Alex Marzette, a D2 product that rose up and became a professional basketball player, is ready for the next challenge and adventure.
Alex Marzette knew he was destined to be a basketball player from a very young age. There is so much more to an athlete than their height, their skills, their resume, and their age. To really get to know Alex Marzette, you have to get to know his heart and soul, his drive, his passion for basketball, his positive attitude and will to succeed in his dream job.
When Alex was growing up and watched basketball games on TV with his mother. He remembers his mom cheering for her favorite player, Michael Jordan. Alex remembers thinking that he wanted his mother to do the same for him when he grew up. And sure enough, his dream came true as she’s his biggest fan.
Alexander Darrell Washington Marzette is the oldest of five siblings in a basketball family. He was named after his uncle whose middle name is Alexander. His uncle beat his mother to her maternity hospital bed before Alex was born and she thought that was such a special moment that she named her son after her brother.
His mother inspires him the most. She is such a great mom. With the help of his grandmother, she juggled the raising of five children while earning bot a Master’s and Bachelor’s degree. Seeing the both of them work as hard as they did to make sure he and his brothers were raised correctly gave him the inspiration he needed to make it to the place he wanted to make it in life.
While Marzette was younger he tried to tap into all sports. But the only one fell in love with was basketball. Although he did enjoy football, Alex was too small to play so his mother thought it better to stick to basketball. Alex explained, “It’s pretty tough growing up in Wisconsin being that even though his team was ranked No. 2 in the nation, it’s the worst city for African American people to survive in.”
In November, 2019, Racine was named the No. 2 most racist city in America for black people according to 24/7 Wall St with Milwaukee, Wisconsin coming in 1st. “So to be able to make it as far as I have, is definitely a blessing,” explained Marzette. The main reason for the ranking is because 30.8% of black Racine-area residents live in poverty, which is close to four times Racine’s white poverty rate (8.7%). Marzette has face great odds to make it as far as he has, and he’s not done!
Alex Marzette 3
Growing up on the Southside of town in Racine, Wisconsin most of his life was as good as his family could make it. There was a lot of violence and tough times but his mother did her best trying to keep her children away from the streets as much as possible.
Alex went to four different schools throughout his college career. He switched schools in order to move up a level. He did this through his junior year. He started at the College of Lake County a D2 JUCO. He then transferred to Volunteer State Community College, a D1 JUCO. After Volunteer State he transferred to an NCAA D2 University, the University of Southern Indiana.
Alex ended his college career as a senior for the and D2 program at Robert Morris University of Chicago Illinois. It was a blessing in disguise because he ended up playing extremely well there, breaking the block records of eight blocks in one game and 89 total blocks during the season. That led to him getting an invite to the Milwaukee bucks Pre-Draft camp in June, 2015. The coaches saw the potential he had and allowed him to play the game as comfortable as he could to make sure he excelled to get to the next level. He is eternally and forever grateful for the opportunity he had to play for Robert Morris.
Playing for four different head coaches, he met a guy named Ken after an open gym at a college he was trying out for. Ken just happened to be a professional shooting coach. He told Alex, “You have potential, NBA Athleticism, but just dunking won’t make you a pro. Workout with me and I’ll do my best to make you a professional basketball player.” And so he did.
Daily, Ken and Alex would be in the gym so much that he went from never shooting a three pointer in high school to being the 4th ranked shooter in the nation in his first college season. To this day, the two still work out together in Alex’s off seasons.
Alex didn’t have a problem with moving around. Actually it helped him because he was able to learn a lot of coaching styles and to adapt to different techniques. and to do it faster than others. This helped get him get ready going through the same experiences playing overseas.
Alex Marzette
Most International pro basketball players play in one country for a season and end up going somewhere the next, or play for a number of teams in the course of a year.
Marzette has had an interesting pro career, having spent time in the NBA G-League, and playing overseas.
He enjoyed the G-League, but told us, “It’s not for everyone. You have to have a great resume in order to stick in most situations, and an even better resume or be a draft pick in order to really play enough to be seen or hope to be called up.”
Alex enjoys playing overseas because he gets to travel, and he also gets to learn the way they play in the NBA. “The NBA is played mostly with reads and screens, overseas basketball is a lot more strategies and technique in both the offense and defense. I still want to make it to the NBA, I believe I am close to getting there, but I don’t mind being a big time player in a top league overseas being paid well either,” he explained.
Marzette likes to train alone or in small groups with no more than maybe three people. He likes to learn and stay focused, “It’s hard to do that with too many people. My main focus when training is shooting. You can never get up enough shots and it’s the key to the game now. If you can’t shoot it might be hard to get a job.”
Growing up his grandma had a lot of nicknames for him. The one that always stuck with him was “old goat.” She passed recently. Alex knows that if she was here and could speak to him, she’d call me that every day. “With that being said, I know she’s intervening with what God has in store for me and next season will be my best season yet. I can’t wait to get back to playing at a high level to show the world, my mom and grandma and God, exactly what I’m capable of. And that’s being on the Top of my game really soon.”
Find us on YOUTUBE – and subscribe! Tons of content!
