Gregg Marshall has a couple of contrasting keys to Wichita State's opening week -- fast-track the newcomers' development and get the veterans to slow down. The Shocker head coach previewed Louisiana Tech, Monday, as his weekly news conference. Read on for some of the highlights.
 

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HEAD COACH GREGG MARSHALL ON...

.... How the team has looked in practice since last week's exhibition win over Catawba:
"Some good and some bad. Yesterday was really good. Friday -- okay. We didn't practice Saturday. I can't recall all of them, but some are good... some are not so good. Some are terrible. Some are refreshingly good, like yesterday. I think they are excited about playing."

... Egregious mistakes during the Catawba game:
"I call them atomic bombs....no one lives -- boom. We're obliterated. We had a number of those (against Catawba). Usually when you have those you are going to lose. That's why Catawba was in the game. We're on transition and heading one way down the court and, all of a sudden, we lose the ball and we're all on this end and they've still got one guy that had fallen down or whatever, and they just throw the ball all the way down and they score a basket. We don't have anyone on back side of half court when they scored the basket..to defend. Those plays are unique around here. In fact, J.R. Simon - who's in his second year as a GA and had been on my team for four years prior to that -- He said to me the other day,  'Coach, it's been awhile since we've seen those type of plays,' and I go 'yes it has.' We see them now on a regular basis. Those plays are tough to overcome. We've got to learn not to do them. "

....Samajae Haynes-Jones' play this fall:
"He's had a great summer. He had a great fall. He's definitely going to have to score for us. I'd like for him to get it more from (within) the offense. He went one-on-one quite a bit, which he has a tendency to do because he can. We are going to need him to do that, so it's a fine line. We'd also like for him to run the offense and see if we can get a real high-percentage shot before he has to do that. That's something that we prefer at the end of the clock. He had a great game (against Catawba) and had it not been for him, we would have probably lost."

...Some of things that stick out consistently in practice:
"I don't want to get caught up on this, because there's certainly a lot more to the game than just scoring that basketball...but we're not making shots. A lot of these young guys haven't gotten to the point where they are consistently knocking down the open shots. We've got a lot of problems, and one of them is on the offensive end. Going from our transition or our set play to whatever breakdown offense we want to run. It seems to take us forever to get organized, so that clock is ticking and then that takes away from your time to run the breakdown offense, which give you less time to probe and try to get the ball in an opportune situation. Then, when we get open looks from whatever we've done --transition, set play, breakdown offense, late clock play--you have to make the shot. Whether it be a layup or a dunk or a pull-up or a wide open three. Hopefully it's not a contested shot, but we have to take some contested shots because we haven't executed properly. Then we have wide open shots that we aren't knocking down either. Problems are on both ends."

...Thoughts on Louisiana Tech:
"They lost a kid named Boykins that was their leading scorer last year. They've got a handful or more of guys that played 24-30 minutes a game back. They are all very talented...This will be a veteran team. They played a tough schedule and their league is very good -- Conference USA. When I watched their film, I think they were (17-16) last season, and it's hard to fathom that they would have that type of record because they look really good. They'll certainly be all we can handle tomorrow night."

... Jamarius Burton's debut:
"Jamarius Burton had an unbelievable game as a first time exhibition game or whatever. I thought he played very, very well. He's very mature...We've said that all along. He's mature, he's got an old soul. He really competes, he's got some bulldog to him. I love how tough he is and how he can get to the basket and finish. He took a charge and made some winning plays. He was a ball getter in that game which I really value. He was obviously the best of the young guys."

... The other newcomers:
"All of them helped us in some ways and probably hurt us in others. That's just the way it's going to be until they become complete players. This will be interesting to see how they react now that they've been out there with 10,000 people. How will they react now to a real game? Louisiana Tech won't have the same jitters except that they are on the road. They probably see this as an opportunity, too, with such a young team that they can come in and get a big win. It will be interesting to see how it goes tomorrow night."

...Getting Markis McDuffie to slow down:
"You know, I didn't really have to say much to Markis. It was pretty evident watching that film. I just said 'hey, this is not going to do it, bud. You are going to have to slow down.' I didn't have to do it because he supposedly called Teddy Allen after the game. This is coming from Teddy. He told me this. He asked for Teddy's opinion, 'What did I do?' , and Teddy said 'Yo, you got to slow down, bro.' That was the direct quote. He went on to describe how Markis needs to let the game come to him a little bit. It's pretty evident to everyone -- even to Markis, I believe. I don't know why he's at that stage, but he's pressing. He was pressing in that game. He had played so well in practice prior to that because... he probably lets it come to him a little more. He wants to achieve, and he wants to play at the highest level. He's going to have to be more efficient, for sure."

...The feeling going into this year's season opener, compared to previous seasons:
"Got to ratchet our mindset back a little bit. We're not playing for seeding. We are just trying to win games and trying to get better. I'm going to have to -- as the head coach -- lead and try to maintain a positive attitude, because we are going to lose more games than we have around here in awhile. I'm going to have to see how we improve or whether we improve each time out. Try to harp on the things that we are doing better, because it's going to be a process. It's probably going to be a season-long process if not longer."

.... Allen's value to the team as a practice player while sitting out:
"He's been through it. He knows what to expect, even though it was a year at West Virginia compared to here. Probably some similarities and probably some things very different. He's been through it, and he knows how we are playing. He doesn't mind speaking his mind. He's been a good sounding-board for the guys. He's not been afraid to call them out, either."

...Young guys learning how to defend at the collegiate level:
"I hope they are. We are spending a lot of time trying to get them to learn how to defend at this level. It's kind of like on-the-job training. It's coming. It's coming tomorrow night, and it's coming next Friday (vs. Providence). If we don't get better, we are going to have some less-than-desirable results. We've got to keep working at it. Every game will be like another practice. We'll be trying to win, for sure, but we're going to also be trying to improve individually and collectively."