SIU's Mullins sold on 'intangibles' for 2020 men's basketball
Who will win the upcoming Missouri Valley Conference race? It may be the talent-laden Panthers of the University of Northern Iowa with possible All-American guard A.J. Green. Or, perhaps, it could be Bradley with it's high-flying wings Elijah Childs and Danya Kingsby.
But sometimes sheer talent can be challenged by sheer audacity and confidence. That's what SIU men's basketball coach Bryan Mullins posits - not that SIU is bereft of talent itself. Returning this winter are the best newcomer for 2019-20, Marcus Domask, and also Lance Jones. Jones was the starting point guard for a young Dawgs squad but was probably their best player by the end of the year.
"I think we have the intangibles and character to be competitive in 2020-21," said Mullins on SIUSalukis.com TV. "You must have the mindset to compete."
The Dawgs had that mindset last year when they went after loose balls by diving to the hard surface of the Banterra Center to wrestle opponents for a possession. Fight is what Mullins wants in his players, both starters and reserves. Adding to the toughness curriculum this past year and into 2021 is the COVID-19 crisis.
Athletes have just recently gone full-bore (with common sense mask wearing and even disinfecting basketballs), so there is a lot of catching up to do as far as conditioning - but not so much catching up to do for some. Red shirt sophomore Ben Harvey sat out of competition last year due to transfer rules, but he did not sit out of the SIU basketball system.
"Harvey has got a tremendous amount of knowledge of our offense and defense," said Mullins. "And he has motivation, too. He has something to prove since he has not played for over a year after transferring from Eastern Illinois University."
"I had to just try to improve every day last year in practice," noted Harvey. Harvey is ready to step right in as a wing guard.
New SIU center J.D. Muila concurs that a good part of learning his position is practice time. "Repetition of details everyday is the key for me," he said.
It seems to be working for the new guys like Muila and top-notch point guard Dalton Banks.
"We practice fundamentals every time we practice," said Banks. "Every day we just get better and better."
Now, with Football postponed until the spring semester, the Saluki hoops contingent will be the fall's big show. They will be in it by December (we hope) to surprise a bunch of the supposed leaders of the MVC pack.