HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM

ST. LOUIS -- Considering how much trouble they have had even trying to get to Texas, actually playing in the Sierra Providence SunClassic Tournament in El Paso should be a piece of cake for Southeast Missouri State University's basketball Indians.

But as the Southeast Missourian went to press Tuesday night, the Indians were still holed up in a hotel near Lambert Field in St. Louis and the prospects of them making it to El Paso for tonight's first-round game against Houston had all but ended.

"We're still going to try to make it, but it doesn't look good at this point," said Southeast coach Gary Garner, just moments before learning that the Indians will likely play only one tourney game, that being Thursday night (see Garner's column at the bottom of this page).

If the Indians were able to make it to El Paso today, they would pit their 7-3 record against 2-7 Houston at about 10 p.m. in the second first-round game.

The tourney was scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. with host Texas-El Paso (7-1) going against Jackson State (0-10). Thursday, the opening-round losers square were slated to play at 8 p.m. for third place, with the first-round winners meeting at 10 p.m. for the championship.

"It's been a crazy couple of days," said Garner with a weary smile.

That doesn't even begin to describe the travel problems that have plagued the Indians as they have tried to overcome some severe weather to make their way down south.

Southeast left Cape Girardeau Monday afternoon and stayed overnight at a hotel near Lambert Field. They were scheduled to catch an early Tuesday morning flight out of St. Louis, then change planes in Dallas before heading on to El Paso.

But the Dallas area was hit Monday by snow and freezing rain that has virtually shut down the Dallas-Forth Worth Airport, with no relief in sight until at least late in the week.

So, with the DFW Airport at a standstill, the Indians did not fly out of St. Louis early Tuesday, as originally planned. And there was also no way they could get to El Paso today on their original route, since Dallas would still be basically shut down by the bad weather.

With so many people scheduled to fly at this time of the holiday season -- and with thousands of Wisconsin and UCLA football fans heading to El Paso for Friday's Sun Bowl -- it was looking more and more like Southeast would not even be able to get to the tournament for tonight's game.

According to Garner, if the Indians can't make it to the tournament today -- as was expected -- tourney officials have told him that UTEP and Jackson State will play in the first round as originally scheduled and that winner will meet Houston in Thursday's championship game.

Since UTEP will be a huge favorite to beat Jackson State, that would likely allow the Indians to face the Tigers Thursday.