Episode Transcript
[00:00:14] Speaker A: Hello. Welcome to the Roundhouse Podcast with Paul Solentrop of Wichita State University Strategic Communications. Thank you for your time.
We have a special guest today, Marcus McDuffie. Marcus played for Wichita State from 2015 to 2019. He helped the Shockers to three NCAA tournaments and the N semifinals. Marcus earned all conference honors in both the Missouri Valley and American Conferences. He's also a foundational member of the Aftershocks, the WSU alumni team that won the basketball tournament title last summer. And they will be back in Koch arena in July.
Marcus is just back from playing professionally in France. He's at his home in New Jersey. And for most of this conversation, Marcus is a New York Knicks fan. And you know that if you follow Marcus on social media.
Marcus, thanks very much for your time. Time. Tell us about your history as a Knicks fan. When did you become a Knicks fan?
[00:01:08] Speaker B: Okay, start off. Hey, what's up, Paul? Good talking to you.
[00:01:13] Speaker A: You know, thanks for, thanks for giving us some time. We appreciate it.
[00:01:16] Speaker B: Sure. Anytime. I got time today. I'm excited. I'm happy. When I started becoming a Knicks fan. Is actually my father as a kid, around 7, 8 years old, you know, at my old house, we had the basement, you know, in the basement, you know, that's where dads love to be, you know, to recline and watch tv, you know, watch sports, you know. And on the other side of the basement, that was my room where I played video games, I dribbled the basketball, played basketball, did whatever with friends, you know, as a kid. And every time I went downstairs, I would watch my dad, you know, he had a big tv. So as soon as you go downstairs, you notice it. And every time I went downstairs, the Knicks will be playing. And I think as, as, you know, as a kid, you know, you just gravitate to what you see. So, you know, every time I went downstairs, my dad would have the Knicks game on. I'm not knowing how good they are. I'm just watching guys play basketball. And that's one thing about the Knicks. As you know, they weren't the best teams growing up, you know, around when I was growing up in early 2000s, you know, like past the. When they made the NBA Finals, you know, that 99, they weren't the best, you know, and I didn't know all that. I was a kid, you know, but I didn't see the excitement. I seen how alive the Garden was.
And even though they weren't that great, it was still exciting to watch them. And I think as a kid, every time I went Downstairs. And my dad was. I sat there and just kept watching them and watching them, and they became my favorite team.
[00:02:50] Speaker A: Who was your dad's favorite? Nick.
[00:02:53] Speaker B: My dad's favorite Nick. He's a big Bernard King fan. You know, he's a big. He has his jersey, you know, he. He was a big Bernard King fan. But, you know, as time go on, you know, him being a fan, you know, he's a, you know, obviously he go back a little to the older days. You know, I think he was a big Bernard King fan. He. He even has his jersey. Like, I don't even know if they still sell those jerseys. You know, I don't know how he even got that jersey, but he was a big Bernard King fan, so that
[00:03:22] Speaker A: would be a good one. He had a. Had a great career, definitely. How about yourself? Who is your favorite Knicks player?
[00:03:30] Speaker B: It's hard for me because I grew up in like two, three, like two generations. You know, it's like in the beginning, I was a big Jamal Crawford fan. Like, he. And he, he joined the Knicks in 2004, 2005. That's when I was a little, like, starting to grow into a boy. I'm seven or eight years old, so I'm kind of understanding a little more, you know. But when I first watched him, he was just super exciting to watch, you know, just about his, the way he dribbles the ball, you know, he used to turn the Garden up, like, and we weren't the best team, but he used to always make it fun to watch them, you know, Stephon Marbury, Guys like them, they played early in around 04.05, around 06, 07, 08. Those. Around the time I really started to really, you know, watch basketball more. And those two guys were, you know, my favorites in the beginning. Then it gradually grew to mellow, you know, it grew to mellow when he was there. You know, I'm a huge TMAC fan, so when he came to the Knicks, he was my favorite guy. You know, I'm a. TMAC is my favorite player all time. So when he came to the Knicks for that short stint, he was my favorite player. So, like, I'm a. I'm a real Knicks fan. So, like, who, if you want a Knicks, I love you. Like, that's just how I am. So it's hard for me to say, you know, so, you know, so obviously now is Jalen Brunson, you know, all these other guys. So, like, it's hard for me to really say one player.
