What went right in Annapolis (a lot), emerging leadership and a homecoming, of sorts, for the Marshall family in Charleston -- Head coach Gregg Marshall tackled these topics, and more, at his weekly press conference. Read on for some of the highlights:
 

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HEAD COACH GREGG MARSHALL ON...

...Overcoming a slow start against Providence:
"We stopped giving up buckets in transition quite as easily. We made some shots. We aren't going to shoot that well in every game, but it was very timely... Markis (McDuffie), especially. Samajae (Haynes-Jones) hit three in-a-row in the first half and then Markis took over from there. Making shots certainly covers up a lot of things that you don't do well. We've still got many, many, many things that we don't do well. As I said earlier going into the season, I think you are going to see the rocky type of 'Dow Jones Industrial Average' graph for our team with the good, the bad and the ugly. In two games you've seen a little bit of both, already. We're capable -- at least we know we are capable -- of playing well. We also know that we are capable of not playing well."

...Lessons learned from the loss to Louisiana Tech:
"A lot of our leaders stepped up. We had more leadership in the (Providence) game for sure. Seniors stepped up and -- not just led on the court; not just the 32 points -- Markis made some tremendous defensive plays and was hustling all over that court. Samajae was much more vocal and a leader from the guard position in the second game than he had been in the first. So I think our young players fed off of that a little more. Markis was just...he was really, really good. They said to the young players after watching that, 'We have to do better; we can't win that way.' All these things that the coaching staff has been preaching have to be done or you can lose, not just to Louisiana Tech -- anyone on our schedule. There's a lot of good basketball teams out there. We didn't play well, obviously (against LA Tech). We didn't make the checkouts and the hustle plays. We were a little frozen waiting for someone else to do it."

....Teddy Allen's leadership and role with team:
"He's on the scout (team), and he's an interesting player on the scout team. Number one, I've got to slow him down. I need him to learn the other team's offense and have him show that to our guys that are going to play, and not just go running 'Teddy ball' and give us buckets -- which he did heading into the Louisiana Tech game. I got mad at him -- I wasn't mad at him. I was mad at our team for not being able to stop him. The reason I was talking to him was, 'hey, run their offense. Don't just go off and do your thing, even though we weren't able to stop you.' Getting him to do scout team right now, and then hopefully we get the word here soon and it's a positive. I think it's coming. I think that the deadline is getting near.  Teddy's the vocal guy. He can't go out there and lead in a game. He is very vocal and a leader in terms of how hard he plays and how he wants to win in practice. He has his issues, too, as a player. We have to calm him down and slow him down from time to time. Even if he starts playing, that'll even be more important and probably more prevalent. Boy, he really has some quality leadership in this video room when we are breaking down film, trying to get the younger players to realize exactly how you have to play and how you have to compete to be successful at this level of college basketball. He puts it in their terms, in a very eloquent way. It's not threatening the way he does it. It's very, very well done. It could be received by these other guys as  'hey, you're not even playing, why are you talking to me and telling me what I should do in front of the coaches?' It's from the heart, and they all really like him and respect him. "

...The trip to Washington D.C. and the U.S. Naval Academy:
"Pretty cool. Really, really cool. Not just for kids -- for coaches and administrators and the things things that we did there in the Congress and the Senate on Capitol Hill. Then, being able to go down to..I think, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Go through all those checks just to behind the fence and see all the demonstrators and all the crazy things that go on right there on that promenade. East Wing, West Wing, Oval Office -- it was tremendous. Everyone was so gracious, and what I was most proud of was my players and how they reacted to thing. It was like they were told Santa Claus was in the other room on Christmas Eve when they were eight years old. They were very excited, and regardless of their politics, respected the office of the President and were just blown away. It was like a movie. Teddy said it best in a tweet last week I read after we got back. ' This past 72 hours was like living a movie.'

....Plans for the ceremonial sword he was awarded during his visit to the Naval Academy:
"I hope I don't hurt myself or others. It's come out of the sheath a couple of times already. I have to find a good place for it. I think, hopefully we will raise that money and get the new offices built over there in the next year, and I'll put it right behind my desk somewhere. Kind of running out of room where we are."

...What the Charleston trip means to him:
"We are going to try, tomorrow, to get there in time -- maybe I can run over and see Earl (Grant) my friend, my colleague, my former assistant coach at two different stops, including here. For six years we worked together, I recruited him out of high school, I recruited him out of junior college. I know him very, very well...I went to his wedding. I'm looking forward to see his team play on Tuesday night. My daughter goes to school there, Maggie. She's looking forward to introducing her friends that she's met and roommates and future roommates and all that. I'd like to meet and and she wants introduce them to the team and what not. It's just great that's all coming together. We still have the issue of three games against very good competition. We are going to have to be preparing for that. Everybody gets to enjoy the trip, except for the players and the coaches. We're grinding. Hopefully the players can enjoy it a little bit, and I'll enjoy it when it's done."

....Hall of Fame College of Charleston coach John Kresse's impact on him as a coach:
"He's been unbelievable for me as a mentor and a friend. A guy that has really helped me in my career. He's always there if you need him. He'll lend an ear. He's the best basketball coach I've ever been around. He's also one of the best managers of people. Tremendous conductor; I called him the 'Puppeteer.' Everybody in that organization at the College of Charleston, when I was there working for him, was somehow doing something that Coach Kresse would help us be better. He coached with integrity; we weren't breaking rules. The first year we were NAIA, and there aren't a whole lot of rules in NAIA. Then we went Division I. It was a long, treacherous -- I think -- eight-year wait to (be eligible for an) automatic bid (to the NCAA tournament). I left the year before they got the automatic bid. We did get the at-large bid in 1994 from the Trans-America Athletic Conference. It had never happened before, it never happened afterwards, and more than likely it won't happen again. We got that bid as an at-large, and we weren't even a fully, 100-percent Division I team. It was fun; a lot of great years. I made no money, so it was kind of difficult to enjoy Charleston with very little money, but we found a way. It was a great eight years that we spent there, and now Earl's back running the show. Right down the street from where he grew up, and he's a proud Charlestonian, as is Jackie, his wife. He's got the program rolling again. It's the first time they went to the NCAA Tournament since John Kresse, last year. I am very proud to be associated with the College of Charleston in many ways, including Lynn. Lynn's got two degrees from there, my daughter is going to school there, as I mentioned. Just the fact that now Earl is the coach and doing great things, a lot of people are very excited."

....Quarterfinal opponent Davidson:
"Well, the thing that stands out about them is Coach McKillop. I was a young assistant coach at Charleston, and I remember him coming to Davidson from, I think, Long Island-Lutheran there in Long Island as a high school coach. At first, he struggled. They were in the Big South Conference, which we (College of Charleston) played one year of a home-and-home in the Big South Conference, even though we weren't in the league and could not play for the conference tournament at the end of the year. Then they moved to the Southern Conference, and he got it going. He got players that fit his system. When he has that, as people around here have seen, when he had Steph Curry and those guys. They got to the Elite Eight and almost beat Kansas to go to the Final Four. They don't have to have Steph Curry to be really, really good. He's proven that. He's won for years with many, many different generations of players. They are very difficult to guard, they really, really execute offensively, and they can certainly shoot it. On the defensive end, they are better than you might think. They have length, and they play proper positioning. They are a good basketball team. Very, very well-respected program and coach. "