IT'S TIME TO PUT UP OR SHUT UP AS INDIANS JUMP INTO OVC PLAY

I talked to my former assistant coach Anthony Beane on the phone Monday night and I congratulated him on his Illinois State team being 8-1. Anthony said they were off to a good start, but they are entering conference play this week and it is time to put up or shut up.

Anthony is certainly correct. We have completed our pre-conference schedule, except for two games with Morris Brown that are during the conference season, and we are ready for conference play.

As a coach, you are never totally satisfied with how your team is playing. After our win over Jackson State in El Paso last week during the Sun Classic Tournament, I ran into Hall of Fame coach Don Haskins, who was head coach at Texas-El Paso for 38 years.

I told Don I didn't think we had played well. His response: "Let me tell you something. Enjoy any win because, after all, it is a win." I told him it just seems like we don't have an offense and I asked him if he had ever had a team that seemed to lack an offense. He laughed and replied, "Just 38 of them."

You use the pre-conference games to prepare you for the conference season. I think our schedule has done that and, although I think we will continue to improve as the season progresses, I think we are ready to see how we stack up in conference play.

I'm excited about going on the road for games at Tennessee State Thursday night and Austin Peay Saturday morning. This will be a good early gauge on where we are in the OVC. We have that December OVC loss to Tennessee Tech to overcome and we can if we win the games we are supposed to win.

Tennessee State doesn't have a good record (3-9), but the Tigers have played a lot of teams tough and they are 3-1 at home. After watching tape, I can tell you they are capable of beating any OVC team on their court in Nashville. We will have to have a tremendous effort Thursday night.

Saturday, we meet a very talented Austin Peay team in Clarksville, Tenn. Austin Peay is 9-3 and has the league's best player in Trenton Hassell. In El Paso, I talked with a Seattle Supersonic scout and he said Hassell will be a first-round pick in the NBA draft. The scout felt Hassell could start for any collegiate team in the nation.

The Austin Peay game will be televised nationally on ESPN and that will create great exposure for our program. Nationally televised games really help us in recruiting.

Fans, coaches and players around the nation still talk about our nationally televised NCAA Tournament game with LSU. Our game Saturday will be seen nationwide, and believe me we will have all the players we are recruiting watching the game.

Needless to say, we need to play our best basketball of the season to have a chance to beat Austin Peay and to make a good impression on national television.

The Austin Peay game will be a big game, but if we can't beat Tennessee State Thursday night, it will be a must game, not just a big game.

It is early in the conference season, but in watching the scores of the other league schools, the OVC race looks wide open this year. With Eastern Illinois at Austin Peay Thursday and at Tennessee State Saturday, we will see how some of the top teams in the league stand come Sunday.

Being on the road for our first two OVC games after the break will give us a chance to come together even more as a team. I feel our team is developing and will continue to get better, but as Anthony said...in conference play, it is time to put up or shut up!

Gary Garner is the head basketball coach at Southeast Missouri State University