Can a DII program spring an upset on the Salukis?

Is it possible for a for a DII program to beat the Salukis? Of course it's possible. Is it likely to happen? Not with the level of talent that the Salukis have this year, and certainly not on the hallowed grounds of SIU Arena.

However, the current parity in college basketball has trickled down all the way to the DII ranks. Look no further than the slick shooting Southern Missouri guard (#12) Skyler Bowlin, who dropped 18 points against the Salukis on Monday night. Bowlin has serious game, and he's just a sophomore.

The Southwest Baptist team that the Salukis will face tonight will bring in considerably more talent than Missouri Southern did. While Monday night was a nice "practice game" for the Dawgs, on Thursday they will face a team poised to make a run at the DII National Championship.

Got your attention yet? If not, Bearcats center Matt Rodgers might. He's 6-11 and averaged 14.9 points, 7.8 rebounds, while leading his conference in blocked shots as a sophomore last season.

Another reason Southwest Baptist will be dangerous is because they have a roster chock full of seniors. D’Ante Harris (6-3, 15 ppg) and Nick Kovacevich (6-5 11 ppg) will join 6-10 forward John Tiemeyer in the starting lineup against Southern. This team might not have the talent level to compete with the Salukis, but they have plenty of veterans and they sure won't be giving up any size.

Southwest Baptist also benefits from netting 3 Division I transfers. Tomas Brock will run the point for the Bearcats. Brock was the backup PG for Missoui State last season. He'll share time at PG with senior, Wendell Madris, who transferred in from Alabama State. Also from the DI ranks 6-8 senior Johnnie Harris from New Mexico.

The local media in Bolivar, Missouri certainly didn't give the Salukis much props, calling them "a team moving to the NCAA Division I." (They've apparently mistaken SIU-C for SIU-E).

So is there really a possibility for an upset here? For the answer to that question you could just go ask Bryan Mullins. Flashback to Mullins' freshman year when Division II Alaska-Anchorage beat the Salukis 72-64 in the land of the midnight sun.

But this game is a home so an upset could never happen here, right? Ask Michigan State about it. It was just one year ago that Grand Valley State (ranked two spots below Southwest Baptist in this year's preseason poll) pulled off an 85-82 double overtime upset of the #8 ranked Spartans AT the Breslin Center.

All this being said, is an upset really likely to happen? Probably not. The Salukis will be running 11 deep tonight, on their homecourt, with superior talent. The Salukis simply need to cut down on the turnovers and they'll be lighting up the scoreboard all night long.

Salukis v. Southwest Baptist

The Salukis are set to take on the Southwest Baptist Bearcats Thursday night in the second and final game of the exhibition season. While the game will likely have all of the competitive zeal of a Harlem Globetrotters - Washington Generals match up, fans of SIU basketball will still have plenty to get excited about.

This game will feature our first extended look at Ryan Hare, who will be making his college basketball debut after sitting out Monday night's game for reasons unspecified by Chris Lowery.

In addition to the newcomers, the returning Salukis will be tuning up for the regular season, which begins next week. Senior point guard Bryan Mullins will look to keep the rest of the squad under control and in the process, cut down on the 34 turnovers recorded against Missouri Southern.

- Opponent Info -

Southwest Baptist is highly regarded among D-II aficionados. Preseason polls have ranked the Bearcats at #6 (Sporting News) and #12 in the nation (NABC). They return four starters and have some players with D-I experience. Matt Rogers is 6'11" and a preseason All-American.

Photo Credit- SIU Sports Information Dept

Salukis 'run' 10 deep

The Salukis had 10 guys play double digit minutes and put 82 points on the board vs Missouri Southern. It was an up-tempo pace that Saluki fans aren't used to seeing, but with the guard depth that this team has, a fast break style will play to their strengths.

Carlton Fay came out shooting, scoring 17 points in only 11 minutes of action, but tallied just one rebound. This team will need Fay to hit the boards hard when they start playing against some talented big guys. Overall, the Dawgs won the battle of the boards 57-23, but it won't be so easy when teams like UMASS come to town. Nick Evans had some awkward moments but ended up with 11 rebounds in 15 minutes.

Anthony Booker played calm and collected, for the most part, shooting 4 for 9 with 9 points and 4 rebounds. However he did commit 4 fouls in 15 minutes, something he'll have to improve on if he's going to see big time action.

Kevin Dillard looked slick in his debut. After the game he indicated that he didn't feel nervous because of the hard work that he and his teammates have put into each practice. The talent level of this freshman is through the roof, but he'll have to limit his turnovers (he had 8 tonight) and be careful not to carry the ball. The refs let him get away with at least one carry, but called him on it when he did it a second time.

Christian Cornelius looked comfortable and went for 8 points and 9 rebounds in 23 minutes of action. After the game he said he feels healthy for the first time since his knee injury.

Clemmons had a rough game and didn't seem to get into a groove at any point in the night. Ryan Hare didn't play, and Lowery did not give a reason why, but did say that Hare will play on Thursday.

This year's team looks quite a bit different than those of years past, but the talent is undoubtedly there. We'll get another chance to evaluate that new talent on Thursday night when the Dawgs play their second exhibition game of the season.

Photo Credit- SIU Sports Information Dept

Saluki basketball kicks off with tune up #1

Monday night against Missouri Southern, six new Salukis will look to get their first taste of action in a game environment at SIU Arena.

Kevin Dillard, Justin Bocot, Ryan Hare, Torres Roundtree, Nick Evans, and Anthony Booker aren't just looking for a few cleanup minutes in an exhibition game. All six of these players will be attempting to be impact players right away.

You can expect to see 11 guys get some playing time in this game, which will probably look like some form of organized chaos over 40 minutes.

Elsewhere around the net-

Jim Henry of the Joplin Globe looks back on Lowery's years as an assistant coach at Missouri Southern

At the DE, Louis Medina notes Bryan Mullins task will be to distribute the ball equally in the motion offense as well as being a defensive stopper.

At the Southern, Todd Hefferman examines Kevin Dillard's role as the point guard of the future.

MVC/MWC Challenge

The Missouri Valley and the Mountain West conference will matchup in a Big Ten/ACC challenge style showdown starting next year. This match up is basically a no-brainier for two leagues that have problems scheduling games against quality opponents.

Too bad it didn't start this year for the Salukis, who have an open spot on their schedule for the upcoming season. But what if it did start this season? What sort of games would we see? Using last seasons conference standings as a baseline here's what the match ups would have looked like this season, with last years RPI in parenthesis.

BYU (25) vs Drake (10)

UNLV (26) vs Illinois State (33)

New Mexico (59) vs SIU (62)

San Diego St (81) vs Creighton (46)

Air Force (173) vs Bradley (105)

Utah (96) vs Northern Iowa (131)

Texas Christian (198) vs Missouri State (123)

Wyoming (219) vs Indiana State (128)

Colorado St (265) vs Wichita State (199)

As you can see by looking at the RPI, these teams are pretty even at the top. Towards the bottom, the MVC shows more depth than the MWC, so I'd have to say the Missouri Valley will be the favorites.

Will the Valley dominate the way the ACC has owned the Big Ten? It's to soon to tell if that will happen, but for now the Salukis can add one more quality non-conference opponent to their slate for next season.