Still something in those hills

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sat Feb 25 09:43:25 GMT-04:00 2012

CLEMSON – There is something in those hills.

Just ask Grayson Marshall.

The former Clemson point guard was back on campus Friday night for the Alumni Game in Littlejohn Coliseum, celebrating the 100th anniversary of Clemson basketball, and he helped lead his White team to a 107-103 victory.

It was after the game, however, that he really let his love of Clemson show.

“I don’t even think you can capture into words what it is,” Marshall said on the court where he played from 1984-88. “You look at the picturesque facilities we have here, you look at the emotion and the fan support we have, and it’s almost a rabid obsession with being orange.

“There is a love you feel when you get here. I tell people all the time, if you don’t wanna go to Clemson, then don’t visit here because it will be hard for you to leave. I was already signed, sealed and delivered to go somewhere else, but I came here and I was on this campus two hours when I called my dad and said, ‘I am coming here.’ The coach I committed to left and I still ended up coming here. There is something about this place.”

Marshall, who is the all-time Clemson assists leader with 857, said Clemson head coach Brad BrownellBrad Brownell
Head Coach
View Full Profile has done a good job of bringing yesterday’s stars back into the fold.

“He has reached out to us, and he has initiated this,” Marshall said, while looking at several former players lingering on the Littlejohn court. “This is not an easy place to coach, because of the dynamic relationship with football. Unless you come here, you don’t understand about that, and that in itself creates its own challenges. I think he has done a good job. I think we have done a great job in football, but I would love to see us do that in basketball.”

Marshall said the Tigers need to raise the talent level in order to compete yearly in the ACC.

“I think what has to happen is we have to get talented,” he said. “We have guys that play hard, but we have to get guys that are instinctively talented. I think that will happen eventually. We need kids that will instinctively make basketball plays. A lot of times in close games, those are what carry you. I am having fun watching them [this team] though. He does a good job with them and that will show itself over time.”