Falcons drop battle of top-ranked teams

Talk about your early season showdowns. On Saturday night, Southeastern Illinois, which finished 4th in last year's national tournament and debuted ranked second this season, travelled to take on top-ranked Moberly.

The Greyhounds defended the home court in a 70-50 win that was actually a little closer than the score indicated.

“We had some chances,” said SE Illinois head coach Todd Franklin. “We turned the ball over something like 17 or 18 times in the first half, most of them unforced. Maybe it's first game jitters, in juco, you're always always dealing with young guys. We just didn't handle the ball and just shot it bad.”

The Falcons were as close as three early in the second half. But then Keith Hardaway hit a couple of big threes to stretch the lead to ten. It stayed that way for most of the second half.

“We had a timeout with about five minutes left and we said 'We've played horrible and here we are down ten,'” Franklin said. “We thought if we could have a good five, you never know. It just didn't happen.”

Moberly extended the lead to 20 in the closing minutes to go to 2-and-0 on the season. It doesn't get much easier for either team. The Greyhounds play three times in four days before hosting No. 22 Iowa Western. The Falcons, meanwhile, have a murderous schedule all season long.

“The schedule's so brutal,” Franklin said. “It's ridiculous who we play. It's my fault, I did it. We'll probably lose some.”

“I've been telling everybody this is not going to be like our last 2-3 years where we're good right away,” the coach added. “I think we're going to end up being one of the better teams in the country, but it's not going to happen right away.”

The Falcons are led by five sophomores, four of whom Franklin thinks will play Division One basketball next year. The only exception is 6-foot-4, 200-pound Richard Andrews, who is too old and will probably have to go Division II.

“He would be able to go Division One, but unless somebody appeals the age rule, he's going to end up going Division II,” Franklin said of the Jamaican native. “He'll probably end up with one of the top teams in Division II.”

Other than that, Franklin doesn't have a clue where Tyrone Davidson, Chris Ames, Sammy Hunter or Kwen Trice will end up.

“I couldn't tell you where any of them are going to go. It will be completely different in the spring,” Franklin said. “A lot of people are calling, a lot of people are sending mail. When we say nothing's happening till the spring, nothing's happening till the spring. It's hard for me to give you any kind of accurate update until then.”

However, the coach did deliver one message to the quartet of sophomores.

“I told them if you're worried about recruiting, you better not worry about it for a while,” Franklin said. “If anybody tries to sign you off the way you played Saturday night, you don't want to go there because they aren't going to be any good.”

Somebody will most likely sign all four guys. But it's going to be a few months before any of them make a decision, or even get any closer. For now, there are more pressing things on their minds.

“If we [play like that] somebody will be dead,” Franklin mostly joked. “It'll either be them or me, but not everybody's going to survive the season if we do.”