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“It’s us asking ourselves, how hard are we gonna play?� Nutter said. “From Day 1, Corny is always talking about how everything matters, every drill. Even when we go to get our water, we have to run to get our water, and that sets the tone from the start.�

Jackson described the Sun Belt Conference as a physical league. He’d been an assistant coach on the Herd bench for seven years before replacing Dan D’Antoni this offseason.

Jackson had a heavy influence on D’Antoni’s staff, but now as the man in charge, he gets the opportunity to really change the attitude of the team, an effort that started early this summer.

“We want to get up and down the floor, we want to score points, and defensively, we want to be a little bit more physical than we have been in the past,� Jackson said. “So we’re spending a ton of time on creating that mindset of just being more physical. The Sun Belt obviously is a physical, aggressive league, and we’re trying to adapt and bring that part of the game out in this team.�

That has been evident in practices this fall as the Herd nears its exhibition game against the University of Pikeville on Oct. 27 before opening the regular season by hosting Davis & Elkins on Nov. 4.

Both games are at the Cam Henderson Center.

“There’s a different level of intensity with this team, and I think people that come to practice can see that, but it’s all for the better for us,� Marshall’s Wyatt Fricks said. “It helps you get in better shape and then comes down to, be more physical and just play harder. That’s really what it is.�

Nutter and Fricks are two of several players on the Herd men’s roster that Jackson recruited as an assistant. Obinna Anochili-Killen and Nate Martin are also in that group, and those relationships have come a long way since the coaching change.

“It’s been really fun. These guys are all quality young men, which is very important to us when we we’re out there on the recruiting trail,� Jackson said. “Obviously we have to get talented basketball players, but quality young men with character is very important to us, and we feel like we brought in a good nucleus of those guys.�

With that nucleus came support pieces like Akron transfer Mikal Dawson, a Huntington native who returns home for his final season of eligibility. Guards Jalen Speer and Dezayne Mingo each bring versatile skill sets to Marshall.

It all adds up to a promising team, though expectations aren’t exactly high outside Huntington after the Herd went 13-20 last year and was four games under .500 in league play.

“We’re excited. We’re looking forward to another year in the Sun Belt, our third go-round,� Jackson said. “We’ve added a lot of new faces. We were able to keep obviously Obinna and Nate ... so that was a good starting place.