What's the Best Fit for 5-Star Guard Jamal Murray: Kentucky or Oregon?

One of the final pieces of college basketball's 2015 offseason puzzle is going to fall into place this week as TSN announced via a press release on Tuesday afternoon that 5-star guard Jamal Murray will reveal his decision on Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET.

This is the when and where twofold decision we've been waiting for with bated breath for the past couple months. The first half of the question was answered on Sunday morning when "Canadian hoops connoisseur" Mark Bairos broke the news on Twitter that Murray will play college ball this year:

"

Jamal Murray will reclassify to 2015. Signing ceremony to be filmed in Toronto & televised on ESPNU as per source close to situation.

— Sonny Bairos (@sonnybairos) June 21, 2015"

All that's left is to find out what jersey he will be wearing.

It is assumed that Kentucky and Oregon are the two destinations Murray is choosing between, but there's also a snowball's chance that Syracuse acquires his services. Prior to the announcement of the NCAA sanctions against Syracuse that includes a three-year reduction in scholarships, it was long believed that Murray would be suiting up for the Orange in 2016.

However, even Chris Carlson of Syracuse.com isn't sounding remotely optimistic about the team's chances of adding him anymore, so we'll be focusing exclusively on the Ducks and the Wildcats.

The Case for Kentucky

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Up until maybe six weeks ago, the prevailing sentiment in the college basketball community had been that John Calipari always gets his man. We all assumed that a ton of Kentucky players would declare for the draft, but we all put Kentucky at or near the top of our way-too-early rankings anyway because of the number of uncommitted 5-star players that Coach Cal was inevitably going to nab.

Except he didn't.

Brandon Ingram, Jaylen Brown, Cheick Diallo, Ivan Rabb and Malik Newman all signed elsewhere. Caleb Swanigan even spurned Calipari twice, signing with Michigan State before changing his mind and committing to Purdue.

All of a sudden, the deepest and most talented basketball team in recent history could desperately use another scorer to reaffirm its status as the potential No. 1 team in the nation when the season begins.

If you're Murray, why wouldn't you want to be that guy? Why would you want to play for what might be the fourth-best team in the Pac-12 when you can play for what might be the best team in the country?

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For every single game that Kentucky plays, there will be multiple NBA scouts in attendance. They'll primarily be there to watch Skal Labissiere and Alex Poythress, but Murray would have the opportunity to wow those scouts in front of a large national audience on a nightly basis.

Can Oregon make that claim?

Joseph Young nearly led the nation in scoring last year for the Ducks, but Draft Express has six Wildcats projected to be drafted ahead of him on Thursday night. Dillon Brooks and Jordan Bell each had an excellent freshman season in leading the Ducks to a No. 8 seed, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a casual fan east of the Rocky Mountains who has heard of either of those players.

In Lexington, players barely need to log 20 minutes per night to become household names and lottery picks. Just imagine the potential national acclaim if Murray were to swoop in and play 27 minutes per game for a team seeking its fifth Final Four in the span of six years.

Since becoming the head coach at Kentucky six years ago, Calipari is 22-4 in the NCAA tournament.

In the past 55 years, Oregon has only played 20 tournament games.

If Murray wants to be a world-famous athlete, the choice is simple.

There might be a bit of a backcourt backlog with Tyler Ulis, Isaiah Briscoe, Charles Matthews and Mychal Mulder all in the fold, but Murray would probably be the third-best guard in what figures to be a three-guard lineup most of the time, given the lack of depth in the frontcourt.

How can it get better than becoming a projected starter for a team that nearly went undefeated last year?

The Case for Oregon

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One major thing Oregon can offer that Kentucky cannot is a personal connection.

"Me and Dillon, Dillon Brooks. We played AAU together and he's my boy," Murray told Andrew Nemec of Oregon Live in April.

In recent years, we've seen a fair amount of players sticking together. Tyus Jones and Jahlil Okafor were something of a package deal to Duke in the class of 2014, and that worked out pretty well for all parties involved. Similarly, Ivan Rabb and Jaylen Brown were fairly committed to playing together in college and both landed at California, which has since become a strong candidate the reach the Final Four this year.

This isn't the exact same situation, as Brooks has already played a year with the Ducks, but does that really change anything if Murray really feels that the two of them can excel together?

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It's more than just Brooks, too. As Matt Prehm of 247Sports noted in April, Oregon has had quite the pipeline into Canada in recent years, including the likes of Jason Calliste, Richard Amardi and now Villanova transfer Dylan Ennis.

Assistant coach Mike Mennenga has roots in Canada, and they have paid pretty big dividends thus far. Stealing Murray away from Kentucky would just be the icing on the cake and a possible signal to future recruits that Oregon should be higher on their list of potential landing spots.

The other edge for Oregon is a guaranteed starting job.

Murray could sneak into the starting five for the Wildcats, but there's no question that he would be one of Oregon's most important players. Dana Altman already has a strong recruiting class, but Murray might be better than anyone else on the roster. Incoming freshman Tyler Dorsey should probably be rooting for Murray to sign with Kentucky, because Dorsey is the one that stands to lose a ton of playing time if Murray comes to Oregon.

The Decision

In the end, it really boils down to what Murray wants to get out of his (presumed) one year of college.

Does he want to be a good player on a great team for five months of the intense scrutiny that comes as the price of national recognition? Does he want to be the fourth- or fifth-best player on a potential national champion? If so, Kentucky is the way to go.

If, instead, he wants to be the star of a team that otherwise has minimal hope of opening the season ranked in the AP Top 25—if he wants to come to be known as a leader who could individually improve a franchise as opposed to a role player who could perhaps help elevate one—then Oregon is the obvious choice.

How anyone could turn down the opportunity to play for Kentucky is a mystery. Perhaps the allure of the royal blue will be enough for Murray to sign on for the "Succeed and Proceed" model.

Most seem to believe that Oregon is the favorite, though, and I'm inclined to agree. It wouldn't make much sense for him to have waited this long to make a decision to sign with Kentucky without simply waiting another 48 hours to see how well playing 20-25 minutes per game for the Wildcats translates into NBA draft stock.

If he does choose Oregon, three cheers for the Pac-12. Between Cal's recruiting class, Utah hanging onto Jakob Poeltl, Bobby Hurley going to Arizona State and several other offseason developments, it has already been one heck of a few months for the conference of champions.

Kerry Miller covers college basketball for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @kerrancejames.