Big East Lottery Look Back: 1994

1994.

Tonya Harding and her co-conspirators tried to take Nancy Kerrigan out of the Olympics, MLB went on strike, and Hulk Hogan spurned the WWF and signed with WCW.

Also in 1994, Donyell Marshall became the first UConn Huskies player to be taken in the NBA Draft Lottery. As such, Donyell Marshall is the subject of today's Big East Lottery Look Back.

Donyell Marshall

In addition to Reading, Pennsylvania’s Reading Senior High School being the alma mater of current Big East Associate Commissioner Stu Jackson, it’s also the alma mater of Marshall.

As the story goes, Marshall was so smitten with UConn, he committed to the school on his way home from his official visit.

Upon arriving in Storrs for the 1991-92 season, Marshall made an immediate impact as he averaged 11.1 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. While Marshall wasn’t named Big East Rookie of the Year, the Huskies made the NCAA Tournament thanks to his strong play, and defeated Nebraska in the first round before falling to #1 seed Ohio State in the second round.

From a personal standpoint, Marshall’s sophomore season was great. He averaged 17.0 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. However, the Huskies went 15-13 and missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time in three seasons.

Heading into his third season, hype was starting to grow for Marshall. He lived up to it, scoring 25.1 points per game (third all time in UConn history) and grabbing 8.9 rebounds per game. Marshall’s 865 points in the 1993-94 season are second most all time for a UConn player behind Kemba Walker in 2010-11. Marshall’s dominance was rewarded with the 1993-94 Big East Player of the Year Award, and the 29-5 Huskies headed back to the NCAA Tournament as a #2 seed. After disposing of Rider and George Washington, Connecticut fell to Florida in overtime in the Sweet Sixteen. Shortly later, Marshall declared for the NBA Draft, forgoing his final season of eligibility.

With the fourth pick in the 1994 NBA Draft, the Minnesota Timberwolves selected Donyell Marshall. Marshall played just 40 games with the Timberwolves before being traded to the Golden State Warriors in February of 1995.

Marshall played for Golden State for the next five seasons, averaging 11.2 points and 6.7 rebounds per game.

The turn of the century saw Marshall turn into a journeyman. He made stops in Utah, Chicago, Toronto, Cleveland, Seattle, and Philadelphia over the next nine seasons before retiring in August of 2009.

Following his retirement, Marshall became a broadcaster with the Philadelphia 76ers for a season before taking an assistant coaching job at George Washington.

After just one season, Marshall went to the NBA D-League to be an assistant for the Maine Red Claws.

In September 2013, Marshall returned to the college coaching ranks, taking an assistant position with Rider.

After two seasons at Rider, Marshall joined Nate Oats at Buffalo as an assistant.

Finally, Marshall’s hard work paid off. He was named the head coach of the NEC’s Central Connecticut Blue Devils in April of 2016.