CARBONDALE (WSIL) -- The Missouri Valley Conference released their basketball schedules.
There's a new look and they are confusing at first glance.
Playing opponents back to back games in the same arena.
Come again?
The new schedules are an 18-game format and each school will play four road and four home series.
They will also face their designated ‘travel partner� in a single-game, home-and-home series.
SIU is matched with Missouri state.
From what we saw against SEMO, SIU has depth and that could be crucial with this schedule.
"I think depth is going to be very important this year," SIU Men's Head Basketball Coach Bryan Mullins said. "Obviously our guys play hard every single game and then come less than 24 hours again and have to do it again and do it against the same opponent I think playing nine to ten guys is a huge benefit for teams in our league this year. We need to continue to build our depth over the next five or six non conference games and even throughout the conference and continue to get guys comfortable in different roles and like we've said from the beginning, everyone is going to have an opportunity to step up this year, probably how it's going to fall so everyone has to be ready at all times."
SIU's first look at back to back games will come starting Thursday, December 17th. Salukis host 0-2 North Dakota out of the Summit League.
It was a week ago Bryan Mullins tested positive for covid 19.
He's feeling better, he's healthy and will return to the team Tuesday.
I had to ask, how'd big brother Brendan do coaching in your place?
"He won so he gets an A-plus. It's a win-loss type game and I thought the whole staff did a great job, togetherness in the huddles, communication between each other with the staff during the game I saw everyone talking with each other and communicating on what to do, talking with each other by themselves and talking to the players during timeouts so I thought everyone was on the same page and looked very cohesive."
Up next for SIU, an exhibition game with Quincy University.
Sunday at 4 PM, inside the Banterra Center.
