Head Coach Gregg Marshall addressed local media Monday on the eve of Wichita State's exhibition opener with Catawba. Read on for the transcript.
 

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HEAD COACH GREGG MARSHALL ON...

...Rekindling a home and home series with Oklahoma State:
"We've had a good two-year series with them. It's an (easy) drive. They have great basketball tradition. Mike Boynton is a very dynamic, young coach (whom) I have known for awhile. It's good to lock them up for a four-year series."

...How closed scrimmages compare to exhibition games:
"You can go longer. You have four hours. I don't think we went all four hours. We did some special situations. Ee did some half court stuff. We did some out-of-bounds plays. We did some when a team's down 'x' amount -- we call it 'late-game' -- and they have to come back or not. We did that back-and-forth. Then we played a 40-minute scrimmage. They are very young like we are, so they will be hopefully finding themselves during the course of the season and getting better as the season goes on. Hopefully we can do that, also. All it is is a lot of video to decipher against another team -- a team that does things differently than you do. We don't do a whole lot of scouting in this type of situation. We will do the scouting report for Catawba tomorrow night. For Oklahoma State, it was just go out and play and figure it out and let's see how we stack up against a Big 12 opponent. I think Mike (Boynton) and I both agreed that we got quite a bit out of it, and we like doing it."

...Young guys responding to film sessions:
"It was good. It was a lot of video. The next day our practice was basically two hours of video. I don't think we even practiced. We just used it as a teaching tool. Show them the good, the bad and the ugly. It's amazing to me that it takes being shown (mistakes) in video for some of these guys (to catch on). I actually had several of them say we want to do more video, because we see it. You tell us until we are blue in the face, but seeing it is a whole different deal. It's the same stuff we have been saying, but then you see it and how if you don't do these things properly it can lead to negative results against an outside opponent."

....What he wants to get out of the exhibition with Catawba:
"The same thing you try to get out of a scrimmage. More video, going against a different style.. a style that you don't practice against every day. Learn to input a scouting report and keys to winning a game. Then, for us with so many new guys, it's learn to come out of that tunnel and actually warm up and come back in and get the last-minute keys to the game from me. Go back out and compete, run through the tunnel..let the cheerleaders lead you out with the flags and the whole deal. Get the video board intro, the lights out. That sounds trite and kind of small, but to be honest with you, I had a number of guys say they were so nervous in (the Black and Yellow Scrimmage)..They had never played in front of that many people. This will be that times three or four. Just baby steps in their evolution hopefully."

...Being patient with his young team:
"We are just going to have to muddle through it, and I am going to have to live with the mistakes and live with the lack of execution from time to time until they get it a little better. That's why you play exhibition games... It's early in the season, so hopefully we can play well and better and be pleasantly surprised."

...Figuring out rotations with all the new faces:
"In this deal, I can't stand up and stop the action like I could have (at closed scrimmage). The rotations, to begin with, are established based on the practices we've had so far... Then, just who deserves the time and try to fit them into a spot that are available."

...Whether being in the starting lineup is a motivating factor for the guys:
"You know it matters. You know it matters to them. It mattered yesterday. I had one of them pouting because he was on the scout team, yesterday. I guess he was assuming he was going to start and he found himself on the scout team. He pouted a little bit, and I told him that's not going to do very well around here. There is no sympathy. Show me how good you are on the scout team and then continue to do that. By that point, we were already into the practice. He will figure out that pouting is not rewarded around here. They want to play, they want to start..they want to be the star. It's not always like that. There are 17 guys on the roster and at least 15 of them were the best player on their high school or prep school team. There's only five that I can put out there, and I've been telling them this day's coming when I can only put five out. I don't have to live with your continual mistakes as much."

...Thoughts on tonight's Prep Rally at Braeburn Square:
"I'm glad that the school and the President's office have decided to do this; maybe generate some excitement. The campus is buzzing like I've never seen it this fall. There are kids walking all over the place. Maybe we can get them to fill up that student section on a regular basis. I'm looking forward to seeing what they've got over there (at Braeburn Square)."