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Season on the bubble

Colorful arena a discomforting sight for visitors

The Salukis have an edge at SIU, where it doesn't take a great play to get fans on their feet.

By JOHN C. COTEY, Times Staff Writer

© St. Petersburg Times
published March 1, 2003

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Filled, it is a magical place.

Just ask the 8,200 who filled SIU Arena a week ago to watch Darren Brooks tip in a winning shot at the buzzer.

Ask the throng who watched the Salukis wipe out a 10-point lead against Bradley. Ask those who watched SIU upset wide-eyed Indiana last season, or those who looked on as Kent Williams hit a winning 3-pointer from the corner to beat Creighton.

Magic, indeed.

Empty, there is not so much magic. The color scheme is brown and orange, prompting coach Bruce Weber to refer to its motif as "Reese's Pieces."

If not for a new court installed four years ago, there wouldn't be a hint of Saluki crimson in the place. The marquee out front harkens back to the 1960s and looks displaced, as if it belongs at a drive-in somewhere; the glass windows that wrap around the arena are a deep yellow, so deep you can't see in or out. And the seats ...

Oh, those seats.

"I don't care how much padding you have on it, to sit your butt on those bleachers for 2 1/2 hours is uncomfortable," said Fred Huff, who was the school's sports information director until retiring to write a book on Saluki athletics.

There are approximately 300 padded seats in an arena that seats 10,000. The rest in the lower bowl are wooden seats, the kind you might find in an old movie theater showing an Errol Flynn flick. The upper bowl and behind the baskets are wooden bleachers.

It's a strange dichotomy, this place. It's home to a Sweet 16 basketball team, a program on the rise, a group of players that might be the best in school history.

But the arena belongs to a different age.

For a school even of SIU's status, even by mid-major standards, it is not pretty.

Empty, that is.

Filled, it is magic.

Last season, the Salukis had big plans for the visiting Hoosiers -- a pregame fireworks display.

Weber's biggest fear?

"That when we turned the lights off, they wouldn't go back on," he said. "We had to do a test run to make sure they would."

Because the place is poorly ventilated, the smoke from the fireworks hovered. And with 10,000 rabid fans unleashed, the arena dripped with mystique.

"(Indiana coach) Mike Davis said afterward it was like his guys were deer in the headlights," Weber said.

When Weber bumped into Tom Coverdale this summer, the Indiana guard expressed relief that the Hoosiers didn't have to return to Carbondale.

"He said, "Coach, that was the toughest atmosphere that we played in,' " Weber said. "And think about where those guys play. When we get that many people in there, it's intimidating."

The Salukis have won 26 straight at home, the fourth-longest active streak in the country and one that will be tested today when Creighton visits. The game will decide the Missouri Valley Conference champion.

SIU Arena is sold out for just the 13th time in 39 years, and for just the second time since 1990. The other time was last season's Indiana game.

"It's going to be something," said reserve guard David Carney. "It just gets as loud as can be. The fans and students are right on top of you and it makes for this really amazing atmosphere. When it's empty, it just looks very old. But if you have ever been to a game here, you'll realize why people come here."

The arena wasn't built with a basketball powerhouse in mind. It was built from 1962-64 to house the school's ROTC program, which needed a lot of space at the time. The floor, which has been replaced, was rock hard. It was a layer of concrete, another of heavy corrugated wire and strips of wood on top. "So they could drive trucks on it," Huff said. "How the players escaped knee injuries, I don't know."

Over the years, there have been few changes, save for a fresh coat of paint here and there. Huff said it looks almost exactly as it did in the 1960s ... and '70s ... and '80s.

Next season, rival Creighton moves into a $200-million facility. And even the Charles Koch Arena at Wichita State, which gives SIU Arena -- built for $4.5-million -- a run for its money for the worst in the league, is undergoing renovations. "That should make us last, then, for sure," said Carney, a former walk-on who earned a scholarship this season.

SIU Arena is no recruiting tool. Weber, who thinks the school needs a new facility, jokes that he steers recruits clear of the place unless there is a game.

"We've had kids sign here that have not seen the arena," he said, "and they've been on campus. We just don't bring them here.

"Now, with 8,000 people in there, you don't see the color scheme and it's a different story."

Star guard Kent Williams loves the place. Center Sylvester Willis has said it is easy to feed off of the fans' enthusiasm. Guard Darren Brooks thinks his squad has the best homecourt edge in league.

It is hard to argue, given the mass of crimson that can make the place look like the multi-million-dollar facility it isn't.

"When they get going, it's crazy," Carney said. "The fans, they are always cheering and always on their feet."

Reminded of the most uncomfortable seats known to man, Carney laughs.

"Yeah, it could be that, too."

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