Saluki Sports Update

Surprises are common, but this year’s March Madness may be overdoing it. 

The only thing good about it all, however, is that we’ve enjoyed the upsets more often than we’ve been shocked.

Basketball fans throughout the country seemingly share our feelings, but it’s upsetting when TV cameras lock in on a young fan upset because her dad’s team is losing and a planned trip this week to the Sweet Sixteen is out the window.

That, however, is why the game of college basketball has attracted record crowds and is responsible for many coaches, as well as a few players, to afford a comfortable life.

It should be no surprise to any SIU fan that we’re particularly enjoying the success Kansas State and Purdue are having.  

Once you travel with Bruce Weber and learn what he’s all about, you’re going to enjoy anything good coming into his life.  

Matt Painter wasn’t around SIU quite as long, and Saluki head coach only one season, but we recall commenting his first year that he was “going to be a good one.”

Of course they both occasionally lose and will continue to do so, but Weber and Painter are what is commonly referred to as “winners.”

There are stories up and down the tournament pairings and results.

One that has surprised us just a little is that so many fans enjoyed the fact Creighton and Wichita State, both Missouri Valley Conference dropouts, are now spectators while Loyola, a Valley replacement, is still alive. It’s hardly a big deal, but we couldn’t help but wonder how Valley officials feel about the situation.

And the fact Loyola has a former Saluki great, Bryan Mullins, on its bench adds to the enjoyment, just as Chris Lowery’s friends are pleased that he and Brad Korn are two-thirds of Weber’s staff at K-State.

Perhaps it’s largely due to our advanced age, but personal friendships seem to play a larger role in how we react to happenings in sports. 

Like, we could never have a kind thought about Syracuse as we’ll never forget a comment its coach made about Shane Hawkins after the former Pinckneyville ace drained his seventh-in-a-row three-pointer in an NCAA first-round game played in Texas.  

We were seated at the officials’ table next to the Syracuse bench and heard it and we’ll be the first to admit that incidents like that should have been forgotten long ago.

Also we see and recall many things about SIU’s spring sports...particularly baseball, track, golf and even tennis. That one, tennis may surprise some, but it’s the only sport that SIU ever hosted a NCAA national championship event for and it was the hottest weekend of the summer.

There are too many baseball and track stories, but one came to mind this past weekend when learning last week of Marion’s John Saunders’ wife’s death. 

The photograph of John collapsed in the arms of trainers after winning the 880-yard run in Lew Hartzog’s first conference meet is forever etched in my mind. There’s so much to the happening, but little space to tell it.  

There are hundreds of stories in the history of Saluki athletics. And, so many of them center around area personalities.

The Gazette-Democrat

112 Lafayette St.
Anna, Illinois 62906
Office Number: (618) 833-2158
Email: news@annanews.com

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