Salukis aim for return to greatness
By Jason Maholy
The Reporter
It was but 31 months ago the Southern Illinois Salukis were flying high as one of the premier mid-major programs in the country and one of the winningest this decade in all of college basketball.
The tough squad from Carbondale had blitzed its first two opponents in the 2007 NCAA Tournament and had just taken a Kansas team stocked with NBA prospects to the brink of elimination in a Sweet 16 throw-down. Saluki Nation was as proud as ever of its Dawgs -- who had been to their sixth straight Dance and second Sweet 16 in that span -- but at the same time more than a little disappointed by the loss to the Jayhawks. It was a game the Salukis could have won, maybe even should have won.
So is the result of success and the subsequent expectations. And, oh, how quickly things can change.
The 2007-08 season was less than stellar for the Salukis. The team advanced to the postseason for a seventh consecutive year, but “only” to the NIT, and it would be difficult to find anyone who believes that team didn’t underachieve.
That season was hard to digest, but what was to follow was the equivalent of swallowing glass. Last year’s squad finished 13-18 to register the program’s first losing season since 1997-98. Gone was the tenacious D and hustle that earned the program the moniker Floorburn U. Gone was the dominance at SIU Arena, where the Salukis lost six games, the same number they suffered there the previous seven years combined. Two players left the team mid-season; point guard Bryan Mullins, the team’s best player and the 2007-08 and 2008-09 MVC Defensive Player of the Year, missed the final nine games with stress fractures in his foot; and Southern dressed just eight men for those contests.
The Salukis will attempt to rebound this season from that effort and reclaim its status as one of the elite teams in the Missouri Valley Conference. Last year's young, shorthanded and largely inexperienced Dawgs finished 8-10 in the conference, good enough – or bad enough, depending on how one looks at it -- for fifth place, then bowed out to Bradley in the first round of the MVC Tournament.
A season of adversity and growing pains, however, gave several youngsters a chance to get valuable experience that given their talents should translate into success this year. In addition to sophomore guard Kevin Dillard -- who started 22 games, led the team in scoring with 12.2 points per game and earned 2009 MVC freshman of the year honors -- junior guard Justin Bocot and sophomore forward Anthony Booker played significant minutes down the stretch and provided glimpses of why the Salukis will once again be a team to be reckoned with, if not as soon as this season.
Dillard, to put it simply, is the real deal; the kind of talent who has the potential to be this year’s MVC Player of the Year. Thrust as a freshman into the role of key playmaker and go-to guy, KD had frustrating games and rookie moments, but overall was never disappointing. He scored in double figures 20 times, including five 20-point games, while shooting .441 from the field and .452 from 3-point range. When he wasn’t scoring he was making sure he gave his teammates opportunities to do so, and as a result finished third in the MVC in assists per game with 4.2. He was also second on the team in steals with 40 (1.3 per game).
Dillard’s maturation was evident as the season progressed, but was hastened by the loss of Mullins for the second half of the conference slate. Though being the floor general by default at the end of last season, an obviously challenging task for him at times, he responded well, making it a point to get his teammates involved while continuing to improve at all aspects of his game. He must now take his game to the next level, which shouldn’t be too difficult for someone with his skills given the experience he gained last year and the team’s overall growth. He'll run an offense that will be more open and free to improvise than past Lowery teams, which should benefit him and the other guys that have the ability to create.
Bocot, a streaky shooter who must improve his consistency (.329 field goal percentage) to be more of an impact player, averaged 5.7 points and three rebounds a game, but scored nearly 10 points while starting the final nine games after Mullins went down. He scored a career-high 28 points in a win over Missouri State and showed that when he’s on he can be an explosive shooter. More importantly, he bought into coach Chris Lowery’s defensive philosophy and was an effective defender with a nose for the ball by season’s end. He finished third on the team in steals with 21.
Booker, after a slow start in which he shot under 30 percent for the first third of the season, finished averaging 3.7 points and 3.5 boards per game. The 6-8, 230-pound forward from Missouri appeared to have trouble grasping the offense early last year but played well down the stretch, including an 18-point, 11-rebound effort against Indiana State for his lone double-double. He must be more disciplined on defense and stay out of foul trouble, however, in order for his offensive talents to be realized.
Other reasons for optimism are junior forward Carlton Fay and senior guard Tony Freeman, the latter whom sat out last season after transferring from Iowa. Fay averaged 10.4 points and 4.6 rebounds per game last season and earned the MVC Most Improved Player award. He will be expected to increase his numbers in both categories -- as well as be more of a leader on a team with just one senior -- and has the potential to be a nightmare match-up for opposing defenders if he can develop a more effective inside game. Too often last season Fay (6-8, 230) settled for the outside shot, and in doing so struggled from 3-point range (.313) while never establishing himself as the post presence one would expect of someone his size.
Freeman, meanwhile, has been named to the MVC Preseason All-Conference Team despite never having played a game for the Salukis. A natural scorer, he averaged 13.8 points, 3.2 assists and 3.1 rebounds during his junior year at Iowa and has already established himself as this team’s leader. After watching from the sidelines for one season and this being his final year in college, he is hungry to make his presence felt and help return this team to prominence.
Other guys being counted on to contribute this season to a Saluki resurgence are sophomore center Nick Evans and junior guard Jack Crowder. Evans (6-11, 240) is a big man in a conference typically short on them, and if he can positively channel his seemingly endless energy and desire, and stay on the floor for extended periods of time, can be a huge asset to this team. Crowder, a transfer from Cowley Junior College in Wichita, Kan., is the sharpshooter off the bench this team has desperately lacked the past two seasons. He will be counted on to spell Dillard and Freeman, and provide stability at both ends of the floor. How he adjusts from JUCO to D1 will be interesting to see, but duties as an offensive threat and hard-nosed defender were made even more pressing by the dismissal of sophomore guard Ryan Hare, who was arguably the team's top returning defender and toughest player.
With the core of this team returning with a year together under their belts, this should be a tougher, stronger and more efficient Saluki squad than the one that was overwhelmed, pushed around and out-of-sync too often last season. They will have to contend with a Northern Iowa team that returns five starters from last year’s conference co-champ and MVC Tourney winner; a Creighton squad that was probably one win away from an NCAA berth; and an Illinois State team that made it to last year’s MVC Tourney title game and boasts preseason conference Player of the Year Osiris Eldridge. Wichita State and Indiana State, two young teams that took their lumps last season, should also be much improved -- particularly the Sycamores, who have the services of Iowa transfer Jake Kelly.
The Salukis are touting this season as a “Return to Greatness,” and they certainly have the potential to do so. Whether they can reach that potential this season, however, will depend on the continued development of the younger players and the return of the suffocating pressure defense that has been the program’s trademark this decade.
Southern Illinois begins the regular season Nov. 14 at home against Tennessee-Martin.
Jason Maholy is managing editor of The Reporter. Email him at thereporter@comcast.net.
This is part of the October 29, 2009 online edition of The Reporter.
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