Dove soars for OSU, after having to walk
Dove soars for OSU, after having to walk

STILLWATER — Marcus Dove's career at Oklahoma State has been a long and winding road of ups and downs, complete with a couple of painful injuries and more than a couple memorable games. As he reflected on the five-year journey Dove said he wouldn't change anything about it – even if he has had to walk and bum rides for the last couple miles.

"Five years,” Dove said on the eve of his last game in Gallagher-Iba Arena, a Bedlam matchup against Oklahoma at 7 p.m. tonight. "That's crazy. It seems like I've been here about a year-and-a-half, two years. But I wouldn't trade it for the world.”

The bumps in the California native's road have certainly dictated the player he has become at OSU. A wrist injury he sustained as a redshirt freshman and re-injured as a freshman limited his shooting ability and forced him to focus on defense.

Given the team's "defensive stopper” title – and with props from freshman phenom Kevin Durant last season – Dove has become one of the most highly regarded defensive players in college basketball.

But it's a mistake he made over the summer that may wind up helping Dove reach the NBA.

In June, Dove was arrested and charged with an aggravated DUI, the third arrest of an OSU basketball player over the summer. Upset and humiliated, Dove added early morning shooting sessions to his court-designated punishments of community service and fines. His parents took his car away, so five days a week at 6 a.m. sophomore Obi Muonelo or student-manager Kyle Briggs would pick up Dove and the three of them would head to the gym.

As a result, the defensive specialist is no longer an offensive liability. Dove is shooting 45 percent from the floor and he's hit 24 3-pointers, including critical go-ahead 3s against Kansas and Missouri in the last two weeks. (In the hallway, after the Missouri win, a jubilant Dove hugged Briggs and hollered "6 a.m.! 6 a.m.!”).

Several NBA scouts watching the Cowboys at the Maui Invitational said that with his length and strength on defense the ability to hit open shots they can see Dove as a role-player on an NBA team.

"I was talking to my parents about it and we all think it's a blessing in disguise,” Dove said of the DUI. "In the end it really made me a better person.”

Said his mom, Yolanda: "Him being a man entails a lot of things. For him to develop as an individual is our main concern. That's what life is all about, making mistakes and learning. We think he's learning, and as long as we learn, everything is OK.”

Marilyn Middlebrook, OSU's associate athletic director in charge of academics. said the whole incident helped Dove re-focus, calling it "one of those rare times” a mistake truly changes a person.

"It was an enlightening period where the light came on,” Middlebrook said. "He realized ‘I'm an adult. I was raised right. I know right from wrong.' I think he was enjoying college a little too much, and he realized he had to grow up.”

It's not hard to imagine Dove enjoying college.

The 6-foot-9 forward is sharp and funny and well-spoken, and he has a certain charisma that draws people to him. He is, effortlessly, the coolest kid in the room.

"I haven't, in five years, heard one guy say anything bad about him,” Middlebrook said. "Even the kids we'd call the ‘trouble kids,' and the goody-two-shoes types, everyone likes Marcus. Everybody wants to be around Marcus.”

But for as much as his teammates always liked and respected him, Dove was never much of a vocal leader.

He was just so laid back, OSU coach Sean Sutton said, that it didn't come naturally to him.

This year, however, he really had no choice. He and reserve Tyler Hatch are the only seniors on the team, and Dove is the only guy who's "been there,” having redshirted OSU's Final Four year.

So this year Dove was the guy who talked to Martavius Adams when the freshman was suspended for attitude issues, and the one who tells Marshall Moses he has to clean up his locker.

"He epitomizes what our program stands for,” Sutton said. "He's a great person. He's been a tremendous leader for our players.”

Sutton said his development has been fun to watch.

"He was a good high school player,” Sutton said. "He got recruited pretty hard, but it wasn't like he was a Top 50 player coming out of high school. He came here and worked hard on his game. He worked really hard this summer on his offensive game and I think he's got a chance to play in the NBA. I really do.”

For his parents, the fact that Dove will graduate in May is even more exciting than the prospect of him playing in the NBA.

"The fact that he's actually getting his degree is wonderful because it's rare in my family for someone to actually complete and get their college degree,” Yolanda said. "So that is just remarkable for the family and for him as an African American male in this day and time to actually have his bachelor's degree. So I'm more proud of that than anything else.”

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