This Season: There were high expectations for Marshall this season. And for the first six games of the season, he met those expectations, averaging 13.7 points per game and 6.3 rebounds per game. However, as the season went on, his production dropped, as well as his minutes. After the Indiana game, his playing time exceeded 26 minutes only once. He slowly saw his minutes drop, as Kameron Woods began chipping away at Marshall's playing time. By the end of the season, Woods was even playing more than Marshall. In fact, over the final six games of the season, Marshall was averaging 17.5 minutes per game compared to 21.0 MPG for Kam Woods in that time span. The problem for Marshall this season was that he is not a true post player, and a majority of his points are scored on dunks and great passes from teammates. Marshall was largely unable to create shots for himself in the post. I will say that Marshall improved his mid range jump shot, but his free throw shooting did not make that same stride. At 6'6, Marshall was unable to take advantage of his athleticism to grab rebounds, as he averaged only 3.4 RPG over the final 21 games of the season. To put it more simply, the combination of Kameron Woods' long arms and his improving jump shot (to the point where it was as good as Marshall's) kept the undersized Marshall on the bench for the majority of key stretches in the second half of games.
Butler Career: Marshall started his Butler career with one of the best mentor's a big man could ever have: Matt Howard. Marshall showed both promise and inconsistency as a freshman with some outstanding games such as the game against Florida in the Elite Eight, and other games where he seemed invisible in single digit minutes. As a sophomore, Marshall, along with Andrew Smith, did an admirable job trying to replace the production of Howard. However, after playing with the USA U-19 team the summer before, Marshall largely failed to be the dynamic scorer that Butler so desperately needed in 2011-12. This season was largely similar to last season, and Marshall was unable to sustain his strong start to the season, and faded towards relative obscurity down the stretch (if that's even possible for someone who has highlight reel dunks regularly). Marshall has one more chance to reach his potential in college, and fill the void left by another big man, this time Andrew Smith. I would like to see Marshall play small forward at times next season, because it would give him a size advantage down low, and it is the position he will most certainly play at the next level.
Erik Fromm
This Season: Like Marshall, Fromm followed up last season with an eerily similar one this season. He continued in his role from last season backing up Andrew Smith, but was actually slightly more efficient this season. His 2 point field goal percentage went slightly up, his 3 point percentage went slightly down. While I wouldn't exactly call Fromm a strong interior defender, he definitely improved his post defense and rebounding to a point where he doesn't get manhandled by a Cody Zeller caliber player. It was definitely difficult for Fromm losing his father but he was still able to play relatively well after that incident.
Butler Career: When Erik Fromm came to Butler, I expected him to be the three point shooter that Florida's Erik Murphy is now. Like Chase Stigall, Fromm's 3 point shooting has disappointed me in his three years, two as role player, one as bench warmer. Fromm will need to replace Andrew Smith's 3 point production next season, and will probably get more looks from outside. He also needs to get stronger as he will see more minutes at the 5. His current frame might cause him to pick up fouls at that position, similar to the way being undersized plagued Matt Howard at the 5.
I hope Fromm can be a strong mentor for Nolan Berry, as those two battle it out for minutes in Butler's crowded front court next season.
Notes
- Expect to see the wrap up for sophomores by the end of the week. There are quite a few of them, so it will take some time.
- As I was writing this article, I saw this tweet from IndyStar's David Woods:
Coaching news: Brandon Miller returning to #Butler staff; Darnell Archey & @RonaldNored to join Matthew Graves at So. Ala. Story coming.
- I will discuss the above tweet more in a later post.
In the meantime, go Bulldogs!
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