JonDMiller
Publisher/Founder
I was 14 years old when Roy Marble first took the court for the Iowa Hawkeyes. He remains one of my all time favorite Hawkeyes and is arguably the most dynamic player to wear an Iowa uniform since he took the court.
If you didn't get a chance to watch him play, he came into the college game at the start of the Jordan Revolution.
Marble's senior year of high school was Jordan's first year in the NBA. Jordan averaged 28.2 points per game that season which was the third highest average in the league but he scored more points than any other player.
Jordan's statement in the NBA was preceded by two consecutive national player of the year awards in the college game, where he turned pro after his junior season, a move formerly referred to as a 'hardship' decision.
Roy Marble was never Michael Jordan the college player, but he's the closest thing Iowa has had to Jordan. Marble scored more points for Iowa during his senior year than Jordan scored for North Carolina in his junior year, by the way.
Marble was often referred to as 'Baby Jordan' when he played for Iowa, and there was usually at least one Jordan reference in each Iowa telecast.
As we take a look at the statistics of father and son (Devyn Marble), I want to be sure that I am not saying Devyn is Roy or Roy is Devyn or Devyn will be Roy at some point in time.
However, the play of Devyn Marble this season prompted me to go back and pull the stats of the father to show alongside those of the son just to see what there is to see, if for no other reason than my own edification.
This piece is going to go in a few different directions and if anything is just indicative of the excitement that surrounds the Iowa basketball program right now, which has people looking towards the future with excitement instead of trepidation.
DEVYN MARBLE
ROY MARBLE
(graphics from http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/)
Roy's 399 points as a freshman were an Iowa record at the time. That mark has since been eclipsed by Jess Settles, Tyler Smith and Ricky Davis (464). Devyn's freshman season was nowhere near his father's, but Devyn also turned 18 years old in September of his freshman year, a year where most of his peers turned 19.
Devyn's emergence this year has been remarkable and he still has a great deal of room for growth.
So far this season, Devyn is averaging 11.15 points per game. Roy averaged 14.8 during his sophomore year on a team that was flat out loaded with future NBA talent and remains one of the three best teams in Iowa basketball history.
Devyn takes better care of the ball than his father did as a sophomore and also passes it around more. Roy had an assist to turnover ratio of nearly 1 to 1 where Devyn's number is presently 2.5 to 1.
Devyn is on pace to score 357 points this season (31 regular season games and counting the guaranteed one Big Ten tournament game). He has an outside shot at scoring 400 if Iowa can make a run in the Big Ten tournament and receives an invitation for a post season tournament.
The site these stats came from, sports-reference.com, has an error in Roy's field goal percentage number. When I saw what was listed, I didn't believe it and cross checked it against Iowa's records. He had 357 field goal attempts, not the 257 that are listed above. That makes his field goal percentage .557 for that season and .539 for his career.
It's also interesting to note that Roy attempted just 14 three-point shots in his sophomore year and then only nine as a junior; Roy's game was all about attacking the rim.
Devyn Marble is also excelling on the defensive end, on pass to have far more steals than his father had as a sophomore. This is surprising given the style of play Iowa employed in 1986-1987, which was all about full court pressure. Then again, the Hawks played a lot of half court zone defense back then, too. But Devyn has been doing great work on the defensive end in addition to handling the ball in a point guard role this year. Roy was the classic 1980's 'three' player, in a league that was full of some of the best in Big Ten history. Dennis Hopson of Ohio State, Glen Rice of Michigan, Keith Smart of Indiana, Kenny Battle of Indiana and others.
Again, this is hardly any sort of scientific look and done mostly for fun as Iowa has a multi-generational tandem to look at. Comparisons are as much a part of sports as anything I can think of.
LOOKING AHEAD
Devyn Marble is not going to have the kind of prolific statistical career that his father had. He won't be a part of as many successful teams as his father was.
However, Devyn has a chance to be a very, very good player. A better point guard than Bill Jones was for Iowa in the late 1980's. Jones was another lanky player; 6-7 and never 200-pounds.
Devyn continues to gain more confidence as a point guard and there have been instances where he has reminded me of his father, those times where he is flat out 'feeling it' and sizes up his opponent off the dribble, knowing he is better, knowing he can get off his shot and doing so in a number of ways.
The 'playmaker' in Devyn is starting to emerge and that might be the biggest thing to watch if we can ever make any sort of realistic comparison to father and son.
Roy was a cornerstone piece in the Mr. Davis Davis Hawkeye basketball revolution. Devyn is going to be a cornerstone piece in the Fran McCaffery Iowa basketball revitalization. The father was a joy to watch and the son is growing into the same.
