BY GEOFF HOBSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Mike Marshall made a name with his muscles. But he forged a career with his heart.

Mike Marshall? The kid from St. Xavier? The football player who grew up a long snap from Xavier University?

The guy who could have gone to Ann Arbor, Columbus or anywhere else in America where college linebackers are deified, not to mention, drafted?

''An NFL player. A no-doubter,'' St. Xavier football coach Steve Rasso said. ''I told his father at the end of his sophomore year he could be another Lawrence Taylor.''

But Thursday, Butler basketball coach Barry Collier hopes he's just as good as Dan Dudukovich, Marshall's partner in the Bulldogs' power forward spot and Lakota High School product.

The Cincinnati tandem must outmuscle beefy University of Cincinnati if Butler is to keep hope alive in the NCAA Tournament.

''That's what people say. I'm a better football player than basketball player,'' Marshall said. ''I can't explain it. I just chose not to play football. I didn't have the love for football I have for basketball. It comes down to money can't make a person happy.''

Marshall, a 6-foot-4, 230-pounder, is averaging four points, three rebounds and immeasurable intensity during 17 minutes in his freshman season. Dudukovich, a 6-4, 195-pound junior who is averaging five points and four rebounds in 23 minutes as a starting defensive specialist, notices.

''Mike's got a very strong personality. He'll be a leader at Butler, a captain,'' Dudukovich said. ''He gives us a football mentality, He's a linebacker. A banger.''

Collier has built his teams on Hoosier appreciation of defense and rebounding. When he caught Marshall's LT desire and board tenacity during an AAU game, it was a match made in Indianapolis.

Rasso remembers the day his captain quit before his senior season. How he walked the family through the chances and riches missed.

''I don't think he liked coming off the field in football, or when they ran away from him,'' Collier said. ''There'll be a time here when he's involved in every play. His toughness has sparked some runs off the bench. Against Green Bay, it was more like a punch than a spark.''

Marshall ignited a 50-43 midseason win over Green Bay with a team-high nine rebounds that included some in-your-face tip-ins.

A gamer? Like a true football player, he's fighting through his third broken navicular bone in his right (shooting) wrist in a year and half. He played seven games with a soft cast after breaking it earlier this season, and the cast is back on after he broke it two weeks ago.

''It doesn't limit me,'' Marshall said. ''I don't feel it.''

He's got a fan in UC coach Bob Huggins, and no introduction on tape is needed. When Marshall toyed with playing football at UC, Huggins offered him the chance to walk on.

''I was more serious than he was apparently,'' Huggins said. ''With his speed and athleticism, he could have played here.''

But Marshall was looking for playing time. Funny how it works, but Thursday, Marshall will find himself guarding a guy he would have been playing behind. A 6-7 All-American named Danny Fortson.

Dudukovich probably starts out guarding forward Ruben Patterson, but Collier said that doesn't mean Marshall takes Patterson because Marshall is his best leaper and inside defender.

''I'll get Fortson. He's great,'' Marshall said. ''I've got to play with my feet, and you've got to lean on him. It's the only way. You can't let him get the ball.''

FORTSON ALL-AMERICAN
HUGGINS CANDIDATE FOR OHIO STATE?
WILLIAMS PREPARES TO START
MEN'S BRACKET

Previous NCAA Tournament stories

UC, XU ON COLLISION COURSE IN SWEET 16 March 10,1997
LET FORTSON PLAY, REFS - IT'S HIS TIME Daugherty column, March 10,1997
OPPONENT DOESN'T MATTER TO BEARCATS March 10,1997
BUTLER ROSTER HAS LOCAL FLAVOR March 10,1997