Former Saluki prepares for second Super Bowl

The maroon and white will have one representative in the 2012 Super Bowl.

Brandon Jacobs, running back for the New York Giants, will suit up for his second Super Bowl Sunday against the New England Patriots. Jacobs’ road to the Super Bowl included a one-year stint at SIU in 2004.

“(Jacobs) is a good family man, and when he came to our place, it was ‘yes sir, no sir,’ and he…

Lennon adds 22 recruits

Football coach Dale Lennon decided to take a holistic approach to recruiting this season.

“We were basically going to recruit every position,” Lennon said. “In fact, if you look at the numbers, we basically recruited a whole football team.”

Saluki football snagged 22 recruits for next season, Lennon announced Wednesday during National Signing Day.

Wednesday was the first day high school recruits could sign official agreements, or National Letters of Intent, to…

Men’s tennis team goes far beyond Illinois

When in the midst of recruiting, the SIU men’s tennis team looks at candidates from overseas as well as those only states away.

“In order for us to compete in our league, we need to broaden our recruiting scope, and so we do that nationally and internationally,” said men’s tennis coach Dann Nelson.

Students from seven countries and two states other than Illinois are on the team, and Nelson said he…

Saluki differs from teammates

Softball player Mallory Duran-Sellers’ responsibilities are quite different from those of her teammates.

Duran-Sellers, a senior from Windsor, Colo., studying English education, is the only player on the team who is married. Duran-Sellers tied the knot with her husband Nick Sellers in May after he graduated from SIU. She said outside of softball, her husband is the best thing to her.

“He is really wonderful,” Duran-Sellers said. “He is really encouraging…

Salukis blow late lead against Northern Iowa

The Salukis let a second half lead slip away against a Northern Iowa squad that played without its leading scorer.

SIU (7-16, 4-8 Missouri Valley Conference) fell 58-49 to Northern Iowa (15-9, 5-7 MVC) in Cedar Falls, Iowa Tuesday night. The Salukis held a five-point lead with 11:55 left to go in the game after a jumper from senior forward Mamadou Seck.

But UNI finished the game on an 8-2 run,…

Shakers to host dance clinic for young girls

The Saluki Shakers are taking an initiative to pass on their dance skills to younger girls in the community.

The Shakers will host a dance clinic Sunday at the Recreation Center for girls grades pre-kindergarten through fourth. The Shakers will teach dance routines and techniques to prepare the girls for their first pre-game performance at the men’s basketball game Feb. 8 at the SIU Arena against Missouri State.

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Coach Rick Walker: two and a half decades as a Saluki

As swimmers take their mark and the tension thickens in the final seconds before the race, Rick Walker watches his athletes as they dive into the water with the look a worried parent.

“I have a personal connection with each and every one of my athletes,” said Walker, SIU men’s and women’s swimming and diving coach. “They have made this proven ground for how to be competitive; these kids get…

Diving into SIU Athletics

As he dives head-first into life at SIU, Kegan Skelton juggles the life of a college freshman with the responsibility of a collegiate athlete.

With the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament only two meets away, Skelton said he has found himself in the midst of a whirlwind full of undergraduate studies, daily diving practice and the continuous problem of  having to occasionally miss class for meets.

Although he wasn’t offered any scholarships,…

Salukis draw Ball State for BracketBusters

ESPN’s BracketBusters paired the Salukis and Ball State to play against each other when the match-ups were announced Monday.

SIU will take on Muncie, Indiana’s Ball State Feb. 18 at 1 p.m. according to the Saluki Athletics website. The match-ups for ESPN’s tenth annual BracketBusters event are based on region and Ratings Per Index (RPI), where Ball State ranks 220 and SIU stands at 232, according to Real Time RPI.

The…

Salukis take on top placers, record personal bests

Athletes on the SIU track and field team set multiple personal bests during the Rod McCravy Invitational Friday and Saturday at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Ky.

The SIU men competed against NCAA Top 25 teams such as No. 11 Ohio State University and No. 21 University of Mississippi. The Saluki women’s team, ranked No. 15 in the NCAA, competed against No. 6 University of Central Florida and No….

