OVERALL, GARNER CAN'T COMPLAIN ABOUT 8-2 START

Sure, losing to Southern Illinois for the seventh straight time Sunday was disappointing.

But, when Southeast Missouri State University men's basketball coach Gary Garner looks at the big picture of what has taken place for his team so far, he can't help but be pleased.

The Indians are 8-2 as they prepare to jump into Ohio Valley Conference play in earnest this week, with home games against Tennessee State Thursday night and Austin Peay Saturday afternoon.

Asked during his weekly media conference Monday how he would have felt if somebody had told him before the season that the Indians would win eight of their first 10 games, Garner smiled.

"I'd have taken that pretty quick," he said. "All coaches sit around before the season, look at their schedule, and figure out who they think they can beat. You never like to lose, but I'm happy with 8-2."

Garner figures the last three games have done quite a bit to help the Indians prepare for the resumption of OVC play.

Facing arguably their three toughest non-conference opponents of the season, the Indians beat Sun Belt Conference favorite Arkansas State at home, stunned Missouri Valley Conference favorite Bradley on the road and then lost at SIU Sunday.

"These last three games have really been good for preparing us for conference play," Garner said. "After the Southern Illinois game, I asked our players in the locker room why we play a non-conference schedule. Five or six in unison said to help us prepare for the conference schedule.

"That's what it's all about, the conference. You want to position yourself to get a home game in the (OVC) postseason tournament, get to Nashville (for the OVC Tournament semifinals) and see what happens."

Even though the Indians struggled offensively and had 27 turnovers during their final non-conference test Sunday against SIU, Garner believes Southeast is ready to jump head first into OVC play.

"I think we're ready. We're as ready as we can be," he said. "We're improving every game and every week, and I think we'll continue to do that the whole season. We're as far along as I expected we'd be.

"We're a confident team right now. We might have been a little more confident if we had won (Sunday), but we're confident. We're 1-0 in the league with a big road win."

The Indians defeated Tennessee Tech 84-79 on Dec. 2 in their only OVC game to date.

Assessing the OVC so far, Garner envisions a much more balanced race than what transpired last season, when Murray State and Southeast ran away from the other eight league teams.

Murray State went 16-2 in OVC play last season to win the regular-season title, finishing one game ahead of 15-3 Southeast. The next-best record in the conference was 9-9.

"Unless Murray State does it, I don't think anybody will run through the league like that this year," Garner said. "And I don't think Murray will. They have the same team back, but the league is so much better.

"If you look at the records, and who teams have played, it looks like there's a lot more depth and parity in the league this year."

* Thursday night's foe in a 7:30 tipoff at the Show Me Center, Tennessee State, is struggling with a 1-9 record, but the Tigers -- who have yet to play a league game -- have two of the OVC's top scorers in Jamie Roberts (third at 19.7 points per game) and Kurtis Murry (sixth at 16.2 ppg).

Saturday's opponent in a 3 p.m. tipoff, Austin Peay, was picked in the preseason OVC poll to tie for second with Southeast. The Governors, 1-1 in OVC play, have some of the league's top talent, led by Trenton Hassell, who is fourth in scoring (19.2), fourth in rebounding (8.2) and third in assists (4.8).