Brown: Putting Keegan Murray's All-B1G Campaign in Perspective

Sophomore Breaks Out for Special Season

Early this season, when Iowa’s Keegan Murray was having his way with an early non-conference opponent, Jess Settles said something that caught my attention. The former Iowa player turned Big Ten Network analyst said that Murray had a chance to be the player of the year in the Big Ten.

“Pump the brakes there, Jess,” I thought to myself.

Murray was making it look easy on the court that night, but I knew the challenges ahead would be much tougher. And as the 6-foot-8 sophomore continued to pile up early-season numbers, I figured the Big Ten would be much more demanding for him to navigate. Especially when league coaches had time to watch tape and come up with a plan to attack his tendencies. It turns out that Wisconsin’s Johnny Davis was named Big Ten Player of the Year on Tuesday. But props to Settles, because there was no need to hit the brakes.

Murray’s length, shooting touch and ballhandling proved just as tough for Big Ten foes to deal with. And Murray was strongly considered for the player of the year award that the Hawkeyes’ Luka Garza had won the previous two seasons.

Murray’s consolation prize was being a unanimous selection to the all-Big Ten first team. I wonder what Keegan would have accomplished if he had accepted his only Division I scholarship offer, from Western Illinois, as a senior at Cedar Rapids Prairie? I know that Iowa wouldn’t be heading into this week’s Big Ten Tournament with 22 victories and a Top 25 ranking without him.

Murray, who was honing his skills at a Florida prep school when Iowa offered a scholarship, became the sixth Hawkeye player to be named first-team all-Big Ten under Coach Fran McCaffery and seventh in nine seasons.

The first four on that list - Devyn Marble in 2014, Aaron White in 2015, Jarrod Uthoff in 2016 and Peter Jok in 2017 - were all seniors. Garza won it as both a junior in 2020 and senior in 2021. Seven players in a nine-year run is the most for the program since 1944 through 1952. Dave Danner was a first-team pick in 1944. Brothers Herb and Clayton Wilkinson shared first-team status in 1945, then Herb did it again in 1946 and 1947. Murray Wier and Charles Darling, the program’s first two consensus all-Americans, were both first-team all-Big Ten picks as well. Weir did it in 1948, Darling in 1952.

Murray, who leads the Big Ten and is fourth nationally in scoring at 23.3 points a game, is the first Iowa sophomore to be named first-team all-Big Ten since Ronnie Lester in 1978. Lester, a mercurial 6-2 point guard, averaged 19.9 points and six assists for a team that finished 12-15 in 1977-78. He scored in double figures in 26 of 27 games. He scored at least 20 points 16 times. He scored 30 points against Purdue, and 31 against Ohio State. Murray has reached double figures in 29 of 30 games so far. He has scored at least 20 points in 22 games. He scored 37 points against Nebraska, 35 against Utah State and Maryland and 30 against the Terrapins.

Since freshmen eligibility was reinstated by the NCAA in 1972-73, no one in program history has made a bigger jump statistically between his first and second seasons than Murray. His scoring average has increased from 7.2 to 23.3 points a game. He’s scored 474 more points this season than a year ago and is the first player in Big Ten history to increase his scoring by 16 points in one season since Rick Schmidt of Illinois (plus 17.6) in 1972-73. Murray’s rebounding has also jumped from 5.1 to 8.6 a game.

Murray’s statistical uptick offensively is also an all-time program best from freshman to sophomore seasons. Greg Stokes improved his scoring from 5.7 to 17.7 points a game in 1982-83. Kenny Arnold went from 2.6 to 13.5 points a game in 1979-80. Acie Earl increased his scoring from 6.0 to 16.3 in 1990-91. And B.J. Armstrong went up from 2.9 to 12.4 points in 1986-87.

Murray was named to the all-Big Ten freshman team a season ago. He was expected to be a key piece of this season’s team, with the loss of Luka Garza, Joe Wieskamp, CJ Fredrick and Jack Nunge.

Asked at media day in October if Keegan was ready for a much larger role, McCaffery didn’t hesitate.

“He’s ready,” McCaffery said. “He’s a confident kid. He stays within himself. Nothing seems to rattle him at all. He never tries to do the things that he can’t do on the floor.” Murray’s level-headed demeanor on the floor reminds me of Lester, who never got flustered despite all the defensive attention that came his way.

Both were highly confident, competitive, players. It took them less than two seasons to become one of the best players in the Big Ten of their respective eras.

Down the road, there will likely be another comparison. Lester was the 10th player selected in the first round of the 1980 NBA Draft by Portland. The Trailblazers later traded Lester’s rights to Chicago.

Now Murray is projected to be an NBA lottery pick in the 2022 draft. He would join Lester as one of nine Iowa players selected in the first round, and the first since Ricky Davis in 1998. But there’s still some unfinished business, starting Thursday at the Big Ten Tournament followed by the start of the NCAA Tournament the following week.

Murray has already joined Lester as a first-team all-American. Lester was honored as a first-teamer by the Citizens Foundation in 1979 and 1980. He was also a second-team pick by the Associated Press in 1979 and The Sporting News in 1980.

Murray was named a first-team all-American by The Sporting News on Monday. The six-time Big Ten Player of the Week is also in the mix for the Wooden Award, the Naismith Trophy, the Lute Olson National Player of the Year and the Karl Malone Award.

It was Olson who successfully recruited Lester out of Dunbar High School in Chicago, then coached him into one of the greatest players the Iowa program has ever seen. Big footsteps, for sure. But Murray’s march through Hawkeye basketball history has been quite a journey.