DC ExtraTime: Before They Were MTV Stars - D-ROC

From during AYTO Second Chances & the 2017 NCAA Tournament, and

before subject appeared on two Challenges and Ex On The Beach USA

BY DC CUEVA                      

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

From: The Post and Courier

This weekend is the climax of the three-week miniseries known as NCAA March Madness as North Carolina, Oregon, Gonzaga and South Carolina duke it out at the NCAA Final Four just outside of Phoenix, AZ. Yesterday and last night in two thrillers, it was the Tar Heels and the Zags who emerged victorious and will now have a date tomorrow night for college basketball's National Championship.

With this in mind, we'd thought we'd like to bring you this latest installment of Before They Were MTV Stars, and to focus in on one of the guys on this season who we also got to see execute a strategy that worked in the Caribbean but saw one person screw it all up and give the Are You The One? Season 5 cast the first-ever loss a few weeks ago. Of course, we're talking about Derrick, who before he went on Season 5 - and bringing to the world the hashtag #TeamChocolate - was a college basketball player.

L: D-ROC in last year at Winthrop;
R: in senior year at The Citadel

Those enthusiasts who follow more of the mid-major and minor conferences of Division I college ball - those who often serve as Bracket Busters in March, might be interested to know that Derrick played for four years at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC - in the Charlotte metropolitan area. However, a torn ACL sidelined him for his fourth year where he red-shirted his would-be senior year, and then transferred south to Charleston and to The Citadel, the military college, for his fifth and final year. That season, Derrick led all Bulldogs with 16.2 points per game.

Despite all that, he never got the taste of playing in the ultimate stage of the biggest event in college sports during those three weeks of March Madness. But instead of looking at joining the NBA D-League or traveling abroad to play in the European leagues, Derrick decided to just stay where he was in the Carolinas, until MTV came calling to be part of the Season 5 cast. Below are two highlight reels from his final two seasons, along with a feature story from when he was at Winthrop.

►UPDATE... 

In 2011, Derrick recorded a career scoring night against the Georgia Bulldogs in a non-conference matchup between the SEC and Big South in Athens, GA. Highlights of that game is below featuring a very young D-ROC who played in front of family where he grew up outside Atlanta, along with The Citadel's '15-16 highlights reel when he played his senior year at the military academy in the Southern Conference.

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