A HEALTHY COTTON ON SOUTHEAST'S WISH LIST (SEMO NOTES)

After two days off for Thanksgiving, Southeast Missouri State University's basketball team will hit the practice court again today -- and hopefully welcome back a relatively healthy Kahn Cotton in the process.

Cotton, one of the Indians' top returning players this year, has not yet seen any game action and has barely practiced because of recurring knee problems.

The 5-foot-10 senior guard, who averaged 12.2 points per game last season, is scheduled to start practicing today. If all goes well, he could see action Thursday night when the Indians begin Ohio Valley Conference play at Austin Peay.

"We're really anxious to get Kahn back," said Southeast coach Gary Garner. "He's a big part of our basketball team and we really need Kahn."

Cotton said recently how anxious he is to get back on the court. All he's been able to do so far is try and cheer the Indians on during practice and games.

"It's really frustrating for me," he said. "I can't wait to get back. I was really looking forward to this season."

* Through four games of the season -- wins over Southern Illinois-Edwardsville and Central Methodist and losses to Bradley and Louisiana Tech -- Garner said the Indians are about where he thought they would be.

"Record-wise, we're about where I thought we'd be," he said. "Now, we'd like to be 4-0. But realistically, we knew how tough it would be to win at Bradley and to beat Louisiana Tech. I hoped we'd get one of those, but I knew it would be tough."

And the four non-conference games the Indians have left are also going to be extremely tough to get as well. The Indians play at Oklahoma State, Southwest Missouri and Arkansas State in addition to facing Southern Illinois at the TWA Dome in St. Louis.

* Before the Indians can even begin worrying about any more non-conference games, they have to focus their attention on their first two OVC contests, Thursday at Austin Peay and Saturday at Tennessee State.

Austin Peay was picked third in the league's preseason poll while Tennessee State was picked second.

"It's a tough way to open the conference season," Garner said. "We sure want to win them both, but if we can come away with a split, we'd feel good."

* With center Bud Eley missing most of last season with foot injuries, guard play was certainly one of the Indians' strengths, led by Cotton and Cory Johnson.

So far this year, however, Southeast's inside game has by far been the strength of the team.

Eley, a 6-foot-10 senior, is averaging 14.8 points and 8.3 rebounds per game while shooting 55 percent from the field. He's also blocked an OVC-leading 10 shots.

Two 6-6 junior forwards in their first season with the team, Roderick Johnson and Mike Branson, are averaging 12.8 and 11.5 points per game, respectively. Johnson is shooting 62 percent from the field while Branson is at 46 percent.

Southeast's starting guards have been struggling from the field, Johnson shooting 33 percent (including 35 percent from 3-point range) and Jeramy Biles 28 percent. They're averaging less than 13 points per game combined.

"Our guards are really shooting bad and we have to improve on that. I'm anxious to see how big an effect getting Kahn back will have," said Garner. "We know going into this season that getting Cory (one of the nation's top 3-point shooters last year) shots would be really hard to do. He has a reputation now and everybody is concentrating on shutting him down."

One guard who actually has been shooting well for the Indians is freshman Fred Abraham, who has been perhaps the most pleasant surprise of the season so far.

Abraham has been a key player off the bench, averaging 3.8 points per game. And, thanks to some impressive slashes to the basket, is shooting 64 percent. No other Southeast guard is shooting better than 33 percent.

"Fred might be playing the best of any of our guards so far," said Garner. "He has really done a good job for a freshman."

* Eley has moved into eighth place on Southeast's all-time scoring list with 1,225 points. He is seven points out of seventh place and 16 points out of sixth place.

Eley is also the eighth-leading rebounder in school history with 678 and the all-time leader in blocked shots with 114.