Roy Marble: Son Devyn is 'going to be better than me'

NORTH LIBERTY - Devyn Marble carries a swagger that reminds his father of himself.

“I love it,” said Roy Marble, Iowa's all-time leading scorer. “I wouldn't tune it down for nothing.”

One year after arriving on campus, Devyn Marble, an 18-year-old Iowa sophomore, has developed physically from a thin, raw, somewhat-timid freshman into a confident, determined and explosive basketball player. He's added about 20 pounds to his frame and about 40 pounds to his bench press. He works on his game for hours each day, sharpening each aspect of basketball.

Marble doesn't put up 3-point shots during training - it's all midrange. That's a discussion he and Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery had in the spring.

“He calls it our little project that we're working on,” Marble said. “Anything's not a 3, basically. My coaching staff believes my midrange game is really good so they told me to go ahead and perfect it and become great at it.”

How do you get good at a midrange game? You hit shoot until you're exhausted and you can't lift your arms.

“I make 500,” Marble said. “You don't practice missing. You practice making.

“You shoot the least amount as possible. That means I'm making shots. On a given day, I hope I'm not getting around shooting 800 and trying to make 500.”

Devyn Marble came from Iowa a year ago via Southfield Lathrup in Detroit. He didn't live with his father but the two always talked basketball. Coming to Iowa could be tough for a legacy like Devyn, but he put it aside almost immediately and wanted to become his own player.

Roy Marble was a first-round NBA draft pick in 1989. He scored 2,116 points in his Iowa career, nearly 350 points ahead of Iowa's second-leading scorer Acie Earl. Living with those comparisons can be difficult for an athlete, but Roy Marble said his son put it to rest almost immediately.

“We went through this,” Roy Marble said. “He really just doesn't care. He told me, ‘Since 1902, no one has done what you've done. I'm comfortable with the fact if I don't break the scoring record, I'm fine.'”

But like many proud fathers, Roy Marble talks up his son's game. Devyn Marble's lean, 6-foot-6 frame could help him one day guard four positions as a professional, his father touts. Roy Marble said his son is “going to be better than me” someday. Even more revealing, Roy admits Devyn's work ethic dwarfed his own at Iowa.

“I didn't start shooting a thousand shots a day until I was an upcoming senior and I was afraid I wasn't going to get drafted and I was going to have to get back to Flint, Michigan,” Roy Marble said.

Shooting is just one part of Devyn Marble's workout routine. Along with 60 minutes of weightlifting, Devyn Marble works on his ball handling to avoid unnecessary turnovers.

“I do a lot of ball handling and a lot two-ball dribbling,” Devyn said. “Real crisp, two-combination moves up and down the court. Everything is just to keep the ball as tight to my body and stop playing with the ball so loose.”

Devyn Marble started six games and played in all 31 last year for Iowa. He averaged 5.7 points and 2.4 rebounds a game. In the Prime Time League this summer, Marble put up more than 28 points a game.

But there's something more awaiting Devyn Marble this summer. Once the PTL ends, he'll return to Detroit and hit the tough gyms for pickup games against Big Ten guards like Michigan State's Keith Appling and Michigan's Tim Hardaway Jr. Devyn Marble also will pick up a few more traits from those games and bring them to the court this fall, his father said.

“Killer instinct and no rest,” Roy Marble said. “Any given day they'll break you down. I'm very confident in my son, who now has kind of liked stepped in. At first he was a little bit hesitant about going back home. I'm like, ‘Everybody's seen you on national TV. Dude, you're my son. Go back and demand respect on any floor that you go back to.' That's what he's doing.

“I don't have to worry about RD anymore. He actually tastes blood.”