- The last time Southern Illinois University's men's basketball team played on ESPN, the school handed out Santa hats.
It was 11 p.m. Feb. 21, 2004, at SIU Arena and the ESPN BracketBuster series brought Hawaii to town for one of the latest, if not the latest, starts in school history. Today, 710 Bookstore is handing out doughnuts to students that camped out Monday night in preparation for a 9 a.m. tip between the Salukis (0-1) and Northeastern (1-0).
Part of ESPN's College Hoops Tipoff Marathon, SIU hopes the nationally-televised game gives the Salukis a historic opener at the renovated arena and, at the same time, gives workers across the region the best reason to play hooky in decades.
"We know it's non-traditional, but we hope people will come out and be a part of history," said SIU athletics director Mario Moccia.
SIU will appear on ESPN, a beacon available in more than 100 million homes, for the third time in school history today. The mother ship of the nation's most famous sports network televised SIU's 66-62 win over the Rainbows and its 57-47 loss at Indiana in 2006. The ESPN Gameday crew came to the Arena in 2008, but the Salukis' game against Creighton was carried on ESPN2.
Unlike the Hawaii game, today's contest handed SIU's marketing team a unique challenge: Get 4,260 season-ticket holders to a day game, on a weekday, and as many other fans as possible. Mark Gadzik, SIU's assistant athletic director in charge of marketing, isn't daunted by the challenge.
"Everyone is very important in this," Gadzik said. "I wouldn't say that part of me is worried about it, because I think whenever you have ESPN, you have that electricity, but's it's getting people here, first and foremost, and then the energy takes care of itself. We have a great game atmosphere. We'll be all right."
Surrounded by the icons of Saluki basketball history in the newly renovated arena, SIU's current club hopes to show the Huskies just how tough a road venue SIU Arena is. The Salukis went 10-5 at home last season, including 6-0 against nonconference opponents.
"We got to come out and get a crowd," said SIU guard Justin Bocot. "It's a new arena. We got to give the fans something to cheer for in the new arena."
Northeastern returns two starters from last season's 20-13 squad that finished second in the Colonial Athletic Association. The Huskies have reached the postseason the last two seasons, beating Wyoming on the road in the College Basketball Insider tournament in 2008-09.
It was 11 p.m. Feb. 21, 2004, at SIU Arena and the ESPN BracketBuster series brought Hawaii to town for one of the latest, if not the latest, starts in school history. Today, 710 Bookstore is handing out doughnuts to students that camped out Monday night in preparation for a 9 a.m. tip between the Salukis (0-1) and Northeastern (1-0).
Part of ESPN's College Hoops Tipoff Marathon, SIU hopes the nationally-televised game gives the Salukis a historic opener at the renovated arena and, at the same time, gives workers across the region the best reason to play hooky in decades.
"We know it's non-traditional, but we hope people will come out and be a part of history," said SIU athletics director Mario Moccia.
SIU will appear on ESPN, a beacon available in more than 100 million homes, for the third time in school history today. The mother ship of the nation's most famous sports network televised SIU's 66-62 win over the Rainbows and its 57-47 loss at Indiana in 2006. The ESPN Gameday crew came to the Arena in 2008, but the Salukis' game against Creighton was carried on ESPN2.
Unlike the Hawaii game, today's contest handed SIU's marketing team a unique challenge: Get 4,260 season-ticket holders to a day game, on a weekday, and as many other fans as possible. Mark Gadzik, SIU's assistant athletic director in charge of marketing, isn't daunted by the challenge.
"Everyone is very important in this," Gadzik said. "I wouldn't say that part of me is worried about it, because I think whenever you have ESPN, you have that electricity, but's it's getting people here, first and foremost, and then the energy takes care of itself. We have a great game atmosphere. We'll be all right."
Surrounded by the icons of Saluki basketball history in the newly renovated arena, SIU's current club hopes to show the Huskies just how tough a road venue SIU Arena is. The Salukis went 10-5 at home last season, including 6-0 against nonconference opponents.
"We got to come out and get a crowd," said SIU guard Justin Bocot. "It's a new arena. We got to give the fans something to cheer for in the new arena."
Northeastern returns two starters from last season's 20-13 squad that finished second in the Colonial Athletic Association. The Huskies have reached the postseason the last two seasons, beating Wyoming on the road in the College Basketball Insider tournament in 2008-09.
