First-year players adjusting to learning curve

Josh Bone's days are not getting shorter.

Bone, a freshman guard on the SIU basketball team, still isn't used to the constant wear and tear on his body from workouts with the rest of the Salukis.

He and three other newcomers have been thrown into a whirlwind of rigorous preparation for the season, which starts with a Nov. 2 exhibition matchup with Quincy.

After his first day, Bone was beyond frazzled.

"I couldn't move," Bone said between drinks of water as he scurried from his individual workout at the SIU Arena to the weight room at the Troutt-Wittmann Center. "I just stayed in the weight room and passed out."

The Salukis' itinerary can have that effect on new players.

Sometimes they run miles before classes start. Intense individual workouts with the coaching staff test their mettle. Time in the weight room and on the track try their physical stamina.

More often than not, the workouts are more than the first-year players bargained for.

Tyrone Green, a 6-foot-3-inch junior who signed with SIU after playing at Southeastern Illinois College, said the workout schedule with the Salukis is "on another level."

"First we have individual workouts, then in the afternoon we have lifting then run after that," Green said. "It's something to get used to."

Bone said he thought he was mentally prepared. In his head, he was ready.

His body didn't get the message, though.

"My first day, I didn't expect it," Bone said. "I was ready, mentally. But I couldn't even work out and lift weights afterward. I wasn't prepared for it."

Tony Young, a senior guard for the Salukis, said the transition from the high school game to college could be rough.

Young said it helped that Bone and Green came to Carbondale strong. The duo started working out and scrimmaging with the team over the summer.

"At first, there's an adjustment. But as hard as we work and all we do over the summer, I think they're fine," Young said.

Once summer ended, the real workouts began. Instead of working out with team members, Bone and Green started laboring in front of the coaching staff.

"The coaching staff ˘ they're intense," Green said. "But that's what I look for."

Green and Bone aren't the only fresh faces in the program.

Kobby Acquah, a 7-foot-1-inch center who transferred from Clark Atlanta in August, also joins the team on scholarship. Acquah said the workouts are not what that he is used to.

Dion Coopwood, a former player at Division II Upper Iowa University, walked onto the SIU squad.

The transition has not been a simple one for any of the newcomers. The potential reward ˘ getting floor time for a Saluki team that has garnered attention in many preseason Top 25 polls ˘ drives them.

Young said he's already seen progress in Green and Bone. Young said that Bone "has a beautiful jump shot," and Green "brings a whole new sense of athleticism to our team."

" I mean (Green) jumps over people. He can rebound," Young said. "He can make open shots. He can get in the lane and create havoc, and he's a good defender."