Monday, February 7, 2011

Alex Murphy commits to Duke for 2012

Alex Murphy, one of the most skilled forwards in the Class of 2012, has committed to Duke, St. Mark’s School (Southborough, Mass.) coach David Lubick confirmed by e-mail.

Murphy is 6-foot-8 with strong ball handling and perimeter shooting skills. He is rated the No. 9 player overall in his class by veteran All-Star Sports analyst Bob Gibbons.

"It’s really almost a seamless fit in terms of Duke’s style of play and his skill set," said ESPN recruiting analyst Dave Telep. "He is a small forward with really good size, solid ball skills, a better athlete than first glance. And I think this is a guy that can play in the lane and on the perimeter."

Telep and Gibbons both compare Murphy's skill set to that of current Duke senior forward Kyle Singler, who was the most outstanding player at the Final Four last year as the Blue Devils captured the NCAA title.

They said there is no guarantee that Murphy will develop the way Singler has, but can play small forward and power forward, just like Singler.

"He’s not as physically strong and advanced right now," Gibbons said, "but compare them at the same level as juniors in high school, I think Alex might get a little higher mark than Kyle."

Like Singler, whose father, mother and brother all have played Division I sports at Pac-10 schools, Murphy has strong family ties in basketball. His father, Jay Murphy, played for Boston College and in the NBA in the 1980s.

Alex's brother, Erik, is a sophomore forward at Florida. Their mother, Paivi, played for the Finnish national team.

 
Ken Tysiac

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

The rich keep getting richer

Anonymous said...

Another Taylor King, Eric Boateng, Josh McRoberts, Chris Burgess, Jamal Boykin, Elliot Williams, Olek Czyz, etc....

Anonymous said...

^^^ Dream on. Another bitter Carolina fan I'm guessing. Huckleberry Roy SURE did want Mr. Murphy bad too...

Anonymous said...

4 of these players are, or have played in the NBA, the other two are still in College dumb "bleep". HAHAHAHA. Where do you think both the Wear Twins and LD2 end up? My guess, the YMCA............

Anonymous said...

I mean 5 of these players have ended up in the NBA at one point or another....

Anonymous said...

Alex Murphy is a Kyle Singler clone. 10:28, the only halfway relevant comparison on that bizarre list of Duke transfers would be McRoberts. Yes, the McRoberts that currently starts over Tyler Hansbrough.

John said...

Isn't it interesting how a team can s quickly see a recruited athlete as part of their team? I guess they have to, but geez. It's a big deal for a player to sign on at a particular school, but it's gotta be an even bigger deal for a college or university basketball team to commit to a certain player. In the end, you just gotta sit back and wait to see what happens.