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Monday, March 19, 2007 11:26 PM CDT
EIU assistant moves to Evansville; Owens in Sweet 16
BY BRIAN NIELSEN Sports Editor
bnielsen@jg-tc.com
College basketball’s annual coaching whirlwind has hit Eastern Illinois and who knows what else is to come.
After one season as Mike Miller’s assistant coach, Marcus Belcher is re-joining Marty Simmons, who last week made the move from NCAA Division II Southern Illinois Edwardsville to DI Evansville.
Belcher spent two seasons at SIU-E as a graduate assistant before the EIU staff last year.
He answered his office phone at Evansville but said he did not want to comment about the move until consulting with Miller, who was out recruiting on Monday and not available for comment.
Belcher was a starting guard for Southern Illinois’ 2002 NCAA Sweet 16 team coached by Bruce Weber.
SIU is in the Sweet 16 again, this time with former EIU guard and assistant coach Jack Owens as one of coach Chris Lowery’s assistants.
Whether this kind of a season helps the Indianapolis native Owens to another job n Indiana State and Illinois State are both among those remaining open in the Missouri Valley Conference n is yet to be seen.
“To be honest with you, I just want to work as hard as I can here,” Owens said. “I just wan to be an assistant. If that opportunity arises, I’ll look at it. I just want to do the best I can here.”
After all, why not just enjoy the moment after wins over Holy Cross and Virginia Tech in the first two rounds of the tournament.
“I’ll tell you it’s great,” Owens said. “We fly in last night late night and there were a lot of people there to see us. The fan support is extremely high right now and deservingly so. These guys have worked hard.”
The top-ranked team in the state, Southern did not get the chance for a second-round statement game against Illinois, which lost Friday against Virginia Tech.
“Our guys weren’t looking at it that way,” Owens said. “They just wanted to advance. If we were playing Illinois, that just means we’re winning our first game.
“We have two seniors who are very good. The younger guys want to push it as far as they can. To be honest with you they don’t want to stop playing with these guys.”
They play together at least one more time Thursday facing the West Regional’s No. 1 seed Kansas.
“Whew,” Owens said. “They’re very talented, the most talented team we’ve played to date. They’re well coached. They’re a very good team. These guys, whew. They have pros, you know what I mean?”
At least the Salukis get to play them.
And who knows what this chance means for a rising assistant like Owens.
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