A love for basketball and the compassion and interest of a coach brought star player D.J. Marsh to the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.

As a 13-year-old, rough-and-tumble kid fresh out of Chicago and thrown into the Milwaukee school system after deciding to live with his father, Marsh discovered an outlet − he discovered basketball.

“I didn’t know anyone when I moved to Milwaukee,” Marsh said. “So I was always getting myself into trouble.”

Marsh’s knack for testing authority, however, soon led to a friendship with the principal’s son. This connection introduced Marsh to the freedom of dribbling down an empty court, the rush of defending an opponent and the satisfaction of sinking a free throw.

Shooting baskets every day since, Marsh is now a sophomore starter on the UW Oshkosh men’s basketball team.

“The more I played the game, the more I respected myself and everyone else, too,” Marsh said. “Basketball has definitely kept me out of trouble.”

Marsh’s love affair with basketball continued into his high school years where he starred on the Nicolet High School basketball team.

“Playing for Nicolet made me like basketball even more,” said Marsh. “We were one big family, and some of the best friends of my life played on that team.”

Success at Nicolet led to formal recruitment by Division I basketball coaches and a scholarship offer by Rich Glas of the University of North Dakota.

“This was definitely an exciting time in my life,” Marsh said of the recruitment process. “I really wanted to play basketball in college.”

Then disaster struck.

In his junior year at Nicolet, Marsh experienced the first of four ankle breaks over three years, forcing him into rehabilitation programs and onto the bench. Marsh was also forced to consider that he may not be able to play basketball in college.

Despite Marsh’s injuries, Ted Van Dellen, the head basketball coach at UW Oshkosh, saw Marsh’s potential and continued to heavily recruit Marsh to play for the Titans.

Marsh says he will never forget the letters or the phone calls from Van Dellen.

“After I got hurt, Coach [Van Dellen] was the first one to talk to me and definitely the most consistent,” Marsh said. “Oshkosh and this team felt like the right place for me.”

Marsh currently leads the Titans in number of points scored, and he earned Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference recognition as Athlete of the Week for his performance during Nov. 19-25, 2007. He is also part of the star-quality quad of the 2008 starting line, which features Jordan Johnson, Matt Miller and Dane Seckar-Anderson.

“D.J. is probably our best overall athlete,” Van Dellan said of the 6’4” forward. “He does a great job with the ball and has become a much better defender this year.”

Thanks to players like Marsh, Van Dellen, who has been coaching the Titans since 1990, recorded his 300th career win Nov. 21 against St. Norbert College.

In the St. Norbert victory, Marsh sank a career-high 27 points, tallied seven rebounds and posted four assists.

“Anytime you have success at anything it improves your self-esteem,” Van Dellen said. “And in the last three years, he [D.J.] has had both.”