News Article: AL HS basketball’s #1 career scorer finishes near top of all-time national list

[BamaNation]

I know NOTHING about this kid (first I've read/heard about him)... but the fact he scored AVERAGED 32 a game in his career and 44 a game this year ... did we not offer him? He's going to Lipscomb. When I see guys who can absolutely shoot the rock leaving our state to go to a mid-tier college, I have to wonder why we haven't given guys like this a shot given we perennially have had guys that may be great athletes but can't even hit a layup. I would think in Oats' offense, this kid would be awesome to watch. But what do I know. When was the last time we had a truly great shooter who, when he showed up on campus, consistently scored game in-game out, every week, every year? Been a long time. We have guys on this team that do it occasionally, but not consistently.

Alabama HS basketball’s No. 1 career scorer finishes near top of all-time national list

Lindsay Lane's Tommy Murr became the first player in AHSAA history to score more than 5,000 points.

www.al.com

 

[BamaNation]

Looks like he had offers from Troy, Samford, Lipscomb, and Tenn. Tech. I don't get it. He will probably average 50 a game at LU

Tommy Murr, Lindsay Lane Christian , Point Guard

Tommy Murr is a 6-2, 165-pound Point Guard from Athens, AL.

247sports.com

 

[AUDub]

Numbers aren't an exclusive indicator of a P6 D1 prospect. What kind of competition is he playing.

It's a good bet he's probably going to have a career trajectory similar to that of the previous Alabama record holder, Jeremy Monceaux.

 

[BamaNation]

Oh, I understand that, but good grief on the number of guys we've given an opportunity to who amounted to zero production, looks like we could have taken a shot on this kid. I'm just tired of seeing doink doink doink doink doink doink doink doink doink (not necessarily just referring to this year, but last 20)

BTW, next game I coach will be my first....

 

[BamaMike05]

Oh, I understand that, but good grief on the number of guys we've given an opportunity to who amounted to zero production, looks like we could have taken a shot on this kid. I'm just tired of seeing doink doink doink doink doink doink doink doink doink (not necessarily just referring to this year, but last 20)

BTW, next game I coach will be my first....

Well, we only have 1 scholarship available (as of now) and that went to Ambrose. If Kira goes to the NBA, we will have one more, and that needs to be a big or another ball handler. It’s not as easy as “just take a chance on him”

 

[BamaNation]

I understand all of the dynamics at play. Speaking as a fan who's never been a coach, I'm looking at the long (& short) history of us signing "athletes" who can't shoot. Here's a guy that obviously can "shoot" ... maybe he doesn't do anything else... but really being honest about past teams, have a bunch of other guy's we've signed over the last 20yrs? That's my point. Look, I've been watching Bama hoops a LONG time. Went to every home game at UA during my 4.5 years there except 1 exhibition game, I think. Our inability to get true, pure shooters since then baffles me and then I watch those type guys go to mid majors and win. We've got a few pretty good shooters on this team but they're not consistently good shooters. (Scoring 0 one game, 30 the next, and 4 the next, etc)

I totally trust Oats to find & sign guys that work in his system. I'm just ready to watch a guy who can hit a jumper 50%+ of the time - and make FT's - consistently, game after game. Mid majors do it all the time and they keep kids 4 years and then win in the madness.

Again, I know absolutely nothing about THIS kid (and nothing about coaching). I'm really commenting about an overall observation of our program's recent past and reading about this guy going to Lipscomb just rubbed me the wrong way when thinking about it. Obviously the other big schools didn't offer him either so your assessment is most likely the correct one and you've observed him up close.

My expectation is that our inability to sign great shooters will change under Oats. As somebody else mentioned this week, in prior years, getting down 16 at awburn would be a 50 point blowout. So he's got us going in the right direction. Now lets get guys that can shoot and hit it more often than not.

 

[TexasBama]

Well, we only have 1 scholarship available (as of now) and that went to Ambrose. If Kira goes to the NBA, we will have one more, and that needs to be a big or another ball handler. It’s not as easy as “just take a chance on him”

The first thing that popped in my mind in reading this was Jimmer Fredette

 

[JDCrimson]

The reason the big schools aren't looking at him is likely because he is an absolute liability on defense compared to how athletic other teams are. Granted he could grow into a very good player as a junior or senior. The game at the NAIA level is a completely different game than D1.

Lawson Schaefer was a great ball handler and pretty good shooter from the Cullman area but never sniffed a meaningful role. So other aspects of his ability were a real disadvantage. I would say though that this kid and Schaefer would fit better in Oats system.

 

[Crimson1967]

Based on the level of schools that recruited him, I suppose he isn’t considered a major prospect. He scored a lot of points, but it was at 1A.

