Marvin O'Connor

Marvin O'Connor (born July 11, 1978) is an American former professional basketball player. He played high school basketball at Simon Gratz in his native Philadelphia, winning the Philadelphia Public League title as a senior in 1997. After his freshman year in college at Villanova, O'Connor transferred to Saint Joseph's, where he was an all-conference selection in all of his three seasons there, and won the Robert V. Geasey Trophy as the best basketball player in the Philadelphia Big 5 in 2001. He went undrafted in the 2002 NBA draft and spent his only professional season with KK Partizan in Serbia, playing in the 2002–03 Euroleague. He is a member of the St. Joseph's Hawks Hall of Fame (inducted in 2008) and of the Big 5 Hall of Fame.

High school career O'Connor was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1978, to Alfred and Alexandria Dockins. He attended Simon Gratz High School, where he was named a starter as a sophomore in 1994–95 by coach Bill Ellerbee. That season, he scored a season-high 20 points against Central. and 35 points (a then-career high) against Thomas Edison High School. At the end of the season he was named in the All-City Second Team and in the All-Public League First Team after averaging 15.6 points per game in Public League play. Overall, O'Connor averaged 17 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists per game in a total of 28 games in his junior season.

In O'Connor's senior season, he led the team in scoring in 10 out of 16 games during the Public League, including 39 points against Olney (a new career-high), 34 against Fels and 30 against Northeast. At the end of the year, O'Connor was named in the All-Public League and All-City First Teams, O'Connor scored a total 1,258 points at Simon Gratz. At the end of the season he had averages of 4.7 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game.

After the end of his first season at Villanova, O'Connor decided to transfer to Saint Joseph's. He led the team in points per game (16.6), steals with 31 (1.1 average), three-pointers made (73) He scored in double figures in 25 out of 28 games, being the team's top scorer in 18 of these occasions, and in the All-Big 5 First Team.

In O'Connor's junior season he was joined in the backcourt by freshman point guard Jameer Nelson. O'Connor was the leading scorer of the team throughout the season, leading the team in 24 out of 32 appearances. On March 3, 2001, O'Connor scored 18 points in 57.5 seconds, reaching a new career-high of 37 points in a game against La Salle. The Hawks qualified for the 2001 NCAA tournament, where O'Connor debuted scoring 21 points against Georgia Tech. On March 17, 2000, he scored 37 points (equalling his career high) against Stanford shooting 15/20 from the field, including a perfect 10/10 on 2-point field goals. At the end of the season he was ranked 10th in the entire NCAA in scoring at 22.1 points per game and he received the Robert V. Geasey Trophy as the best basketball player in the Philadelphia Big 5. His 706 points in the 2000–01 season are an all-time record at Saint Joseph's.

O'Connor was named in the preseason watchlist for the John R. Wooden Award before the beginning of his senior year. He also received nomination in All-American teams selected by The Sporting News and Playboy. He scored at least 10 points in 26 out of 29 games, and in 8 of these he scored more than 20 points. and he was named in the All-Atlantic 10 Second Team, He started all the 89 games he played with the Hawks.

In 2008 he was inducted in the Saint Joseph's Hall of Fame, and in 2013 he was inducted in the Big 5 Hall of Fame.

College statistics

Professional career After the end of his senior season at Saint Joseph's, O'Connor was automatically eligible for the 2002 NBA draft. After playing in the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, O'Connor went undrafted. He played in the 2002 Shaw's Pro Summer League with the Orlando Magic. After a brief tryout with Italian Serie A team Virtus Bologna, O'Connor signed a professional contract with KK Partizan in Belgrade, Serbia. He played 11 games in the YUBA League, averaging 6.3 points, 1.9 rebounds and 0.9 assists in 17 minutes per game. He also played in 10 Euroleague games during the 2002–03 season, posting averages of 4.1 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1 assist per game in 14.4 minutes of playing time.