Why AJ Storr believes Chris Beard can unlock his best basketball

Ole Miss is the fourth team in four seasons for transfer guard AJ Storr. 

The Rebels are the eighth in eight if counting high school. 

Storr started his career at St. John’s. This season at Kansas he averaged 6.1 points after putting up 16.8 as a sophomore at Wisconsin. He helps off-set the scoring lost following the departures of Sean Pedulla, Matthew Murrell, Dre Davis and others.

But Storr isn’t starting over new with the Rebels.

“They were the first ones to reach out,” Storr said this week of choosing Ole Miss. “They were actually recruiting me the second time I entered the portal, so I had talked to them previously. Really just the culture of Ole Miss and what they’re doing. Coach (Chris) Beard is doing some good things with this program and overall I think I can benefit from playing for coach Beard.”

Beard is in his third season leading Ole Miss basketball. 

Last season the Rebels won 24 games and matched the program’s greatest single-season accomplishment by reaching the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament. 

They’ve now appeared in March Madness 10 times in their history. But they’re aiming for higher in the years ahead. Ole Miss returns three (and walk-on Max Smith) from last year’s team.

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Ole Miss signed Storr as one of eight transfers.

The Rebels brought in three Top 100 high-school recruits as well.

“Every single person we talked to, from high school coaches to summer coaches to his college coaches, it’s just like a broken record: this isn’t a good kid, this is a great kid,” Beard said of Storr. “This is an outstanding young man.

“This a guy that his teammates love to play with, that coaching staffs love coaching. So, he’s just a talented guy. I think he’s got a huge chip on his shoulder right now, which has always been something that I kind of strive for — trying to find motivated people, whether it be coaches on our staff, people in our organization, or certainly the players.

“AJ is not a big talker. He lets his game speak for itself. But I’m very confident that he’s going to write his story this year to kind of clear up any kind of confusion about him that might be out there, which, in my opinion, is totally inaccurate. He’s a really good player. He’s proven it over many years.”

Storr likely slides in for all-time Ole Miss great Matthew Murrell. He’ll mostly play the two or three, depending on how things shake out in the months ahead. Ole Miss is three weeks into summer workouts. 

“It was kind of tough,” Storr said of leaving Kansas. “I was considering coming back, but I had a couple talks with my family and decided playing for coach Beard was probably going to be the best thing for my career.”

Storr started all 36 games for Wisconsin and earned second-team All-Big Ten honors.

He never quite found a rhythm as a Jayhawk.

“I think I learned a lot from every program that I’ve been at so far,” Storr said. “I’m just trying to take everything day-by-day here at Ole Miss. keep getting better and keep having a tunnel vision on the goal for the team and myself.”

Ole Miss signed a Top 20 transfer class. 

Travis Perry (guard, Kentucky), Kezza Giffa (guard, High Point), Corey Chest (forward, LSU), James Scott (forward, Louisville), Koren Johnson (guard, Louisville), and Augusto Cassia (Butler) have joined Storr in Oxford.

The Rebels are still waiting on former Eurobasket MVP Ilias Kamardine. The school has already officially announced the addition of Kamardine. Kamardine could report any day now.

“I feel I mesh pretty good with the group,” Storr said. “We have a lot of guys that can play position-less basketball, which makes it easier to play with. Ultimately just creates better spacing on the floor. Guys can guard multiple positions, so it just makes it easier for you.”