[00:04:57] Speaker A: I thought maybe you would say Mikhail Bridges, because he, his game and your game seem to have some similarities. Am I right?
[00:05:03] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Nah, like, I love Mikel. I told you, if you want the Knicks, I love you. Like, I love Mikhail Britches as well. So, you know, I love all the guys, to be honest. I could say them all if I want to, but, you know, I'm just going off, you know, when I first started watching the Knicks, because, you know, now, you know, everybody can be a Knicks fan, but I was there when they wasn't, you know, who they are now, you know. Sure.
[00:05:28] Speaker A: This Knicks team seems to have really captured people's imagination with its style of basketball. Really fun to watch. What have you noticed? Why do you think they're doing so well?
[00:05:39] Speaker B: The reason why I think they're doing so well is because of coaching, management and personnel. I think they build the right guys around Jalen Brunson to succeed. You know, shout out to Jalen Brunson for taking that pay cut and being able to keep guys that are worthy of helping us win a championship. So I think also Mike Brown, him being the coach now, you know, Tom Thibodeau was a great coach, you know, but he was more of a defensive coach. You know, he kept his guys in very long.
But this, this new coach that we have, he's very offensive minded and I think we needed that because even though at the end of the day, defense wins games, whoever scores the most points wins. And I think the way we playing right now, we, we scoring a lot of points, we're moving the ball well, you know, center, you know, we play, we all can play off the ball. And they surrounded him with Jalen Brussels with lengthy guys that can play defense. We got a terrific offensive rebounder, Mitchell Robinson Landry coming in, shooting the threes. He's shooting. Not a lot of teams need that right now and they don't have it. So, man, I think that's the reason why we're playing well. Shout out to the management too, for not getting rid of guys, keeping guys, because, you know, there's been a lot of speculation, oh, this guy should get traded, this guy. And they not hearing all that. You know, we just focusing on us and building and getting better. And I think that's what builds a championship team.
[00:07:09] Speaker A: Leon Rose has definitely done a good job building that, that roster. We'll talk about Landon Shamut, your former teammate.
So the Knicks, they started the playoffs, they were tied 2, 2 with Atlanta, and then they won that series and they swept Philadelphia, they swept Cleveland. Really had a Dominant run. When did you start to think, hey, this team is really playing well and capable of winning the East?
[00:07:33] Speaker B: I knew, to be honest, I knew since the start of the season, you know, and the reason why I say that is because of the type of players that we have and the way the NBA is going now, you know, I think we just fit that mold into a championship team now. You know, you got your ups and downs and everything like that. But I knew, like, we were going to win because even when we were down 2:1 to Atlanta, you know, one of my teammates in France, he played for the Hawks and he was killing me. Like, he was killing me. And I said, look, you know, we only. We lost two games by one point. Like, it's not like we got blown out or anything like that. We just got to make some changes and everything.
And once we made that change, we just took off. And, you know, and that has a lot to do with coaching, leadership and just stay stand, you know, staying composed, you know, and, you know, we know. And the thing is, no one gets more heat than the Knicks. You know, people talk. People talk bad about us. People hate on us. I don't understand why they hate on us because we ain't done nothing in years. So it's like we don't get the same, you know, talk as everyone else, you know, Nick, I gotta. I know. They gotta, you know, they gotta, you know, they got a lot more things to prove, you know, I think the
[00:08:58] Speaker A: Knicks last appearance in the finals would have been 1999. And they've definitely had some. Had some struggles since then, but recently have really started to pull out of that. They were in the Eastern Conference finals a year ago. So we mentioned Landry Shamut, who played with you at Wichita State. He is the latest. There's a long line of former Shockers who played for the Knicks. Dave Stallworth, Nate Bowman, Xavier McDaniel, Tree, Ron Baker, Cleanthony early, and now Landry, who's just having a fabulous playoff run. How much of you enjoyed watching Landry go on this hot streak?
