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Former SIU point guard Bryan Mullins wasn’t drafted Thursday night, but may actually be in a better position to earn a spot on an NBA roster.

Mullins will get to play for two different teams’ summer league squads, he said Friday. The 6-foot-2, 190-pound lefty will play for Boston and Chicago’s summer league squads beginning in July. The Celtics will play in Orlando, while the Bulls will play their summer league in Las Vegas, which allowed Mullins to play for both of them.

For more on this story, please see Saturday’s editions.

Season ticket prices for SIU’s two main sports depend on a lot of things, but officials said last week they don’t expect “significant increases.”
Of course, that could mean a lot of things, but, even with the new facilities and the smaller venues, I don’t think they’re going to increase ticket prices. They want (more...)

Got an email today from Craig Miller, the chief media guy for USA Basketball, about watching the U19 World Championship Team’s games on television. As you probably know, SIU coach Chris Lowery is an assistant on the team with former Saluki coach Matt Painter and head coach Jamie Dixon of Pittsburgh.
Miller said FIBA (more...)

Leadership was something hard to come by on the court last season for the SIU men’s basketball team. We all probably learned to not take it for granted. That it can’t be coached. Can’t be conjured up. Can’t be counted on from somebody who’s never really had it.

Tony Freeman’s performance in Turkey was very (more...)

Ran into Randal Falker and Matt Shaw this week at the SIU day camp. Both were pretty much the same guys, minus the stress of their senior years.

On Sunday, I’ll have a “Where Are They Now?” feature on Shaw, with one on Falker to follow. Both played pretty well overseas, and don’t look too (more...)

CARBONDALE - Marcus Belcher is back in the family, this time as ‘Coach.’
The 29-year-old former point guard at Southern Illinois University will start Thursday as men’s basketball coach Chris Lowery’s newest assistant. Belcher, who moved over from Evansville, where he was also an assistant, replaced 21-year assistant Rodney Watson. Watson left to become the (more...)

Good news for SIU’s women’s track and field team. Turns out they’ll have at least one more competitor in Arkansas. Thrower Gwen Berry earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships Tuesday.
Berry, who finished seventh in the women’s hammer throw at the Mideast Regional in Louisville, received a bid through the descending order list by the NCAA’s track committee. Anyone who finished inthe top 12 at the four regionals was eligible to be selected. Berry was seeded 18th in the field with a throw of 59.58 meters.
Berry joined Jeff Schirmer (10,000-meter run), Bianca Stuart (long jump) and Sasha Leeth (hammer throw) as SIU’s national qualifiers.
The national track and field championships will be held in Fayetteville, Ark., June 10-13.

SIU men’s basketball coach Chris Lowery will stay in the family for his next assistant coach, according to a source close to the Saluki athletic program.
Lowery has offered the job to former Saluki guard Marcus Belcher, who is an assistant at Evansville, according to the source. The move was originally reported by Fox (more...)

Marcus Belcher, a current assistant at Evansville, will be named Southern Illinois University’s new men’s basketball assistant coach, according to a report from Fox 7 in Evansville.
The television station’s Web site said Belcher is expected to replace Rodney Watson as Chris Lowery’s new assistant. Watson, an associate head coach at SIU and a Saluki coach for 21 years, left to become the head coach at Division II Southern Indiana earlier this month.
Belcher was with the Purple Aces for two seasons after coming over from Eastern Illinois. The 6-foot-1 guard started on SIU’s Sweet 16 team in 2002, and played two seasons in Carbondale. He previously played at Moberly (Mo.) Community College.
Messages for Lowery, SIU sports information director Tom Weber and SIU athletic director Mario Moccia were not immediately returned Saturday.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Three Southern Illinois track and field athletes punched their tickets to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships next month in Arkansas by finishing in the top-five in their respective events Friday night.
Two-time All-American Bianca Stuart won the women’s long jump title on her last jump of the day, a (more...)