Southeast basketball seasons get real Friday

Southeast Missouri State basketball teams have put in weeks of practice. They've tuned up with exhibition games and scrimmages.

Now it's just about time to get things going for real.

Both Southeast squads tip off the 2012-13 season Friday, the men at Kansas and the women at home against Wright State.

Southeast's men have an especially imposing challenge in their opener. Kansas, last year's NCAA runner-up, begins the season ranked seventh nationally.

The trip to Kansas, along with a visit to 15th-ranked Missouri on Dec. 4 and three games in Chattanooga, Tenn., Nov. 18 through 20 as part of the CBE Classic, will net the Redhawks about $240,000 in guarantees. The money goes toward the university's general athletic department revenue.

Southeast fans are no doubt interested to see if fourth-year coach Dickey Nutt can continue the solid improvement of the men's program and if second-year coach Ty Margenthaler can begin to make headway in his rebuilding process with the women's team, picked to finish last in the Ohio Valley Conference.

They'll soon begin to find out.

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The remarkable resurgence of the Jackson High School football team this year has been well-documented.

The Indians, who won just two games last season and six games total the previous three years, have been strong all season. They are 7-2 and will play for the Class 5 District 1 championship tonight when they host Summit.

It's been an amazing turnaround for the Indians under first-year coach Brent Eckley, who installed an exciting spread offense that has been hard to stop. Jackson has exploded for 110 points in its last two games.

Central has also had an impressive resurgence, the Tigers' bounce-back being in-season.

Coach Nathan Norman's squad was saddled with a 2-6 record and a five-game losing streak after suffering a string of gut-wrenching defeats, several in the closing minutes or seconds.

The Tigers, undeterred, have bounced back with three straight wins, capped by Wednesday's thrilling 17-14 upset at Sikeston that saw the Tigers finally turn the tables by scoring a touchdown in the last minute.

Central broke a six-game losing streak to the Bulldogs and, despite a 5-6 record, will play for the Class 4 District 1 title tonight at Hillsboro.

On the line tonight for both Jackson and Central will be berths in Saturday's state quarterfinals.

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Cape Girardeau lost a true icon last week with the passing of Herb Nance at age 85.

I was fortunate enough to consider Herb -- a lot of people probably knew him as the "Flag Man" -- one of my best friends.

We met in the summer of 1985 at a Cape Post 63 American Legion baseball game. I had been working at the Southeast Missourian less than a year and was covering the contest. Herb was heavily involved with Post 63 and, as a former standout baseball player himself, attended most of the games.

Even though there was nearly a 30-year age difference between us, we had many similar interests and hit it off immediately.

We spent countless summer days and nights together in the Capaha Field press box during Post 63 games when longtime manager Doc Yallaly directed the program. I served as public address announcer and operated the scoreboard while Herb provided much of the between-inning music and assisted in whatever else needed to be done.

We remained close even after we both were no longer hanging around the Capaha press box for Post 63 games on a regular basis.

Herb's health worsened in recent years, and for the past couple of years he was confined to a wheelchair at the Missouri Veterans Home. But he never lost his legendary sense of humor.

One of the highlights for me was spending time with Herb at the Veterans Home, which I tried to do as much as my scheduled allowed.

While I was saddened by Herb's death, and my condolences go out to his family, I take comfort in the fact he lived a long and fulfilling life. And I can truly say Herb lived life to the fullest.

This probably gets thrown around too much sometimes, but I can honestly say that I never heard anybody say a bad word about Herb. I'll definitely miss him, and I'm sure countless other people share my sentiments.

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Two former OVC men's basketball players were on NBA rosters when the league tipped off last week.

Two-time OVC player of the year Kenneth Faried of Morehead State began his second season with the Denver Nuggets while two-time all-OVC first-team pick Kevin Murphy of Tennessee Tech started his rookie campaign with the Utah Jazz.

Faried, a forward who earned All-American honors for the Eagles, was a first-round draft choice of the Denver Nuggets in 2011 with the 22nd overall pick. He was named to the NBA all-rookie team last year after averaging 10.2 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.

Murphy, a shooting guard, was drafted by the Jazz in June with the 47th overall pick.

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Scott County Central High School graduate Otto Porter, a forward who has received preseason All-American mention as he enters his sophomore campaign at Georgetown, stands a good chance of joining the aforementioned OVC duo in the NBA some day.

All the mock NBA drafts I've seen have Porter rated a first-round selection for whatever year he decides to come out.

I remember writing after I saw Porter play in the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament that I wouldn't be surprised if he made it to the NBA. Now it looks like that's a strong possibility.

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The SIU Carbondale men's basketball team, in total rebuilding mode under first-year coach Barry Hinson, was picked last in the Missouri Valley Conference preseason poll released last week.

It marks the first time the Salukis were selected for the MVC basement since 1986.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.