[00:09:33] Speaker B: Oh, man, I've enjoyed it so much, man. He don't make me cry because, like, people don't understand. Landry was the first basketball player that I met on campus. He was my college roommate, you know, so just every time I watch him out there in that court, I remember the first day I met this guy, you know, on campus, you know, he was already there. I came there, you know, coming from New Jersey, and I dapped him. I remember the first day I literally dapped him up and said, what's up? You know, we became roommates and we. And we just took off as friends, you know. And what I noticed about Landry is the way he. He moves. He moves like a pro. Like, he was very professional in everything he done, whether it was school, whether it was practice, everything. Like, he's just one of those guys who, you know, chasing perfection. You know, he's chasing perfection. And I seen that firsthand. I was like, oh yeah, this guy's a pro for sure. You know, no matter how he started off or whatever, he. I knew he was a pro from the beginning. And I. And you know, that's why, you know, when I'm done playing, I want to get into, you know, recruiting and doing other things because I can notice someone when I first see them, like, first impression. And one thing about Landry, I knew he was a pro, you know, I don't know how his NBA career will go. I don't know if he was going to make the NBA or anything at that point, but I just knew he's going to be special, you know, he
[00:10:59] Speaker A: definitely was special and really have a special playoff run. He's 21 of 35 from three point range and 14 playoff games for the Knicks. And he has made 17 of his past 21 three pointers over six games.
[00:11:14] Speaker B: Insane.
[00:11:16] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. Did.
I can remember going to pick up games that first summer when he. When you and he were freshmen and boy, he already stood out at that time. Do you remember playing pickup? Do you remember your first impressions of Landry as a. As a shooter, as a scorer, even. Even at that young age?
[00:11:35] Speaker B: Yes, I do remember, you know, but I also remember his work ethic. Like everything he did was precise, you know.
You know, when you train in like a. He always trained like a pro since I first met him. So like I knew playing against him, like, you know, he. He.
No one really knows. Landry was very athletic too, in the beginning. Like he's not really showing it now. He's more in his role. But Landry was also very athletic, you know, like he can jump out the gym, head at the rim, you know, so just imagine that, including with his shooting, you know, I don't know if he could jump like that now because he's shooting the heck out the ball now. He don't got to do all that. But Landry was also very athletic, you know, so I've noticed it from the jump, you know. You know, I was my roommate as well. So we will always talk, we will always hang out you know, he was very independent. You know, he's always done things independently.
So when you're an independent person, that means you don't need nobody to really motivate you. He was self motivated himself and that's what I really liked about him.
[00:12:43] Speaker A: He was a serious young man. I always enjoyed talking to him. His mom, very important to him. I remember that as being a big part of his, his, his motivation.
He was an enjoyable guy to watch. And you're exactly right. Every once in a while he'll show off those hops and he will. He's got some good highlight dunks.
Even as a guy that maybe you don't think of as, as a, as a big leaper favorite. You have a favorite celebrity who sits courtside at a Knicks game.
[00:13:13] Speaker B: Oh, that's very easy. Spike Lee. You know, the real. I'm, I'm gonna pick the realest Knicks fan of anyone, you know, and I think it's Spike Lee, you know, just being him, being there since, from, from back then to now, him supporting. So he went through everything like as a celebrity, you know, went through the bad times, the good times that turned out bad in the end and the great times there is now. So I respect that. You know, he could have, you know, veered off to another team. He could have did this or that, you know, through all those dumpster fire years and he didn't. He stayed loyal. And that's kind of the person I am. You know, as many times as I've been, you know, chastised about the Knicks, oh, they trash, they never this or that. I've always said, look, I say, yo, give it time, watch. And I'm, I'm the one who said, like years ago I told a friend this, I said, In 2025, we gonna make the NBA finals. We did make it. We were close and we were close.
Eastern correspondence, we lost last year. So just to see them make it next year, I was like, yes. I knew it was coming at some point. Now I got to see if we'll win it.
[00:14:20] Speaker A: So those celebrities, Spike Lee and Ben Stiller and many, many others.