Roy didn't change all that much after his sophomore season. He arrived with a lot of skill and it was a green light situation from the start.
Devyn came to Iowa as a high-major project, and the need for him to handle the point this year due to an early season injury to Bryce Cartwright may turn to be an enormous blessing in disguise.
I felt Marble having to spend time at the point would take away from his overall development as a wing, a notion that may go down as one of my worst ever predictions. You have to expect Marble to be your point guard for the next two years, which will allow Mike Gesell to come in and play some minutes at point and also get some minutes at the shooting guard position.
Iowa will have several interchangeable backcourt parts next year, but Marble is becoming very comfortable at point and very effective. It will be hard to move him out of that position and probably unwise; there aren't a lot of 6-6 point guards in the Big Ten.
Do you think it's possible that Devyn could grow into being a better basketball player as a senior than his father was? That's likely too much to expect as Roy averaged 20.45/game as a senior and was a 1st round NBA draft pick.
But Devyn could approach that level of value for his team given what he can do from the point guard position. He won't have 18.6 (BJ Armstrong) & 18.3 (Ed Horton) points per game scorers to his left and right, but could he be leading a better team than his dad was a part of during his senior year?
When I begin to imagine Devyn Marble, Mel Basable and Zach McCabe as seniors, Aaron White, Josh Oglesby and Gabe Olaseni as juniors along with Gesell, Adam Woodbury and the rest of this year's recruiting class as sophomores heading into the 2013-2014 season, that brings a smile to my face.
The 1988-1989 Hawkeyes were 22-9 in the regular season, 10-8 in Big Ten play. They entered the NCAA tournament ranked 14th in the nation and had a ranking as high as 4th after starting the season 13-0. They beat Rutgers in the opening round of the NCAA tournament before falling to NC State 102-96 in double overtime in the 2nd round.
You had the 'Big Three' I have already mentioned, along with Matt Bullard who averaged just over nine points per game then Les Jepsen was next at 4.2 points per game. Iowa also had Ray Thompson and his 357 points scored as a freshman that year, but they did not have his services in the NCAA tournament as he was ruled ineligible by Iowa's standards but eligible by Big Ten and NCAA standards. Yeah, that one still ticks me off.
I am going to bookmark this item and revisit it in a couple of years and 'compare' these two teams...the 1988-1989 Hawkeyes to the 2013-2014 Hawkeyes. One Marble will have led the way 25 years earlier and another is going to be leading the way 25 years later.
If you didn't get a chance to watch him play, he came into the college game at the start of the Jordan Revolution.
Marble's senior year of high school was Jordan's first year in the NBA. Jordan averaged 28.2 points per game that season which was the third highest average in the league but he scored more points than any other player.
Jordan's statement in the NBA was preceded by two consecutive national player of the year awards in the college game, where he turned pro after his junior season, a move formerly referred to as a 'hardship' decision.
Roy Marble was never Michael Jordan the college player, but he's the closest thing Iowa has had to Jordan. Marble scored more points for Iowa during his senior year than Jordan scored for North Carolina in his junior year, by the way.
Marble was often referred to as 'Baby Jordan' when he played for Iowa, and there was usually at least one Jordan reference in each Iowa telecast.
As we take a look at the statistics of father and son (Devyn Marble), I want to be sure that I am not saying Devyn is Roy or Roy is Devyn or Devyn will be Roy at some point in time.
However, the play of Devyn Marble this season prompted me to go back and pull the stats of the father to show alongside those of the son just to see what there is to see, if for no other reason than my own edification.
This piece is going to go in a few different directions and if anything is just indicative of the excitement that surrounds the Iowa basketball program right now, which has people looking towards the future with excitement instead of trepidation.
DEVYN MARBLE
ROY MARBLE
(graphics from http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/)
Roy's 399 points as a freshman were an Iowa record at the time. That mark has since been eclipsed by Jess Settles, Tyler Smith and Ricky Davis (464). Devyn's freshman season was nowhere near his father's, but Devyn also turned 18 years old in September of his freshman year, a year where most of his peers turned 19.
Devyn's emergence this year has been remarkable and he still has a great deal of room for growth.
So far this season, Devyn is averaging 11.15 points per game. Roy averaged 14.8 during his sophomore year on a team that was flat out loaded with future NBA talent and remains one of the three best teams in Iowa basketball history.
Devyn takes better care of the ball than his father did as a sophomore and also passes it around more. Roy had an assist to turnover ratio of nearly 1 to 1 where Devyn's number is presently 2.5 to 1.
Devyn is on pace to score 357 points this season (31 regular season games and counting the guaranteed one Big Ten tournament game). He has an outside shot at scoring 400 if Iowa can make a run in the Big Ten tournament and receives an invitation for a post season tournament.
