Talking to SIU Head Coach Chris Lowery at Media Day in St. Louis this year, it was clear he longs for the middle part of the last decade, when Southern Illinois was a perennial NCAA Tourney team and one of the roughest, toughest teams in America. After winning 13, 15, and 13 games the last three years, people are getting tired of asking the question — and Lowery is likely getting tired of answering it.
“When will Southern Illinois get back to being the bullies of the Valley?”
Nonetheless, I posed that question to him, and it turns out, he thinks they’re on the verge of reclaiming their reputation.
“We’ve got nine newcomers, and they’re working very hard. These kids care about their mile times and their conditioning goals. They’ve really embraced the boot camp mentality. And they hold each other accountable.”
Defensive lapses have been a hallmark of Saluki Basketball the last three years, a marked departure for a team that earlier in Lowery’s tenure gave up nothing without a fight. Their guards controlled the game not only up front, but on both sides of the ball. That hasn’t been the case in recent times.
“You’re right, we haven’t played that way, but we’re going to cause havoc again, and I think our fans will embrace the program again. Watch us this year, and you’ll see the effort immediately, and it won’t be fake and it won’t be for one game. We’ve had too many efforts the last few years where the jersey wasn’t the most important thing, but you’re going to see guys playing very hard for Southern Illinois this year.
We’re moving forward. Those banners hanging up there were for a reason. Now let’s do the things those guys did to hang them.”
Effort is one thing, but can a 13-win team that lost three starters and three other players that got huge minutes hope to compete?
“When you know you have a good team, guys will buy into anything you say. Right now, our players are drinking the Saluki kool-aid. That’s a good thing for us, because it’s time to get back to being extremely competitive. We feel good about the competitive side of our team.”
Last year in finishing 13-19, the Salukis had an absolutely brutal 0.8 assist-to-turnover ratio, and compounded it by shooting just 32% from behind the arc. How does Lowery hope to remedy those problems this year?
“We want to get 20 points a game in transition — that’s where you gain confidence as a shooter, by getting layups and easy baskets. And we have to get to the free throw line more, because when you don’t get to the line, you have to rely on guys shooting shots who shouldn’t shoot them. Because of our three-point percentage, the right guys have to be shooting.”
As they try to fix those issues, they’ll be doing it with an almost entirely remade roster. Carlton Fay, who led the team in scoring (12.7) and was third in rebounding (4.0) while playing almost 29 minutes a night, graduated. Ditto for guard John Freeman, who averaged 5.6 points and nearly 3 assists a game. And giant center Gene Teague departed the team unexpectedly following his sophomore season, leaving them a 6’9″ 285 pound hole to fill and 8.6 points and 5.3 rebounds a game to replace.
Also gone are Jack Crowder, Troy Long, Mykel Cleveland, Jordan Myers and Nate Mitchell, players who combined for 12.5 points and nearly 8 rebounds a game.
In their place are a whopping NINE newcomers — five freshmen and four junior college transfers.
“We have a lot of unknowns with as many new guys as we have, but I think the biggest thing for us is to get on the daily grind of what made us successful in the past. The good thing about it is that our new guys have allowed us to really reminisce and talk about where this program used to be and embrace that and understand what it meant to be a Saluki basketball player.”
One of the freshmen, Dantiel Daniels, was ranked as the #52 power forward in the country by ESPN after averaging 21.7 points, 11.8 rebounds and 4.1 blocks a game as a senior in high school.
“Dantiel is a warrior. He’s a tough kid. He’s a guy who worked extremely hard. We’re really excited about him being in our program.”
Another is Antonio (Tony) Bryer, a 6’7″ forward with a 7-foot wingspan who averaged a double-double as a senior.
“Tony is a long, athletic, combo forward. He’s a guy who can do a lot of things on the court. He can rebound at a high level.”
Treg Setty was 6’6″ when Lowery signed him, but he’s grown three inches since then, leaving Lowery unsure where he’ll fit in.
“We still don’t know what he is, but we’re enjoying coaching him. He can really shoot the basketball, and he’s skilled with the ball. We’re interested to see what position he can play.”
Among the returning players is Mamadou Seck, who is the top returning rebounder in the MVC after pulling down an average of 8.1 boards a game last year. According to Lowery, Seck put on 20 pounds of muscle over the summer, and also supervised the team’s “Boot Camp” workouts.
“Mamadou is going to have more opportunities, and he’s going to create a lot of opportunities for other people. He’s going to see double-teams this year, so it’s important that he’s put on 20 pounds in the offseason.”
With so many new players, I wondered how practice has been going the first week-plus. Lowery’s answer seemed to be a subtle jab at the teams of the previous two or three seasons:
“So far this year, practice has gone well and we can’t always say that the past two or three years, when we haven’t prepared the right way. At this point, we are preparing in a way that has been very, very good for us. As far as the coaching staff, we’re enjoying our players and enjoying where we are. We’re understanding things and getting in shape prior to the season, which is extremely important.
We used to always brag about being one of the most physically fit teams in the country, and now we feel that we’ve been able to prepare that way. We haven’t had issues of not getting into the best shape possible heading into the season. That’s a reflection of the young men that we have now. We’ve had great workouts in the fall, conditioning has been very, very good, and coming into the first practice, we were ahead physically where we anticipated we’d be with so many new guys.”
The Salukis’ will travel to Honolulu for the ESPN Diamond Head Classic in December, a tournament where they will play Kansas State in the first round. Other teams in that tourney include Xavier (preseason #16), Long Beach State (receiving votes in the poll), and lower-tier BCS teams Clemson and Auburn. Lowery likes their schedule, which also has games against Saint Louis and Western Kentucky — the latter televised nationally on Fox College Sports.
“With our schedule, we have some great opportunities. You have to schedule those opportunities — and have success — to get our league success. And I think when you look at our schedule this year, it’s better. For us to be able to say that we need to be included with some other leagues when it comes to March and April, when you’re deciding what tournaments to put what team in, we have some pop in our league this year that will help us.
That’s been the key all along to why we were getting multiple bids — putting ourselves in position to be talked about and to be on the bubble. If you have opportunities against BCS teams, whether they’re good or bad in those leagues, we have to win ’em. We’re going to get our shots and our chances early to see where our league is, and I think there are going to be a lot of surprises from our league.”
As one of the only coaches remaining in the league from the 2004-2007 heydey, a lot of media in St. Louis were curious to get his read on where the league sits coming into 2011. At the podium, Lowery gave his assessment.
“We know the league is revving up again to where it used to be, to where good players are in our league. At one time, we could boast about the Missouri Valley being the best four-year conference in the country, meaning that when guys stay, their fourth and fifth year they were BCS-level players. Now I think you’re seeing that happen with our best players as they continue to progress, that with our best players by the time they’re seniors — they could play anywhere. That’s why we had multiple bids and that’s why we had so much success in the tournament.
You look across the board, it’s still a coaches league and that’s what makes our league so successful is that it is not an easy out anywhere you go. The coaching is very, very high, and that’s a credit to our coaches that every game is a chess match. And you can’t always say that about guys you play, but it’s a chess match in our league to be able to have success. That’s the most exciting thing for me as a coach in this league, is that night in and night out, you have to prepare.”
Of course, the biggest question is one no one can answer until March — will the Salukis show that they’re on the way back to being the bullies of the league? Can they climb back to .500, and put themselves in position to contend in coming years?
Stay tuned.