Topic: H-D: D'Antoni conducts 1st MU practice

[biggreenarms]

HUNTINGTON -- "Too slow," Marshall Thundering Herd men's basketball head coach Dan D'Antoni yelled out Saturday during a workout session.

"Run the court," D'Antoni said later.

"Don't do that," he pleaded when a player attempted a finger-roll layup and missed.

Marshall players were back in class with their new head coach instructing.

Saturday morning's two-hour workout in Cam Henderson Center was D'Antoni's first time on the court with his team.

"The effort was good," he said

D'Antoni, a 66-year-old former Marshall point guard, was hired April 24. He returned to Marshall following nine years as an NBA assistant for his brother, former Herd point guard Mike D'Antoni, with the Phoenix Suns, New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers.

The T-shirt he wore Saturday had "Bring on the Herd" printed on it -- a throwback to a popular chant used by Marshall fans at the old Veterans Memorial Field House.

Eleven players and three assistant coaches joined D'Antoni on the court.

The players from last season when Marshall finished with an 11-22 record under departed head coach Tom Herrion include seniors Shawn Smith, Cheikh Sane, J.P. Kambola and Justin Edmonds; juniors Chris Thomas, DeVince Boykins, TyQuane Goard and Tamron Manning; sophomores Ryan Taylor and Austin Loop; and freshman Brett Bowling.

Kambola sat out last season because of an eligibility issue that still hasn't been resolved, D'Antoni said. Edmonds, who took a red-shirt last season to continue rehabilitation for a right knee injury, didn't participate in any drills.

Bowling is an invited non-scholarship player from Wyoming East High School in southern West Virginia.

Players enrolled in summer school are permitted required weight-training, conditioning and skill-related instruction for up to eight weeks according to NCAA rules. Activity is limited to a maximum of eight hours per week with not more than two of those hours spent on skill-related instruction.

"I wanted to get our flow offense in -- how we run the floor," D'Antoni said. "Get our pick and roll in. Our spacing. Defensively, we're going to guard 94-feet."

Before basketball drills began, players did some work with Joe Varga, the director of strength and conditioning.

D'Antoni stressed the importance of conditioning in an earlier interview this week. He mentioned a conditioning program he started at Socastee High School in Myrtle Beach where he won more than 500 games from 1975 to 2005.

"Our elevation of play went through the roof and we played at a different level," he said.

D'Antoni's assistants, although not yet official pending background checks, are holdover Mark Cline, Scott Rigot and former NBA player Chris Duhon.

Rigot coached in Europe the past two years and has NCAA Division I experience at South Carolina, UAB, Hawaii, Kentucky and Duquesne.

Duhon had an active role on the court as someone who said he knows the D'Antoni system well, especially the point guard position. He played for the Knicks from 2008-10 and with the Lakers in the 2012-13 season.

The 31-year-old Duhon was the Duke University point guard on a national championship team in 2001.

"It's great just having coach Duhon here and having him in my ear," said Boykins, who is being groomed as the Marshall point guard. "He knows what he's talking about because he's been where I am trying to get."

Boykins has appeared in 55 games in two seasons and started 14 times in 2013-14.

Smith is a forward with a penchant for shooting 3-pointers and it pleased him to know D'Antoni wants players to take open shots.

The Californian also said D'Antoni told him that every team he's coached was led in scoring by a big man.

"It's going to be good for a lot of us," Smith said. "We're going to be hopefully making more shots and closing games out."

Smith averaged 7.6 points last season.

 
HUNTINGTON -- Coach Dan D'Antoni's first signed recruit for the Marshall Thundering Herd men's basketball team is C.J. Burks from Hedgesville, W.Va., in Berkeley County.

Burks is a 6-foot-3 guard from a 2014 Class AAA state tournament team at Hedgesville High School. He scored 20 points a game for the Eagles and was an all-state first team selection.

MaxPreps.com listed him as the No. 9 recruit in the state.

Burks is expected to play June 20 in the West Virginia North-South All-Star game in the South Charleston Civic Center.

http://www.herald-dispatch.com/sports/marshall/x1315750388/DAntoni-conducts-1st-MU-practice