Prior to the team's depature for South Carolina, head coach Gregg Marshall talked with local media about the sense of accomplishment that comes with his young team making the NIT and the even bigger challenge that awaits them Wednesday night at Furman. Read on or some of the highlights.
 

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HEAD COACH GREGG MARSHALL ON...

.....receiving bid to NIT with this team:
"Obviously, any team at the beginning of the years wants to go to the NCAA Tournament. Realistically, you've got 10 of your scholarship players who've never played a second of Division I. The 11th guy has played 80 minutes. The chances of us doing that were slim. It looked very dire early in the year -- January in particular. Then, something happened with the team. They just got a little more confident, we stopped turning the ball over as much, we are finally executing a little bit better on the offensive end. They never stopped fighting, they never stopped believing and they never stopped learning in practice and video. Ultimately, we get this at-large bid to the NIT. Our whole run, for the seven-straight years of NCAA appearances, started with the two NIT bids in 2010 and 2011 - -winning it in 2011 I think kind of major imputes to start that seven-year run of NCAA Tournament berths. Now we are bookended in the last 10 years with two NITs, seven NCAA Tournaments and this NIT. Privately -- and I will say this now - my goal was to win 20 games and get to the NIT. I thought that was a far enough away goal to be something that was hard for us to do, but still possible. We've gotten 19 wins and an NIT berth. I'll definitely take that. I would love to have been in the NCAA Tournament - but again  - this group with our youth and inexperience, we are excited about this opportunity."

...Furman and head coach Bob Richey:
"I've known Bob Richey since he broke into the business working for one of my dear friends, Barclay Radebaugh at Charleston Southern. He's a very sharp young man, and I'm very happy with his success and how well they are doing. This is an accomplishment for Furman. They are right there on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament - and it's been awhile. I remember the Butch Estes era when they were going to the NIT. It's hard to do unless you win your regular season now, you can get in as a smaller league. They didn't have that. They had to earn the NIT berth as an at-large. Obviously a very talented team. They remind me of some of the really good Davidson teams over the years. They really pass the ball well. They cut really hard. They are very precise on offense. They've got some really good players that are very connected on the offensive and defensive ends. It will be a challenge for us. They are in the low 40's in the NET Rankings -- one below Cincinnati, if I recall. It'll be a packed house, I'm sure, and we're going to have to go in and play well to advance."

....Matt Rafferty and Furman:
"They can really shoot it ,and they surround him with some great shooters. And he's an uncanny passer. He really likes to dime people on the weak side. I heard he was like a high school quarterback or something at 6-foot-8. That would of been interesting to see. Kid's talented - he can score, he can pass, he rebounds - a lot of their offense runs through him. They've got other good players too - (Jordan) Lyons can really shoot the ball, they've got (Clay) Mounce. I think he's underrated because the way he goes to the offensive glass. He shoots the ball. The point guard is really heady and can shoot it, (Andrew) Brown comes off the bench and shoots it. (Noah) Gurley is a freshman that can play the four and the five and is an athletic kid that can also drive it at 6'8. We realize that this is a very good team. You don't go to Villanova and win and not be a very good team. In this day and age, to go to Villanova and win is a big time accomplishment. They go to Loyola-Chicago early in the year and win. Loyola is high coming off their Final Four appearance and they go in and beat them. This is a quality team."

...a tough challenge for the centers:
"Jaime (Echenique) needs to play better. We've talked about it, he was very disappointed in how we played over the weekend. Asbjørn (Midtgaard) is coming along, but Jaime did not seem himself, did not move as well - he wasn't jumping, he wasn't quick and struggled. (Isaiah) Poor-Bear Chandler got some more opportunity because of that. All three of those guys will play and we'll have to do a great job on (Matt) Rafferty. He's a very good players, and he's unusual. It's not your typical five man because of the way he backs you down and is throwing one-hand skip passes on the dime. He's a really, really good passer. "

....seniors playing at their highest level in postseason:
" I don't know if this was smart or not, but about six or seven weeks ago... I started to talk about the NIT. We had a stretch of games where I thought if we got on a roll that that would come into play. This is unusual for us, but when you are staring at 16-14, whats the difference in 17-13 and 16-14 for these young guys - it doesn't really matter. So we started talking about trying to get the six seed in the American Conference Tournament, which we did and try to play ourselves in a position if we don't win four games in a row in Memphis - which was going to be very hard, we knew that - to have an NIT berth. I started talking about our experience in 2011. Madison Square Garden, staying in Times Square with the big interactive billboards - the lights flashing and staying at the Marriott Marquis right there in downtown Manhattan. I think it just woke them up a little bit, it sparked their interest just enough and now that we lose, you go back to that and say ' Okay, hopefully we get an NIT bid, our goal now is to take Markis (McDuffie) home.' You win three games, you get to Madison Square Garden. You are always trying to find little ways to motivate your team and keep them interested - it's a long year, their minds are all over the place with a lot of different things. They've got lives to live and academics to deal with and girlfriends and families. Just keeping them interested and their minds peaked on a goal, an attainable goal. You have to win three to get to Madison Square Garden. That's now the goal."

....rule changes in NIT:
"The widening of the lane- that'll be interesting because that's a couple of feet on either side if I'm not mistaken. It's very, very wide. I'm sure the referees will be looking more at three seconds because of that. That's the emphasis, I guess. The one that I don't know how it's going to affect - positively or negatively - because we shoot threes as well, but they shoot a ton of threes, is that FIBA three-point line. The floor is going to be very, very spaced. You are going to have longer closeouts on defense. That will be an interesting deal, people trying to get their feet set behind that longer line. You've got the fouls, you don't shoot until there is five fouls in every 10 minute quarter. You don't shoot one in ones, you just shoot two shot fouls. I hope those work to our advantage, but you'll just have to see how the game plays out. Both teams are playing by the same rules."