Ah, finally the end of a busy day. It’s 11:36 p.m. on Wednesday night, and I can only remember getting up at 6 a.m. yesterday to get to St. Louis for Missouri Valley Conference media day.
Today I went to the office at 9 a.m. to prepare for the Missouri Valley Football Conference teleconference, did the call at 10, went to lunch at 11:30 a.m., chatted for an hour on our Web site over the noon hour, and then ran home to get a fleece because it was getting cold out. Around 2 p.m., I headed to McAndrew Stadium to interview a few guys for football, and parked at the arena to walk through men’s basketball practice.
I will miss the first two exhibition games, or at least most of them, because of SIU’s next two road football games. So, I need you guys to fill me in what you see. Today I saw a semblance of a first group and a second group, but it’s Wednesday. SIU’s first game isn’t until Saturday. Justin Bocot, Kevin Dillard, Tony Freeman, Carlton Fay and Anthony Booker made up the first group, and lost every drill I watched.
Jack Crowder could be a player, ladies and gentlemen. He’s strong. He can rebound. He elevates pretty well on his jump shot, although I think it’s a little slow to get off. And he can get to the basket like you wouldn’t believe. Today I saw him shake a guy, go baseline, and finish with a short jumper. On the next possession, he hit a wide-open 3 (something the Salukis gave up a ton of last year) from the left side of the circle. He can play. No doubt. I was also encouraged by John Freeman’s defense, and Bocot’s defense. That was one of the reasons they recruited him last year, although I’m not sure we saw it much; Bocot’s length on the defensive side.
We’ll see what they look like Saturday. I should be able to get back from the football game to catch the second half. Let me know what your first impressions are of the Salukis Saturday.