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No waiting game this year for SIU men's basketball
Matthew McConkey
Daily Egyptian
ST. LOUIS- Chris Lowery said his SIU men's basketball should have it fairly easy next week.
"We are going to rest them," the head coach said.
For a program that has had to sweat out the NCAA Tournament selection process the last four seasons, doing so should feel fairly odd.
On Sunday, the Salukis ended the debate about being a bubble team after earning the Missouri Valley Conference's automatic bid by defeating a tough Bradley team 59-46 in the Valley tournament championship at the Savvis Center in St. Louis.
"It's much better than a week sitting on pins and needles, " Lowery said. "Now we get to sit back and relax."
His players agreed.
"We decided our own destiny and it's great to not have to wait," said junior guard Jamaal Tatum, who was named to the all-tournament team.
Until this year, SIU has been plagued with bad luck in the MVC tourney. Since winning its last championship during the 1995 season, the Salukis have managed to make it to the championship game only twice, losing to Creighton both times. Although the team was given an at-large bid each of those seasons, they had to wait a week and wonder if the selection committee would grant them a ticket to the Big Dance.
Before the tournament championship, the chances for another appearance in March Madness appeared bleak. The team had gone just 3-5 in the month of February, probably bursting its bubble without a successful Valley tournament.
Sophomore forward Randal Falker, who was named the tournament's most outstanding player, said after all the adversities the team went through this season, winning the tournament showed what kind of character the team has.
"All the ups and downs, coach always kept our heads up and we played together as a family all day, every day," Falker said.
Sophomore forward Matt Shaw, who was also named to the all-tournament team, said the win is almost unexplainable.
"We just expect to win as a team, and that's just how we play," Shaw said.
For Tatum, who spent the last two years waiting out the week before Selection Sunday, the Valley tourney win takes out any grief and unneeded stress. Now the team can work to improve, as Lowery said, and the coaches can do some recruiting.
"Now we can just sit back and relax, and wait for Selection Sunday," Tatum said.
The Daily Egyptian, the student-run newspaper of SIUC, is committed to being a trusted source of information, commentary and public discourse while helping readers understand the issues affecting their lives.
The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of SIU at Carbondale. Except during vacations and exam weeks, The Daily Egyptian is published Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and TWThF during the summer semester. The Pulse, Carbondale Entertainment Guide, is published once a week on Thursday.Last update: Sunday, March 5, 2006 at 9:28:37 PM
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