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LOCATION: Carbondale, IL
CONFERENCE: Missouri Valley
LAST SEASON: 15-12 (.556)
CONFERENCE RECORD: 10-8 (t-5th)
STARTERS LOST/RETURNING: 1/4
NICKNAME: Salukis
COLORS: Maroon & White
HOMECOURT: SIU Arena (10,000)
COACH: Bruce Weber (Wisconsin-Milwaukee '74)
record at school 15-12 (1 year)
career record 15-12 (1 year)
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ASSISTANTS: Matt Painter (Purdue '94)
Lynn Mitchem (Butler '83)
Rodney Watson (Eastern Illinois '82)
TEAM WINS: (last 5 years) 23-11-13-14-15
RPI (last 5 years) 34-197-140-157-78
1998-99 FINISH: Lost in conference quarterfinal.
ESPN.com Clubhouse
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Most every conference has a darkhorse team, an overlooked group that is coming off a middle-of-the-pack season. Even though the team may be returning much of its firepower along with a seemingly solid bunch of recruits, it still isn't considered a preseason favorite. Southern Illinois is that darkhorse club in the Missouri Valley. The Salukis will receive little consideration as a front-runner, but don't be fooled by that. Every other coach in the league is well aware of this team's talents. They're just as aware that coach Bruce Weber, who spent 18 years with Gene Keady at Purdue, has had a year to inculcate his system and evaluate the conference. So don't be surprised if he takes the league by storm this season. Remember, you heard it here first, even though we aren't quite brave enough to place the Salukis higher than that middle-of-the-pack ranking. "If our freshmen can give us minutes and our seniors can stay hungry, we can be pretty good," Weber said. "I'm not sure we're as good as Bradley and Indiana State." Last year the Salukis beat Indiana State twice by one point, but lost three times to Bradley, including the quarterfinal of the conference tournament, 62-59. The only starter lost from that Saluki team is a big one leading scorer Monte Jenkins, a gifted athlete who was also chosen the top defensive player in the league. Also departed is 6-9 reserve James Watts. "Our biggest thing is replacing Monte's athleticism," Weber said. "We need to replace his points and come up with another defensive stopper. But that's the fun part of putting a team together, how fast they adapt to their roles and if they accept them. When you bring in freshmen, you don't know how they'll adapt to the more physical play and how much harder they'll have to play."
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Blue Ribbon Analysis |
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BACKCOURT C+ BENCH/DEPTH C+
FRONTCOURT B INTANGIBLES C+
If Chris Thunell is healthy, he may be the best player in the league. The Salukis can put experienced players around him and appear to have some talented freshmen ready for prime time. But there are lingering questions: With Monte Jenkins gone, who will be the go-to guy on each end of the court? Will Thunell try to do too much offensively? Can the Salukis shoot better than a year ago, when they were the worst-shooting team in the league? Is it asking too much of the freshmen big men to play the major roles they must because of a lack of inside depth? Bruce Weber is a smart coach who undoubtedly has considered all of these items and will adjust accordingly. He also knows that if success this season isn't to be for SIU, there are five seniors, meaning plenty of scholarships will be open next year for Weber to continue bringing in his own players and place his signature indelibly on the program. |
The one freshman most likely to have an immediate impact is 6-2 guard Kent Williams (Mt. Vernon High/Mt. Vernon, Ill.), who averaged 24.0 points and 6.0 rebounds and was considered one of the plum recruits in the state. "Williams has good maturity and a good temperament," Weber said. "Hopefully, he'll make a quick adaptation and be able to help us." There are two big guys in the rookie class 6-8, 205-pound Jermaine Dearman (Warren Central High/Indianapolis) and 6-9, 190-pound Brad Korn (Plano High/Plano, Ill.). Dearman averaged 13 points and 9.0 rebounds. Korn's numbers were 18.0 points and 8.0 rebounds. "Dearman has the most athletic ability of the freshmen, but he's kind of skinny and weak," Weber said. "He needs to rebound and give some depth to our big guys. Korn is very skilled, but needs to add weight, too." There's one more member of the incoming freshman class 6-6 Sylvester Willis (Thornwood High/Calumet City, Ill.), who averaged 10.0 points and 8.5 rebounds. There's a good chance Willis will redshirt because his position as a big guard/small forward is loaded with experience. Abel Schrader (5.6 ppg, 2.3 rpg), a 6-4 senior, is the returning starter at the big-guard spot. He was ably backed up last year by 6-4 junior Joshua Cross (5.6 ppg, 4.6 rpg), who is the top candidate to replace Jenkins in the starting lineup. Gianandrea Marcaccini, a 6-4 senior who averaged 1.8 ppg during his first year in Carbondale, can back up either perimeter spot. The returning point guard is Ricky Collum, a 6-2 senior and a member of the Valley's All-Newcomer team a year ago. Collum averaged 11.4 points and 2.3 assists while sinking 69 of 189 three-point shots for a respectable .370 percent. "I knew Ricky would be very solid as our point guard," Weber said. "I didn't think he'd score as much as he did. But he's a very competitive kid and he should be a good leader for us." Brandon Mells (4.4 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 2.3 apg), a 6-1 sophomore, was a productive backup to Collum as a freshman. Adding to the backcourt depth are 6-3 senior Lance Brown (0.4 ppg) and 5-10 redshirt freshman David Carney (Tells City High/Tells City, Ind.). Center Derrick Tilmon, an athletic 6-8 senior (7.3 ppg, 5.0 rpg), will man the middle for the Salukis for the third year. Besides leading the team in blocked shots with 27, the Clarksdale, Miss., native also shot .530 from the field. Probably the biggest key among the returnees is forward Chris Thunell, a 6-9 senior who was chosen the league's newcomer of the year as a sophomore. Illness and injury curtailed his production last year, even though he still played in all 27 games. Thunell (10.2 ppg, 6.8 rpg) underwent an appendectomy in the preseason and suffered through complications of the surgery, losing 17 pounds and much of his newly acquired muscle from the weight room. Then, around Christmas, he broke his wrist and played through it the rest of the season. Even in his weakened and injured state, Thunell was still the team's top rebounder and third-leading scorer. "You hope all he went through is behind him," Weber said. "He's a hard-nosed kid who fights through pain, but he just wore down last year. He's 20-25 pounds heavier now. It will be a real key for us to get good numbers out of him." Rounding out the frontcourt is 6-6 sophomore Jason Ward, who played in just five games last year. "If we get an injury to a big guy, we could be in trouble," Weber said. Weber's system, emphasizing rugged defense and patient motion offense, was a stark contrast to the freewheeling style of former coach Rich Herrin. Although Weber inherited a good share of Herrin's players, they bought into the changes and emerged from three consecutive losing seasons with a 15-12 record and a 10-8 MVC record, good for a fifth-place tie. Opponents averaged 12.5 fewer points than the year before. But offensive production was down, too, nearly 13 points. Still, after a rough 1-4 start, there were some big victories over Saint Louis and Tulsa in the nonconference season and over Creighton and Evansville in the conference. "The big thing in coaching is being a little flexible and molding your system to whatever group of players you have," Weber said. "We're real pleased with the seniors we have back. When you have older guys, it gives you some leadership because they've been through the wars. "But the freshmen will have to play, too. On paper, they're good freshmen and we need to get minutes out of them. But this is a lot different from high school."
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