It would not be an understatement to say that Bishop O’Dowd junior Marsalis Roberson came into this past season a bit under the radar screen, but a lot of it had to do with the circumstances and adversity the 6-5 junior was faced with during his first two years at the school in the Oakland Hills.

Despite a limited role on the varsity last season as a sophomore, Roberson had a breakout season even though it ended prematurely. He clearly established himself as the top junior not only in the CIF North Coast Section, but one of the top juniors in all of California, so when the Prep2Prep NCS Junior of the Year was recently announced, the questions on social media came quickly.

“What about Marsalis?” and “Marsalis???” were two of the initial tweets? Well it turns out that after being one of the leaders on a Bishop O'Dowd team that went 23-7 and won its last 18 games to reach the CIF Northern Regional Open Division championship game (that was ultimately canceled because of the pandemic), Marsalis had an even bigger honor in store - the Prep2Prep NCS Player of the Year.

Roberson now adds the highest NCS honor to the Bay Area News Group Bay all-Bay Area Player of the Year, Cal-Hi Sports all-state third team as the only junior from Northern California to be selected as one of the top 30 players in the state regardless of class, San Francisco Chronicle all-Metro East Bay Player of the Year, plus others.

“It feels really good to know my hard work is appreciated and recognized,” Roberson responded to winning so many awards. “Getting the recognition pushes me to work even harder to get better.”

This past season, and on a team with college-level talent including Cal-bound senior Monty Bowser, Roberson led the team in scoring and rebounding at 16.5 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. He was also the team’s stat points leader which takes into account a player’s productivity based on made shots, missed shots, rebounds, assists, charges and turnovers.

“Marsalis is an incredible competitor, and playing with Monty Bowser allowed him to play against and with a mid-major to high Division I player every day,” remarked O’Dowd Coach Lou Richie. “That, and his ability to work hard and be coachable allowed him to strive in our program.”

“I liken him to a poor man’s RJ Barrett of the Knicks because he doesn’t have the height and weight of RJ but that’s the kind of player I believe he can become, and he’s a better shooter."

Roberson certainly was a good shooter in his final game of the season when he went for 12 points and eight rebounds with six assists and four steals in the Dragons 73-60 victory over Archbishop Mitty in the CIF NorCal Open Division semis. Of his 12 points 10 came on five monster dunks that ignited the O’Dowd bench and fans in a game played in San Jose.

That outing came on the heels of a performance against Dublin in a 75-72 victory in the NCS Open Division title game where Roberson tied his season high for points with 24, plus he added nine rebounds, three assists and four steals. Marsalis had three double-doubles on the season including 12 points and 11 rebounds in a 50-49 victory on the road in Moraga against eventual CIF Northern Regional Division I champion Campolindo.

For Roberson to be where he is at in this stage of his life is an incredible lesson on how to overcome extreme adversity and still make a success of yourself on the court and in the classroom.

As a youth Roberson skipped middle school basketball to play AAU and train with several coaches, including his uncle and former Johnson-Sacramento head coach Faraji Edwards. The goal was to prepare Marsalis to play varsity as a freshman at Natomas-Sacramento. Over the summer and fall prior to his freshman season Roberson was looking like he could be an impact player from the start.

Those hopes all came crashing down when on October 8, 2017 tragedy struck. At the time Marsalis was already attending Natomas and living with his father. It was on that night that his father, Jason Roberson, a barber affectionately known locally as “Big Jay”, and a former high school baseball player, college graduate and Navy veteran, was murdered by a gang member in what has been described by authorities as a case of him being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Born in Berkeley and raised in the Bay Area, Roberson moved to Sacramento in 2016 to live with his father and pursue a dream of becoming a professional basketball player.

After the death of his father Marsalis returned to Oakland to live with his mother, Brenaia Roberson, an academic advisor at Cal with two college degrees, and herself a standout basketball player at Holy Names-Oakland.

Roberson moved in with Brenaia, her parents and Marsalis’ younger twin siblings, Amare and Anyah. She enrolled Marsalis at Bishop O’Dowd because of its strong academics and perennially successful athletic programs, including boys basketball.

Even after Roberson broke his hand when he smashed it into a wall after learning of his father’s death, the possibility still existed that he could make the varsity at O’Dowd, but Richie, who has become a father figure to Marsalis, took a different approach.

“His father had just been stolen from him,” Richie remarked. “I wanted him to just be a kid and deal with the loss of his father and not worry about the struggles of basketball, but to acclimate to the school and a new culture.”

