THE LATEST LINE: TRCC's BESS ACCOMPLISHES MILESTONE WIN

This region has been blessed with some outstanding basketball coaches over the years but Gene Bess will no doubt go down as one of the all-time best.

Monday night, Bess won his 800th game as the head coach at Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff. The Raiders' 93-40 romp past East Central College gave Bess a stunning 800-193 record in 27 seasons as TRCC's head coach.

During those 27 seasons, Bess has led the Raiders to a pair of National Junior College Athletic Association championships and countless conference and regional titles.

Bess, whose high school coaching stops in Southeast Missouri prior to landing at TRCC included Oran, has coached a number of players who went on to star at Division I colleges and several who played professionally, including beleaguered NBA star Latrell Sprewell.

Two current members of Southeast Missouri State University's basketball program played under Bess: assistant coach Anthony Beane, a star of TRCC's 1992 national championship team, and leading scorer Cory Johnson.

And Bess, at age 62, doesn't appear to be slowing down any. His current TRCC team has already reached 20 victories and is ranked among the nation's top junior-college squads.

Congratulations to this basketball coaching legend and here's wishing him many more victories in the future.

* I can't believe I haven't heard more from the public after my ill-advised Super Bowl prediction of Green Bay 35, Denver 17.

As everybody knows, the 12-point-underdog Broncos stunned the Packers 31-24 in one of the most thrilling Super Bowl games ever.

Everybody has been extremely kind to me, not letting me have it nearly as much as I thought they would. Sure, I've taken the assorted good-natured ribbings, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Oh well, what do you expect from a guy who hasn't won the weekly media grid picks competition in a few years.20I guess I'm losing my touch.

* Wednesday marks the first day when high school football players can officially sign letters of intent with colleges.

As has been previously reported, several local gridiron standouts will be signing on the dotted line come Wednesday, led by the area's lone Division I-A recruit, Jackson lineman J.P. Hall, who has committed to Missouri.

SEMO figures to sign a few local products and the Indians have also reportedly already landed quite a few players from the juco ranks, including a highly-touted quarterback from California. Those names will be released soon.

* My gut feeling on what kind of penalties SEMO's men's basketball program will ultimately be given by the NCAA after this ongoing investigation is completed in a few weeks?

I really don't think the penalties will be too severe, mainly because the school acted swiftly in taking its own actions, including dismissing the coaching staff that was on board when the alleged violations took place.

But, hey, I've been wrong plenty of times before. The Super Bowl is a perfect example.

We'll just have to wait and see what happens.

~Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian