Opening Night Questions And Answers

(St. Louis, MO) – Opening nights can be nerve racking whether you are on Broadway, a school teacher or a college basketball coach. Southern Illinois’ Barry Hinson has coached over 400 collegiate games and he told me he’s a wreck before every game, but particularly the first one of the season.

Hinson’s Salukis visited Saint Louis University for the opener and with a virtually a whole new team, SLU Head Coach Jim Crews couldn’t have been resting much easier.

But the ball went up (the tip was won by SIU) and the myriads of questions surrounding these two programs began to be answered.

Will SIU’s Anthony Beane be even better than his spectacular sophomore season? Probably. If someone else can take some of the pressure off the son of former SLU assistant Anthony Beane Senior, Beane should be terrific. He had eight points in the first 10 minutes before two fouls sent him to the bench. Foul trouble continued to plague Beane in the second half.

Can SLU’s Austin McBroom be the ‘go to scorer” Crews needs? Emphatically YES! Three triples in the opening 10 minutes has me calling him “McBomb” instead. It looks like he will fly past last season’s 44 treys. Watch him nail the game winning 3-point basket and Crews’ evaluation after SLU’s 62-59 victory.

 

“McBomb” scored a career high 24 points by nailing 5 of seven from long range. McBroom looked like he was hunting shots.

Which newcomers on either team will emerge to fill in the gaps? For Saint Louis, Red Shirt Junior Ash Yacoubou looks to be a player. He’s athletic and aggressive, but what would you expect from someone from the Bronx, New York?

Freshman Davell Roby assisted on two of the team’s first three field goals and comes from a legendary program in Memphis. He’s 6’4 and has an A-10 body.

Freshman K.C. Goodwin did some good things early for the Egyptian Dawgs as they led at the half 37-33. He’s not a newcomer, but Sean O’Brien, with a double-double,  showed flashes of being that second best option in the Saluki offense.

SIU and SLU are young teams with the potential to be pretty good teams. The play isn’t over when the curtain goes up, nor is the story fully developed, but Austin McBroom and Anthony Beane should be star performers for these two programs.

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