Southern Illinois Basketball

Strewn amongst the mind-numbing stories about commercialism and greed, violence and petty problems remain as blatant reminders of what the holidays are truly about. Regardless of one's faith or culture, one can't help but be overcome by the tradition and chaos that occur this time of year.

Though much of the news is dominated by the drama of shopping and selfishness, there are always those stories that bring one back to reality and make us hug our loved ones just a little bit tighter at night.

Take Barry Hinson's family, for example.

Just a week ago, it seemed as if things couldn't get any worse for the second-year head coach at Southern Illinois. The Salukis were 2-8 and off to one of the worst starts in program history. The team was seen as "uncoachable" by Hinson, and apparently they were playing like a bunch of momma's boys, according to his postgame rant. In his eyes, his wife could have played better than his team.

Hinson's job even came into question by many media sources, who cited the coach's public criticism of individual players as unprofessional and uncalled for.

All of that melee was put into perspective on Christmas morning and in the worst way imaginable. Hinson's son-in-law, Niles Thomason, passed away suddenly on Wednesday on the one day of the year where family matters the most. He was only 35.

Though few details have been released about Thomason's death, the Southern Illinois athletic website offered condolences for the Hinson family.

No game can replace the hole that Hinson and family are now feeling. No words and no gifts can justify the loss, but if Hinson's postgame comments didn't give the Salukis a reason to win, they sure have one now.

Southern Illinois struggled in their first season under Hinson last year, but improvement was seen at the end of the 2012 season. After losing 11 of 12 games in a stretch between Dec. 22 and Feb. 2, the Salukis won six of their final eight regular-season games. However, that momentum didn't carry over to 2013, as the Salukis started off the year with a 2-8 record. Since Hinson's public criticism of his team, the Salukis have gone 2-0 with wins over nonconference opponents Ball State and SIU-Edwardsville.

The program is in dire need of success, but his family is in even greater need of some positive events. It can't be said enough that the hole in their family can never be filled, but a rough season will compound the problem.

Hinson is very well-respected in the Southern Illinois community. In the first game following his viral postgame conference, Hinson received a standing ovation from those in attendance.

There is no word on whether or not Hinson will miss any games for services or to be with his family. The Salukis take the court next at Miami of Ohio on Sunday at 2:30 p.m.

Southern Illinois head men’s basketball coach Barry Hinson has cemented his spot in the annals of postgame blowups history, and if the players receive the message, he may have single-handedly saved the Salukis' season.

After watching his team fall to Murray State, 73-65, on Tuesday night, Hinson took the opportunity during the postgame press conference to rip his entire roster for a lackluster performance and what he deemed as an unacceptable level of effort.

Just as former NFL head coaches Jim Mora or Dennis Green were trying to send a message to their players by throwing a fit in public, it was clear from Hinson’s demeanor and personality that he was genuinely reacting to how the game unfolded and the questions he was being asked.

While some postgame press conference rants feel contrived, Hinson’s mix of references to his wife throughout and the willingness to call out individual players is a sign that he was answering the questions with as much brutal honesty as possible.

Hinson went on to speak about the poor shooting of his big men down low, and the head coach unleashed one of the most enjoyable lines of the night, “My wife, MY WIFE, can score more than 2 buckets on 11 shots because I know my wife will AT LEAST shot fake one time.”

Besides the verbal jabs at his frontcourt, the coach let loose on the backcourt, “Marcus [Fillyaw] was absolutely awful, that's about as PG rated as I can say it. He was awful. Our guards are awful. Our three starting guards had 1 assist and 7 turnovers. They must think it's a tax credit.”

As if the rant couldn’t get any better, Hinson explained what it’s like to coach young players, “When you've got a young team, it's a lot like house training a puppy dog. When the dog does something wrong, [smack] bad dog! I'm not gonna hit 'em, I'm not gonna swat 'em, but bad dog.”

And for the win, Hinson shared his take on rebounding, “I've been telling my wife this for years: size doesn't matter.”

