Gregg Marshall spoke with ESPN’s Andy Katz and Seth Greenberg on their ESPNU: College Basketball podcast. Listen to the interview below, and read on for quotes from the show.

(Listen to the interview here)

Seth asked Coach Marshall about what Anton Grady needs to bring to help transition the team with Darius Carter’s graduation.

“He kind of plays what I refer to, in a complimentary way, as an old man game. He’s not an above the rim guy, he’s at the rim or lower. But he uses angles, he knows how to get his hips on you and can use either hand and has crafty moves.” – Gregg Marshall

Seth followed up by asking Gregg about Rashard Kelly and the growth during his sophomore year.

“He’s the guy that I would say who’s the most improved on our squad. He’s a guy who worked on his offensive game. He was always a lunch pail guy, he played hard, he rebounded, he defended.”

Gregg continued about Rashard:

“He’s expanded his offensive game. He can shoot it now. Last year he was a reluctant shooter, consequently I was reluctant to give him the green light. Now he can make the three, he can really put it on the floor and he’s cut his body up.” – GM

Andy brought up the Pan-Am Games and Ron Baker playing for USA Basketball. Gregg said,

“It gave Ron some tremendous confidence. It shined his star if you will. I thought a lot of people were able to see now with some great players from the college ranks.

Gregg spoke about the other college players on the team, and finished up about Ron with:

“Ron was arguably the best college player on that team.”

Gregg then followed up with a remark about Fred Van Vleet not making the final Pan-Am Games roster.

“I thought Fred should have made the team as well. If you want to win, you take Fred Van Vleet. If you have the opportunity to have Fred Van Vleet be on your team, you take that opportunity if you want to win a gold medal. I was disappointed that he didn’t make it, and I expressed that to some of the powers at be with USA Basketball.” – GM

Seth asked Gregg about Conner Frankamp and the impact he will have on the team.

“He’s the best shooter I’ve ever been around. I’ve been coaching now, this will be my 31st year, and he’s the single best shooter that I’ve ever been around. He can score in a variety of ways, he can handle the ball, he’s got a really tight handle. We’re working on some of the other parts of his game to make him fit in and be a prime-time player for us. But on that one end for sure, he’s elite. – GM

Marshall was then asked about the strength of the MVC this year and said,

“Evansville is the team that I think, with the two seniors Balentine and Mockevicius, those guys are really good. They won a post season tournament, the CBI. Then Loyola won the other post season tournament, the CIT. [They] ended up last year, in two short years, they ended up having a better season than Creighton, that departed the conference.” – GM