Johnny Furphy grew up swimming with sharks. Now he’s doing it with Kansas basketball

The water surrounding Australia’s Kangaroo Island is a deep-cyan blue. It’s hundreds of feet deep and there isn’t a life jacket in sight. The temperature here is warm enough to enjoy without being too hot.

The island is a second home to the Furphy family, which makes the nearly three-hour flight from Melbourne every Easter. It’s where a 9-year-old Johnny Furphy felt at peace.

There are plenty of mesmerizing fish — silver whiting and red snappers — but there are also predators lurking that would scare most swimmers away: great white sharks.

The young Furphy, however, was unfazed, scuba diving, spearfishing and even swimming through an area described by his father as a common shark-breeding ground.

“There’s beaches everywhere and there’s sharks everywhere,” Furphy told The Star. “So no one’s really worried.”

A decade later, Furphy is still swimming with sharks, so to speak. He’s focused and calm as he takes the court in the toughest college basketball league on a new continent, playing in front of 16,300 screaming fans at Allen Fieldhouse each night.

“I was kind of surprised how it didn’t really affect me as much as I thought it would,” Furphy said. “I just try to stay level-headed.”

And so he has.

In early December, the Jayhawks desperately needed a bucket, trailing then-No. 4 UConn 52-47. Furphy, who turned 19 six days later, drilled the biggest 3-point shot of his first season, which helped lead the Jayhawks past the defending national champions.

Those moments are becoming more and more common for Furphy on the No. 7 Kansas men’s basketball team (21-7, 9-6 Big 12). Along the way, he’s become a fan favorite, solidified a starting spot and earned the trust of Kansas coach Bill Self.

“Can you believe how far Johnny’s come in the last month?” Self said after another top-5 win over Houston on Feb. 3. “He’s one of the best players in our league.”

In many ways, that monthlong fast track is something Furphy’s entire life has prepared him for.

Stepping out of his brother’s shadow

In Melbourne, Australia, Furphy grew up playing basketball with his brother Joe, who is five years older than him.

They loved playing pickup in their backyard. Joe — now rocking a bushy mustache and long, curly hair as he plays in the Australian Football League — was much bigger and would always win. The joke around Furphy’s friends was Furphy looked more like a surfer than a hooper.

He was undersized and needed to fill out his frame.

Those days battling against Joe and his friends helped Furphy become the player he is today.

(His sister Holly, by the way, is a soccer player at Santa Clara.)

“It definitely fueled me,” Furphy says now.

Most coaches who recruited the brothers for youth teams mainly wanted Joe but agreed to take Johnny as a package deal. “They said we’ll take Johnny if we can get Joe,” Richard Furphy, Johnny’s father, confirmed.

Joe eventually landed in the Basketball Victoria State Development Program, a program that helps players land on state and national teams. Ash Arnott, a former assistant coach with the program, coached Joe but kept an eye on the younger Furphy and later recruited him in 2018.

“I just knew there was something there, (that) he was going to grow and he was going to come along,” Arnott said. “You didn’t know how high he was going to get and we didn’t know where he’d be at, but we just knew that basketball was his sport.”

Furphy was always one of the youngest players on the team. He played on the second team, but many coaches still questioned if he belonged. He was 5-foot-8 and wasn’t close to seeing the floor on the first team.

“In the back of my mind, I always knew I had potential,” Furphy says now. “I knew once I could grow, I could do everything.”

In 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Furphy had a growth spurt. He grew a foot from 5-8 to 6-8, but his hometown of Melbourne had tight COVID restrictions, so he couldn’t play organized basketball for nearly two years. Furphy still became stronger and more mature, with his body finally catching up to his basketball IQ and instinct.

At the time, Arnott became an assistant at the Centre of Excellence in Canberra, another development program for basketball players with pro aspirations. When a spot opened up, he told coach Robbie McKinlay about Furphy, and they invited him to play with their squad as a tryout.

The decision quickly paid off.

Furphy was hungry and determined. He had never played with a team of that caliber, so he didn’t want to waste a second he could use to impress his coaches.

Midway through his first game, McKinlay knew he needed to offer Furphy a scholarship.