That first year Roberson played JV but knowing he could play varsity was frustrating.

“Coming from a public school was definitely different,” Roberson remarked. “I wanted to play varsity but my hand was broken so that didn’t help, and it was frustrating at first.”

He made the varsity in his sophomore season but on an always talented Dragons team Marsalis was pretty much a role player. Things can sometimes change in a hurry and that’s exactly what happened to Roberson. Coming into the season Bowser was the go-to player but by the end of the season Marsalis had assumed that role and also became a team leader. In a few short months he went from being hardly noticed to one of the top players and recruits in Northern California, and all with hard work and a humble attitude.

Some of that had to do with the memory of his father who taught him responsibility and sometimes got him up at the crack of dawn to work out with him.

“I feel losing my dad made me stronger because it provides me with a chip on my shoulder and reminds me every day that I need to try my hardest in everything I do for him,” Roberson said. “So every time I’m working out I think about him and push harder.”

Marsalis’ formula rubbed off on his teammates.

“Marsalis was an incredible leader,” Richie said. “He pushed everybody, including the coaches, to be the best version of themselves, and he held everyone accountable.”

Marsalis has not only become a leader but in some respects a mentor to Prep2Prep NCS Freshman of the Year Jalen Lewis, who is also being raised by a single parent after his mother passed away from cancer when he was an infant.

“I’ve known Jalen since elementary school,” Roberson said. “We played in the same AAU organization at one point so he’s like a little brother to me. This season I was there for him after he would make a mistake and I’d just tell him to keep playing his game and attacking.”

Players at all levels have some attributes, and all, including NBA superstars have areas where they can improve. Despite Roberson going from unknown to a top 100 prospect as a shooting guard by every major recruiting service in just over four months, Marsalis has attributes that obviously got noticed, but also room for improvement.

“His best attributes are his elite work ethic and elite coachability,” remarked Richie.

“I am a competitor, and I am a leader,” Marsalis added. “I always try to lead by example by being on time to everything and pushing myself hard in practice. Also I am always in attack mode on the court.”

What about areas for improvement? “Marsalis need to get stronger, be a more consistent shooter, and work on his point guard skills,” was the assessment of Richie.

Roberson sees is in a similar fashion.

“I feel there is always room for improvement, but I am working on my ball handling and developing a more consistent shot, and I’m working on the small details I need to take my game to the next level.”

Speaking of the next level, Roberson went from being an unproven commodity to start the season to a top-level Division I recruit. Marsalis currently has 11 D1 offers and while most are from mid-majors, Cal and Nebraska are on his list of offers with interest from Stanford.

“I want to play in college and take my team to the tournament, not only to play but to win games,” said Roberson who has a 3.48 GPA and says his favorite subject is geography. “Another goal is to get to the NBA and get my degree.”

Having the coronavirus end the season, and not getting a chance to play for a CIF Northern Regional Open Division title and potential state championship was disappointing, but in some ways the players were prepared for it since during timeouts and at halftime of the NorCal Open semi victory over Mitty, Richie seemed to know what the future held and implored the players to give it their all, telling them “this is going to be your last game.”

Marsalis accepted the reality and is using it as a motivator for his senior season.

“Having our season cut short because of the pandemic was hard at first, but as time progressed it taught me to always play like it’s your last game because you never know when something you love can be taken from you,” Roberson said. “This season I want to win a state championship and be the California state player of the year.”

To reach those lofty but not unattainable goals will mean hard work between now and after the first of the year when the CIF hopes to start the 2020-2021 high school sports season.

“I’ve been working out three times a day and also going to physical therapy sometimes, and I’ve been stretching and meditating at night and making sure I put the right things in my body,” Marsalis said about his current regimen.

Quite appropriately, Richie, who has been instrumental in guiding Roberson to where he is, gets the last word.

“Very humble, very hard-working and incredibly coachable, he will be very successful because of his approach to academics, basketball and everyday life. I would love to coach a team of 12 players like Marsalis.”

Right now there’s only one of him, and he’s the Prep2Prep North Coast Section Player of the Year.

Others considered include: Aidan Mahaney of Campolindo and Anthony Roy of Dublin.

The waning moments of the 2019-2020 school year, well after Dublin High’s basketball team had navigated an incredibly grueling schedule and challenged the perennial powers in Northern California, head coach Tom Costello continued to receive good basis about a special group of seniors.

All 10 seniors from the Gaels’ basketball Class of 2020 will go on to compete in athletics at the collegiate level, something which Costello lists as a final highlight for a group of talented multi-sport athletes, and re-affirms his commitment to their success not only while in his program, but well after they leave.

