Marvin Nesbitt leads Butler to third straight Noble title

Butler senior Marvin Nesbitt is the first Division I college basketball recruit in the nine-year history of the Noble Athletic Conference. The athletic, 6-3 guard signed with Missouri-Kansas City in November, instantly becoming a bit of a celebrity in the charter school world.

“It’s crazy, especially when we go to other schools,” Butler coach Paul Hobson said. “The kids in the crowd know who he is, we’ve been in McDonald’s and kids will know who he is. That’s when you start to realize he’s kind of a big deal.”

Nesbitt wasn’t a high-profile young player that decided to play in the Noble Conference. He wasn’t even a basketball player when he enrolled at Butler as a freshman.

“He was pretty raw, couldn’t dribble,” Hobson said. “He could jump but all he was good for was steals. He’s improved by leaps and bounds every year. He wanted to be in the gym even when the coaches didn’t want to be in the gym.”

Butler knocked off Johnson 75-46 in the Noble Conference title game on Saturday at Rowe-Clark. Nesbitt had 20 points, seven rebounds and six assists in three quarters of play.

Butler shares a building with Corliss on the south side. The Lynx have won three consecutive titles. The school has only been in existence for four years.

Nesbitt has started on varsity all four seasons, but he had a rocky start to high school.

“Freshman year I had a low GPA and I was ready to transfer to Julian,” Nesbitt said. “

I wasn’t into basketball.”

That changed when basketball season rolled around, but Nesbitt never expected to play at the college level.

“It’s amazing, an honor,” Nesbitt said. “I never thought I was going to do this. My coaches always believed in me. They said with my work ethic they thought it could happen and they were right. I’m still amazed.”

The big leap happened between his sophomore and junior year. Nesbitt went from barely being able to dunk to throwing down windmill jams. Then he had an excellent summer after his junior year, which brought college coaches around.

“We worked on his jump shot and his handle a lot,” Hobson said. “But it’s all his work ethic. Everything you see right now is because he works super hard.”

The level of play in the Noble Conference is steadily improving. The hope is to eventually compete with the traditional CPS schools.

“That’s definitely the goal but it is tough,” Hobson said. “There is a stigma with the charter schools. Other [Noble] schools have seen our success and they are trying to get better.”

Butler (19-4) faces Comer in the Class 3A Evergreen Park regional on Monday. A possible game against No. 3 Morgan Park looms in the regional final. The Lynx would be a heavy underdog in that one, but Nesbitt has made a lasting impact on the conference regardless of how the playoffs shake out.

“A lot of the kids look up to me,” Nesbitt said. “It has kind of sparked a movement. Most people don’t think you can get this far athletically if you come to a Noble school. I feel like I changed that.”