Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Men's Basketball in the 'Big Dance'!!!
03/16/2003 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
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March 16, 2003
CARBONDALE, Ill. - When Southern Illinois appeared on the screen as the #11-seed at Indianapolis, the room at Bleyer's Lodge in Carbondale erupted in celebration.
The Salukis will play #6-seed Missouri on Thursday at approximately 2:50 p.m. ET at the RCA Dome.
The men's basketball team, staff and their families gathered together Sunday evening at the lodge and anxiously watched as the brackets were unveiled.
Head coach Bruce Weber did a live interview with CBS Sports prior to the bracket announcement, and CBS showed a live reaction shot of the team when it was announced they were in the tournament.
Afterward, Weber held a press conference at the lodge and also did live interviews on ESPN News and several nationally syndicated radio programs.
Bruce Weber Press Conference Quotes
"We're really excited about getting in. We were starting to sweat after we saw Auburn pop up and you know the limited number of spots available were kind of dwindling."
"I heard Sylvester Willis yell 'this is us' when Missouri popped up as a six, and he was right. We were 11. And I'm sure if you could see the faces of our kids, and I was trying to go through my mind what I was going to tell them in the next 10 minutes if we did not get in. It was kind of a relief."
"We had felt confident all week that we were deserving of getting in. Our success in the league and 16 wins, and the run we had down the stretch...we hoped the last game (against Creighton) didn't kill us."
"Then last night, ESPN bracketologists said at about 11:30, we're out. Coach Lowery saw it and he called me. I called Coach Painter, and then we were on the phone back and forth until about 1:30 a.m. It was a hard night, a hard day."
"I told the players today we have to expect the unexpected, and there's no guarantee of getting in. But for us to get a back to back at-large bid as a mid-major is a tremendous accomplishment. I know our players are very appreciative, and I hope our fans are."
"Two big things, for Jermaine (Dearman) to go back to Indianapolis, he's fired up. It's great for Jermaine to play there. And it's great for us to play Missouri. We have so many kids from Missouri. I know they'll be fired up. They know a lot of the Missouri players. It will be a big game for us, for them emotionally."
"We know about Missouri. We see them play all the time on television. They're close to us. Arthur Johnson is a load. He's a monster. They got back in the game today by going to him against Oklahoma. Clemens is obviously a lot of a threat. He's a tremendous player. McKinney, I think moving to the point guard has made a big difference for them. They're athletic, they're fast. We knew we were going to play a tough team. We kept telling the guys the last three days of practice, 'we're playing somebody that's playing this weekend.'"
"We're just pleased to be in it. We've had three hard days of practice. I've heard the guys of ESPN say how you play in your conference tournament will show how you will play in the NCAA tournament, but I don't think that is true. We had such a strong run down the stretch, seven in a row, 14 out of 15. I think our kids just lost some energy. We had so many big games and then finally we just didn't have anything left. We're fresh from last week with spring break, and we've come back hard. We're starting over, and we're getting going again."
"It's great for our players. Our seniors are very deserving. It's great for the university and our school to have this opportunity, and hopefully, we can make the best of it."
"Arthur Johnson is so big, and Josh (Warren) and Jermaine are going to have to do a good job on him and get physical and not let him get on a run. Hopefully, we can match up otherwise. They're good and a little more athletic than Texas Tech and a little more physical."
"I had knots in my stomach. I whispered to my wife, 'we're in trouble.' We just crossed our fingers and then we popped up."
"It's great for the mid-majors to have Butler, Gonzaga and us get in. RPI-wise I think we deserved it. We just don't get the opportunity to play the big games. It was a relief and a lot of the season has been a relief for me. There were such high expectations for the kids, and I think that's some of the reason we struggled early. Hopefully, this will re-energize us. I know they were scared. Last Monday was an embarrassment, and we went through some of that earlier in the season against St. Louis. I think it's going to help motivate us that we were embarrassed the last time we were out there."
"I don't make much of coaching match-ups. They're a team that plays well come tournament time. This year they came up big again in the conference tournament. It's up to us to get prepared and do what we can do. We have veterans, but we've been through it, they've been through it. It's a good match up. We're happy to be in it. We're going to show up and play. We've got to step it up a level and show people we deserve to be in it. That's the big thing now. A lot of people questioned it after that last showing."
"Texas Tech had some size, but they were a motion team. These guys are more athletic and shoot the ball. They create for each other and get the ball inside."
Kent Williams
"I kind of got away from it all and didn't watch too much basketball. I just relaxed. I think what made me feel the worst is seeing that on the ESPN poll last night they took us out. Everybody was really scared about that. Coming in here today, I was nervous. You don't know what was going to happen. You learn from your mistakes and get fired up from a tough loss (Creighton). This right here gives us a little motivation. I feel pretty good where they put us. Definitely going to be a good game. We have a lot of guys from St. Louis who've played against some of these guys, and I think it'll make for a good match up."
Jermaine Dearman
"First things first, we've got to get prepared and take care of business. I tried to take my mind off of it. It's my last year, chance to be at home, and I just want to make my last games here the best."
