Indiana travels to Carbondale, Ill., to take on the Missouri Valley Conference’s Southern Illinois Salukis. Game time is 4 p.m. EST (Indiana time), and the game is not scheduled to be televised.

A Saluki By Any Other Name...

Would be a maroon? Yes, the Salukis weren’t always the Salukis. Southern Illinois used to be called the maroons - one of the team’s colors, but also a Bugs Bunny insult.

Anyway, the student body and others wanted to adopt a more imaginative mascot for their athletic teams than “Maroons,” a nickname that had represented the university since its athletic program first came about in 1913-14.

The students (2,000 at the time) got the go-ahead from the athletes and faculty to come up with a new mantra and the name Salukis won in a landslide by the count of 536 “Saluki” votes to 144 “Rebels” votes. Other mascots in the running were the Knights, Flyers, Marauders and old faithful – the Maroons.

Salukis are the oldest pure-breed dogs in the world with records dating back to 3600 B.C. and in ancient Egypt the most revered animal a family could have. Despite the animal’s history, many SIU fans relate the name to a newspaper column by the Newark Star-Ledger’s Jerry Isenberg in 1967, when the Salukis, led by Walt Frazier, were among basketballs elite.

Isenberg wrote:

“Princeton has its Tiger. B.C. has its Eagle,

Rutgers is the Queensmen, a title truly regal.

But from frigid New York City to Kentucky’s old Paduchee,

There’s just one burning question - what the hell is a Saluki?”

Soon after the Salukis won the NIT Title, Pete Brown, SIUC’s news service director, answered Isenberg with a poem of his own:

“Old Duke has its Devils Blue; St. Louis plays its Bills.

Texas Western digs the Miners like there’s gold in them thar hills.

But from Loo’ville on the bluegrass to St. Peter’s on the bogs,

The scene was bad last winter; they all went to the dogs.

Basically, it was a creative way of listing whom the Salukis mauled on their way to the title. And you thought the nickname “Hoosiers” puzzled people.

Special thanks to Southern Illinois University and Student Advantage, Inc. for the information above.

Familiar Faces

This might be only the fourth time Indiana has faced Southern Illinois, but Saluki Coach Tom Weber is no stranger to Hoosier basketball. Weber served as an assistant coach under Gene Keady at Purdue for 18 seasons before taking control of the SIU program.

Weber installed much of Purdue’s philosophies at Southern Illinois, so don’t be surprised to see similarities. Much like his mentor, Weber will not tolerate a lack of effort on defense and said coming into this season that he will emphasize aggressive defense in practice.

That means the Hoosiers can expect shots to be tougher to come by in Carbondale and don’t think for a second that the Purdue/Indiana rivalry didn’t rub off on Weber during his time in West Lafayette. If Weber needs any help conveying the importance of the Indiana game to his team, he’ll get plenty of aid from another former Boilermaker - Matt Painter.

Painter played for Weber at Purdue, earning honorable mention All-Big Ten honors his senior season and joined the SIU staff in 1998. A 22-point drubbing at the hands of the Hoosiers has to still be stinging a couple of former Boliers, so a fired up pack of Salukis is a given in the rematch.