“Simply put, I looked forward to coming to practice and being with this group every single day. Their attitude, effort and energy made me want to work harder for them. They were special,” Costello said. “We had a successful formula of hard-working, selfless players that accepted roles, a dedicated staff at all levels who care about kids, a supportive group of parents and a tremendous administration.”

It was clear from the start that 2019-2020 could be a special year for the Gaels, who routed Weston Ranch and Albany in their first two games of the season before heading to the prestigious Gridley Invitational Basketball Tournament. After handling St. Patrick-St. Vincent in the opening game of the tournament, Dublin really opened eyes around the state when it took down Riordan and Salesian to capture the tournament title.

“Gridley was a springboard for us,” Costello said. “After that, it was the Damien Classic Platinum Division, and even though we went 2-2 there, our boys competed well against state-level teams and got better.”

The two losses at Damien – to Rancho Christian-Temecula and Fairfax-Los Angeles – were the only setbacks in the first 16 games of the season for the Gaels. Fairfax would end up reaching the LA City Section title game, while Rancho Christian eventually ended up in the Open Division of the CIF Southern Section Championships, showing the strength of the two teams to beat Dublin. Meanwhile, the Gaels headed back north and opened play in the East Bay Athletic League with three easy victories, before facing its biggest mental hurdle of the season.

“We hit a speed bump in the middle of the league season,” Costello added. “After the loss to SRV, we spent the next practice in the classroom, and learned a lot about ourselves as individuals and as a team. It was one of the most memorable and gratifying practices of my career. We figured it out and went on a nine-game winning streak.”

That loss to San Ramon Valley referenced by Costello was a heart-breaking one-point setback which actually dropped the Gaels to 3-3 in league play, giving them three straight losses in league play, broken up only by a non-league win over Modesto Christian in the MLK Showcase. But after losing to the Wolves, Dublin hit the gas, winning its next five by double digits, including an eye-popping 32-point win over Monte Vista. The final two victories in the streak were a double-overtime win over Dougherty Valley in the EBAL Championship Game, just two nights after a 30-point win over the Wildcats, and a win over Campolindo in the semifinals of the inaugural NCS Open Division.

“That double overtime win was an epic battle, and easily a favorite moment of the season,” Costello recalled. “It was truly a team effort.”

Along with the EBAL title game, and the continued careers of his 10 seniors, Costello did highlight one other special moment from the season. On Feb. 7, the Gaels raced past Livermore for a 90-33 victory. But while the box score for the game showed 11 different Dublin varsity players getting in the scoring column, it was a three-point contribution from team manager Stewy Thalblum which will stick in Costello’s mind, after Costello sent Thalblum into the locker room near the end of the third quarter to put on his new jersey, following four years of working on the bench and listening to the Dublin crowd chant his name. Following the made shot, Thalblum was mobbed on the court by the Gaels’ student section.

“There was a stillness in the gym while his shot was in the air,” Costello remarked after the Livermore game. “Once it went in, it was pandemonium.”

The Gaels would end up losing by three points to Bishop O’Dowd in the NCS title game, but recovered with a win over Bellarmine in the quarterfinals of the CIF NorCal Open Division, before facing perennial power Sheldon in the regional semifinals.

“I am so proud of our group for that Sheldon game,” Costello said. “Our guys were completely willing to change our style, in just one practice, in order to give us the best chance of winning. Although we came up one point short, that willingness was gratifying.”

Not only did the Gaels have to change their game plan, they had to keep mentally sharp to play a game which was threatened to be canceled amid the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic. They did just that, and in the process capped an amazing run for a program which has now placed itself among the region’s elite.

For his efforts this past season, we are pleased to recognize Dublin’s Tom Costello as the Prep2Prep North Coast Section Coach of the Year.

Other coaches considered include Bishop O’Dowd’s Lou Richie, Campolindo’s Steven Dyer, De Anza’s Reginald Figgs, Stuart Hall’s Charley Johnson and Piedmont’s Ben Spencer.

Marsalis Roberson

Anthony Roy

Aidan Mahaney

Te’Jon Sawyer

Ciri Sawyers

Jalen Lewis

Devon Jackson

Brah’jon Thompson

Jaden Alexander

Robby Beasley

Sebastien Scott

Monty Bowser

Luke Barrett

Miles Daniels

Peyton Mullarkey

Jaylen Thompson

Shane Bell

Nate Rutchena