Southern Illinois has fallen to 2-8 on the season and sits alone in last place in the Missouri Valley Conference. The team is comprised of younger players trying to find an identity, and there have been expected trials and tribulations along the way.

Instead of getting down on themselves, Hinson is doing everything he can to get the team to understand winning is also a mentality. Inexperienced players stuck on a losing team can begin to show lackluster effort, and that can be contagious.

By calling out the locker room leaders and putting everyone on notice, the Salukis' head coach is pulling out all the stops to save the season and keep the attitude positive.

Let’s see if the idea works.

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Cue up the SportsCenter replays—we’ve got another classic coach moment.

Rather, there was an abundance of beautiful instances during Barry Hinson’s rant on Tuesday night. The head coach of the Southern Illinois Salukis basketball team sat down with the media after his team’s 73-65 loss to Murray State and let his boys have it.

The tirade was a mixed bag of disappointment, sniper references and praise for his wife’s slick pump-fake.

It was one of those glorious instances when a coach’s composure crumbles like a cookie, and it was spotted by Mike Johnson of Next Impulse Sports.

Coach Hinson began the press conference in relative calm, building a foundation for the rant to come with complaints about missed layups.

“We got three straight stops, missed three straight layups,” Hinson said. “You can’t do that against good teams...we came out in the second half, got a couple 50/50 balls. We just missed three point-blank layups.”

He was just limbering up, however. Hinson's disappointment over missed layups barely penetrated the topsoil on his deep frustration over the game. The coach would dig down further into this anger, calling out his players for sulking, falling down and being un-coachable.

Here are some of my favorite lines from Coach Hinson:

“We’re going to college! And getting it paid for!”

“I just got a text here.”

“Our guards had one assist and seven turnovers! They must think it’s a tax credit!”

“There was a sniper in the gym...We had guys falling down...I thought Navy Seal Team 6 was out there!”

The crowning moment of the evening was a line Hinson dropped about his wife, who is apparently a student of the ball-fake.

“My wife—MY WIFE—could score more than two buckets on 11 shots!” Hinson said. “Because I know my wife will at least shot-fake one time!”

Strong work, Mr. Hinson. Hopefully the team appreciates your message. If not, the rest of us certainly enjoyed it.

Bad dog! Get on the treadmill!

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Southern Illinois basketball coach Barry Hinson has a special request for SIU basketball fans, and it's simple.

"I'd like everybody to bring somebody else to the game Wednesday night. We've not been over the 6,000 mark this year and I'd like to do that for those three seniors," Hinson said during his press conference following Saturday's game vs. Miami University (Ohio).

Hinson is referring to the next and final home game of this season, when the Salukis play host to Northern Iowa at 7:05. 

Wednesday's game is senior night, and three senior Salukis will be honored throughout the night for their contributions to Saluki basketball.  Seniors Jeff Early, T.J. Lindsay and Kendal Brown-Surles will all be playing in their final game for the Dawgs.  Hinson described the game as the second-most important game of the season, saying that the most important game will be the team's first game in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament. 

It isn't the first time that Hinson has requested that people bring someone along to the next game.  Hinson also asked the same "favor" before a home game earlier in the season. 

In a very similar request, the Saluki coach stated that he wanted 6,000 fans in attendance vs. Fresno State in November of 2012.  Despite not reaching the 6,000 mark, the Dawgs drew 5,409 in paid attendance to that game.  Those who were in attendance got to witness junior Desmar Jackson nail a three-pointer with 12 seconds left to seal the 57-54 win over Fresno State.

As I have previously stated, now is a great time to be a Southern Illinois fan.  Coach Hinson and the team have already taken many steps forward for the program, and the students have responded. 

The Salukis are playing their best basketball to date, and arguably their best basketball in years.  The team has already surpassed their win total from last year and currently sits at 12-16.  Southern Illinois began its hot streak at home with a huge upset over Wichita State, who at the time was ranked No. 22 in the coaches' poll. 

