Marquette's fall classes are underway. That means basketball coaches Shaka Smart and Megan Duffy know the season is starting soon.
Marquette men's basketball coach Shaka Smart keeps a mental shot clock counting down until the Golden Eagles' first game against Radford on Nov. 7 at Fiserv Forum.
Smart noted that Monday marked 70 days until the season tips off. It also was the first day of classes at MU, with Smart and women's coach Megan Duffy handing out healthy breakfast options for students at the campus-area Sendik's.
"He actually gives the information every day," said Duffy, whose team opens with Fairleigh Dickinson on Nov. 7 at the Al McGuire Center. "I hear him. It was 72, obviously, a couple days ago. It's exciting."
Smart has all of his players on campus except for 6-foot-11 freshman Ben Gold, who scored 15 points and pulled down eight rebounds to help New Zealand beat Jordan in a FIBA World Cup qualifier Monday in Auckland. The 19-year-old Gold was scheduled to fly back to Milwaukee on Tuesday after a short stint with the Tall Blacks.
"It's awesome," Smart said. "He's by far the youngest on the team, so any time you can learn from older guys that have been through certain experiences that you have not been through, it's really positive.
"Ben's the type of guy that he's going to take on any challenge that's put in front of him and it was awesome to see him get significant minutes in these last couple games that they played. And he played well."
Once Gold gets back there will be time to ramp up before the start of official practices in October. Before that, coaches can work with athletes for up to eight hours per week.
"Fortunately we were able to have our guys here for the vast majority of the summer," Smart said. "So we got a lot of our foundational, cultural pieces in during that time. It is a major adjustment in terms of flow of the day once you start the school year.
"So just making sure that our freshmen, our new guys, understand that adjustment. Then we have about four weeks of preseason workouts on the court, in the weight room with Todd (Smith, MU's assistant athletics director of applied sports science and performance), conditioning with Todd to build their bodies up to where they'll be ready for the start of practice."
Duffy is also working in newcomers.
"So far it's been good," Duffy said. "You lose Lauren Van Kleunen finally after six years of being here. She was such a staple for us.
"So giving others opportunities. Jordan King, obviously, very experienced and Liza Karlen had a great season last year. And we throw in (graduate transfer) Nia Clark, who was Xavier's leading scorer and four freshmen I'm really excited about.
"So we're going to be young at some positions, but I like where we're at so far. Probably no coach is going to be completely happy (in the preseason). But they're doing great. A great group of young women."
There wasn't any deep discussions of Xs and Os between the students and coaches at Sendik's with those first classes looming.
"It's early this morning," Duffy said. "So they're up taking care of their own business.
"But I think there is another great buzz for both of our programs."
Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal.
DOWNLOAD THE APP: Get the latest news, sports and more
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Marquette basketball coaches Shaka Smart, Megan Duffy like 2022-23
