Southern Illinoise University Athletics
David Carney MVC Tournament Journal
03/09/2003 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
March 9, 2003
Hello again. I hope everyone enjoyed the game. I bet we put a little scare into you. I know we put a little scare into ourselves. Not that we wanted too. We awoke to a beautiful Saturday here in St. Louis. Although it was 7:35 a.m. we knew it was important to wake up a little early to run through Illinois State's out of bounds plays. After Coach Painter ran us through what they would do, we sat down to eat our pre-game meal at approximately 8:00 a.m. We always eat four hours before game time because it supposedly takes that long for the food to kick in. Pancakes, hash browns, and scrambled eggs are what were served. There were no complaints from anyone on the team. Everyone was pleased with the food. After our pre-game meal, most of the players went back to their rooms to catch a quick nap before the game. A few of us that couldn't sleep or didn't want to just strolled around the lobby to pass the time until we left at 10:30 a.m. When we arrived at the Savvis Center, we went out to the floor to stretch after settling into our spacious locker for about 10 minutes. Everyone was really upbeat about the game. The game started well as we jumped out to an 11-2 lead, but that quickly faded and it was a close game all the way until with about 6 minutes to go in the second half. We then slowly pulled away the rest of the game. After team members met with the media, we all boarded the bus and headed back to the hotel. Everyone had about an hour to clean up before we walked one block to T.G.I.Fridays to eat. The meal didn't turn out like some of us would have liked it to. Everyone received their meals like clock work except Kent, Jermaine, and I. We waited an hour and twenty minutes for our meals until we finally decided to leave. The manager was very apologetic. After the team meal, all of us had free time to spend with our families or friends until 9:00 p.m. Some players went shopping, some went on walks in downtown St. Louis, and a few simply took it easy in the hotel. I ended up going to Charlie Ghitto's Italian Restaurant with my parents and family friends. While we were there, I ran into former Saluki basketball players Ryan Hammer, Lance Brown, and Abel Schrader. They appeared to be having a great time. After dinner, I walked back to the hotel for our team meeting. While we ate blizzard's from Dairy Queen, we watched breakdown film of Southwest Missouri State. After about 20 minutes of watching film coach Watson shut the VCR off and discussed their personnel with us. When all was said that could be said, the team headed up to Jermaine's room for a player-only team meeting. We hold a meeting like this before each game. We discuss what we feel is important that coach might not have mentioned. After we all let our thoughts out, we headed off to our rooms for the night. If we liked, we were allowed to rent a movie. Brad and I rented Catch Me If You Can. We both thought it was a good movie. Now it is lights out. I hope you enjoy the game tomorrow and that we can get a win. We are going to play hard, I can promise you that much. Enjoy the game!!!
