Saluki Men's Basketball notebook
02/23/2015 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
By Tom Weber
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Saluki men's basketball team has won three games during the last two months and fans are understandably disappointed. SIU returned four starters and its sixth man off last year's team that finished tied for fourth place with a 9-9 conference record.
The question I get asked most often is, why the drop-off? I'll give you two words -- Desmar Jackson. Not only did he lead the team in almost every statistical category in 2014, but he made everyone around him better.
Exhibit A is All-Conference junior guard Anthony Beane. Last year he shot 50 percent from the field and 41 percent from 3-point in MVC games. This year, the numbers without Jackson as a sidekick have dropped to 37 percent from the field and 27 percent from 3-point.
My staff went back to last season and researched every made basket by Beane during conference play and compared it to this year's numbers. The figures are revealing. Sixty-one percent of his made baskets were unassisted last year, but that number has jumped to 75 percent this season. Only 19 of his 75 baskets this season have had an assist. Last season, Jackson alone accounted for 14 of Beane's assisted baskets.
What do these numbers tell me? First, that Jackson was both a terrific scorer and facilitator -- a rare attribute in a player. Second, that Beane is at his best as a catch-and-shoot player. He's a prolific scorer and capable of creating his own shot, but his numbers would be even better with a better supporting cast.
It's not just Beane who has suffered a drop-off without Jackson. Veterans Jalen Pendleton (38 percent), Sean O'Brien (36 percent), Tyler Smithpeters (39 percent) and Bola Olaniyan (42 percent) are all below last year's shooting numbers.
On the plus side, freshmen Jordan Caroline (9.7 points) and Deion Lavender (6.4 points) appear to have bright futures. Barring transfers, the entire roster will return. There are holes to fill, obviously, and look for the Salukis to be active shoppers in the juco market this offseason.
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Several people have asked me in the past week if Saluki Basketball has been hindered in recruiting due to "academic issues" in the program. The answer is no. If a kid can make it through the NCAA Clearinghouse, Southern can recruit him. Nothing has changed in that regard.
When it comes to measuring academics in college athletics, things can get a little foggy. The measurement the NCAA prefers is called the Academic Progress Rate (APR). It's a bit complicated, but what you really need to know is that if a player doesn't graduate within five years OR if they transfer with a cumulative GPA below 2.7, your team's APR score suffers. At a certain point, the NCAA will impose penalties and take away scholarships. Thankfully, Southern never reached that point.
Here's some more nuts and bolts. A perfect one-year APR score is 1000 and each basketball player counts about 40 points per year. Your APR score can go south in a hurry if a couple players transfer with a GPA below 2.7 and/or don't graduate.
There was a moment in time during Chris Lowery's tenure, in which the APR dipped close to the NCAA minimum, but his final APR score in 2012 was a solid 962, and Barry Hinson's first APR score in 2013 was a perfect 1000. Those two numbers put the program back on firm footing. Hinson's 2014 APR score will be announced in May and is expected to be another excellent number.
Here are SIU's five most-recent APR scores, which are published on the official NCAA website.
2008-09: 950
2009-10: 860
2010-11: 837
2011-12: 962
2012-13: 1000
The NCAA understands there may be a year or two where multiple players transfer and/or don't graduate, and that single-year scores may be an outlier. So they take an average of your four most recent scores, and that is considered your overall APR number for the year. When the 2014 single-year figure comes out in May, I expect SIU's four-year average to be around 950, which is a very good number.
Late in Lowery's tenure, Southern lost points when several players transfered with a cumulative GPA below 2.7. On top of that, several players did not graduate within five years. Most of them -- guys like Matt Shaw, John Freeman, Carlton Fay, Nick Evans -- have since returned to get their degrees, and those points were added back in to the 2012 and 2013 one-year scores. I've been following Saluki Basketball for 14 years, and in that time, I know of only three players who completed their fourth or fifth year without graduating. Two of them had extenuating circumstances.
The APR is in good shape. No scholarships were lost, and there remains no limitations on the ability to sign players or to allow them to transfer. A pat on the back for nipping a potential problem in the bud goes to Hinson, former AD Mario Moccia, and of course, the players who came back and got their degrees.
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The MVC is continuing to move forward with its plans to broadcast most, if not all, of its games on ESPN3. At first, I was leery of the proposal. There are many logistical and financial hurdles still to overcome. However, I agree with the underlying principle -- which is to maximize the league's exposure.
More games than ever have been available this season on ESPN3, and I often find myself watching the Valley games on my phone or computer when traveling, or at home on my Apple TV. I've seen more MVC games this year than ever before, and I have an even greater understanding and appreciation for the league. It's an excellent product and I find myself looking forward to watching whatever games are available.
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I will post my All-Conference ballot next Sunday, but have changed my thinking since posting a mid-season "ballot." I've moved UNI's Seth Tuttle ahead of Wichita State's Fred VanVleet for Player of the Year. VanVleet is having a great season, but Tuttle has been nothing short of amazing during the second half of the season. I've also dropped Loyola's Milton Doyle off my list, due to his injury, and added UNI's Wes Washpun.
