For Alex Murphy, the question wasn't where to go to college — it was when. He had been the most decorated of three Murphy brothers since middle school, the most athletic and the most extroverted, the one who came to watch older brother Erik's games at St. Mark's and turned heads of his own. By the spring of his junior year at the same Massachusetts boarding school, he had already led St. Mark's to a 28-3 record and been named Independent School League Player of the Year, averaging 21.0 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game. He had committed to Duke on February 7, 2011, picking the Blue Devils over Florida (where his brother Erik was starting), Arizona, Boston College (his father Jay's alma mater), North Carolina, Villanova, and West Virginia. The board was set.
Then he did something unusual. On April 19, 2011, Murphy announced that he would reclassify from the class of 2012 to the class of 2011, skip his senior year of high school basketball, and enroll at Duke that August — joining the recruiting class a full year ahead of schedule. To make it work academically, he transferred from St. Mark's back to South Kingstown High School in Wakefield — the same Rhode Island public school he had attended as a freshman before leaving for prep — and finished his graduation requirements there over a few weeks. He became the fifth member of Duke's 2011 recruiting class alongside Austin Rivers, Quinn Cook, Marshall Plumlee, and Michael Gbinije. "It was a very difficult decision, but at the end of the day, I thought this was the best thing for my future," Murphy said. "It's a great opportunity."
Born June 3, 1993, in Wakefield, Rhode Island, Alex James Murphy grew up inside a basketball family with claims on two continents. His father, Jay Murphy, was born in Meriden, Connecticut, on June 26, 1962, played for Maloney High School there, and went on to a four-year career at Boston College from 1980 to 1984 under coaches Tom Davis and Gary Williams. The 6'9" power forward averaged 14.6 points and 6.2 rebounds per game across 123 games, finished sixth on BC's career scoring list with 1,795 points (and seventh in rebounds with 763), was a three-time All-Big East selection, made first-team All-Big East as a senior, and led the Eagles to three NCAA Tournament appearances — two Sweet Sixteens and one Elite Eight — plus an NIT bid. He was selected with the 31st overall pick of the 1984 NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors and immediately traded to the Los Angeles Clippers. He played 67 NBA games over four seasons with the Clippers and Washington Bullets through 1988, then continued his career in France (Paris Basket Racing, ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne) and Italy (Fabriano Basket from 1991 to 1995). He was inducted into the Boston College Varsity Club Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999.
Alex's mother, Päivi Murphy, was a Finnish-born basketball player who represented the Finland women's national team from 1988 to 1994 and also played professionally in Sweden. She and Jay had three sons. The oldest, Erik Murphy, was born in Lyon, France, on October 26, 1990, while Jay was playing for Paris Basket Racing — making Erik French-born, Finnish (through his mother), and American (through his father). Alex came two and a half years later, born in Wakefield after the family had returned to the United States. The youngest, Tomas Murphy, was born in 1998. All three boys held dual American-Finnish passports through their mother's citizenship. The Murphys are Catholic and were members of Saint Francis of Assisi Parish in Wakefield. "I kind of know the deal down there," Erik would later say of Alex's eventual transfer to Florida, "how the program and the coach operate."
Erik went to St. Mark's and then to Florida (2009-2013), where he started 32 of 34 games as a junior, was named first-team All-SEC as a senior in 2012-13, led the SEC in 3-point percentage at 45.3%, scored 1,052 career points, and was selected by the Chicago Bulls with the 49th pick of the 2013 NBA Draft. Alex followed Erik to St. Mark's in Southborough, Massachusetts, where he played alongside future major-conference recruits Kaleb Tarczewski (Arizona) and Nik Stauskas (Michigan) — a basketball factory turning out high-major prospects every spring. Alex's freshman year at St. Mark's, the team won the NEPSAC Class C Championship. As a junior, he led St. Mark's to a 28-3 record (14-0 in league play) and the NEPSAC tournament championship game (lost to Tilton). His statistical line — 21.0 / 7.2 / 4.0 — earned him the ISL Player of the Year award. By the time he was deciding where to go to college, he was ranked No. 37 by Scout, No. 40 in the ESPNU 100, No. 45 by Rivals, and No. 49 in the RSCI Top 100.
There was a logical pull toward Florida. Erik was already there, in the middle of his career under Billy Donovan; the idea of a Murphy-brothers frontcourt in Gainesville was a recruiting columnist's favorite storyline. Some of those columnists assumed Florida would be the destination. "Duke and Florida were at the top of my list by a mile," Murphy said years later. He picked Duke. The pull of playing for Mike Krzyzewski, of joining a recruiting class that included Austin Rivers, Quinn Cook, and Michael Gbinije — players Murphy had already played alongside in the Boost Mobile Elite 24 game as a junior, where he had scored nine points — outweighed the family-fit argument. And then, a few months later, he doubled down by reclassifying up. He would not play his senior year at St. Mark's. He would not be the most-watched player in the ISL again. He would walk into Duke's gym in August 2011, eighteen years old, and find out what he could do.