MILWAUKEE — Shaka Smart is a couple of weeks into his new role as Marquette's men's basketball coach. It's been a whirlwind, so what's been his greatest challenge?
Lance Allan of TMJ4 Sports: "Trying to figure out this roster, or trying to figure out where to live, get a house, learn Milwaukee, all that good fun stuff?"
"Ah the first one for sure," Shaka Smart says with a laugh. "Got a chance to sit down with Bo Ellis today for about 45 minutes and you know, I don't think there are too many people that know more about this program and the history of it."
"In terms of a house, I'm the distant, distant assistant coach on that. My wife's the head coach, and you know, she'll make all those decisions," Smart said. "You know, for me, I'm pretty simple. When I was a graduate assistant at the California University of Pennsylvania, I lived in an apartment that cost $150 a month. So as I told my wife, I can live about anywhere. You can imagine how nasty that place was."
"But definitely the former is the more challenging one, and I enjoy the challenge," said Smart regarding figuring out the roster. "You know, I think any time there's a level of uncertainty, you know, you can look at that a couple of different ways. You can kind of you know allow anxiety to creep into that. Or you can be, 'OK with the fact that some things are still in flux. Some things are still up in the air.'"
With currently seven returning players under scholarship, as of right now, all 13 spots are taken. But with the new rules in the NCAA where transfers are eligible immediately, Smart admits nothing is fully set.
