Edgar finds little time for practice

~ NCAA requirements and a busy game schedule limit quality practice time.

Winning Saturday's Ohio Valley Conference opener was nice, but Southeast Missouri State coach Scott Edgar knows it doesn't mask rough spots that would have a much better chance of being improved by more practice time.

Edgar's dilemma is that, because of the Redhawks' schedule so far this season, consistent practice time has been hard to come by.

Saturday's stirring 81-79 comeback victory over visiting Tennessee-Martin marked Southeast's seventh game in a 16-day period.

Factor in travel time -- including last month's trip to Alaska -- along with the NCAA rule of giving the team one day off per week, and Edgar said Monday that the Redhawks have had only six practices in the past 19 days.

"And five of those were practices the day before games, which are shorter," Edgar said. "I think a brand new team that was coming along pretty good there for a while has been sidetracked for a number of reasons.

"Young teams need to practice. When you look at Scott Edgar's teams in the past, they have always improved through practice, through repetition of practice."

Edgar said that, because of a lack of recent practice time, the Redhawks' conditioning is "not where it needs to be."

Southeast's first-year coach hoped to help rectify that some with intense practices Monday and Tuesday as the Redhawks prepare to hit the road Wednesday for two OVC games in Tennessee.

Southeast (3-5, 1-0 OVC) will play Tennessee State (2-4, 0-0) Thursday night and Tennessee Tech (3-3, 0-1) Saturday night.

"It's the first time in almost a month as a coach that I have been able to plan out back-to-back practices," Edgar said. "These two days of practice will be crucial for us. We'll do a lot of scrimmaging."

According to Edgar, more practice time would help the Redhawks continue to adjust to his "Fast and Furious" style that he used to great success in the OVC more than a decade ago at Murray State.

"This is the style that 10 years ago dominated, flat dominated, a good OVC conference," said Edgar, who led Murray State to a 56-17 OVC record and two NCAA tournament appearances in four seasons from 1991 to 1995. "We just have to keep learning this style and practicing it."

Even without enough practice time, the Redhawks were able to rally from a 14-point deficit midway through the second half against Tennessee-Martin Saturday night.

That marked Southeast's first win in an OVC opener since the 1999-2000 season, which also marked the program's only OVC championship and only NCAA Division I tournament berth.

"It was tremendously gratifying to see them hang together," Edgar said. "I've told them over and over, when you're at home, you're rarely to never out of the game.

"I'm elated with the win and it's great to be 1-0 in the OVC. I think we're coming along, but I don't think this team has even scratched the surface ... we have not clicked on all eight cylinders yet."

Added Edgar, "We're still one of the most youthful teams in the entire nation. Our freshmen logged 68 of the 200 minutes against Tennessee-Martin. We're learning and we're going to continue to learn. I know everything is not fixed."

Edgar knows that at least getting closer to clicking on all eight cylinders would greatly aid the Redhawks this week when they play at the teams picked second (Tennessee State) and third (Tennessee Tech) in the OVC's preseason poll.

"Like any OVC trip, it's going to be extremely difficult," Edgar said. "I think we might be playing two of the most athletic teams in the entire OVC."

Johnson wins award

Edgar said junior swingman David Johnson became the second Southeast player to win the "Redhawk" award that the new coach has instituted.

The award goes out any time a player combines for a total of 25 in points, rebounds, assists, blocked shots and steals, minus turnovers. Taking a charge is worth two points.

Against Tennessee-Martin, Johnson had 20 points, four rebounds, four assists, six steals and five turnovers. He led the Redhawks in scoring for the second straight game, including 16 points during Wednesday's home loss to IPFW.

Junior forward Brandon Foust earned the other Redhawk award for his performance during a win at Alaska-Fairbanks.