Basketball reaching new historic lows in recent losses

The men’s basketball team’s resume this season includes school records for the widest margin of defeat and second-fewest points in a game.

The way the coaching staff talks makes it seem like they’re just too tired.

“We were running with bricks on our feet, and they were sprinting,” head coach Chris Lowery said after the Salukis’ 85-42 loss to Wichita State Jan. 21, the largest margin of defeat in school history….

SIU swimmers and divers fall to Western Kentucky

SIU swimming and diving teams hope to improve after sinking to Western Kentucky Saturday at the Dr. Edward J. Shea Natatorium

 

The SIU men and women’s swimming and diving teams fell to Western Kentucky Saturday at home, with a 176-124 margin for the men and a 181-116 margin for the women.

“(We were) coming off a prior week where we were fighting off illness and fatigue,” head coach Rick Walker said….

Moccia discusses potential pairings

BracketBuster match-ups announced later today

 

ESPN’s BracketBusters, played during three days in February each year, adds a wrinkle to the scheduling process for hundreds of college basketball programs.

“BracketBusters is a pain,” Athletic Director Mario Moccia said.

The BracketBusters pairings will be announced today, and since SIU hosted a BracketBusters game last year, the Salukis will have to go on the road this time around. Moccia said he has a general idea…

Former walk-on looks to finish career strong

Now in his final semester at SIU, senior distance runner Daniel Dunbar has had a tumultuous run.

During his career as a Saluki, Dunbar went from walk-on, to nearly off the team, to an all-conference performer.

Dunbar has earned all-Missouri Valley Conference honors three times, though his running career almost never began.

Now in his last indoor track season, Dunbar said SIU and Illinois State were the only division one schools to…

Football recruits start to roll in

Saluki football is mum on the topic of mid-year transfers, but that hasn’t stopped any of the recruits from saying they’re coming to Carbondale.

The mid-year transfer deadline was Jan. 15, which means players who signed before then are enrolled for the spring 2012 semester. Sports information director Tom Weber said the coaching staff wants to wait until National Signing Day, Feb. 1, to officially announce and comment on their…

Hampton bolts to the NFL

Jewel Hampton’s stint with the Salukis comes to a close as the transfer from Iowa decides to make a run to the NFL.

Hampton declared himself eligible for the NFL Draft Jan. 17 and signed with an agent, closing a one-year career at SIU where Hampton piled up 1,121 rushing yards and a Missouri Valley Conference-best 17 touchdowns.

A message left with Hampton was not returned Wednesday, but he said in…

Preseason polls predict softball success

The SIU softball team returns with a strong offensive base from last year’s squad in expectation of a strong 2012 season.

The Salukis ended their 2011 season with a 4-1 loss to Drake University, which placed them third in the Missouri Valley Conference. They finished the season 36-17 overall, and 17-6 in the MVC. Players say the upcoming season is looking even better.

Based on the team’s productive workouts during the…

Bocot’s spark off the bench lifts Salukis over Bradley

The Salukis returned home and toppled Missouri Valley Conference foe Bradley just three days after the worst loss in school history.

“We sat down and just put everything on the table. We just can’t have a showing like we did against Wichita (State),” senior guard Justin Bocot said. “Whatever everybody’s issues was, we just brought it out, we just got to the bottom of it. Today it seemed like everybody…

Mamadou Seck on and off the court

Judging by Mamadou Seck’s attitude Sunday, you never would’ve known that his team had just experienced the worst loss in SIU history.

Seck, Saluki starting forward, didn’t seem upset or disgruntled. Instead, he sat on his couch with his wife Gretchen to his left, and both smiled as they looked down at their 8-month-old son, cradled in Seck’s arms.

On top of adjusting to life as a father and as of…

a midwinter journey through a southern illinois swamp

Hazy winter skies and below freezing temperatures can make the natural world a cruel place.

The days are short and the nights are cold, and in rural southern Illinois, wintertime entertainment can be limited.

Venturing down to the Cache River Natural Area early Saturday morning was my way of fighting off those pesky winter blues. Only 45 minutes south of Carbondale, the Lower Cache offers southern swamplands and bayous matchless to…