Redhawks prepare for 'new season'

~ The men and women begin NCAA tournament quests with first-round OVC tournament games Tuesday.

Southeast Missouri State basketball teams enter this week's Ohio Valley Conference tournament riding different waves of momentum.

But that doesn't change the outlook each squad carries into the eight-team event that begins Tuesday night with first-round games.

As far as both the men and women are concerned, they now embark on new seasons that hopefully will culminate Saturday with OVC tournament championships in Nashville, Tenn., which would propel them into the NCAA tournament.

"That's the goal of every team when the season starts," said Southeast men's coach Scott Edgar, whose sixth-seeded squad plays at third-seeded Tennessee Tech in the opening round. "This is a new season. You're three games away from playing in the NCAA tournament.

"In OVC tournament play, anything can and has happened in the past."

Southeast women's coach John Ishee, whose top-seeded team hosts No. 8 Austin Peay in the first round, feels much the same way.

"We're the regular-season champions, and it's a great accomplishment, but now another season is about to begin and you wipe the slates clean," Ishee said. "Everybody feels like they have a chance no matter where they finished.

"One of our goals at the beginning of the season was to win the OVC tournament and get back to the NCAA tournament. Now we start toward that goal."

While the Southeast men have lost four of their last five games, the women are riding a six-game winning streak that propelled them to the program's first outright OVC regular-season title.

Southeast's women (21-7, 16-4 OVC) gained a share of their inaugural OVC regular-season championship last year, then won their first OVC tournament title to make the NCAA Division I tournament for the first time.

"Our first goal was to win the [regular-season] championship and our next goal is to win the tournament," senior center Lachelle Lyles said. "We want to go back to the NCAA's real bad."

Southeast's men (11-19, 9-11) would also love to get there. Although they will be considerable underdogs -- unlike the women -- they believe the tournament is wide open and affords them a solid opportunity.

"The way the conference was this year, I don't think there's all that much difference between the top teams and the bottom teams," junior point guard Paul Paradoski said. "I think we've got as good a chance as anybody."

Maybe not as good a chance, said Edgar, but at least a chance.

"The top four teams [who play first-round games at home] have the best opportunity," Edgar said. "But we do have an opportunity, and hopefully we'll make the most of it."

As for how Southeast squads fared against Tuesday's opponents during the regular season, the women split with Austin Peay (10-19, 9-11) -- losing on the road and winning at home -- while the men dropped both games to Tennessee Tech (18-12, 13-7).

But those results no longer matter. It's a new season now, with Tuesday's winners advancing to Friday's semifinals in Nashville.

"I think every team that made the tournament believes they can win it," Edgar said. "That's what conference tournaments are all about."

Noteworthy

• Edgar said he continues to hold out hope that junior center Mike Rembert will be able to play Tuesday night.

Rembert, who has missed the last five games with a knee injury, is Southeast's leading rebounder with six per game. He also averages 10.3 points.

"Mike has still not gone through a full practice yet, just limited things," Edgar said. "I'm still hopeful he can play, but it's up in the air."