A sneak preview of Southeast's basketball schedule

Although a few opponents still need to be filled in before the Southeast Missouri State men's basketball schedule can officially be released, many of the Redhawks' 11 non-conference games are set.

Southeast opens the 2007-08 season at Xavier on Nov. 10 and plays its second contest Nov. 14 at Illinois State.

Both those games are part of an exempt tournament that will feature two more games in Chicago against opponents that will be determined based on tourney results.

The contests against Xaxier and Illinois State are not technically "guarantee" games, but the Redhawks will receive a nice chunk of change for participating in the tournament.

Southeast will have two actual "guarantee" games, including one at Tulsa. The other one has not yet been scheduled.

The Redhawks will also play at Louisiana Tech, after hosting that squad last year in the BracketBuster series, and will have a road BracketBuster matchup against an opponent to be determined.

There will be only three home nonconference games -- the same as last season -- including one against Evansville, after Southeast visited the Purple Aces a year ago.

Two more home opponents still need to scheduled, with at least one of those likely being a non-Division I team.

Then, of course, there will be the usual 20 Ohio Valley Conference games.

That's quite a challenging nonconference slate for the Redhawks, who will certainly have their work cut out to post a solid nonleague record against that lineup.

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A few more Southeast men's basketball tidbits:

Coach Scott Edgar said he's still at least a couple of weeks away from having any news on potentially filling his two vacant assistant positions.

Edgar also told me that, contrary to various Internet blog posts, he expects everybody to be eligible for the 2007-08 season.

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I recently ran into former Southeast point guard Paul Paradoski, who left the program after last season, and he told me he has indeed signed with Division II Missouri-St. Louis, where he will play his final collegiate campaign.

When Paradoski announced his decision to transfer earlier this year, he mentioned UMSL as a likely destination, but now it's official.

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While former Southeast star Kerry Robinson is now working for the university after being released by the Boston Red Sox organization several weeks ago, another local product is also currently out of professional baseball.

Central High School graduate Talley Haines was released prior to the season by the Philadelphia Phillies organization and is back in the area running his Prospects Sports Academy near Fruitland.

Haines, a relief pitcher who was in the minor leagues for nine years -- including several in Class AAA -- without ever reaching the majors, told me that he has decided to hang up his spikes for good.

He said it was a bit of a tough decision, but he has decided to concentrate on his business and his family, which includes wife Jackie -- a former Southeast volleyball star -- and the couple's first child due in September.

Haines, who had considerable minor-league success -- he was 40-35 with 53 saves and a 3.32 ERA -- told me he has no regrets and is not bitter about never reaching baseball's highest level, although he would have loved the opportunity.

By the way, Haines reports that Prospects Sports Academy -- an indoor training and instructional facility for young baseball players that he started a couple years ago -- is doing well.

Meanwhile, Robinson -- an outfielder who has spent at least parts of seven seasons in the majors, including three with his hometown Cardinals -- is still hopeful of hooking up with another organization.

Until that happens, Robinson is working for Southeast in its marketing department as an intern. He is based out of the university's St. Louis office and will assist in promotions in the St. Louis area while also selling advertising for Southeast broadcasts on 1380 AM, the ESPN station in that area.

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While Southeast baseball coach Mark Hogan has never failed to lead the Redhawks into the OVC tournament since he took over the program in 1995, Southeast softball coach Lana Richmond had a similar track record since the program joined the conference in 1992.

Richmond's impressive streak, however, came to an end this season as the Redhawks wound up a disappointing eighth among 10 OVC squads to miss the six-team league tournament for the first time.

Richmond acknowledged that Southeast's main problem this year was a lack of strong pitching.

But she told me she's confident the Redhawks can bounce back next season, since they'll return most of their key players and will add hot-shot high school hurler Whitney Dupuis from Sulpher, La.

Richmond said she expects Dupuis to really help shore up Southeast's pitching staff.

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By the way, even though Southeast's softball program has slipped considerably this decade after previously having all kinds of success, Southeast athletic director Don Kaverman said he stands firmly behind Richmond continuing to lead the Redhawks.

With more than 700 wins in 25 seasons at Southeast, Richmond is the winningest softball coach in OVC history and also among the nation's winningest coaches.

Richmond led Southeast to five straight OVC titles from 1995 to 1999 and produced winning records in her first 18 years at Southeast.

But the Redhawks have had five losing seasons in the past six years and have not really been a factor in the OVC race during that span.

Kaverman told me he is confident Richmond will be able to get the program back on track.

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Still on the subject of Southeast softball, congratulations to junior Michelle Summers for breaking the school single-season home-run record that she had tied last year.

Summers finished the campaign with 14 home runs, after hitting 11 out of the park in 2006.

With 35 career homers, Summers has simply obliterated Southeast's career record that had been 20 prior to her arrival on campus.

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The Tennessee Tech softball team has made a major national splash the past two days.

Although the Eaglettes have dominated the OVC in recent years, capturing three straight tournament titles, they had never won an NCAA regional game in the program's history.

But after stunning host Alabama 4-2 Friday and beating California 3-1 Saturday, the Eaglettes are in today's championship round of the Alabama regional.

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I don't know about you, but I think it's a good idea that the 3-point line for men's college basketball will likely be moved back a foot -- to 20 feet, 9 inches -- starting in 2008-09.

If a hoops hack like me, who is only months away from being a half-century old, can routinely knock down shots from beyond the arc, then that's proof the line is way too close.

The women's 3-point distance will remain at 19-9 -- and needless to say I'm going to try to find a women's court for my pickup games. I don't know if I can handle 20-9.

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Southeast assistant head football coach and offensive coordinator Vincent White recently received a nice honor when he was selected to attend the 2007 NCAA Expert Football Coaching Academy.

The Academy, targeted for minority coaches, is a preparatory class for becoming a head coach with participants selected by a committee from the NCAA. It will be conducted May 30 to June 2 at the Doral Golf Resort and Spa in Miami, Fla.

I was elated to read Toby Carrig's recent semoball.com report on the great progress Southeast football player T.J. Walls has made in his recovery from the serious head injury he suffered during a spring scrimmage.

Let's all continue to pray that T.J. makes a complete recovery that allows him to live a totally normal life.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian