Mike Marsh brings SEC football talent to Oklahoma State basketball
Sep. 28—Mike Marsh didn't start playing organized basketball until the 11th grade. At the time, he was known as the 315-pound defensive end at Gray Collegiate Academy in West Columbia, South Carolina.
He played football all four years in high school and was offered to continue his career with the South Carolina Gamecocks under former coach Will Muschamp.
"I didn't choose it because I actually had gotten hurt. I hurt my knee from playing football, so I just kind of moved on and I just started playing basketball," Marsh said after Oklahoma State's second basketball practice.
Although he didn't know it at the time, Marsh's path to OSU was more than random as his high school coach, Brandon Wallace, was a former teammate of Mike Boynton's at South Carolina.
Marsh then spent two years in junior college, one at USC Salkehatchie and the next at Dodge City Community College, before transferring to Jacksonville University. He graduated this past May and entered his name into the transfer portal to get more exposure because he wants to play professional basketball, and his family decided the best thing for him was to play in Division I.
Boynton said that he didn't know Marsh too well, but knew people close to him.
"His college coach that he played for at Jacksonville (Jordan Mincy) is a guy who I've cheered for in this profession," Boynton said. "So when Mike was looking for an opportunity, he actually called me and said, 'Hey, I think this kid can help you,' so we developed a pretty close connection pretty early on."
Marsh didn't know much about the OSU Cowboys.
"I just knew that they played in the Big 12 and that they had Cade Cunningham and Marcus Smart. Jawun Evans, he's a friend of mine," Marsh said. "When I was in my eighth grade year, he was a big part of South Carolina, so when he went to OSU is really when it kind of stood out."
The Cowboys had already lost Moussa Cisse, Avery Anderson III, Kalib Boone, Woody Newton and Tyreek Smith to the transfer portal when Marsh appeared on Boynton's radar. The seventh-year coach said the program needed a reset.
Marsh and his family felt he could slide right in.
"We decided OSU would be a great, great fit for me because of the amount of players they had leave and the style of play that they have," Marsh said."You really can't teach height so physicality really, really matters in today's game, especially in the Big 12."
Marsh injured his shoulder this past December, which kept him out of the Cowboys' exhibition tour in Spain, but he and Boynton said he was like another coach on the sideline.
Marsh said Boynton tasked him with helping freshmen Eric Dailey Jr. and Isaiah Miranda in particular.
"He wants me to lead those guys the best way I can (because) I got a better relationship with them than the coaches," Marsh said. "It's a challenge (because) they young guys."
Jacksonville University was knocking on the door of an automatic bid to the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament in 2022, but the Dolphins lost to Bellarmine in the ASUN Championship Final.
Marsh said this OSU team has more pieces to make the tournament.
"We got guys that can shoot. We got guys that can play inside-out," he said. "I feel really, really confident in this year's team."