[00:14:24] Speaker B: Michael James. Now, Ben Stiller has always been there ever since I was young. I remember Ben Stiller being there too.
[00:14:32] Speaker A: That's just a, that's a big part of the, I guess the fame, the mystique of Madison Square Garden. And you would have, you would have played there in the 2019 NIT. For people who have not been to Madison Square Gard, describe the arena. What makes it so special?
[00:14:48] Speaker B: You want to know what's crazy, I've never been to a Knicks game, but I've been. But I played in the Garden before that.
I didn't. I didn't watch my first ever Knicks game at the Garden until two years ago when they played the Pacers. So for me to be in there without having to play in that Garden, without watching the Knicks game in person yet, because I was just. Basketball took over my life, so I never had time. You know, New Jersey Nets was a little easier because I was closer. But.
But playing in that Garden at that time, it's. I still can't believe it. Like, I'm. I'm. Even though I'm seven years removed from that, I'm. I still can't believe I was playing in that. In that situation. And. But it was an amazing moment. You know, one thing I noticed was when you were playing in the Garden, everything else is dark. Only thing is light on the court, you know, And I noticed that. I was like, wow, that's different, you know, but, you know, it was an amazing experience just to play in that Garden. I still. I'm still mad we lost that game. You know, I remember the start of the game. I came out hot. I fell on my ankle, and I was. I was. It was rough the rest of the game, but I was still. I'm still mad we lost that game, but it was a great experience just being in New York. I remember after that game, I was going out with my friends, with all the friends on my team. And you enjoyed being in New York? You know, some of these guys come from everywhere, so just being them, being in New York, at the east coast, you know, me bringing them out, it was a great experience.
[00:16:22] Speaker A: And that was a nice.
A lot of fun getting to Madison Square Garden. The sh. Shockers won.
[00:16:28] Speaker B: I'm not gonna lie. It was a lot more fun than playing in the tournament and losing the first round. And people ask. I. It's better than, I think, you know, making it to the Garden was a lot. A lot fun, you know, it was very fun.
[00:16:41] Speaker A: Definitely. Definitely a special place. And yes, one at Clemson, one at Indiana, on their way to the. To the NIT semifinals. 2019. So the Knicks, another interesting thing, they seem to unite New York City in a way that other sports teams don't. I guess you have divisions between Yankees fans and Mets fans and Giants and Jets, but the Knicks seem to be a bigger presence. Am I right? Is that the case? And why is that?
[00:17:10] Speaker B: Yes, most definitely is. And it's that because of the personality that we have here, we're very aggressive, you know, very rowdy, very, you know. You know, it's like when something is going great, we go, we gonna show the most love. And then when something going bad, people gonna, you know, bring you down. You know, that's how it is here. I don't like. I don't like when they bring them, bring them down. I think that's the reason why a lot of players reflect, refused to come to the Knicks growing up because of the media, you know, like, it's the media Capital Knicks. So, like, a lot of players don't want to deal with that, but it's like, yo, if you do what these guys are doing right now, the amount of love you're gonna get, the amount of respect. It's all about respect in New York, you know, gaining respect. And once you get that respect, it's. It's like, it's. They gonna show love like no other.
And, you know, now that New York being such a big city, you got to understand, like, now that we're in the finals, just imagine if we win, Paul. Like, oh, my God, like, it's going to be crazy. It's going to be a riot. It's going to be insane, you know, just because of it's being in New York, you know, the amount of, you know, trials and tribulations we've been through, you know, so just to get this monkey off our back to make the finals now, now we can possibly win it. Oh, man, like, I might. I'm in New Jersey right now. I might hear them all the way from here, you know, as we went. So, you know, the love is real. You know, I've. I've. I've seen it all. And, you know, now with social media and everything, you can actually see it on your phone, you know, so it's like, I've been to it. I went to a Knicks game, 2024.
We played. This is, I think, before Landry got there, we played Indiana Pacers, and we beat them in game five or four.
