Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Men's Basketball Set For NCAA Showdown With Alabama
03/17/2004 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
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By Seth Whitehead
www.SIUSalukis.com
March 17, 2004
CARBONDALE- You can count on a couple things from the SEC year-in, year-out: plenty of NCAA-caliber teams and plenty of quality big men.
So when the Southern Illinois men's basketball team drew Alabama for Thursday's 1:40 p.m. first round NCAA Tournament game, you just had to assume that head coach Matt Painter's nightmares of matching up with a post-oriented team of had come true.
And you had to figure the Tide had tons of postseason experience, having qualified for their third-straight NCAA Tournament.
But lo and behold, Alabama is the exception to the SEC rule in both areas.
The Crimson Tide's roster doesn't look a whole lot different than your average Missouri Valley Conference roster.
The Tide's projected starting front line goes: Kennedy Winston (6-6), Chuck Davis (6-7) and Jermareo Davidson (6-10). Don't let that 6-10 scare you - he's a freshman that averages just 5.2 points and 4.7 rebounds in 22 minutes per game.
And none of these inside players are averaging more than six rebounds per game. Saluki guard Darren Brooks, who stands just 6-3, pulls down six boards a game himself.
So, essentially, there are no Arthur Johnson-style mismatches in store this year like there was a year ago against Missouri. That should be good news for the Salukis, who clearly struggle against bigger teams.
"They actually will play small," Painter said. "Their best lineup is when Chuck Davis goes to the 5 and Kennedy Winston goes to the 4.
And, Painter added: "They do not have backups for the big guys that they play. They really play with four perimeters."
Sounds familiar.
"In a roundabout way, that helps us a little," Painter said.
"We're not a big, powerful team," said Alabama head coach Mark Gottfried.
Sweet. Check one off the list of concerns.
But surely the big-time SEC program has an edge in NCAA experience over the Salukis.
Not the case. The so-called "mid-major" has the advantage in this area against a team that starts three underclassmen.
"This game is going to be a game of experience vs. inexperience," Gottfried said. "They've got, I think, four or five players that played on a Sweet 16 team two years ago. They went to the NCAA Tournament again last year, and this is their third year in a row as well."
"Our guys, obviously, are on the other side of the coin. They don't have a lot of NCAA experience as far as playing significant minutes."
Alabama starts two sophomores and a freshman. The Salukis, on the other hand, have four players - Brad Korn, Sylvester Willis, Brooks and Stetson Hairston - who have four NCAA Tournament games under their belts apiece.
"I think the key with that is not just the experience, but the experience of being in the tournament," Painter said. "We've got four guys on our team that this will be their fourth NCAA Tournament game. That experience will help us."
The Salukis also have a little more depth than Bama.
"They're very similar to Georgia," Painter said, referring to the team SIU beat to advance to the Sweet 16 in 2002. "They have a very good starting five and bring a couple guys off the bench.
So count on this: The Salukis' four-guard rotation will be looking to run wild on the Tide on both ends of the floor.
"I think that's a key - really get after it and make it a full-court game and make them get into their bench and use those guys in critical situations," Painter said.
All this doesn't mean the Crimson Tide can't play. It's just surprising.
All you need to know about the Tide's abilities are: 1.) they beat Charlotte, 2.) they beat a number of teams that are better than Charlotte.
And we all remember Charlotte - the only team that's beaten SIU on its home floor in the last 41 games at SIU Arena.
"This is the next test," Painter said. "Can we beat somebody like Charlotte? And I think Charlotte and Alabama are very comparable."
The 49ers were probably the most talented team the Salukis faced all year. But Charlotte was probably somewhere in the middle of the pack in terms of degree of difficulty for the Crimson Tide.
Hence the next fun fact: Alabama finished with the second-toughest schedule in the nation. SIU's strength of schedule is ranked 147th.
Alabama (17-12) has played against 10 NCAA Tournament teams this year, including six AP Top 25 teams and five teams ranked No. 10 or higher at some point in the season.
All told, they are 2-3 against top 10 teams.
"There's no doubt with the way they schedule that they're preparing for the NCAA Tournament," Painter said. "They've played a lot of good teams, and they're in one of the best conferences in the country -- if not the best conference in the country."
They are also extremely athletic, which is why Painter is still worried about rebounding.
"We just have to stick with what we do well and, mainly, keep them off the glass," Painter said. "We have to keep them off the glass and pressure the basketball and just try to knock them out of rythym.
"Our main thing is our guards. Our guards have to be able to rebound. I think that's very similar to the way they handle it also. If Kennedy, Winston and Shelton - and some guys who come off the bench -- don't rebound for them, they're going to struggle."
Winston leads the team in scoring (16.9 ppg) and is second in rebounding (5.5 rpg). The all-SEC performer is averaging 22 ppg in his last five contests.
"Winston's a pro," Painter said. "I would say he's the best player we've faced this year. He's a lot like Darren. He's an inside-outside player. He makes difficult shots. He's one of the few guys we've played this year that at times you can play good defense on and he still makes shots.
"He's just a tough matchup for us. Darren and Stetson (Hairston) are just going to have to limit his looks."
Guard Earnest Shelton adds 15.9 ppg and 3.9 rpg.
"Shelton's a guy who can score; he's got a chance to be a pro," Painter said. "He can really shoot the basketball, and they've got some young post guys who are going to be really good players down the road. They're really coming into their own."
Davis is pumping in nearly 11 ppg and leads the team with 5.9 rpg. Pettway is scoring 9.4 per contest. Emmett Thomas adds 9 ppg off the bench.
Both teams were picked fifth in their respective conferences in the preseason. Alabama finished in a tie for second in its division with an 8-8 record.
They are almost dead-even in every team statistical category, with SIU holding advantages in steals and turnovers, and Alabama holding a big advantage in 3-point field goal percentage.
The Crimson Tide, who got beat a couple years ago by a Cinderella Kent State team, are not about to look past the Salukis either.
"We're going to have our hands full," Gottfried said. "When you're 25-4 -- and they won 16 straight in the middle of the year and they opened up the season with a win at Wyoming -- this is a pretty impressive team.
"We know that SIU is a very, very good basketball team. I think our players have great respect for what they've done."