“He jumped straight in and he took off,” McKinlay said. “He never really made a good team — the teams he wanted to as a kid.”

So, after four excellent games in seven days, Furphy packed his bags and moved 1,086 miles to Canberra to join CoE as its newest scholarship receipt.

He had to finish his senior year of high school online, but he was ready to take his game to the next level.

“For a lot of kids, not making the first team ends their career,” McKinlay said. “… But for Johnny, he just took it on board and kept getting better.”

Not without some speed bumps, however.

Tough love and coaching

McKinlay was incensed. He watched as Furphy went through the motions and gave a poor effort against NBA Academy Latin America. McKinlay called timeout, pulled Furphy aside and ripped into the 18-year-old.

“Hey, are you gonna do something this game? Because we’re wasting everybody’s time,” McKinlay recalled telling Furphy.

Shortly after play resumed, Furphy took off from the left corner, went through the middle and delivered a monstrous jam. At the next timeout, McKinlay looked right at Furphy.

“That was an eff-you dunk, wasn’t it?” McKinlay asked. “I got on you, and you’re basically saying, ‘Eff you, I’ll show you.’”

“No, it wasn’t that,” Furphy replied with a sly grin that all but confirmed it.

Both coach and player confirmed that anecdote years later. It provides a window into how Furphy responds to being coached hard.

As his time at CoE went on, Furphy started turning heads, but the attention caused him to experience impostor syndrome. He started questioning whether the buzz around him was deserved.

He’d gone from always being on the brink of making state teams to CoE, an academy designed to lead him to his pro-ball dreams. Add in the massive growth spurt not long before, and it was a lot to process for Furphy.

“This is where you’re supposed to be right now,” Arnott would remind Furphy.

Fruphy credits Arnott’s belief since his younger years in helping him feel like he belonged on the court.

“Nothing really happened straightaway,” Furphy said. “I’ve never been a super confident, outgoing person. I’ve kind of just (had) an intrinsic confidence.”

Arnott and McKinlay sat with Furphy’s parents in March to discuss his future. The pair told his parents that Furphy would travel with CoE to Atlanta for the NBA Academy games.

McKinlay told Furphy’s parents if all went to plan, their son’s scouting profile would blow up. The Academy games were an opportunity for Furphy to showcase himself in front of the world’s brightest and best basketball minds, from college coaches to NBA scouts.

It’s something Furphy desperately wanted as he watched his peers like former CoE forward Alex Toohey initially commit to Gonzaga after a strong showcase at the games the previous summer. Toohey would later join the Australian Basketball League instead of the Bulldogs.

“I knew eventually that I’d get recruited, but there was like a, ‘This needs to happen,’” he said. “We don’t have many opportunities to get that exposure in Australia.”

After one practice in Atlanta, Greg Collucci — the NBA director of elite basketball collegiate recruiting and alumni relations — pulled Furphy aside. He told Furphy that his life would change in three days and that he might even want to get a second phone.

Furphy responded sarcastically, “OK, sure.”

Little did he know it, but Collucci was spot on.

‘Never seen Bill Self want a kid this bad’

Furphy wasn’t ready for college basketball. After finishing high school, he was prepared to spend the rest of 2023 in the gym, hitting weights to get stronger and spending umpteen hours working on his moves.

He thought it would be best to join a college team ahead of the 2024-25 season.

As in, next year.

But that changed when the NBA Academy Games started that July.

Furphy immediately impressed the college coaches and pro scouts in attendance. “He was catching the ball in transition and taking one step from the 3-point line, finishing at the rim,” Collucci said. “He showed levels of the game that were really advanced.”

It only took a few games for around 20 colleges to express interest in Furphy. At first, his parents were shocked that their 18-year-old son, who’d struggled to make state teams in Australia, was the most sought-after recruit in college basketball.

Gonzaga called just about every single day. North Carolina and Providence were also top contenders. When they realized he could pick a school that would play him as a freshman, they narrowed down his list, and Furphy started to think about reclassifying.

A few days into the showcase, Furphy’s parents got a call from Kansas assistant Norm Roberts.

