GAME: No. 9 Southern Illinois (25-4) vs. No. 8 Alabama (17-12).
REGIONAL: St. Louis, First round.
TIME: Thursday, 2:40 p.m. EST.
SITE: KeyArena; Seattle.
Alabama has figured out how to reach the NCAA tournament. Success on college basketball's biggest stage, however, has eluded the Crimson Tide.
The Crimson Tide meet Southern Illinois in a matchup of teams that are both making their third straight NCAA tournament appearances.
The Salukis beat Texas Tech and Georgia on their way to the round of 16 in 2002, but were eliminated in the first round last season with a 72-71 loss to Missouri.
Alabama hadn't made the NCAA tournament three consecutive years since 1989-91. Since then, the Tide are 1-5 in the NCAAs, with the lone victory coming against Florida Atlantic in 2002.
"We know what we've got to do. We've been to the tournament the last two years and we really haven't made any noise," Alabama guard Antoine Pettway said. "This year we want it to be different."
Just making the tournament seemed like a problem for the Crimson Tide - faced with one of the nation's toughest schedules - until they beat Southeastern Conference champion Mississippi State in Starkville on Feb. 21. Three straight league wins following that victory proved to be enough to get the Tide into the field of 65.
"I'm really proud for our players and I think we're a team that certainly played our way into the tournament," Alabama coach Mark Gottfried said. "I think everybody has, but our last month of the season I'm really proud of what they were able to accomplish."
Teams from the Missouri Valley Conference often need to win their conference tournament to secure a place in the NCAAs, but Southern Illinois earned a spot despite losing to Southwest Missouri State in the semifinals.
It was nearly impossible to deny the Salukis a tournament berth after they won their first 17 conference games and played well in losses to eventual NCAA teams Murray State and Charlotte.
"Obviously, we're very excited about being in the tournament. We have stubbed our toe a little bit here in the past week and a half and lost two out of three games, but we're just excited about playing again and excited about competing," Salukis coach Matt Painter said.
Junior guard Darren Brooks is the catalyst for Southern Illinois. He leads the team scoring (16.2), rebounding (5.9), assists (2.8) and steals (2.0).
Facing arguably the nation's toughest schedule figures to benefit Alabama, which played three non-conference games against teams - No. 3 Pittsburgh, No. 6 Wisconsin and No. 7 Xavier - with higher tournament seeds.
"The strength of our schedule probably was one of the best things for us," guard Earnest Shelton said. "We really didn't have too many nights off. That's helped our team improve. It gave us that competitive edge we need going down the stretch."
A third straight trip to the NCAA tournament seemed unlikely for Alabama after it lost four starters from last season. Dramatic improvement, however, from Shelton and sophomores Kennedy Winston and Chuck Davis helped the team surpass expectations.
Shelton raised his scoring average from 4.9 points per game to 15.8. Winston developed into one of the SEC's leading scorers at 16.9 points per game and Davis upped his scoring average from 1.5 to 10.9.
Alabama won the only meeting with Southern Illinois 79-58 on Nov. 23, 1996, in the Top of the World Classic.
Barring a monumental upset by 16th-seeded Texas-San Antonio, the winner of this game will face top-seeded Stanford in the second round on Saturday.
PROBABLE STARTERS: Southern Illinois - F Brad Korn (9.5 ppg, 3.9 rpg), F Sylvester Willis (6.5 ppg, 4.4 rpg), G Brooks (16.2 ppg, 5.9 rpg), G Bryan Turner (4.8 ppg, 2.7 apg), G Stetson Hairson (9.4 ppg, 4.3 rpg). Alabama - F Winston (16.9 ppg, 5.5 rpg), F Jermareo Davidson (5.2 ppg, 4.7 rpg), F Davis (10.9 ppg, 5.9 rpg), G Shelton (15.8 ppg, 3.9 rpg), G Pettway (9.4, 3.3 apg).
HOW THEY GOT HERE: Southern Illinois - At-large berth. Alabama - At-large berth.
ALL-TIME TOURNAMENT RECORD: Southern Illinois - 3-6, 6 years. Alabama - 14-15, 15 years.