The Salukis then knocked off conference rivals Evansville and Missouri State, with their most recent game being a 74-68 overtime thriller vs. Miami University (Ohio) in the ESPN BracketBusters tournament.

Because there is no cost for SIU student basketball tickets, Saluki students have no reason to not go to the games.  Even if SIU did charge students to attend sporting events, it would certainly be worth the cost. 

Not only are the atmosphere and games entertaining for all, but all students should be proud to attend a school with such a prestigious basketball program and should take advantage of the great sports opportunities given to them while attending Southern Illinois.   

Let's make this happen, Saluki nation. 

As the recent performance has shown, the Salukis have not given up on this year.  No way should Saluki nation give up first, or ever. 

Regardless of the record, streak, performance, or previous years, I have watched the three seniors for the past three seasons that I have gone to school with at SIU, and I have an enormous amount of respect for all three.  Their blood, sweat, tears and souls have gone into each and every game, and the very least we as a fanbase can do is to recognize what they have done.

Coach Hinson said he wants 6,000 fans at Wednesday's game. 

Let's give him 7,000. 

Think back six years ago.  Where were you?  What were you doing?  What was happening in the world of sports?  Here's a reminder: The Boston Red Sox were World Champions, the Colts and Bears were Super Bowl foes, LeBron James fell just short of his first championship with the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Anaheim Ducks were Stanley Cup champions. 

And in the world of college basketball, the Southern Illinois Salukis were a force to be reckoned with.  The Salukis had reached the postseason six years in a row from 2002-2007, including Sweet Sixteen appearances in '02 and '07.  Bruce Weber and Matt Painter had left the program to assume the position of head coach at Illinois and Purdue respectively, and Chris Lowery took over the Dawgs in 2004 with immediate success, leading the team to three straight NCAA Tournament appearances and a Sweet Sixteen.

A lot has changed in six years.  Now the Boston Red Sox are in turmoil, LeBron James has a ring (and with Miami!), and the Kings are defending Stanley Cup champions.  Unfortunately, Saluki basketball is not the same either. 

However, despite last season being the worst in the history of Saluki basketball with a dismal 8-23 record, this season has already seen a large amount of improvement from the previous year.

Coach Barry Hinson, in his first year as head coach for the Salukis, is doing a great job with the boys.  Despite a few rough patches in conference play, the Dawgs already have surpassed last year's overall win total.  The team also scored a big upset over Wichita State at home, who at the time was ranked No. 22 in the coaches' poll.  Hinson had a successful career at Missouri State, as well as director of basketball operations at the University of Kansas, who was the national runner-up in 2012 to Kentucky. 

Coach Hinson cares about the fans.  After each game, he makes it a point to acknowledge the students in attendance, as well as acknowledging all four sides of the court after a big win.  Coach understands that he not only needs to re-establish the basketball team, but also the fan base.

The first recruiting class of the Barry Hinson era has shown great promise to the level of Hinson's recruiting abilities.  True freshman Anthony Beane, Jr. is third on the team in scoring with 9.5 PPG.  Freshman forward Bola Olaniyan is yet to play, but is a great addition for the future, as he stands an impressive 6'7". 

Fortunately for the Salukis, only three players will be graduating, with the rest of the team consisting of underclassmen.  Coach Hinson has said that senior Kendal Brown-Surles will be staying to become a manager for the team next year, providing peer guidance both off of the court and in the locker room.

In recent years, discipline has been a large issue for the Dawgs.  Multiple off-court incidents occurred, including a 2011 incident in which three players were suspended when they were charged with battery for attacking teammate Davante Drinkard with an Airsoft gun. 

Former SIU player Justin Bocot was also suspended as he was investigated for sexual assault in 2011, although he was not charged with a crime at any point.  During the actual season, the Dawgs have been without major incident under Coach Hinson, a very good mark on Hinson's record in the first season.     

As for the team as a whole, there has already been improvement over last year.  With four regular season games left as well as the Arch Madness conference tournament, the Salukis already have three more wins than last season. 

