When Alabama men’s basketball hired former Creighton assistant coach Preston Murphy as its new assistant coach, the team knew it was getting an elite recruiter.
Head coach Nate Oats has been confident in Murphy from the beginning, believing that adding him to the recruiting staff will help the Crimson Tide in the future.
“His insight, experience and ability to connect with student-athletes is a significant advantage for us,” Oats said.
Murphy immediately came in and helped Alabama men’s basketball get its highest-ranked recruiting class in program history. According to 247 Sports, its 2024 class was No. 2 in the nation.
The class included 5-stars Derrion Reid and Aiden Sherrell and 4-star Naas Cunningham, with Murphy being the primary recruiter for all three.
“I think I’m able to recruit guys because of the basketball I’ve learned that I want to give back to those guys,” Murphy said, referring to his high-level playing and coaching career. “I look at it as less of recruiting, and more being a basketball mind that can help those guys reach their full potential.”
Murphy’s success continued into the transfer portal, as he helped Oats nab five commitments: Rutgers center Clifford Omoruyi, Auburn guard Aden Holloway, South Florida guard Chris Youngblood, Pepperdine guard Houston Mallette and 4-star high school recruit Labaron Philon, a guard who opted out of his national letter of intent with Kansas.
These five commits were the only five players Alabama hosted for visits in the offseason.
Youngblood in particular spoke highly of Murphy, saying that even though they had only known each other for a week before he committed, he felt a strong connection.
“That’s my guy,” Youngblood said. “I can tell that him and I are going to be really close throughout my eight-to-10 months at Alabama.”
The recruitment of Omoruyi was a major win for Alabama. He was the No. 3-ranked center in the transfer portal and filled a big need for the Crimson Tide after the team lost a lot of minutes at the center position with Nick Pringle transferring to South Carolina.
Murphy took to social media during the recruitment process for Omoruyi, posting cryptic photos on X all signaling the recruitment, and even posting a photo of Clifford the Big Red Dog wearing an Alabama hat before Omoruyi committed just a few days later.
“Cliff really enjoyed it. He embraced it,” Murphy said of the social media posts. “It was fun, it was a good way to keep Cliff on Alabama’s mind, and it was good going through the process.”
After clinching a Final Four spot last season, Oats looked forward to seeing how Murphy can use it to help continue his dominance on the recruiting trail.
“Preston is a big-time recruiter,” Oats said. “He’s certainly using this Final Four run to our advantage, for sure.”
The success for Murphy on the recruiting trail has continued into his second full season, as the Crimson Tide has already snagged two top-100 players in the class of 2025 in forwards Amari Allen and London Jemison. Jemison highlighted the impact Murphy, his former Nike Elite Youth Basketball League coach, had on him during the recruiting process.
“It’s a great relationship,” Jemison said, adding that Murphy is “great” at what he does and that he builds relationships with recruits. “He definitely knows what it takes to develop a pro.”
