newper wrote:
SIU basketball should stay on the bus. It was just 2007 -- 7 years ago -- these guys were ranked in the nation. February 17th, I picked up my girlfriend at the time (would end up to be Mrs. newper) and we went to Indianapolis -- Hinkle Fieldhouse to watch #15 SIU take on #12 Butler in an ESPN Bracketbuster. The snow was much as it was today and Indianapolis had much worse removal. We slid around until we found a parking spot, and then didn't even bother to try to get to our seats as we were a few minutes late and the view from the concourse was as good as anywhere. The late Rick Majerus was announcing the game for ESPN, the Butler bulldog was there on the court -- it was really awesome. I have such fond memories of the event and day (Mrs. newper and I would later hit the Snooty Fox which has also since closed.) After the season, SIU made the Sweet 16 again. As they always do, they offered the head coach mucho money to stay. Weber had done the same and left. Painter had done the same and left. Lowery said, show me the money -- give me 7 years for 750k a year. And then drove the program into the ground. Stupid offer from SIU to let him stay for that money. Now Weber hired him as an ass't coach this year. Probably what he should be. 4.5 Million paid for nothing, actually, paid for moving back worse than nothing. Stay on the bus and hopefully you can transfer, kids.
That program looked like it was on auto driver for a decade. Every coach would use it as a stepping stone then they would find another coach to produce the same results. Once you have the positive momentum in a small conference, it is usually difficult to lose it, but SIU has certainly lost it.