By Mark Bennett
In a way, the youngest Indiana State Sycamores
are already in training for next season.
With possibly just one Sycamore senior --
forward Djibril Kante -- available to play tonight's 8:05 game
at Southern Illinois, the strength of ISU's underclassmen is
being tested early in their college basketball careers.
Their ability to endure this painfully tough
current season could pay off in 2002-03.
"I'm pretty sure the whole team will
grow from this experience," sophomore guard Matt Berry said,
looking out onto the Hulman Center court as he waited for Friday's
practice to begin.
Sycamore Coach Royce Waltman said the struggles
could make or break the returnees.
"Absolutely, it could [toughen them],"
he said Friday, "if that's the kind of kids they are. It
can either defeat them, or it will toughen them for the next
campaign."
Tonight's game could be the toughest of them
all.
The struggling Sycamores (3-12 overall, 1-5
in the Missouri Valley Conference) will play the MVC's most powerful
team -- the first-place Salukis (15-3, 5-1) -- inside the SIU
Arena. Even some of ISU's finest teams haven't won inside that
building. The Sycamores lost there during Larry Bird's junior
season. They lost there during Nate Green's senior season. And
they lost there last year, when Michael Menser and Matt Renn
were seniors. In fact, ISU hasn't won at Carbondale since Jan.
15, 1981.
But history isn't the current ISU team's only
obstacle tonight. The Sycamores must play without senior guard
Kelyn Block, who is still recovering from mid-season knee surgery.
And, quite possibly, they'll not have senior center Terence Avery,
who missed Wednesday's 64-63 loss to Wichita State in Hulman
Center because of a broken bone in his hand. And that short-handed
crew will somehow have to contain the conference's top newcomer
-- 6-foot-6, 250-pound center Rolan Roberts -- and the frontrunner
for the MVC Player of the Year -- high-scoring guard Kent Williams.
And there's also the matter of luck.
Southern Illinois had plenty of that, thanks
to center Jermaine Dearman, against ISU last regular season.
At Carbondale, Dearman -- a center who rarely shot beyond the
paint -- nailed a 3-point desperation shot at the buzzer for
a 68-65 Saluki win. At Terre Haute, Dearman beat the Sycamores
again 61-59 on a last-second layup off a length-of-the-court
final play.
As for the current Sycamores, like the depressed
quartet on the old "Hee-Haw" TV show, they would have
no luck without the bad kind. In the Wichita State loss, for
example, freshman Jake Sams' seemingly dead-on jumpshot ping-ponged
out of the rim at the buzzer. Though he was referring to his
own Shockers' old misfortunes, Wichita State Coach Mark Turgeon
aptly said, "Last year, that shot would've went in."
Last year, the Sycamores were 22-12 and NCAA
Tournament darlings after a first-round upset of 13th-ranked
Oklahoma. Six of ISU's top eight players are back this season,
including Block, Avery and Kante, as well as junior guard Matt
Broermann and sophomore guards Marcus Howard and Berry.
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| Tribune-Star/Joseph
C. Garza |
| To the hoop: Indiana State
guard Matt Berry (right) goes up for two against Ball State forward
Theron Smith during the Sycamores 68-54 loss in Hulman Center
earlier this season. |
Howard and Berry were freshmen then, living
out a first-year player's dream along side Renn, Menser, Block,
Kante and Avery. Howard averaged 10.5 points a game in the postseason.
Berry scored eight points when ISU gave powerful Gonzaga a scare
in the second round.
Both could start tonight in a very different
set of circumstances.
"It's been a very hard year for Marcus
Howard and Matt Berry," Waltman said. "Things came
so easily last year, because other people were taking care of
business."
Howard has started 14 of 15 games, and averages
8.3 points, 2.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists. Berry has come off
the bench since three early-season starts, and averages 5.5 points,
4.1 rebounds and 22 minutes.
The statistic that surprises Berry most, though,
is ISU's three victories in 15 games.
"I thought we would have a lot better
season this year, not as opposed to last season, but I would
at least think we would be above .500," Berry said. "The
start is a big disappointment. But things happen. You have to
adjust and go on."
Adjusting to basketball without the unwavering
desire from Renn and Menser hasn't been easy. Berry now understands
how crucial Renn and Menser were to last season's success.
"At the time I didn't realize it,"
said Berry, whose 20th birthday was Sept. 11. "Now, every
game and every practice, I trying to realize how much enthusiasm
they brought to the team last year."
In the games, Berry brings intensity to the
Sycamores, especially as a rebounder. In a 66-56 victory over
IUPUI on Dec. 1, the 6-foot-5 Tulsa native grabbed a career-high
13 rebounds. "That's the same as mine," said Kante,
who ranks 12th on ISU's all-time rebounding list with 560. "He's
very capable of getting rebounds."
Tonight, that statistic could decide the outcome.
In only three games has Southern Illinois not outrebounded its
opponent. And those were the Salukis' only losses. Southern Illinois
leads the MVC in that category, and ISU might have to try outrebounding
the Salukis without Avery, who tried to practice Friday with
his sore, injured right shooting hand heavily bandaged.
Regardless of tonight's outcome, things will
get better eventually, Berry said. He said added patience shown
by Waltman this season has helped lift spirits each time they've
dropped.
"It's got to get better than this,"
Berry said with a pained laugh. "I mean, 3-12?"
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