The 2011-12 Salukis ranked 281st overall in points per game with 62.7, and have thus far improved on that mark this year.  This season has seen a small increase in PPG, up to 64.0 PPG. Another bright spot is their 7-4 home record, which can almost certainly be attributed to the increase in attendance and vice versa.

It's a great time to be a Saluki basketball fan.  The fan base has begun to return, SIU Arena is more beautiful than ever after undergoing a $29.9 million renovation before the 2010 season, and Coach Hinson has already shown a tremendous amount of promise at the helm. 

Southern travels to Creighton Tuesday to face the Blue Jays, who have lost three of their last four.  A win at Creighton would certainly be another big accomplishment for the Salukis, and would give them even more confidence going into the conference tournament and final games of the season.

Pull out the old Southern shirts, folks.  Gone are the days of futility for the Dawgs, with a promising new era now underway in Carbondale under Hinson's leadership.  I find myself imaging more Sweet Sixteens, sold out crowds, and the return of College Gameday to the beautiful SIU Arena. Now let's start recruiting and re-establish the Saluki name in college basketball.

It's going from sublime to ridiculous.

First, it was a five-point loss to Drake Then, it was two-point losses to Creighton and Bradley, followed by a three-point loss to Indiana State and a one-point setback to Wichita State.

Finally, yesterday, the Salukis squandered a late lead against Northern Iowa, falling 55-52 to the conference-leading Panthers.

The Panthers are certainly the class of the league and probably weren't at their best yesterday but a lot of that had to do with the Saluki defence. They matched Northern's toughness but once again at crunch time their lack of offensive creativity and execution failed them.

Kevin Dillard continued his enigmatic play, being held scoreless while committing 5 turnovers. Anthony Booker was also shut out and again ran into foul trouble being getting his fifth late in the game.

On the bright side, Gene Teague continues to develop and outplayed NI big man Jordan Eglseder, who was limited to 4 points in just 18 minutes. Tony Freeman came up big again with 16 points, but was held to 2 in the last sixteen minutes and nobody was there to step up.

The theme is getting all to familiar and the Salukis are running out of time to try and avoid the first-round game in the MVC tournament. The schedule doesn't get any easier either. Three of their last five games are on the road, including two against teams (Wichita State and Drake) who beat Southern in Carbondale.

A bracketbuster home game against Western Michigan is sandwiched in but is really inconsequential except for perhaps building some momentum heading into the final two games of the season. And the Salukis need any and all momentum they can gather.

The Missouri Valley Conference race could be just about over tonight.

The Wichita State Shockers travel to Carbondale to face the underachieving Southern Illinois Salukis in what is the most important game for the Shockers this season.

With the Northern Iowa Panthers win over Missouri State yesterday, Wichita State needs to win to stay within two games of the Panthers. Despite defeating N.I. earlier, the Shockers know that their chances of contending for the regular season title will be all but gone with a loss to the Salukis.

It's not that the Salukis haven't been competitive - they have. However, their inability to finish games has really hurt them. Horrible foul shooting cost them against Indiana State while horrible shooting (shot selection) in general resulted in a two-point loss to Bradley. Once the toughest place to win in the MVC, Carbondale has quickly become a feeding ground for opponents.

Wichita State already has two conference road wins - versus Indiana State and Missouri State. With their home win against the Panthers they have established themselves as the main challenger to N.I. Their NCAA tournament hopes surely rest on either winning the MVC title or the league tournament or both. They simply don't have the marquee win to boost their resume.

The Salukis, on the other hand, have to try and salvage something from this season. Despite a winning record, their season has been a disappointment to date. Optimistically, if they had converted three of those close losses into wins, the Salukis would be sitting at 7-3 and they would have the chance to chase N.I.

Maybe it is inexperience or chemistry or any number of reasons, but Southern has some high-quality talent and should be better. Stories surfaced recently about Chris Lowery being considered for the Depaul job after Jerry Wainwright was dumped. Personally, I can't see it. He has done well in terms of recruiting at Southern but that hasn't translated into performance on the court. I know some people will point to the Sweet Sixteen appearance and near-upset of Kansas, but that was essentially a team he inherited. Recruiting, and winning, in the Big East is a much different story.

