Despite spending almost all of her life in Memphis, Madison Griggs knows a thing or two about long distance. She set the University of Memphis career 3-point record with 363 makes. Right now, she’s in Sweden, in her first season as a pro.
Griggs spoke to Swish Appeal about Memphis basketball, career milestones and establishing her legacy, as well as her own clothing brand, 96th & Madison. Some highlights from the conversation include:
On creating her own shots rather than having others create for her:
It comes naturally for me to create for myself nowadays. I do want to get in the rhythm of just catching and shooting and be able to make 40 percent of those [3-pointers], because I feel like those would be easier, but obviously, looking at my history, they’re not easier for me. So that is something that I have been working on since I’ve been [in Sweden]. Here, it’s just being ready to shoot, catching and shooting, because I know I can create and make it off the dribble anytime. Now I’m just focusing on being ready to shoot, because I have a great point guard who can get me as many shots as I want.
On whether she thinks her record 363 3s made for the University of Memphis will ever be broken:
Yeah, I think it’s going to take a minute, but the game is evolving so much faster, it is turning into a 3-point game, so I think it definitely will be broken, but you never know how fast. I think mine took… 10 years? (The previous record was broken by Rodney Carney in 2006 with 287 3s.) I forgot. Yeah, more than about 15 years. I feel like it’ll get broken. In the next, I’ll say… less than 10 years.
On what she wants her legacy to be:
Just greatness, you know? [To be] somebody who doesn’t stop, no matter what happens in life. Because life always happens, you know? But it’s just how do you react to life, how do you react to situations that don’t benefit you and not allowing yourself to be someone who becomes closed and doesn’t want to continue to grow. Just somebody who does whatever they put their mind to, really.
A special thank you to Sotiris Liomas of Elite Basketball Agents for arranging the interview.
