutes per game, McPhee is Georgia's third-leading scorer (9.8 points per game) and top 3-point shooter (63-for-161, 39.1 percent). More than any of that, Thompkins said, "he's that one guy who holds our team together."

McPhee attended high school 52 miles from Stegeman Coliseum but took the long, hard route to becoming a Bulldog.

He was a good player at Parkview -- first-team All-Region, first-team All-Gwinnett County. One night his senior season, he scored 38 points against Central Gwinnett.

"I had a great high school career, played in I thought the toughest region, but I was under the radar recruiting-wise," McPhee said. "It just made me stay humble, I guess, and learn that if I work hard it'll pay off in the end."

His only scholarship offer came from Gardner-Webb in Boiling Springs, N.C. His career there started well: a 21-point game in his college debut at North Carolina. But after two years, he still craved a bigger school, a bigger program.

"Basketball was great at Gardner-Webb, but my dream was to play at a big school," McPhee said. "I just didn't want to end my career saying, ‘Hey, I could have had an opportunity to transfer and maybe had a shot at a big school and didn't do it.' "

So after his sophomore season, he contacted Georgia.

"They said they'd take me as a walk-on," he said. "I jumped on that right away."

Trading in his full basketball scholarship at Gardner-Webb for a HOPE scholarship at Georgia, McPhee practiced with the Bulldogs while sitting out the 2007-08 season under NCAA transfer rules.

"I had no idea who Ricky McPhee was when he got here," teammate Jackson said. "The only thing I knew was that he scored 21 points on North Carolina. I knew that because he told us."

"My mind-set coming in," McPhee recalled, "was to work as hard as I could on the practice floor and try to earn some respect from the guys on the team and the coaching staff."

Respect came quickly from Thompkins, who arrived in the fall of 2008 as one of Georgia's highest-rated signees in years -- the antithesis of McPhee as a recruit.

"I had never heard of Ricky McPhee," Thompkins said. "But from the day he stepped on the floor and started knocking down 3's, I said, ‘Oh, this guy is going to help us.' So I appreciate his decision to come here."

Early last season, McPhee played minimally. By the second half of the season, his playing time increased. He made a 3-pointer for the go-ahead basket in a win over Vanderbilt and made five 3-pointers in a loss to Mississippi State. But he started only one game and averaged only 3.6 points.

When Georgia's new coach arrived in April, he identified McPhee as a potentially integral part of this season's offense.

"I was able to work him out," Mark Fox said, "and knew his shooting would be very valuable to this team. I felt like he ... would really make an impact in how we would play."

Fox put McPhee on full scholarship for his senior season and put him in the starting lineup and left him there, game after game and minute after minute. In recent games, McPhee has appeared a bit worn down from the workload, although Fox expects him to be rejuvenated for the SEC tournament.

Asked how a former walk-on can start every game and play the most minutes for an SEC team -- even a rebuilding 5-11 SEC team -- after being offered no major-college scholarships, Fox said: "He's a guy who has outworked probably several people rated ahead of him,  and if he hasn't outworked some of them, he has probably outsmarted another group.

"I really wish he was a guy I could coach for a couple of years."

McPhee will graduate in May with a degree in sociology. He's interested in coaching someday, although he thinks he might be able to play a bit of basketball overseas first.

For now, he will enjoy the waning minutes of the college career of his dreams.

"My friends still ask me, ‘Can you believe you play for UGA?' " McPhee said. "And I'm, like, ‘that's crazy how things worked out.' "