ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Two teams in transition will open the season, 7:30 p.m., Friday, when Austin Peay State University heads to Chaifetz Arena to battle St. Louis University.
Austin Peay is coming off a 17-15 season that saw the Governors incur a crushing opening-round Ohio Valley Conference tournament home loss to Tennessee Tech. Eight new faces (seven recruits and one walk-on) dot the roster, including three junior college transfers, to pair with six returnees, including preseason All-OVC selection Anthony Campbell (15.5 ppg, 5.3 rpg) along with junior center John Fraley (9.2 ppg, 7.8 rpg), the league's second-leading rebounder a year ago.
"Our challenge is to bring that all together," said APSU coach Dave Loos, a St. Louis native. "We think our newcomers are certainly promising. On the flip side, we've got six returning players that all played significant minutes."
One thing for sure, the Governors appear much deeper than the 2009-10 club. Two--forward Melvin Baker and guard Josh Terry-of the three junior college transfers already have worked their way into the starting lineup while a the third, guard Tyshwan Edmondson, was the Govs' co-leading scorer off the bench against Westminster.
Meanwhile, St. Louis is coming an an impressive 23-13 2009-10 campaign that saw the Billikens fashion an 11-5 Atlantic 10 record. This is the fourth season of the much-respected Rick Majerus building program at St. Louis.
However, during the offseason two key starters, center Willie Reed, Jr., (12.4 ppg, 7.9 rpg) and guard Kwamain Mitchell (15.9 ppg), the team's leading scorer a year ago, were dismissed from school.
For most programs such losses would be crippling. For St. Louis it appears to be a bump in the road as the Billikens still were picked to finish sixth in the competitive A-10.
Sophomore forward Cody Ellis (Perth, Australia/Institute of Sport) was named to the Atlantic 10 Conference's preseason All-Conference third team, while freshman forward Rob Loe (Auckland, New Zealand/Westlake) was selected for the league's All-Rookie team.
Ellis joined the Billikens in January last season, making an immediate impact, averaging 10.5 ppg and 4.9 rpg while earning Atlantic 10 All-Rookie honors.
Majerus has posted a 57-42 Billikens slate. He has a 23-year career 479-189 mark and has taken 11 teams to the NCAA Tournament and four to the NIT.
-AP-
