Published: November 07, 2009 12:41 am         

ISU's Marshall ready to put suspension behind him

TERRE HAUTE — Indiana State guard Harry Marshall watched the Sycamores’ men’s basketball exhibition against Rose-Hulman on Tuesday from one of the tunnels in Hulman Center. At the time, Marshall was indefinitely suspended due to a violation of team rules.

Watching instead of playing was one of the hardest things he’s had to do.

“It was very difficult to watch. I missed the guys, I missed being on the floor, I missed playing,” said Marshall on Friday before ISU practiced in preparation for today’s exhibition game against the University of Indianapolis.

Neither Marshall nor ISU coach Kevin McKenna wished to go into specifics about what the violation of team rules was that precipitated the suspension. However, both are pleased to be moving forward from it.

“I’m excited about having Harry back. He’s a good player for us. He’s as hard a worker as I’ve ever been around in my 20 years of coaching. He’s going to fit in well, he knows the system, he can share his knowledge with the other players from the point guard spot. That’s invaluable,” McKenna said. “He’s helping Jake Kelly out, he’s helping all our news guys out, Dwayne [Lathan] and Koang [Doluony] in particular. We count on him.”

“It’s great to be back. It’s a situation we have to put behind us, and hopefully, we’ll move forward from it,” Marshall said.

As one might imagine, it was a long week for Marshall. Not only did the senior guard have to endure the suspension itself, but all of the rumors — most unsubstantiated — that went along with it as fans speculated on what caused the suspension.

“It definitely hurt. I’m a person who started at the bottom and had to work myself supposedly to the top of this program. The situation is what it is, but what I heard about it hurt and many things were not true,” Marshall said. “Me being academically ineligible. Me being caught with drugs. It just wasn’t true. It hurt me and it hurt my family. That was their name that was getting bashed or slandered and it hurt me personally.”

Ultimately, Marshall said he’s worked too hard throughout his career to let a potentially promising senior season slip away. Marshall came to ISU as a walk-on in 2006 and worked his way to a scholarship, a valued role as a starting guard and into an All-MVC honorable mention selection going into this season.

“I’m somebody who came here as a freshman who put so much into this program. People who think I’m a bad person or a bad kid, tomorrow and the upcoming season give me a chance to prove the people who doubted me that they’re wrong,” Marshall said. “I’ve been knocking down doors since I was a freshman in high school. I knocked down doors to play college basketball. This is just another door I need to knock down and a door I need to step through.”

Moving forward, Marshall hopes he can be embraced as the leader he wants to be for the Sycamores.

“The team goal is to move forward. We need to work together as a team, we need to work together as a unit and we’ll come together,” Marshall said.

n Indianapolis visits — The degree of difficulty goes up for the Sycamores in their last men’s basketball exhibition. ISU handled Division III Rose-Hulman easily in a 89-50 victory. Division II Indianapolis, coached by former ISU assistant Stan Gouard, will be a tougher task.

Still, there are things ISU did well against the Engineers that McKenna thinks transcend the division the Sycamores were playing against.

“I thought we moved the ball and played unselfish basketball. We were into it, and whether that had to do with it being the first game or that we were playing someone else, that had something to do with it. Being in front of our fans, they were excited to play in front of them. Hopefully, we gained some fans with the way we played,” McKenna said.

There are things McKenna wants to see better executed against the Greyhounds.

“I want to see better execution, a little better off-the-ball defense. It’s improving, but still not where it needs to be yet,” McKenna said.

McKenna said no decision will be made based on the game whether any of the current Sycamores will be redshirted. McKenna anticipates a decision early next week.

“It won’t determine anything [as far as redshirting is concerned]. We’ve had some discussions with some guys about [redshirting]. We’ve got 15 quality players on our team. You can only play five at a time and to work 15 in, including tomorrow’s game, is a difficult thing,” McKenna said. “I’ve never been around a program that forced anyone to redshirt. We talk about it, we try to come to grips with what’s best for the young man and what’s best for the program. We try to give as much as advice and direction as we can regarding that, then it’s up to the player what they want to do.”

Among those on the Greyhounds’ roster is former Terre Haute North and Gardner-Webb forward Nate Blank. The junior transferred to Indianapolis in the last off-season. He averaged 9.1 points and 2.8 rebounds last year at Gardner-Webb. Center Larry Woods is the only returning double-digit scorer for the Greyhounds (9-18 last season), he averaged 10.3 points. Despite that, the Greyhounds went to Valparaiso and knocked off the Crusaders 88-83 on Sunday.

The gregarious Gouard was a popular assistant coach when he was at ISU from 2005-08. Gouard coached under both former coach Royce Waltman and McKenna and was very well-regarded by both.

Marshall is looking forward to seeing his old coach again.

“It’ll be good to have one of our old coaches come in. I’ll be glad to see coach Gouard,” Marshall said.