SIU Declines Post Season

by **E-Villan** » March 9th, 2016, 11:22 pm

Saw this blurb in the Evansville Courier-Press:

Southern Illinois, which finished the season 22-10, will not participate in any college basketball postseason tournaments. The Salukis were expected to receive an invitation to either the College Basketball Invitational (CBI), CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT) or the new Vegas 16 Tournament. The Salukis were picked to finish ninth in the preseason Missouri Valley Conference poll, but tied for fourth with Northern Iowa with an 11-7 league record. Their 22 wins were the most since the 2007 team won 29 games and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament. SIU posted its first winning season since 2008. "We carefully considered a host of factors before reaching the decision to end our season," head coach Barry Hinson said. "Chief among them were the health and welfare of our players, as well as the budgetary implications of hosting games on our campus during spring break."

My bet is this is 100% financial, per the article posted in another thread on the budget cuts in Illinois. That's too bad, I would have liked to see them play a few more games.

**Sponsor**

by **UE-grad** » March 10th, 2016, 7:14 am

Are the road games "pay for play" too?

by **squirrel** » March 10th, 2016, 7:44 am

No, the host payments subsidize the expense for the traveling teams.

by **BirdsEyeView** » March 10th, 2016, 8:27 am

squirrel wrote:No, the host payments subsidize the expense for the traveling teams.

I know the only postseason tournament that Illinois State will accept would be the new Vegas 16 team tourney. They will not accept CBI or CIT.

by **Play Angry** » March 10th, 2016, 9:25 am

BirdsEyeView wrote:
squirrel wrote:No, the host payments subsidize the expense for the traveling teams.

I know the only postseason tournament that Illinois State will accept would be the new Vegas 16 team tourney. They will not accept CBI or CIT.

Is this purely a budget decision?

I would think Muller would want all the extra games he can get to develop the underclassmen.

by **BirdsEyeView** » March 10th, 2016, 9:53 am

Play Angry wrote:
BirdsEyeView wrote:
squirrel wrote:No, the host payments subsidize the expense for the traveling teams.

I know the only postseason tournament that Illinois State will accept would be the new Vegas 16 team tourney. They will not accept CBI or CIT.

Is this purely a budget decision?

I would think Muller would want all the extra games he can get to develop the underclassmen.

From our beat writer's Twitter post, yes. Don't want to pay to play/host games in the CIT and CBI.

You would think he would want to further develop postseason success for McIntosh, Hawkins, Lee, Banyard and Wills, but three problems I see:

1. Our lack of depth due to injury (only 8 with 3 Seniors)
2. Our entire Freshmen class either quit, transferred or are injured/redshirted.
3. Due to #2, his next recruiting class must be a success and the pressure is on. We have 3-4 openings I believe so the staff may prefer to be out recruiting hard for whomever is left in the Spring signing period (JuCos, late bloomers, etc.)

by **Play Angry** » March 10th, 2016, 9:58 am

Ah, interesting. The injuries are an especially good point to consider - if those playing the most minutes won't be there next year, the benefit is certainly diminished.