Jeff Early News

Although the SIU men's basketball team failed to improve upon the previous year's conference standing, the 2012-13 Salukis are not the same team they were last season.

Mark Phelps' aspirations for his first Thursday night bye in the Arch Madness Missouri Valley Conference Championship evaporated when freshman Micah Mason's three-point field goal attempt at the buzzer fell short of the mark on March 2. Despite a horrific 0-4 start to Valley play for the Bulldog men, Phelps and the Bulldogs still had a chance.

ST. LOUIS - There will come a time in the next year or two when we say Missouri State's Paul Lusk coached his finest game.

It was February 2nd, and Southern Illinois was in a bad place. They had just managed to open their road game against Illinois State by being outscored 20-5, and then closed the game on the wrong side of another 31-7 run, leaving them stuck as the loser by a nasty 83-47 loss - their sixth in a row and eleventh loss in their last 12 games.

1 seed is jinxed in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. The No. 1 seed has won the Valley Tournament only six times during its 22-year run in St.