The only thing the family knew about the university was its dominant basketball history, later learning that Self is “literally like the God of basketball,” Liza Alpers, his mother, said.

Furphy began preparing for another showcase in Las Vegas when Self called the family, letting them know he’d be in attendance. Furphy recalled liking that Self called personally, unlike other schools.

“Something about how Bill Self did it was very genuine,” Alpers said.

At the Sportradar showcase in Las Vegas, Furphy had another spectacular showing — this time in front of Self. After he got back from Las Vegas, the Furphys met with CoE coaches Arnott and McKinlay. The expectation was still for him to enter the class of 2024.

Self had other plans.

“Coach Self is saying stuff like, ‘I don’t think you understand,’” Richard Furphy recalled. “’We don’t just want him, but we need him.’”

Collucci later pulled the Furphys aside and explained why Kansas wanting their son was such a big deal.

“This is probably the best basketball program in the country and the best coach in the country,” Collucci said, “and to be honest, we’ve never seen Bill Self want a kid this bad.”

Slowly, the only person left to convince was Furphy’s mother.

Self emphasized to Alpers that he’d look after Furphy as a parent himself — something Alpers appreciated.

At one point, Alpers was also worried about Kansas’ gun laws, but Self and KU’s coaching staff reassured her that Furphy would be safe in Lawrence.

The real clincher? Self agreed to let Furphy leave for two weeks in-season for a preplanned family vacation at Kangaroo Island. It was supposed to be one last hurrah for the family, which is rarely all together at the same time.

Initially, Furphy was supposed to leave for two weeks. The vacation was set to begin before KU’s game vs. Indiana, but Furphy decided to stay an extra week with the Jayhawks.

It’s why he missed KU’s game vs. Yale, but it’s a one-time thing for Furphy. Self, his parents recalled, also promised the Furphys the opportunity for minutes, something his parents said they weren’t expecting.

On Aug. 2, Furphy decided to commit without visiting KU’s campus.

“There was just a real clarity with what they wanted, why they wanted it and what was going to happen,” Richard said. “It’s like he wrote the script.”

For Furphy, the script is still being written.

From unknown to projected lottery pick

When Furphy enrolled at Kansas, his parents hoped he’d graduate with a degree after playing three or four seasons.

Now? It’s looking like Furphy might have to finish his degree online ... again.

That’s how good Furphy has played. He’s risen up draft boards to a projected first-round talent. He’s a projected lottery picks by some analysts.

“He gives them some of what Christian Braun gave them in terms of being sort of a low-maintenance, athletic guy with size,” said Jeremy Woo, an NBA Draft expert for ESPN. “He can knock down an open shot. … He doesn’t take a lot of bad shots.”

Furphy still needs to improve his defense, something he works on consistently. A sign of progress came against Oklahoma State in late January, when he recorded six steals.

That fast development is nothing new for Furphy, who is averaging 9.2 points and 4.7 rebounds, numbers that have jumped to 13.1 points, 6.9 rebounds and 38.6% 3-point shooting on decent volume since he became a starter.

Furphy is still getting used to the idea that he could be a potential NBA Draft pick in July, even though his coaches had told him that it could happen quicker than he anticipated.

“It’s very weird,” Furphy said. “I still don’t really comprehend it because its something that’s always been like so far ahead.”

So, for now, he’s focused on the present: helping Kansas win games, with an eye on the Big 12 regular season, tournament and national championship. He says he’ll make his NBA decision after the season depending on how things go the rest of the year.

While Furphy’s future at Kansas is uncertain, he’s slowly become a household name, much like former Kansas sharpshooter and current Toronto Raptor Gradey Dick — one of Furphy’s favorite players.

He’s getting attention from not just the pro evaluators, but fans packed inside Allen Fieldhouse. One sign at a recent game read, “Furphy, Snap(chat) me back.”

His parents, like Furphy, are still getting used to the attention on their son.

“It’s weird — beyond bizarre, “ Alpers said. “We have fans in Australia, of course, but it’s next level here.”

Furphy, meanwhile, remains focused on one thing.

“Win,” Furphy said, “at all costs.”