THE LATEST LINE: WHAT A YEAR FOR SEMO BASKETBALL

The college basketball season is far from over. In a sense, in fact, it's just beginning as conference postseason tournaments are about to tip off across the country.

Southeast Missouri State University's Indians are gearing up for the OVC Tournament that begins Tuesday. The Indians have their sights set on winning the tourney and gaining the league's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.

But before the OVC tourney gets going, it's time for the Indians to step back for a moment and be recognized.

Introducing the SEMO Indians your 1999-2000 OVC co-champions.

A few years ago, the thought of SEMO fans getting to say the above was pretty preposterous. But that was before coach Gary Garner and his fine group of assistants came to Cape Girardeau.

Last season, Garner's second at the helm, the Indians went 20-9 for their best-ever record on the Division I level. Then they came within a buzzer shot of making the NCAA Tournament as they lost a heartbreaker to Murray State in the OVC tourney finals.

Nobody knows what will happen in this week's conference tournament, but nothing can detract from the Indians' 21-6 regular season which surpasses last year's previous best-ever Division I record and first OVC regular-season title.

Congratulations to Garner, his assistants, the players and everybody else associated with the program for an unbelievable season that is really just beginning.

* Just one week from today, at the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville, Tenn., the OVC's automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament will be awarded when the conference tourney's championship game is played.

And who that champion will be or who is even going to reach the finals is pretty much anybody's guess.

Last year, it was basically a given that Murray State and SEMO would meet to decide the NCAA berth. Those two teams totally dominated the OVC regular season, so there was no surprise as the Racers and Indians cruised into the title game, where they staged a classic final.

This season, however, things don't appear to be nearly so cut and dried. While the Indians and Racers are again the OVC's top two teams, many of the other squads have improved by leaps and bounds.

Which is why this week in general, and the weekend in Nashville in particular, should be something special.

There is no question that SEMO and Murray will be favored to make it to the OVC Tournament championship game. After all, they had the league's best records for a reason.

But this appears to be one year where the favorites must be particularly wary of upsets, and Saturday's semifinals both figure to be excellent.

It should be quite a week.

* A quick note to SEMO fans: just because the Indians are solid favorites to win Tuesday's first-round tournament game, that doesn't mean they don't still deserve a packed Show Me Center.

Nothing can be taken for granted in a sudden-death situation, which the tourney is, so an arena filled with boisterous fans could very well make a difference.

And, this being their last home game, the Indians deserve plenty of appreciation for their fantastic season. It's also a chance to say goodbye to the team's three fine seniors: Roderick Johnson, Mike Branson and Brian Bunche.

~Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian