DURHAM, N.C. - I had planned on writing more from Big East media day on my flight from New York down to North Carolina, but that didn't happen because I had a mammoth 300-pounder next to me and he may have swallowed my laptop if I brought it out.

Anyway, I'll try and update a couple times if possible today in-between interviews with some of the key players and coaches at Duke.

One guy you've got to feel for is Marshall second-year head coach Donnie Jones.

His star player, Markel Humphrey, has been the walking wounded for the past year or so with a fractured heel towards the end of last season, a broken wrist in the summer and recently a stress fractrure.

Tirrell Baines, another starter, missed 10 weeks in the summer with a torn ligament in his hand and now Marshall's third returning starter, Tyler Wilkerson, is out for three weeks with a broken hand.

Add that to Purdue transfer Chris Lutz struggling with a back injury for much of the summer and now is out for a week or so with a sprained knee. Tay Spann (Georgetown), another transfer, suffering a broken hip back in May in a car accident.

Luckily for Jones, they are extremely deep.

``The intensity in practice has been through the roof," he said.