Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Saluki men's basketball banquet recap
04/19/2006 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
April 19, 2006
By Brian Feldt
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Chris Lowery stood behind the podium and a display of Missouri Valley Conference trophies Tuesday night and spoke about not taking the year-in, year-out success of Saluki Basketball for granted.
Southern's head coach spoke to a crowd of about 400 in SIU Arena at the team's annual banquet and peppered his speech with hints about the potential of next year's team. He pointed out that numerous publications are already calling SIU a top 25 team.
"The thing to remember is that every one of these young men are back and even more hungry," said Lowery. "The all-time height of Saluki basketball is right now and right here."
SIU is one of just 16 teams in the nation to make its fifth-straight NCAA Tournament appearance in 2006.
During his speech, Lowery made a lengthy tribute to the team's walk-on seniors, Kyle Smithpeters and Austin Brooks. He also handed out team awards, including Most Improved Player (Tony Young), Most Valuable Player (Jamaal Tatum) and Best Attitude Award (Matt Shaw and Smithpeters). Jamaal Foster was the recipient of the Seymour Bryson Scholarship.
The night concluded with a highlight reel of the 2005-06 Saluki season.
After starting the campaign 2-3, SIU blossomed into one of the best in the Missouri Valley Conference, eventually claiming its tournament title.
"When you start off losing to a Division II team, and everybody is writing you off, and then you go win the MVC tournament, obviously it makes you feel good about the season as a whole, instead of looking at certain sections," said Lowery.
After losing star-player Darren Brooks to graduation last year, the Salukis were deemed too young by critics to win the league, which was top-heavy with veteran teams such as Northern Iowa and Creighton.
The Salukis also lost valuable pieces of its young squad when Nick Hill, C.J. Smith and Mike Dale all left the team for various reasons.
"You need to go through those things to establish your program," said Lowery. "There was nothing so bad that we couldn't overcome it, and that is what made our season so great."
Surprise performances were turned in by true freshman point guard Bryan Mullins, who earned league Freshman of the Year honors, and forward Randal Falker, who won conference tournament MVP honors and emerged as a dominant inside force.
Jamaal Foster, Wesley Clemmons, Tony Boyle and Austin Brooks all made key contributions off the bench at various points in the season.
Tatum led the team in scoring, despite enduring a month-long shooting slump.
"He did not have a good season scoring the basketball, but he became a better player because of the slumps he had," Lowery said. "He had to do other things than make the shots."
Young, meanwhile, improved as much as any guard in the league and earned first-team All-MVC honors with his tenacious defense and clutch scoring.
Afer a 2-3 start, the Salukis reeled off 11-straight victories, showing the rest of the league that rumors of SIU's demise were premature.
Tough losses to Northern Iowa (2OT) and Missouri State, though, dropped Southern into a four-way deadlock for the MVC crown with Northern Iowa, Wichita State and Creighton.
The Salukis were inconsistent down the stretch, losing at home to Indiana State, which snapped a nation-best 33-game home winning streak, but beating Creighton and UNI.
The regular-season finale against the Panthers was won on a last-second shot by Young, giving the Salukis the advantageous #2 seed in the MVC Tournament.
The Salukis cruised past Evansville in the first round, gutted out a gritty win over Northern Iowa in the semi-finals and beat the league's hottest team, Bradley, in the championship game, which aired nationwide on CBS.
SIU lost to a veteran West Virginia team in the NCAA Tournament in a game that exposed Southern's lack of experience.
The focus now turns to the off-season, where players are already hard at work on conditioning and individual workouts with coaches.
Lowery added JUCO guard Tyrone Green to the roster in spring recruiting and looks forward to the eligibility of redshirts Christian Cornelius and Jordan Armstrong, and true freshman Josha Bone.
The team returns all five starters next year.
"We have the best core group of guys coming back in the league," said Lowery. "These guys have a lot in store and a lot of memories (to create) for Saluki basketball."
