[V]

Rawle Marshall started his NCAA career at Ball State University in 2000-01. He only played in 13 games and averaged 2.4 points and 1.2 rebounds per game. After that season he decided to transfer to Oakland and redshirted a year because of that.

Over the last three seasons, Marshall played for Oakland in the Mid-Continent (Mid-con) conference, a fairly average mid-major conference whose best teams this year were Oral Roberts and UMKC. He made an immediate impact as a redshirt sophomore, averaging 18 points, 6 and a half rebounds, nearly 3 assists, 3 steals and a block and a half per game in 35 minutes of action. He came down to earth a bit as a junior, averaging 17.6 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2 assists in similar playing time.

This year, Oakland scheduled one of the toughest out of conference schedules of any team in the country, going up against Xavier, Illinois, Marquette, Texas A&M, Missouri and others. They started off the season 0-7, with Marshall putting up decent numbers on poor percentages against these teams. Despite going into their conference tournament with a 7-18 record, they won five straight games to miraculously secure themselves a spot in the NCAA tournament, with the last three wins coming by a combined 8 points. Their improbable run continued after beating Alabama State in the play-in game (where Marshall was extremely impressive on national television), and Oakland became the toast of the national media. They were matched up with eventual national champions North Carolina in the first round of the tournament, and were handedly dismissed 96-68. Marshall had 16 points and 5 rebounds on 5-17 shooting. On the year he finished up with 20 points per game, nearly 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and a block and a half on 44% shooting from the field.