BIG EAST TOURNEY PREVIEW
Fox Sports analyst and former basketball star at Connecticut and with the NBA’s New Jersey Nets and Cleveland Cavaliers Donny Marshall takes time for some Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby.
Q: Does St. John’s need to win the Big East Tournament for an NCAA Tournament bid?
A: I don’t think they do, I think they have to win two. I don’t want to be playing them.
Q: How do you see the St. John’s Seton Hall quarterfinal?
A: Those kids have grown up playing against one another, some of them, there’s always that New Jersey versus New York. … That is the most compelling matchup, at least early, in all of the conference tournaments.
It’s a St. John’s team that, they run you out of the gym, they make you turn the ball over, they’ll do three things beautifully and then two things right after that that you’re scratching your head about. And for Seton Hall, they need Mamu [Sandro Mamukelashvili} to be the alpha male. I think Seton Hall needs to take St. John’s as seriously as St. John’s is taking Seton Hall.
I think that there’s more pressure on Seton Hall because of the expectations at the beginning of the season, and because of the pieces they have. … To me, St. John’s is one of those teams that’s playing with that dog in ’em. They’re trying to shock the world.
Q: Which one of the St. John’s kids has caught your eye?
A: Posh Alexander knows how to work hard, and he works hard every single time he’s on the floor. You gotta live with mistakes that some young players make, but I would take him on the floor with his mistakes over a lot of freshmen anywhere in the country right now. Love that kid.
Q: Thoughts on Julian Champagnie?
A: The most improved player in the Big East. He’s also leading better. Vocally he’s better for his team. He’s improved on every level of his game.
Q: Who do you like in this Big East Tournament?
A: You can never discount Villanova — even with Collin Gillespie down, Justin Moore with the ankle — their system is plug-and-play. They’re gonna kill you a thousand paper cuts at a time. … Creighton has probably the most versatility. Those guys love playing together, they’re unselfish. … Now obviously we know the turmoil that’s going on in that locker room, so any distraction this time of year, it’s hard to avoid, even when the games start. … Connecticut I think is fortunate that [James] Bouknight had the time off. I think they showed
Danny Hurley that you’ve got more than James Bouknight on this team. … To me, the most athletic team in the Big East.
The other team I would say, and people think I’m crazy, but
I do not want to play St. John’s. To me, Mike Anderson is hands down, it’s not even close, the coach of the year in the Big East. They’ve done a tremendous job of, sometimes helter-skelter, gaining the respect, not just in the Big East, but nationally. I’m looking down the list of Big East teams and after Connecticut, to me, St. John’s has to be the scariest team.
Q: What’s your reaction to Creighton coach Greg McDermott’s racially insensitive remarks to his team?
A: It hurt me when I heard it, it pained me. … I will say the Greg McDermott I know has always been … respectful, standup. … I don’t think a DUI makes you a drunk. I don’t think one comment makes you a racist. He said the wrong thing, now what are you gonna do to fix it?
Q: What is it about Mike Anderson that you admire so much?
A: You’re trying to prepare a meal with someone else’s ingredients. Only great chefs can do that. The way he did that was basics: You play hard for each other, you care for one another, you listen to each other. Every single team that he’s coached in college basketball, he’s had a winning season. You know how hard that is to do? … He is a great coach before he’s a great black coach.
Q: A sleeper team?
A: I like Xavier. I always lean on those veteran-laden teams. Zach Freemantle, he’ll make a lot of money playing professionally.
Q: What do you like about Danny Hurley?
A:Ilovehowhe’s no-nonsense. He doesn’t candy-coat anything. I think you have to respect how genuine he is when it comes to how he talks to his players, how he talks to the media. That’s the kinda guy that I could play for, because you know where he stands. If you’re dogging it, you’re not gonna play, and he’s gonna tell you. I think he holds every player accountable. When you have a coach like that, your AD, those guys, they gotta get out of the way.
Q: There will be slightly fewer than 1,000 fans allowed in.
A: Whenever we played at MSG when I was in school, it was a home game for us — even when we played St. John’s! There’s no doubt about it, that when the Big East Tournament comes around, UConn fans filled that building. … There’s no negative to my alma mater being back in the Big East where it belongs.
Q: Your favorite Big East Tournament memory?
A: When I stepped into that Big East Tournament the very first year, Alonzo Mourning was still in school, Malik Sealy, Terry Dehere. … It felt like the NCAA Tournament. It was the biggest show on the stage. … Spike Lee was sitting there waiting for the Big East Tournament to start. I’ll never forget that. That’s when I knew I had arrived — or I made a mistake, this is too big for me (laugh). Spike Lee is sitting in the same seat he watches Knicks games to watch the Big East Tournament!
Q: What drove you as a biracial child growing up?
A: Probably growing up having a mother [Bobbi] who raised me since I was 1 [year old] all by herself, my brother [Buddy] was 6 at the time. … Having seen her work two, three jobs to give us everything we had. … There was never any negativity in the house. There was never any drugs, never any violence. … The black kids are calling me white and the white kids are calling me black, there was never any feeling sorry for yourself, it was: Have pride, do something that no one in this family has ever done before, and do something that no one expects you to do.
Q: How did it feel though with the black kids calling you white, and the white kids calling you black?
A: My mom’s blond-haired, blueeyed, her heritage is from Ireland. Growing up in Seattle helped. It’s very gentrified, very diverse. I grew up in a healthy community, and everyone accepted everyone. But you’re still a kid. … The scariest part of racism for me was I got it from my dad’s side of the family later on in life, them calling me “white boy,” then not accepting me as really one of theirs because my mom was white. It was indoctrinated a little bit in me of: Who are you? find out who you are. My mom saying, “Listen: You are black and white. But you also have the same color blood.” We all bleed red, but with my mom it was, “Be yourself. Be who you are, and you will be accepted. And if those people don’t accept you, they don’t deserve to be in your life.” … Jason Kidd, my teammate in New Jersey, called me “The Glue.” And I told him that that’s what they called me in college, and that’s what kind of my nickname was in high school.
We have a street in Connecticut, it’s Albany Avenue. It’s really low income when you first leave downtown Hartford, you keep going on that for about three miles, you’re at the Governor’s house. I tell people I can be the same person walking down Albany Avenue. in the hood as I am when I walk and continue to walk and drive down Albany Avenue into the mansions and into West Hartford and past the Governor’s house. To me, that’s all about how I was raised. You don’t have to be what one group thinks you’re gonna have to be one day and then change the next day. I always tell kids, “Be yourself.”
Q: Three dinner guests?
A: Barack Obama, my [late] grandmother [Violet Wilt], Prince.
Q: Favorite movie?
A: “The Count of Monte Cristo.”
Q: Favorite actor?
A: Johnny Depp.
Q: Favorite actress?
A: Jodie Foster.
Q: Favorite singer-entertainer?
A: Brian McKnight.
Q: Favorite meal?
A: Thai vegan.