by Kent Sterling
Late signees usually don’t capture my interest, but Marvin Clark is different.
When Jeff Rabjohns of peegs.com tweeted that high school basketball player Marvin Clark will announce his decision tomorrow at 10:30a to attend either Indiana, Kansas State, Michigan State, or Seton Hall, my first question was, “Who is Marvin Clark?”
I found the measurements, standard bio, and a couple of highlight videos that showed a well-developed 6’7″, 225 lbs. forward from near Kansas City with a very smooth left-handed shot. Then, I dug a little deeper and found out what kind of a kid he is.
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A 20-minute documentary was produced that showed Marvin as an open and honest kid dealt a series of challenges that finally led to opportunity. After I watched it, I began to hope that Marvin would pick Indiana as the place to continue his education and basketball career.
I want Marvin to choose Indiana not because he can help the Hoosiers win, but because Marvin Clark should be the precise type of kid Indiana works to find and help live a fulfilling life.
Whether Marvin can play at the Big Ten level is something he’s going to have to prove over time, but that he knows how to overcome adversity while maintaining his decency and humanity is beyond question.
During this era when the the discussion of big time athletics centers around whether the opportunity to receive an education is enough to compensate an athlete for the time and effort invested in entertaining fans and making bundles of cash for schools, coaches, and media, Marvin can become exactly the kind of kid that makes a school and its alums proud.
College basketball should be about much more than wins and losses. It should allow a good kid who has known homelessness and despair find a needed boost in exchange for the hard work to make the most of his on-court talent.
Through its Excellence Academy, Indiana has shown a yearning to use its facilities and staff to take immature freshmen to help them become functional adults regardless of their sport in the four years they spend in Bloomington. Marvin Clark appears to be the kind of kid that those employed at Indiana – from athletic director Fred Glass to the academic advisors can point to with pride for the rest of their lives as someone they were able to help.
So watch the documentary, and tell me you won’t be rooting for this kid regardless of his choice.
Marvin, Yea Marvin come to Indiana so you can get 2-5 shots a game and not be featured in the offense at all, Kent we just had a top 10 lottery pick leave why would any forward come to Indiana. BTW Indiana is only team to have a lottery pick and not make tourney.
My concern for Marvin has nothing to do with what challenges he might or might not face on the court. Indiana is a great choice for a kid with academic goals regardless of the what happens on the floor. Is Duke a terrible choice because they have had difficulty beating teams like Lehigh and Mercer in the first round? Of course not. Noah Vonleh averaged 10.9 field goal attempts per 40 minutes, so I’m not sure where the 2-5 FGAs comes from. Zeller averaged 12.9 shots per 40 minutes.
No one projects Marvin to be in a lottery discussion, but Indiana is a terrific spot for people looking for a real education and athletic opportunity. So is Michigan State for that matter. I’m more intimately familiar with Indiana’s focus on providing the tools and structure to take advantage of those opportunities.
Kent, you sound genuinely fond of this kid, which is a credit to you.
Why would you want to inflict Tom Crean, and the disorder and chaos of Indiana basketball on a kid who probably needs discipline, order, a calm, mature role model and a chance for success upon which to build?
All that exists at Indiana. The academic structure at Indiana athletics is excellent. Whatever chaos is inferred from on-court failures does not exist off the floor. Virtually all players graduate in three years with meaningful degrees.
That academic structure did not help Ron Patterson make it through one semester at IU. He was kicked out with zero help, zero compassion and a very quiet athletic department after his first two classes at IU.
What a wonderful structure!!
Based upon what? The same academic structure has allowed many players to receive their degrees in three years. I have only heard positive things about the academic advisors at Indiana. Not saying you are wrong, but there is certainly a lot of evidence that would argue the contrary.
Ron Patterson was a victim of scholarship numbers, despite the PR spin.
I was rooting for him before and since he didn’t choose IU, a place where the coach ruins the lives of young men, I’m pulling for him more than ever now.
Yeah, he destroyed Victor Oladipo. Shame on Coach Crean, graduating in 3 years and becoming the second pick in the draft. Poor Victor.
That’s a severe and unjust characterization. You should back that up with an example of two. That kind of accusation demands specificity.
He ruined the lives of Matt Roth, Remy Abell, Oshay Jackson and Bawa Minuru. he doesn’t care about the children.