Tennessee Tech takes Round 1 in women's basketball race

Round one goes to Tennessee Tech -- just barely, and much to the dismay of the Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team and its fans.

The Eaglettes got the early jump on the Redhawks in the battle between what are expected to be the Ohio Valley Conference's best two squads by winning Saturday's 81-77 overtime thriller at the Show Me Center.

When the OVC's preseason poll was released in October, Tennessee Tech barely edged out Southeast for the top spot, which didn't sit well with the Redhawks and their supporters, even though strong cases could be made for both teams.

Although the majority of the OVC schedule is still to be played, the last thing Southeast wanted was to drop this early conference contest on its home court, especially since the Redhawks had posted 18 consecutive wins over OVC opponents at the Show Me Center, dating to the 2003-04 season.

Now that it's happened, however, there is certainly no need for Southeast supporters to panic.

One game does not make a season -- especially since Southeast has 18 OVC contests remaining -- and at 1-1 in league play, the Redhawks are not exactly in a huge hole right off the bat.

The key for the Redhawks will be to take care of business until they meet the Eaglettes in round two in Cookeville, Tenn., on Jan. 21 -- and then win that rematch.

And, who knows, there might very well be a third and final meeting during the OVC Tournament -- with perhaps an NCAA berth on the line.

I'm sure Southeast fans are already licking their chops, no matter how disappointed they were by Saturday's result.

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Because of an early deadline for this column, I couldn't touch on what was an almost equally big game for Southeast's men against Tennessee Tech.

But, no matter what happened against the powerful Eagles, Thursday's win over Tennessee State was important for the Redhawks as they try to stay afloat in an OVC that appears to be as strong top to bottom as it's been in a while.

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And speaking of Southeast's men, who had been in a virtual seasonlong collective offensive funk entering Saturday's contest -- another regional program has been in the same boat.

SIU entered Saturday's game at Kent State shooting 38.2 percent from the field and averaging 62.7 points -- numbers very similar to what the Redhawks were putting up.

And the Salukis took a 3-3 record into Kent State, the same mark the Redhawks had before playing Tennessee Tech.

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I think it's admirable that Southeast will have a minority person as one of the finalists for its head football coaching position, as stated recently by athletic director Don Kaverman.

But why even announce that ahead of time? Why not just let the fact that Southeast interviews a minority applicant stand on its own?

Saying it beforehand -- and professing to not even know who that person is yet -- makes it look like it was done simply for political correctness.

And, if the minority candidate doesn't end up getting the job, it will make Southeast look even more like the whole thing was just window dressing -- even though I don't think it was.

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One more note regarding Southeast's search for a football coach.

People who made the Fan Speak comments on this page criticizing Southeast for considering candidates from the Division II ranks really haven't done their homework.

I'm not saying the Redhawks' next coach will come from Division II -- although I sure wouldn't oppose it -- but that formula has worked pretty well at SIU.

Jerry Kill rebuilt a pair of struggling D-II programs before taking over an SIU outfit that ranked among the worst in Division I-AA -- and couldn't even beat Southeast for a while.

Just look at the Salukis now. I'm sure Southeast supporters would love to experience just a portion of the success that the Salukis have had the past few years.

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I haven't yet had the opportunity to see him play -- and he still no doubt has a long way to go -- but I've been told by college basketball recruiters who I respect that Bell City's 6-foot-10 junior Will Bogan is probably going to be sought after by some of the nation's top programs.

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I fully expected USC and Texas both to finish their schedules unbeaten last weekend. No surprise there, because I'm sure most people looked for the same.

But Texas 70, Colorado 3; and USC 66, UCLA 19? Come on. Those were simply ridiculous scores that I don't know anybody could have anticipated.

Those results, however, did make even more delicious what had already been a highly touted matchup for the national championship of college football.

Talk about two teams clearing their final hurdles so emphatically. That likely has never happened before.

So the hype is already in full swing, even though there is still almost a month to go before the squads square off in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 4 for all the marbles in what figures to be one of the most hyped college football matchups in a long, long time.

My only hope is that the game actually lives up to its billing, which in sports often doesn't happen.

But this truly does seem to be a dream matchup, with two dominant teams -- led by extremely explosive offensives -- that are both loaded with future NFL players.

While I'm not yet ready to make an official prediction, I will admit that I originally was leaning a bit toward Texas, only because USC's defense seemed so vulnerable for the longest time.

But the Trojans appear to have shored up whatever defensive problems that had been plaguing them -- and you can't overlook the fact USC has won an incredible 34 straight games as it seeks an equally amazing third consecutive national title.

Dream matchup? It might not prove out once the squads hit the field, but right now it's sure looking that way.

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Major kudos to coaching legend Ronnie Cookson, the former longtime Scott County Central mentor who recently had the Braves' new gymnasium named after him.

Cookson ranks as one of the state's all-time most successful high school coaches, and many of my fondest early memories of working at the Southeast Missourian were covering his outstanding basketball teams.

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For all the grief that Missouri football coach Gary Pinkel took this year, with his job supposedly on the line, the Tigers still posted enough wins to qualify for a bowl game.

I will say, though, that 6-5 is nothing to get too excited about, especially since the Tigers are part of the mediocre Big 12 North Division.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.