 

[imauafan]

I saw him play 3-4 weeks ago. He is a good player but I can understand why he only had offers from smaller schools. Lipscomb is a good place for him to continue to develop and by the time he is a JR/SR he could be a very good player for them. The game I saw his team was playing Ardmore and Ardmore was the better overall team and won the game. I believe Murr had 38 points (could have had up to 5 more than that since LLCA already had 5 points when I got there) in that game. He was not a ball-hog and played within the system but he did take and miss quite a few of his shots although I would consider him to be a very good shooter. He could score from the outside as well as take it to the hoop and either get fouled or get a good shot up. Even though I was impressed with him I was expecting to see him dominate more than what I did given that he plays at a lower level school. In comparison, I saw Kira Lewis play 1 game his last year at Hazel Green and he completely dominated against better competition that what Murr was facing in this particular game. In that game KL had 38 points and barely played half the game. If he had played the entire game he could have scored 60 points. I know that KL was considered a top 50 recruit (perhaps top 25) but the difference between the 2 players is considerable. That was just 1 game for each player which may not be a fair comparison however I think I saw enough to see why one player was highly recruited by big time programs and the other wasn't.

 

[teamplayer]

The reason the big schools aren't looking at him is likely because he is an absolute liability on defense compared to how athletic other teams are. Granted he could grow into a very good player as a junior or senior. The game at the NAIA level is a completely different game than D1.

Lawson Schaefer was a great ball handler and pretty good shooter from the Cullman area but never sniffed a meaningful role. So other aspects of his ability were a real disadvantage. I would say though that this kid and Schaefer would fit better in Oats system.

I have thought about how Coach Oats would have found a role for Lawson Schaefer this year, especially with our injuries.

 

[Padreruf]

Most people do not realize how athletic the top D-1 athletes are -- including all the major conferences. The athleticism is out of the chart...I've seen a lot of top notch HS players not be able to cut it at that level because they could not even get their shot off. What is also noted is that many of these great athletes won on their athleticism, not on being great shooters. What holds them back is often their shooting ability...of course that is changing with the new metrics taking advantage of the 3 point line.

 

[CajunCrimson]

I think his point is.......we have 12 other spots for athletes. How about just one for a consistent outside shooter?

 

[BamaMike05]

I think his point is.......we have 12 other spots for athletes. How about just one for a consistent outside shooter?

He shot 29% from 3 this year.

 

[BamaMike05]

I think his point is.......we have 12 other spots for athletes. How about just one for a consistent outside shooter?

And seeing how we just sent a school record for most 3’s made in the season, I think finding a big is more important.

And if you’re asking me do I want Keon Ambrose or Tommy Murr, I’m taking Ambrose all day, everyday.

 

[CajunCrimson]

And seeing how we just sent a school record for most 3’s made in the season, I think finding a big is more important.

And if you’re asking me do I want Keon Ambrose or Tommy Murr, I’m taking Ambrose all day, everyday.

Speaking historically about the program. Not specifically about this kid. Or this season.

 

[AUDub]

Necropost.

Thought it would be interesting to see how this kid ended up us he wraps his college career.

In his time in D1, he was a role player for Lipscomb but not much beyond that. Averaged about 12 mpg but only about 5ppg in his D1 career.

He transferred to UAH with 2 years of eligibility remaining and is just about to put a bow on that. At UAH he’s been a 20ppg volume scoring guard. D2 ball and all that but at least he found somewhere to make hay of his skillset.

He would never have seen the floor at Bama.

 

[cdub55]

Necropost.

Thought it would be interesting to see how this kid ended up us he wraps his college career.

In his time in D1, he was a role player for Lipscomb but not much beyond that. Averaged about 12 mpg but only about 5ppg in his D1 career.

He transferred to UAH with 2 years of eligibility remaining and is just about to put a bow on that. At UAH he’s been a 20ppg volume scoring guard. D2 ball and all that but at least he found somewhere to make hay of his skillset.

He would never have seen the floor at Bama.

You may want to mention UAH is 30-1 this year and their only loss was 105-104 in the first game of the season against the #2 team in the country. I agree he probably wouldn't have been a huge factor at Bama, but he is the leading scorer on a 30-1 team...pretty impressive.

 

[alabama mike1]

Very impressive stats!

 

[AUDub]

You may want to mention UAH is 30-1 this year and their only loss was 105-104 in the first game of the season against the #2 team in the country. I agree he probably wouldn't have been a huge factor at Bama, but he is the leading scorer on a 30-1 team...pretty impressive.

Yeah, but the jump between d2 and upper level d1 ball is absolutely insane.