Scholastic Roundup: Marquis Nowell — Manhattan to Manhattan

March 24, 2023 Andy Furman

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There’s a real good reason why Kansas State’s basketball team has advanced to the Sweet 16 in this year’s NCAA Basketball Tournament.

Marquis Nowell.

The fifth-year senior point guard for the Wildcats – generously listed at 5-8 – had zero Division I offer during his senior year in high school.

He played his senior year – 2017 – at The Patrick School in Hillsdale, New Jersey after playing two seasons –2015-17 — at Bishop Loughlin High School, where he played alongside brothers Julian (St. John’s) and Justin (Pittsburgh) Champagnie. Nowell averaged 19.9 points and 8.1 assists as a junior in 2016-17 and helped the Lions to a 20-7 record and a No. 8 final ranking in Class AA.

In two NCAA Tournament games he’s scored 44 points – 17 against Montana State in a 77-65 win – and in a 75-69 win over Kentucky he poured in 27 points with nine assists. He had 14 assists in the Montana State win.

Dick Vitale calls Nowel, “The best player under six-feet.”

Kansas State’s 23-8 record to end the regular season is the second-best by a first-year coach in school history behind Zora G. Clevenger, who went 15-2 in 1916-17. The mark tied for the best by any first-year coach in Division I, along with Missouri’s Dennis Gates, Xavier’s Sean Miller and Duke’s Jon Scheyer.

Nowell has scored 1,308 career points – 13.8 ppg – on 39.1 percent shooting –421-of-1,076, including 55.2 percent – 199-of-566 from three-point range, while he has connected on 85 percent (267-of-314 from the free-throw line.

At 5-8, 160-pounds, Nowell is the shortest All-American chosen by the Sporting News since Kentucky’s Tyler Ulis in 2016. In two ranked wins over Texas and Baylor in the Big 12 Tournament, Nowell scored more than 65 points and dished-out more than 20 assists. The only two other D-1 men’s players in the last 10 years to accomplish that in a two-game stretch are Trae Young and Ja Morant.

Kansas State, from Manhattan, Kansas, picked to finish last in the Big 12, has advanced to Madison Square Garden for the East Regional semifinal round to meet Michigan State.

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The fallout continued after it was announced earlier this week that St. Francis College, Brooklyn will discontinue their athletic program.

“Anytime something that has been a great thing is taken away,” said Dan Lynch, Jr., former baseball coach at the college, “it’s a great loss. But it’s a sign of the times. Take away history books; take away parental guidance in schools; take away the right of good people to be protected. It’s just a tool that the misguided use to bring the good aspects of life down into their baseless, aimless world.”

Lynch is the son of Daniel Lynch, who coached the St. Francis College basketball team for 22 years – and was a 1938 graduate of the school. He led the Terriers to more than 300 victories between 1948 and 1969 and saw it ranked in the Top 10 in 1956.

He coached the team into 11 post-season tournaments.

As a student at St. Francis, he was the Terriers’ top scorer during the four-years he played between 1934 and 1938, when the team produced a record of 58 wins and 28 losses.

Young Lynch had more: “Past Presidents and past Trustees are to blame (for the loss of athletics),” he said. “Brother Donald Sullivan, a narcissistic, immoral, sub-human who was drummed out of his post due to allegations of stealing up to a million dollars from the school’s treasury started this spiraling decent into financial ruin. What role future presidents played in this is not clear; but I have never heard any negative comments about President Brenan J. Dugan.”

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Edmund Savold, who played basketball at St. Francis (’66-’67) and baseball (’67-’70) added: “It’s a very sad announcement to me. I think of all the current athletes who gave their all in competing for SFC. Our history is a proud one. Many champions have taken the field for the Terriers. I think of all the great coaches – especially, Mr. Lynch. All of you who have left it all on the field of play who reads this, Thank You. I am, honored to have played for SFC and with many of you. Terrier sports will live on in my heart forever.”

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Glenn Thomas, FDR High School basketball coach wrote on social media: “I am beyond disgusted, and here are the reasons:

“The lack of transparency that the school is ‘modernizing’ by moving to a new location. Owners to tenants — yeah, that made a lot of sense.”

And he added: “The fact that coaches weren’t given a proper notice or the fact that coaches went out and recruited student-athletes in good faith to attend the school only to now have these kids to find a new school in order to keep playing their respective sport. Now I hear that the school president has taken a one-year leave of absence in the wake of all this upheaval.
“A very special thanks to the SFC Board of Trustees for sandbagging the entire situation. This makes my blood boil. I feel particularly bad for my close friend and high school teammate, SFC head coach Glenn Braica. If any school is looking for a head (basketball) coach then he’s your guy. Great coach and even a better person.

“Disgraceful is not a strong enough adjective to describe this debacle.”

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In recognition of a lifetime of service to St. Francis College Athletics and its community, Director of Athletics Irma Garcia (’80), is set to receive the Distinguished Service Award from the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association (MBWA) at this year’s All-Met Haggerty Awards dinner. This award is in recognition of her tireless work as the Terriers’ Director of Athletics throughout her 16-year tenure and her prior success at the helm of the St. Francis women’s basketball program.

The awards dinner is set for Thursday, April 27, at the Sleepy Hollow Hotel and Conference Center in Tarrytown, New York.

It’s a shame she’ll no longer have an office at the college for the award to be viewed.

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Brooklyn Tech’s jayvee basketball team made it to the championships – and supporter and basketball-mom Yvonne Lee couldn’t be happier.

“Did you ever think to utter Brooklyn Tech and South Shore (High School) basketball in the same breath,?” she said. “It’s insane what our coach (Elmer Anderson) has been able to accomplish with our bunch of ‘nerdy’ kids – No. 1 in New York City basketball.”

And unlike Princeton making it to the Sweet 16, she adds, “Our kids were taking the PSAT on the morning of our final game. It’s insane what our kids and coach accomplished at an Academics-First School.”

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Congrats in order to coach Kenneth Hafford and his Transit Tech High School basketball team.

The Express – ranked No. 1 in both New York State and New York City a year-ago – won this year’s PSAL Boys Class A title with a 71-47 victory over Epic South.

They lost the title last year to Murry Bergtraum. Hafford has coached at the Wells Street school five seasons.

“We won it for the people of East New York, the community and of course the Transit Tech family,” he said.

Wonder if Jimmy Smits was listening?

Andy Furman is a Fox Sports Radio national talk show host. Previously, he was a scholastic sports columnist for the Brooklyn Eagle. He may be reached at: [email protected]. Twitter: @AndyFurmanFSR