Spring Break
Men's Basketball: Miller's squad travels to Clarksville, Tenn., to battle Govs in first OVC Tournament appearance in three seasons
Dan Cusack / Staff Reporter
Issue date: 3/3/09 Section: Sports
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All season long no one has given the Eastern men's basketball team much of a chance.
In the Ohio Valley Conference preseason coaches' poll, the Panthers were picked to finish in ninth place, one spot short of missing the conference tournament.
When Student Senate was approving a fan bus so students could travel to Nashville, Tenn., to see the women's team compete in the semifinals of the OVC Tournament, the men's team was not brought up.
And when the men's team played Austin Peay last Thursday, the team the Panthers will play in the first round of the OVC Tournament at 7 p.m. today in Clarksville, Tenn., 72 percent of online betters on Covers.com said not only would Eastern lose, but they would fall by eight points.
The Panthers will be in the underdog role again tonight. They are the seventh seed in the OVC Tournament. They are traveling to an arena they have not won in since 1998. The team they are playing has already beaten the Panthers two times this season, including a 69-54 loss Thursday.
So far this season, Eastern has beaten most of the odds against them. The team was counted off before the season began, because they had eight new players on the roster, four transfers and four freshmen.
But still the Panthers trudged on.
Not only have they not reached postseason play since the 2004-05 season, but the teams 12 wins are the most since that season.
Eastern head coach Mike Miller, as well as all 13 players on the roster, will play in their first postseason game as a Panther.
"This is where you set out your season," Miller said. "You want to make sure you're in the postseason. I told our guys when we started this year that you are only guaranteed 29 games. Based on how you play, how you perform and how consistent you are, that determines whether you make it to the postseason or not."
Junior guard Romain Martin said he is excited to be playing postseason ball, something he has tried to accomplish since he came to Eastern three years ago.
He said in the Panthers practice Monday, one could sense the urgency in the team.
"Going in, it is win or go home," Martin said. "We just have to go in tomorrow. It's a new season. It's tournament time. So we have to stay focused and know what we have to do to win tomorrow. We have to go in and prove everyone wrong."
Senior forward Billy Parrish said he is 'uber-excited' to be playing in his first postseason tournament in his four years at Eastern.
"We like the role we have right now," Parrish said. "Underdog or whatever role you call it. You never see the underdog coming so we will take that to our advantage. People think Austin Peay, they beat us twice and they did their thing, but it's tournament time so they're going to see a different team in this game."
Miller said he has not used the underdog role to motivate the team but instead has told his team they must strive to get better everyday.
"We saw when this team got together in August that it was a new beginning in many ways," Miller said. "We just really rely on getting better and we have just stayed together and believed it and we have guys that have come together and believed what we want to accomplish."
Dan Cusack can be reached at 581-7944 or at dscusack@eiu.edu.
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