By Ryan Keith 22

Monte Jenkins took his game to another level last season, but the junior guard has some big shoes to fill in an even more important role for the SIUC basketball team this season.

Jenkins will take over the shooting guard spot controlled in the last two seasons by Troy Hudson, who led the Missouri Valley Conference in scoring last season before leaving school for the NBA last spring. Hudson is a member of the Utah Jazz.

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Jenkins averaged 12.4 points per game in the Salukis’ last 18 games in 1996-97, but he sees his solid defensive play, improved shooting and refined ball handling skills as ways he can help replace Hudson’s output.

Jenkins played the small forward spot in Herrin’s system last season, but he will play a similar role offensively by moving to the shooting guard spot.

Playing at the two, you handle the ball more, he said. Troy was a scorer, and I think that will be spread out through the whole team. I don’t think anybody will be averaging 20 (points per game).

Although the Salukis lost just two starters from last year’s squad, even diehard Saluki fans will have a difficult time recognizing the 1997-98 squad. Saluki coach Rich Herrin has brought in 10 players who did not see playing time last season, and the added depth is just one of the benefits Herrin sees.

This is going to be a good basketball team, Herrin said. We’ve got some depth and some size, and this makes them very competitive for playing time. I think everybody needs a little incentive to work with some enthusiasm.

Added depth and big bodies to go with it have both Jenkins and Herrin anticipating the beginning of the season. The Saluki lineup will boast eight players who are 6 feet 6 inches or taller, including four who are at least 6 feet 8 inches tall.

While the increased size gives the Salukis the opportunity to bang with the Missouri Valley Conference’s stronger teams, Herrin is just as excited about the 17 players he will be able to suit up this season. SIUC suffered through a disappointing conference season as injuries to forward Chris Wright and a discipline situation with forward Rashad Tucker forced Herrin to rotate just seven players into the lineup.

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Herrin said that losing Wright, who injured his back in December after the Salukis opened with a 7-3 record, was a key in his team’s conference-season slump that saw the Salukis finish eighth with a 6-12 record. Wright is back this season, but he still is slowed by the effects of the injury.

We just couldn’t win after we lost Chris Wright, Herrin said. I couldn’t get my guys enough rest.

Tucker’s off-the-court problems also cost SIUC in the heart of the conference season. Tucker, who averaged 15.1 points and 9.7 rebounds per game, was suspended by Herrin for three games after he left the team at halftime of a Jan. 12 76-70 loss to Illinois State University at SIU Arena.

Tucker’s role as team leader will be shared with co-captain Shane Hawkins, a 6-foot-2 guard from Pinckneyville. Hawkins averaged 10.4 points and made 38.5 percent of his three-point field goals last season from his point guard position.

But Tucker’s situation is uncertain as he is ineligible to play because of his academic record until the NCAA rules on his eligibility. That means Jenkins’ role takes on even more importance in replacing Tucker’s and Hudson’s scoring punch.

Herrin will count on several guards to fill Hudson’s scoring void, including Hawkins, Jenkins, junior Ryan Hammer, redshirt sophomore Lance Brown and newcomers freshmen Abel Schrader and Joshua Cross and junior Jeremy Wright.

In the frontcourt, 6-foot-9 junior James Watts and 6-foot-6 junior James Jackson are joined by a host of newcomers. Sophomore transfers include 6-foot-7 Derrick Tilmon and 6-foot-9 Chris Thunell, while freshmen twins Nikos Topouzis and Thanasis Topouzis, who have made the move to Carbondale from Greece, add more size as both stand at 6 feet 9 inches.

Jenkins sees the added size and depth as areas that make the team much more likely to be successful.

Everybody knows SIU over the past two years hasn’t had the big guys to do the job, Jenkins said. We’ve got a lot of big guys this season, and they’re going to help us out tremendously.

With a difficult non-conference schedule that begins Friday against the University of Miami Friday, Herrin knows his team will need to play together to succeed.

We’ve got a shot to be in the upper division (of the conference), Herrin said. We’ll get better, and I think we may surprise some people. Our goal would be to try to surprise some people and win some basketball games.