Indians show improvement going into OVC schedule

OMAHA, Neb. -- I hope I'm proven wrong about this, but Southeast Missouri State University's basketball team is probably going to lose at Creighton today.

It doesn't take a genius to predict that outcome. The 9-0 Bluejays are ranked 18th nationally, have handed eighth-ranked Notre Dame its only loss and are only playing Southeast because they're paying the Indians $40,000 plus picking up all the expenses for the trip to Omaha.

But no matter what happens today, the Indians will enter Ohio Valley Conference play next Saturday with at least a 5-6 record. To the novice -- or unrealistic -- Southeast basketball fan, that doesn't seem like much.

However, given the Indians' rugged non-conference schedule and the fact they've been beat up by injuries at various times, it looks pretty darn good. You can bet, when the season started, if somebody told coach Gary Garner he'd be 5-6 going into the OVC schedule, he'd have taken it and not played a game.

And what the Indians have done so far no doubt gives them and their fans hope that they can be a major factor in an OVC race that, once you get past a couple or three teams, looks like it will be extremely balanced and wide open.

Murray State and Tennessee Tech -- who were hands down the two preseason favorites --have done nothing to dispel those thoughts during non-conference play. It will be a major upset if either the Racers or Eagles don't win the title.

Morehead State was thought in the preseason to be easily the OVC's third-best team, and the Eagles should still probably get that nod, although they have been far from overwhelming so far.

But after that -- and I'm still not nearly sold on Morehead right now -- you can throw most of the conference's other six teams in a hat. That's how scrambled things are.

Austin Peay and Tennessee-Martin both had some impressive early non-league wins but lately have come back to earth. Eastern Illinois has struggled against a brutal schedule but has superstar Henry Domercant on its side.

Eastern Kentucky -- even though it has built a decent record by beating creampuffs -- and Tennessee State look right now like the OVC's bottom teams, although even they are probably not all that far off from the rest of the teams outside the big two or three.

The bottom line? Even as the Indians continue to rebuild -- they're still a year away from having a legitimately strong team -- they've probably done a lot better so far than most people expected.

And as the Indians close in on their OVC schedule, the opportunity is there for them to continue to do a lot better than most people expected.

I'm not talking about a conference title, but it's not unrealistic to think that the Indians can challenge for an upper-division finish and perhaps even threaten a .500 overall record.

I know the players are hoping for more than that -- and so are the fans -- but after last season's 6-22 record and eighth-place OVC finish, solid improvement is about all you can realistically expect in one year.

The Indians have certainly demonstrated that so far. We'll see if they can continue it once conference play begins.

Don't be surprised if highly touted guard Josh Gonner from Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College signs with the Indians in the spring.

Gonner is reportedly rated well above Southeast's level, but word is that he wants to play with his brother -- forward Dainmon Gonner, who signed with the Indians during the early period -- and is scheduled to begin practicing with the team the second semester.

Landing Josh Gonner would add to what is already shaping up as a fantastic batch of newcomers for next season that, combined with all the players slated to return, could have the Indians back in the OVC title hunt.

One more Indians recruiting note, future style: Southeast is already high on point guard Dominitrix Johnson, a junior at Bell City High School.

What a ridiculous comment in last week's FanSpeak section of the Southeast Missourian directed at first-year Southeast women's basketball coach B.J. Smith.

Smith has injected plenty of excitement and enthusiasm into the Otahkians, and he appears to have them in line to challenge for an OVC title. And from my experience in dealing with him so far, he seems like nothing but a class act.

Give him a chance before you start ripping him.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian