HOOP SCOOP: AFTER PLENTY OF TIME ON THE ROAD, INDIANS BACK AT HOME

It has been a while since my last article about what's going on with Southeast basketball. I hope everyone had a safe and happy holidays.

The holidays were extremely short for us as we played in a tournament in Puerto Rico and began conference play shortly thereafter. Basketball players and coaches hardly have time to get their breath this time of year.

To be honest with you, as I write this Tuesday afternoon, I am sitting in a rest stop between Nashville, Tenn., and Louisville, Ky. I am on my way to watch a game at St. Catharine Junior College tonight. The school is outside of Louisville and they have a player who I need to see play for recruiting purposes.

Beating Tennessee State Monday night will make the trip shorter leaving from here. There seems to be no rest in this profession. I would have loved to have gone home after the game and victory. I am one of those guys who loves home.

Well, that's enough of that, now let's talk a little basketball. The season hasn't gone as well as we had hoped thus far, but I can see some bright spots at the end of the tunnel.

Our guys played well in Puerto Rico against some very tough competition. We played probably as well as we have all year. Of the eight teams that were in the tournament, I feel that seven of them will be in the NCAA Tournament in March. Not too bad of a tournament field.

Cincinnati won the tournament and had a great team. I thought we played them tough our opening game, but got overpowered late in the game. They are a team that can win it all in the NCAA Tournament.

After our return from Puerto Rico, we had to quickly get ready for our conference opener at Austin Peay on Saturday. I knew they would be tough this year.

Austin Peay was picked to win the Ohio Valley Conference in the preseason poll. They had the premier player of the OVC in Bubba Wells and he had a monster game against us with 39 points. It was a hard-fought game but Austin Peay shot well and got the victory. William Eley had 31 points and 16 rebounds, but that was not enough to get us a win.

After that loss, the pressure was really on us to get a split on this trip. The Tennessee State game became much more critical. Our kids accepted the challenge and came back with a win. I was very pleased with the play of all the players. It was a big win for us.

Our next three conference games are at home, beginning with Tennessee-Martin tonight. To be a contender in any league, it is very important to win all your conference games at home. This is our goal.

Saturday night Eastern Kentucky will come to town, then Monday night we'll host Morehead State. All three teams will be very good clubs and will be a challenge for us. We will need to play our best ball to beat those teams.

Now that the holidays are over, it is time for some great college basketball. Hope to see you at the Show Me Center (tonight), Saturday and Monday. It should be exciting and fun.

Ron Shumate is the head basketball coach at Southeast Missouri State University