Rockford native AJ Storr transfers to Kansas. Are Jayhawks new No. 1 in NCAA basketball?
AJ Storr had the best Big Ten season by a Rockford basketball player in 30 years this winter and now he has a chance to be the first local impact player at perennial power Kansas since Guilford’s Dale Greenlee 50 years ago.
Storr averaged 16.8 points and 3.9 rebounds at Wisconsin this year before entering the transfer portal shortly after the Badgers lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The 6-foot-7 guard/forward played his freshman season at St. John’s. Kansas will be his third college in three years.
Landing Storr was the latest good recruiting news for Kansas and moved the Jayhawks up to No. 1 in CBS Sports' college basketball rankings for next year.
More: How this Rockford native followed in his mom's footsteps to become Big Ten basketball star
Storr announced his choice on X, formerly Twitter, writing: "Joining the Jayhawks is a dream realized, and I'm incredibly honored for this opportunity to be a part of the tradition and culture of Kansas Basketball.”
Kansas will be Storr’s eighth school since his freshman season at Rockford Lutheran. He moved to Kankakee when his mom got a job there before his sophomore year. Then he moved in with his father in Las Vegas to increase his recruiting profile. After that, he went to a prep school in Arizona and finally spent a postgraduate season in Bradenton, Florida.
Each stop lifted his basketball profile even further. He was listed as one of the top players in the nation in this year’s transfer portal.
More: 3 Rockford basketball greats enter transfer portal. Could they pick the Illini?
Two other former Rockford high school players remain players to watch in the transfer portal. North Carolina State and Alabama are two of the teams reportedly interested in former Rockford Christian star Marcus Hill, who had the fifth-highest scoring season in Bowling Green history with 698 points as a junior this year. Also with one year of college eligibility left is Sincere Parker, the star of Rockford East’s fourth-place team in state in 2019. Parker became the first St. Louis University player to score 30 or more points in three straight games this year but is looking to move on after SLU changed coaches.
Greenlee averaged 10.2 points in his three seasons at Kansas — freshmen were ineligible then, but he led the freshman team to a 12-0 record by averaging a team-high 18 points. The former Guilford star averaged 11.8 points and 4.2 rebounds on Kansas' Final Four team in 1974 and was the team captain his senior year in 1975, when he led Kansas in assists, steals and minutes played. Greenlee also ran a popular all-star basketball camp in Rockford for 38 years.
Contact: mtrowbridge@rrstar.com, @matttrowbridge or 815-987-1383. Matt Trowbridge has covered sports for the Rockford Register Star for over 30 years, after previous stints in North Dakota, Delaware, Vermont and Iowa City.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: AJ Storr picks Kansas. Where will Marcus Hill, Sincere Parker go?
