Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Salukis Are On Their Way!
03/18/2003 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
March 18, 2003
Carbondale, Ill. - A crowd of media hovered around while the Missouri Valley Conference Champion SIU men's basketball team loaded onto a bus Tuesday afternoon, which will take them to Indianapolis for their first round game of the NCAA Tournament. The Salukis will compete against the University of Missouri Thursday at 2:50 p.m. EST. Another bus filled with family members followed the team as they departed from the SIU Arena parking lot immediately after Tuesday's practice.
The players were anxious to be on their way to the "Big Dance".
"I'm ready to get there," said senior David Carney. "There's been kind of a lull since Selection Sunday. It'll be exciting to get there and practice. There will be a lot of media and hype once we get there. And there will be a lot of people at the game to cheer us on and [cheer] against us. It'll be exciting."
"We're just concentrated on Missouri right now," said senior guard Kent Williams. "Everyone thinks we'll just do what we did last year, but it was tough to do what we did last year. First things first...we're just focused on the task at hand."
Stetson Hairston just wants to "hurry up and get there."
"We just need to get ready for the game and play hard," said Hairston. "We're going to take advantage of the situation and just try to get a win."
Although this is a return trip to the NCAA Tournament, some Saluki players are on their way to the "Dance" for the first time.
Freshman Blake Schoen is living his childhood dream.
"I'm excited. To go to the NCAAs as a freshman is unbelievable. I always dreamed of getting to the tournament and now my dream is coming true. We're just going to seize the moment and take advantage of it."
The game will be televised by CBS and will also be broadcasted by Magic 95.1 with veteran Voice of the Dawgs Mike Reis. Links to the radio broadcast and gametracker may be found on SIU's official website www.siusalukis.com.
