GREEK CENTER STILL FINDS CAPE ELUSIVE

Kostas Avgerinos is having a heck of a time making his way to Cape Girardeau.

And if he's going to ever wind up playing basketball for Southeast Missouri State University, it won't be for another year.

Avgerinos, a 7-foot-1 center from Athens, Greece, who has already signed with Southeast twice, did not pass enough junior college classes this summer to be eligible to play for the Indians during the 2001-2002 season.

So Avgerinos, who has been at Southern Idaho Junior College the past two years -- he redshirted last season after suffering a serious concussion in practice -- will spend one more year in the juco ranks, although probably not at Southern Idaho.

"He had that severe concussion last year, missed class time and got way behind," said Southeast coach Gary Garner. "He just wasn't able to make it all up this summer."

Garner said he thinks there is a good chance Avgerinos -- who originally signed with Southeast two years ago when he still lived in Greece but did not qualify academically -- will ultimately wind up in Cape Girardeau.

"We've been real loyal to him and I feel good about the possibility of his coming here after next year," Garner said.

Although highly skilled, Avgerinos would have likely been something of a project because he hasn't played much over the past two years. In that regard, his not coming to Southeast right now could actually benefit the Indians for this season. That's because, with the scholarship that would have went to Avgerinos, the Indians were in just the last few days able to pluck something of a hidden gem from the juco ranks.

Demetrius King, a 6-4, 190-pound swingman from Okaloosa-Walton Community College in Niceville, Fla., has signed with Southeast and is enrolled for the current semester that began Monday.

King, who will have two seasons of eligibility at Southeast, averaged 11.7 points per game overall -- including 16.2 points in conference play -- as a sophomore for an Okaloosa-Walton squad that qualified for the national juco tournament and featured forward Kedrick Brown, who wound up being selected No. 11 overall in the 2001 NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics.

King, who figures to play both the small forward and shooting guard positions at Southeast, shot 47 percent from the field and 41 percent from 3-point range last season. He also averaged 4.2 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game.

"We're very happy to have him here. We feel like he can be a big part of our team," said Garner. "I haven't personally seen him play, but the people I've talked to say he's a very good player. He had solid numbers on a very good team."

Okaloosa-Walton coach Bruce Stewart said he believes the Indians got a real steal in landing King, who fell through the cracks somewhat because -- like Avgerinos -- he needed to pass some junior-college summer classes in order to be eligible on the Division I level.