Part 3 - Korey Spates
Part 4 - Marcus White
Part 5 - Chris Lutz
Part 6 - Gary Ware
Part 7 - Bryant Dillon
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So far, our Where Are They Now series has put the spotlight on the seven highest scorers from the 2005-06 Purdue Men's Basketball team. Of those seven,
Chris Lutz is the only one to have played for Purdue after that ugly season (and even he transferred the following year). The eighth highest scorer, however, was a Purdue player that nearly everyone remembers. In fact, I'd argue that with the new fans the team has gained over the past couple of years, this player may be the most well-known of the top 8 to today's Purdue fan. Part 8 of the Where Are They Now series looks back at (and checks in with) the career of Marcus Green.
Marcus Green graduated from East Leyden High School near Chicago and was generally regarded as the "afterthought" member of the freshman class. However, Green actually turned down offers to Dayton and Marquette to come to Purdue, which goes to show how highly regarded this freshman class actually was. Minnoy, Spates, and Lutz were considered the potential stars, yet it was Green who made the biggest impact on the court during his time in West Lafayette (although one could argue that Minnoy made a huge impact on the court every time he landed).
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| Green celebrates a win at NW |
Green's career at Purdue was plagued by inconsistent shooting, but he came up with a couple of unforgettable All-American-esque performances. His freshman year provided a glimpse at this as he absolutely went off in a home game against #22 Michigan. Marcus only scored double digits 3 times and averaged 5.5 points per game that year, yet he went off for 23 points on 9 of 13 shooting in Purdue's biggest upset (and blowout) of the year. Make sure to check out the
highlights on youtube (bonus: check out yours truly at 2:52 in the video - I look like I'm moving around pretty good considering I tore several ligaments in my foot at the Purdue-Minnesota game the prior month...I'll get into that story some other time).
Marcus started 13 games as a freshman, yet his minutes actually regressed each year and he
never averaged more than five points per game again. In fact, he only started 8 games after his freshman year. However, his junior year included another remarkable performance as Marcus scored 22 points in 23 minutes in a huge win at Mackey against Ohio State.
Green surprisingly did not have a breakout game in his senior year, but was an important piece of a very good team highlighted by Hummel, Kramer, Johnson, Moore, Grant, Jackson, and Calasan. That team would end up losing to UCONN in the Sweet 16, but one of the lasting memories of the season was a late-season home game in which the Paint Crew hosted a "Green Out" for Marcus. While green and red have no business being in the Paint Crew, this was one of the few exceptions and really provided an awesome sendoff for the only freshman from the 2005-06 season to stick it out for all 4 years. Interestingly enough, Marcus
didn't know about the Green Out:
"It caught me off guard and it caught my mom off guard," Green said.
"I thought, 'Is it St. Patrick's Day or something?' Then I looked more
and more at the T-shirts and thought, 'Oh, man, that's me.'"
In doing this series, I've started to realize that the vast majority of college basketball fans (including myself) have no clue about professional basketball outside the United States. Every year around the time of the NBA Draft, discussion about players who just miss getting drafted center around "are they good enough to play overseas?" In reality, this series is showing that just about every Division 1 college basketball player that contributes is good enough to play overseas. Marcus Green is no different.
In the season following Green's senior year, Marcus was signed by Aerochaco Boca Juniors of the top basketball league in Argentina. This signing was announced on Boca's website with an article obviously titled "
Mouth Is Reinforced With A Foreign Alero" (thank you Google Translator!). ESPN also
picked up on the signing, quoting Boca's coach (can you sic something like this?):
"his
team was a role player with defensive characteristics, which came to do
their specific job. As we do not need a player with leadership and
suited economic possibilities, we decided to add it, thinking that we
can help. comes from a prestigious university"
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| Green scored 20 points in this game for Boca Juniors |
Not the highest praise for Green, but it still gave Marcus a chance to show he could make it in professional basketball. Green was given a one month contract and had a patented "Marcus Green Breakout Performance", leading the team with a 20 point effort
in a win over Quilmes Mar Del Plata. However, even with the breakout performance, Green was cut
just 4 days later in favor of
Brian Woodward of Rhode Island. Unfortunately, that appears to be the end of Marcus Green's professional basketball career.
More recently, Marcus has been living in the Chicago area and working in all sorts of basketball-related roles. He has been
working basketball camps for all ages and is currently on the staff of
Finish Strong Athletics, a K-8 basketball prep program. On the FSA website, it also mentions he's a director of
Elite Sports Performance's basketball program (although there's no mention of him on their own website). In a confirmed sighting, Green has been helping coach AAU teams as
he was spotted as an assistant coach at the D-I Elite Tournament in Elmhurst, IL last summer.
Marcus is scheduled to make an appearance at
the alumni game in August, but if you can't wait until then to get his attention, make sure to friend him on
Facebook! I'm still waiting for a response, but I'm sure it's because he still remembers how I voiced my displeasure every time he missed a wide-open three from the corner. That doesn't mean he won't accept YOUR request!
As always, stay tuned to GoBoilers.net as we continue our summerlong 2005-06 Men's Basketball Where Are They Now series!
Therefore, it makes it so much more fun to root for someone not only competing for your country, but also representing your school. As most Purdue sports fans know, Olympic diver David Boudia brought home a bronze medal yesterday in the 10m platform synchronized diving event. After placing fifth at the 2008 Beijing games at the age of 19, Boudia has grown into a very accomplished diver and surely benefited from calmer nerves as a veteran competitor.
