Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Salukis Enjoy Dark Horse Label
03/22/2002 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
March 22, 2002
By HAL BOCK
AP Sports Writer
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) - For what must have seemed the 800th time, coach Bruce Weber patiently explained Southern Illinois' nickname.
A saluki, he said, is a breed of dog, sort of like a Greyhound, sleek and fast.
Weber's Salukis (28-7) are more like bulldogs, playing tough, man-to-man defense, enjoying their sudden notoriety and determined to make the most of it in the NCAA tournament East Regional against Connecticut (26-6) on Friday night.
As 11th-seeded Southern Illinois practiced in the Carrier Dome on Thursday, they were surrounded by more glamorous teams - UConn, champions of the prestigious Big East, Kentucky, seven-time NCAA champions, and top-seeded Maryland, regular-season champions of the ACC.
"We were looking at the names," senior Rolan Roberts said. "Connecticut, Maryland, Kentucky. What are we doing here?"
Scaring the big guys, that's what.
Across the bottom of their practice shorts, the Salukis wear a slogan - "Play hard." Doing that earned them a trip to the second weekend of the tournament after they sabotaged Texas Tech and Georgia.
"Not many are left and we're one of them," Weber said. "We played as hard as we did all year against Texas Tech and we kept our composure against Georgia."
That eliminated coaches Bob Knight and Jim Harrick, each equipped with NCAA titles of their own. Next up is UConn, which won this title in 1999.
"Can we beat Connecticut?" Weber said. "I'm not sure. We're not going to beat them if we're not ready. I hope they're not satisfied. I hope the taste drives them."
Then, as if to introduce Southern Illinois basketball to the uninitiated, Weber offered a synopsis.
"We pressure man-to-man," he said. "We throw in some zone to mix it up. We live off our defense and playing hard. We get floor burns and take charges. We stick our nose in the action."
And one more thing. Southern Illinois is where NBA Hall of Famer Walt Frazier played his college basketball. He was a saluki and a bulldog, too.
UConn coach Jim Calhoun didn't need any of this information. He knows all about Southern Illinois.
"I think with any coach, that's always a concern, playing the dark horse," he said. "Does the name Georgia mean more to the kids at first? Yeah, it does. But when you go over the facts, which we always do, about a 75-72 loss to Illinois, beating Indiana, Texas Tech and Georgia, hopefully, you don't have to say much more. This is a very good basketball team."
So are Maryland (28-4) and Kentucky (22-9), who will meet in Thursday night's second game.
The Terrapins were anointed as the tournament's No. 1 team and are determined to return to the Final Four after losing in the semifinals a year ago.
Maryland coach Gary Williams knew the expectations were high after last year, and failure to get back would be frowned upon.
"I'm sure some people would be dissatisfied, but when you judge a team on some different things - how far you get, how many wins you have - I really like my team," he said. "They've done a great job playing in our league this season and bringing in wins in this tournament to this point."
The Wildcats are eager to resurrect a season that sometimes sagged. Kentucky lost its opener by 12 points to Western Kentucky, then won nine of 10, a streak interrupted only by an overtime loss to Duke.
After that, though, there were losses in the first two SEC games against Mississippi State and Georgia and blowout losses to Vanderbilt and South Carolina. The loss to the Gamecocks, an NIT team, came in the first round of the SEC tournament.
It was not always encouraging.
Along the way, the Wildcats learned a lesson. "If you don't bring your `A' game, you can be embarrassed," Tayshaun Prince said. "When you are playing those top teams, you have to be focused and determined. You have to be right there."
Southern Illinois taught Texas Tech and Georgia that lesson last weekend.