Following the trend, I'll predict that the Shockers win by 3.

It’s do or die time already for the Southern Illinois Salukis.

After a somewhat promising start to the season, the Salukis find themselves in the midst of a three-game skid. A loss to Northern Iowa, who have clearly separated themselves from the pack in the Missouri Valley and a road loss to Illinois State are easy to understand. But the home loss to winless (up until that point) Drake isn’t something you want on your resume.

Road games this week against Creighton and Evansville will almost certainly reveal whether or not the Salukis can become one of the upper tier teams in the Valley. Creighton has struggled all season but their record could be a little misleading. They have played a much, much tougher non-conference schedule than Southern and this may pay off down the road. There just have been any consistent signs of this to date. Now would be a good time for the Salukis to take advantage of their inconsistent play. Last season, only a last second brain cramp prevented the Salukis from leaving Omaha with a win. Cavel Witter was fouled shooting a three, made the foul shots and Creighton won in OT.

Evansville is always tougher at home but are inexperienced and are having a down season, after welcoming many newcomers. The Aces are 0-5 in the conference and really haven’t been that competitive in those games. Perhaps the lone bright spot for the Aces is a close loss to Butler (64-60) at home early in the season. The Salukis have to take advantage of Evansville’s inexperience and come away win a win or they will be battling for 8^th instead of third.

Whatever the issue is with Kevin Dillard (he didn’t start against Northern Iowa) and whatever reason Chris Lowery has for starting Nick Evans over Anthony Booker, these things need to get resolved quickly. This is not a stalwart defensive team - they are average in their own end - but they do have some explosive scorers that need to be utilized more. This is a team that can actually outscore some people and maybe a better tempo is what they need.

They do have skill but they need to gel and in a hurry. Everyone knew NI would be good, and Wichita State finished strongly last season. Missouri State has literally come out of nowhere to contend. The Salukis had better start winning or a top-tier finish will be out of reach again.

Upcoming SIU games:

Wednesday @ Creighton

Saturday @ Evansville

Home from a decent road trip, the Southern Illinois Salukis face division leader Northern Iowa Panthers tonight in Carbondale. The Salukis rallied to beat Bradley, 86-81, on Friday, before falling to Illinois State, 68-61 on Sunday.

Road issues haunted the Salukis last year but this year's squad seems more equipped to handle the pressures of the road games in the MVC.

Despite a less than stellar second-half against the Redbirds, Southern Illinois is right in the thick of the conference race, which will be an interesting battle all year long. Kevin Dillard continues to improve but needs to cut down on the turnovers. Justin Bocot and Tony Freeman are solid, while Anthony Booker, who scored 8 and had 10 boards against Illinois State, shows signs of becoming a dominant defensive player.

A consistent offense will be the key tonight. The team has enough offensive weapons to compete with the Panthers, but do they have enough patience? When they fell behind to Illinois State, quick shots and ragged offense did not allow them to get back into the game.

Northern Iowa is a more structured, deliberate team that runs an efficient offense. Jordan Eglseder and Adam Koch lead the team in rebounding and scoring and both shoot a high percentage from the field. However, the Panthers play a team game and have others (Ahelegbe and Farokhmanesh) that can hurt you.

There are 3 keys to the game. First, the Salukis have to have fewer turnovers than recent games, and, they have to use the quickness that they do have on the perimeter to force turnovers. Second, they need to push the pace. Northern Iowa is not a prolific scoring, up-tempo, team but can and will score in the half-court. Last, Saluki bigs, especially Booker, need to stay out of foul trouble and limit second-chance opportunities.

A tall order, no doubt, to do these things to a team with only one loss on the season. However, if it can be accomplished the Salukis and the Panthers will be tied (along with others, I'm sure) at the top of the MVC. Going out on a limb a bit, the Salukis win 68-65.