The site these stats came from, sports-reference.com, has an error in Roy's field goal percentage number. When I saw what was listed, I didn't believe it and cross checked it against Iowa's records. He had 357 field goal attempts, not the 257 that are listed above. That makes his field goal percentage .557 for that season and .539 for his career.
It's also interesting to note that Roy attempted just 14 three-point shots in his sophomore year and then only nine as a junior; Roy's game was all about attacking the rim.
Devyn Marble is also excelling on the defensive end, on pass to have far more steals than his father had as a sophomore. This is surprising given the style of play Iowa employed in 1986-1987, which was all about full court pressure. Then again, the Hawks played a lot of half court zone defense back then, too. But Devyn has been doing great work on the defensive end in addition to handling the ball in a point guard role this year. Roy was the classic 1980's 'three' player, in a league that was full of some of the best in Big Ten history. Dennis Hopson of Ohio State, Glen Rice of Michigan, Keith Smart of Indiana, Kenny Battle of Indiana and others.
Again, this is hardly any sort of scientific look and done mostly for fun as Iowa has a multi-generational tandem to look at. Comparisons are as much a part of sports as anything I can think of.
LOOKING AHEAD
Devyn Marble is not going to have the kind of prolific statistical career that his father had. He won't be a part of as many successful teams as his father was.
However, Devyn has a chance to be a very, very good player. A better point guard than Bill Jones was for Iowa in the late 1980's. Jones was another lanky player; 6-7 and never 200-pounds.
Devyn continues to gain more confidence as a point guard and there have been instances where he has reminded me of his father, those times where he is flat out 'feeling it' and sizes up his opponent off the dribble, knowing he is better, knowing he can get off his shot and doing so in a number of ways.
The 'playmaker' in Devyn is starting to emerge and that might be the biggest thing to watch if we can ever make any sort of realistic comparison to father and son.
Roy was a cornerstone piece in the Mr. Davis Davis Hawkeye basketball revolution. Devyn is going to be a cornerstone piece in the Fran McCaffery Iowa basketball revitalization. The father was a joy to watch and the son is growing into the same.
Roy didn't change all that much after his sophomore season. He arrived with a lot of skill and it was a green light situation from the start.
Devyn came to Iowa as a high-major project, and the need for him to handle the point this year due to an early season injury to Bryce Cartwright may turn to be an enormous blessing in disguise.
I felt Marble having to spend time at the point would take away from his overall development as a wing, a notion that may go down as one of my worst ever predictions. You have to expect Marble to be your point guard for the next two years, which will allow Mike Gesell to come in and play some minutes at point and also get some minutes at the shooting guard position.
Iowa will have several interchangeable backcourt parts next year, but Marble is becoming very comfortable at point and very effective. It will be hard to move him out of that position and probably unwise; there aren't a lot of 6-6 point guards in the Big Ten.
Do you think it's possible that Devyn could grow into being a better basketball player as a senior than his father was? That's likely too much to expect as Roy averaged 20.45/game as a senior and was a 1st round NBA draft pick.
But Devyn could approach that level of value for his team given what he can do from the point guard position. He won't have 18.6 (BJ Armstrong) & 18.3 (Ed Horton) points per game scorers to his left and right, but could he be leading a better team than his dad was a part of during his senior year?
When I begin to imagine Devyn Marble, Mel Basable and Zach McCabe as seniors, Aaron White, Josh Oglesby and Gabe Olaseni as juniors along with Gesell, Adam Woodbury and the rest of this year's recruiting class as sophomores heading into the 2013-2014 season, that brings a smile to my face.
The 1988-1989 Hawkeyes were 22-9 in the regular season, 10-8 in Big Ten play. They entered the NCAA tournament ranked 14th in the nation and had a ranking as high as 4th after starting the season 13-0. They beat Rutgers in the opening round of the NCAA tournament before falling to NC State 102-96 in double overtime in the 2nd round.
You had the 'Big Three' I have already mentioned, along with Matt Bullard who averaged just over nine points per game then Les Jepsen was next at 4.2 points per game. Iowa also had Ray Thompson and his 357 points scored as a freshman that year, but they did not have his services in the NCAA tournament as he was ruled ineligible by Iowa's standards but eligible by Big Ten and NCAA standards. Yeah, that one still ticks me off.
I am going to bookmark this item and revisit it in a couple of years and 'compare' these two teams...the 1988-1989 Hawkeyes to the 2013-2014 Hawkeyes. One Marble will have led the way 25 years earlier and another is going to be leading the way 25 years later.
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Just sayin
