MILWAUKEE — As Marquette men's basketball summer workouts get underway, sports director Karley Marotta sat down with head coach Shaka Smart. Here is part two of their conversation.
READ ALSO: Part 1: Marquette's Shaka Smart on culture, NIL and building through the transfer portal
Dream dinner guest: Michael Jordan
If Smart could sit down with anyone, he knows exactly who it would be.
"If I could go to dinner with anyone living, it would be Michael Jordan because he was a hero growing up as a player and then he's like anyone else, been through all kinds of different versions of what post-playing career life is," Smart said. "But you can tell even lately he's doing like car racing, you know, his competitive fire is still there. And I'd love to hear from him about how he's managed that and how he has evolved. And then also a thing or two about what goes into winning on the court."
The best advice he's gotten: Keep a journal
Smart said he has received a lot of guidance over the years, but one piece of advice stands above the rest.
"The best advice to be honest with you that I've gotten is to be a regular journal writer because that has set me up for a lot of think time, organization, feedback, reflection," Smart said.
He has been writing in journals since his freshman year of college, and the entries are now getting a high-tech upgrade — thanks to his wife.
"My wife actually is, this is one of the nicest things anyone's ever done for me. She's in the process of getting all my journals transcribed and then putting them into AI to create one huge, and it's going to be huge because I've been writing since my freshman year in college, document that has every journal entry from 1995 until now," Smart said. "And then I'll be able to search by keywords so I can search for Tyler Kolek and it'll take me to any entry where I wrote about him."
Watch: Shaka Smart one-on-one: Part two with the Marquette men's basketball head coach
The team's biggest emphasis this off-season: Consistency
When asked what questions he still has about his team heading into the season, Smart pointed to development and consistency as the top priorities.
"Relationships, growth, and victory are three core values that we truly believe in," Smart said. "A lot of growth we are going to go after this summer. The biggest emphasis for us is building consistency with our young players and our incoming guys. To a man, we need to help those guys gain more consistency individually and then as a team and all the different components of culture, defense, and offense — building consistency there."
The player to watch: Nigel James Jr.
Smart did not hold back when asked about sophomore guard Nigel James Jr. and what he could become.
"He's got so much potential. I mean, he can be one of the best guards to ever wear this uniform. He's so dynamic on the floor, and he also has amazing leadership potential," Smart said. "He's gonna have a lot of responsibility from a leadership standpoint, but at the same time, he's just a sophomore, so continuing to learn the game and the nuances of what brings us success on each end, he's got amazing potential, though."
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