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The Salukis are ready to put the past behind them.
The SIU women’s basketball team is coming off of its second straight losing season, going 9-18 and 5-13 in Missouri Valley Conference regular season play. In the conference preseason rankings that came out Tuesday at the MVC Media Day, the Salukis were picked to finish 10th in the conference — out of 10 teams.
Head coach Missy Tiber said she welcomes the underdog role.
“It makes it exciting; it’s going to be a challenge,” Tiber said. “(The coaching staff) understood that when I took the position.”
Tiber said the biggest change for the team would be the new up-tempo offense and it would create more scoring opportunities for the Salukis.
“The kids have really embraced it,” Tiber said. “I think they are very excited for the freedom they get with the flow of our offense.”
Tiber instituted the same offense in her old program, Division II Tusculum College.
At Tusculum, Tiber accumulated a record of 86-34. The team won back-to-back South Atlantic Conference championships in the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons and made it to the NCAA Division II Tournament in those years.
Tiber said the biggest difference at SIU is the recruitment process.
“I can look at more players in the gym,” Tiber said. “Hopefully at some point we’ll have a product. We have to bring our program up to that level so we can go after and recruit the top talent and kids. The recruiting trail has been the biggest difference to this stage.”
Tiber has brought in five new players on the team, three of which are freshmen.
Tiber said she is looking for someone to come in and lead the Salukis
“There are three seniors on the team, and two of them are newcomers,” Tiber said. “That tells you where we are at and where we need to go.”
Tiber said she looks forward to Missouri Valley Conference competition and embraces the challenges ahead.
Missouri State head coach Nila Milson said the conference is a stronger overall.
“I truly believe the Valley as a whole is stronger this year and probably the strongest it has been in the three years I have been here,” Milson said.
Milson said out-of-conference schedules would play a big part of getting the conference some national respect and more bids in the NCAA Tournament.
“It is still very, very tough to get multiple bids away from the big schools simply because of a perception standpoint,” Milson said. “It doesn’t do any good to go 0-11 in non-conference. We need to schedule at the level you can schedule and still win ballgames.”
Illinois State head coach Robin Pingeton agreed with Milson.
“Scheduling is a big part of that in changing the image,” Pingeton said. “I remember just like it was yesterday that we were getting two or three bids in the NCAA. We got to not only schedule the games, but we have to win the games.”
Tiber said she wants to help raise the image of the conference, but at the same time she wants to focus on the challenges that lay ahead.
“I think we have some challenges ahead, but we’re all geared toward it, and we’re going to hit it full force,” Tiber said.
The women’s basketball exhibition season begins Sunday against Quincy.
Derek Robbins can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 269