And when I went outside, you know, the same way they show love overseas, I think overseas is better. When it turns the fans and their involvement and how much they love their team. It reminded me of that when I went to New York after the game, you know, everybody was outside just celebrating, you know, for like, a whole hour until they ready to leave, like, it was insane. And you don't see that a lot, you know, in the States because there's more entertainment here as opposed to overseas, where, like, these fans are very Die Hard. Like, you know, they're very into it. And when I went to New York, it showed me that like, okay, there's very few teams in the league that has fan support like this.
[00:19:43] Speaker A: Knicks last won the NBA title in 1973. So there is a lot of pent up energy and demand. It will be quite the scene, no doubt. Will, Will you try to go to a game? Will you go down and soak up the atmosphere outside the Garden? How will you against these finals games?
[00:20:00] Speaker B: Oh, man, I mean, I would try, you know. You know, them tickets are very expensive. I text my boy Landry, see if he could get me in there. They talking about 12k for the top spots, the top, all of the highest spots. I said, wait. I said, dang. I said, so, you know, I might, I don't know, I might have. My boy lands. If he text me back, I know his phone blowing up right now, but if not, man, I'm gonna just be home supporting with my dad, you know, just watching the game, you know, us seeing this, you know, considering everything we watch over the years, you know, this is a surreal moment. I'm glad I could be home for it. You know, I came home just in time, you know, it would have sucked if I came home and they did and then they didn't make it and I just don't have nothing to watch. But now I'm watching. Just watching them in the finals is going to be insane. Just to see NBA finals and it's Nick's Knicks dribbling the ball up the court is going to be insane to me.
[00:20:53] Speaker A: You know, watching it with your dad, that would be another great way to experience.
Tell us about your season in France.
[00:21:02] Speaker B: It was, it was cool. You know, we. We didn't, we played in the play in. We lost in the first, the first playing game. So we didn't make the playoffs, you know, so it was okay season. I came to the season a little late.
I was an injury replacement, so I wasn't really like, you know, it's different when you're injured or replaced as the terms to a guy that, you know was there from the beginning, you know, so I had to, you know, play back and forth, you know, some games I play, some games I don't, you know. So it was just a year where, you know, I just get back on the court and just crawl before I run. So I'm looking forward to next year right now, looking forward to my next team, you know. And I'm actually, right now, I'm looking forward to TBT My sister's getting married this summer, so I have some good things to look forward to. Then I'm focused on this next season, you know, to really get back on my. To get back on my, you know, doing my thing.
[00:22:01] Speaker A: Do you know where you will play next season?
[00:22:04] Speaker B: No, I haven't decided that yet. You know, now that the season is over, it's kind of like, you know, just laying low right now and, you know, nah. Because, you know, you never know. You know, when you play in this tbt, when you play in the TBT and things like that, you never know what you can pick up.
You know, you don't know what teams might be tuning into that. You know, you don't know what teams you may get. So it takes time over the summer, you know, to figure out, you know, I don't. I don't sign early this early. You know, I usually sign a little later during July, around June. Later June, July. So we'll see. You know, right now, I'm just enjoying my summer, you know, and just going from there.
[00:22:44] Speaker A: Yes. Let's talk about the aftershocks. The aftershocks 1tbt last year at Koch arena really excited the fans. Bigger and bigger crowds.
A lot of fun.
Take us through the decision to come back and try it again this summer.
[00:23:03] Speaker B: It wasn't a simple decision, to be honest with you, Paul. Like, you know, we obviously know, like, you know, great books come to an end. You know, book stories come to an end. And we felt like, you know, us winning that championship, we, like, year was a great storybook ending to everything we've been through over the years with the tbt, you know, we brought it to an unbelievable range, and, you know, we were kind of on, like, okay, you know, I don't mind. We don't mind, you know, just ending it here because, like, we. To leave off a championship is the best way to leave, you know, but, like, you know, every year they start changing the rules, and we feel like they changing the rules because of us, because of what we've done over the years and how we generated so much attention. And I feel like they. We feel like they trying to veer the attention to other, bigger schools, you know, who can hold more people and make more money because, you know, everything is about money now. So we kind of awesome, like, man, you know, if they don't. If they don't want to, you know, really mess with us for real, because we don't. All right, they won. Let's get them out the way. Okay, they won. Let's focus on another team so they could win. You know, that's how we feel right now. So it came down to a point where it's like once they.
We wasn't supposed to host, what happened was it was. It's a best of three series now, if you notice. Did you notice the rule changes, right?
[00:24:24] Speaker A: Yes. After shocks, we'll play a team from University of New Mexico Alums in the first.
[00:24:29] Speaker B: Yes. So what made us. What made us want to go back was we said, if we host these three games, we'll come back.
Because at first they wasn't trying to let us host every game. We would have to go there, then fly, then fly to. Because we play New Mexico, we'll have to fly to New Mexico, then come back. And it's like, yo, we're not about to do all that.
We're not about to do all that in the summertime. Like, this is not the season. It's not college basketball. This is summer basketball. And it's like, once we got that, okay, that okay here, like, we just won the championship. What we look like, you know, going back and forth like. Like, come on, it's not the NBA playoffs, you know, so we. Once they told us, okay, we can host these three games now. Now they're doing every, every. Because now, you know, they're trying to get money now. So it's like, Kentucky's gonna host three games. This team is, you know, gonna host three games, Kansas, and now we can host three games. So once we got that, okay, it was like, okay, good, you know, I will come back now. You know, now they got the rules now. You gotta have six alumni and six alumni now. So now we have to get two more alumni because the four of us is Connor, Rashard, me and Trey. So we find a two alumni right now, you know, I'm not gonna just say that. Who. Who is going to be yet, you know, and then it sucks that we gotta take away some alumni guys that played with us last year and won a championship. We had to dumb it down so them guys will be there. So, you know, our team is pretty much set.
You know, we're gonna try it again this year. Who knows what happens after next year, but we're definitely gonna try it again, you know, and, man, it's just the love, man. Like, you know, it's hard to say no, but, you know, it's just hard, you know, it's just especially.
It's. It's really hard, you know, because TBT feels like we're one of the prominent the programs in terms of this TBT thing. And, you know, it's hard to say no when we've done so many great things with this.
[00:26:36] Speaker A: Rashard, Kelly, Connor, Frank Camp, Trey, Wade and yourself are the. Are the four.
Four members of the team that are made public. And then, oh, Marcus Keane is back also, correct?
Yes, yes. Okay. Yeah. Take us back to that team last summer. What. What made that group so special?
[00:26:54] Speaker B: Basically, just how I said about the Knicks, like, just the personnel, like the type of guys that we had that fit the official championship mode. Like, I. I really didn't. I really didn't know what to expect going into last year. But the way Zach started recruiting, like, it was unbelievable. He. He did a great job recruiting, you know, because me and Zach have a lot of conversations. That's my brother, you know, going into each. Each summer. And that was one of those summer I'm like, look, Zach, you know, you know, this might be our last one. We got to do it. You know, there's only so many tries we could do, you know, because guys is getting older. Guys is not playing. You know, we don't have as many alumni as everybody other teams have still playing, you know, so it gets tougher. You know, he. And he did his thing, you know, we had two guards that can put the ball on the floor.
One was very athletic and taller. That can finish Nike Sabane, you know, he will be back.
He was very athletic. So we had a great backcourt with Marcus King, who's a big shot maker, who has a lot of experience in tbt, you know, and he's a small guard, so it's hard to guard small guards, especially in tbt that can shoot the ball. Then you had me, Rashad, Trey and.
And Layton, who are four guys that can stretch the floor, that can, you know, stretch the floor, that can defend multiple positions, that can, you know, defend multiple positions and that can put the ball on the floor to some degree. Not. Not to do too much just to make a play. And then you had Juice. You had Juice. We call him Juice. James Woodard.
Who else? Connor. We had Connor shot creators. Guys that can hit big shots like these. Like just by the guys I'm naming right now, that's a perfect team right there, you know, that go hand in hand. Then you got the bigs. We had Chavez and Marco Santa Silva or two guys who's not gonna do too much, you know, guys that's gonna play their role and not gonna do anything outside of their role.
And I think with all that put together, we Builded a championship team, you know, and that's what made us champions, you know. Can I say we was going to win the whole thing from the jump? No. But I felt like once we got to that Heart Fire game, that's when I knew we could win it, you know, because that's a team that, that took us out one year, blew us out. And we realized we're not as good as we, we thought we were. And just to go into that next year and prove it to them, you know, who's beat us last year. And they gave us, they gave us our handshake, they say, yo, go win it. Like they said, good job. And once you get that from a team that blew you out the year before, it was like, okay, yeah, like we here, we, we can definitely win this thing, you know. So I think it took about the third, fourth game and I also took the fans, that too. Because you remember in the beginning we ain't, we have no fans. And the next thing you know, the next three games, it was over. It was like history.
[00:30:02] Speaker A: That was a well put together team. A lot of chemistry, a lot of fun to watch.
[00:30:06] Speaker B: Definitely.
[00:30:07] Speaker A: Coach Zach Bush, you mentioned, deserves a lot of credit. Garrett Stutz helped him out. J.R. simon, that was, that was a good, a good, good two weeks fan of basketball, no doubt. I'm glad to hear Nike, the Bondi is coming back. He was immensely entertaining, most definitely.
[00:30:23] Speaker B: He's supposed to be coming back. I know a lot of guys are expecting him, a lot of people, a lot of fans, but he's, he's supposed to be coming back. And you know, we definitely gonna try to bring, you know, even though we gotta add two more alumni players, you know, we still working on that.
We, we tried our best to keep everybody, but you know, obviously with these rule changes, you know, I think they changed the rules because of us, but.
Okay, but you know, that's what it is and gonna try again.
[00:30:56] Speaker A: Why has the McDuffie slide become so popular?
[00:31:01] Speaker B: Ah, man, because I've been doing it for, I've been doing it for. Oh man, this has to been about what, four, four or five years now, you know, and it became popular.
See, the reason why, you know, me, I've always been, you know, you know, a guy who loves to dance, love to, you know, entertain, you know, I've been like that since my, my Wichita State days, you know. And you know, when it gets to a point where it's like, you know, after the game, after the game, we always hold the, the thing.
And it was We. I didn't never wanted to be that team, to just walk over and put the thing on there. I wanted the fans to engage into the. The moment, you know, And I want to show my personality because I feel like if I'm playing tbt, I'm gonna be on TV and stuff like this. Like, you gotta think about it. When we go overseas, we not on national tv, like. Like, you know, like this. So when you get that moment where everybody watching you from all your friends, family, everybody, you know, I gotta show who I really am, and that's all it. That's how it started, you know, and, you know, your teammates egg you on your Duff. Yo, Duff, dude. Come on, Duff. Come on. Come on, Duff. Yeah. Here, take it. Take. Take the. Take the thing. So, you know, ever since then, you know, my personality comes out and I just do that, and I just try to carry it over each year, you know, I can't. I can't. I can't. It's hard not to do it now because everybody gonna ask for it, so.
[00:32:34] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. People would be very upset if they did not get.
[00:32:37] Speaker B: I got it. I gotta stick to the plan. I could have done another dance or anything, but I'm like, nah, I gotta keep doing this one.
[00:32:43] Speaker A: No. The slide is an essential part of the aftershocks experience. There's no doubt about that.
[00:32:48] Speaker B: Now that we won. Now that we won, I'm definitely gonna have to do it now.
[00:32:52] Speaker A: No question.
No question. Marcus McDuffie, thank you very much for your time. We will see you in July when the aftershocks start rolling into town.
Enjoy the the Knicks in the NBA Finals.
[00:33:06] Speaker B: Thank you, Paul. That's amazing. Thank you, man.
[00:33:23] Speaker A: Thank you for listening to the Roundhouse podcast courtesy of Wichita State University Strategic Communications. We encourage you to rate, review, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can find more Roundhouse content at goshockers. Com.
Pushing it up court, looking ahead, long tree, eight, 30ft away on that one. That is a killer.
This is just incredible.
