With their 80-61 win over Indiana State, Bruce Weber's SIU-Carbondale Salukis improved their record to 18-9 overall (and 12-4 in the Missouri Valley Conference).

Two games remain in the Valley's regular season, and Weber's team, which has won nine of its last ten games, is tied with the Sycamores for first place.

It's not widely known that Weber, whose Salukis finished strong in the 1998-99 campaign (save their futility vs. Bradley: 0-and-3), was "in the running" for two head coaching jobs on the west side of the Mississippi River.

First, in the wake of Steve Alford's move to Iowa, Weber was apparently offered the SMS job...an offer which Weber used as leverage with the Carbondale campus hierarchy in order to raise his salary to the level offered by SMS.

And in a story that is admittedly based on rumor (and therefore impossible to verify with certainty), St. Louis Sports Online has been informed that SLU AD Doug Woolard, a man with Carbondale roots, had Weber on his very short list to replace the recently-retired Charlie Spoonhour.

A well-connected St. Louis-based source claims, in fact, that had Lorenzo Romar not accepted the SLU job, that Weber was next-in-line.

Who knows...

One thing seems clear--Bruce Weber-coached basketball teams seem to get better as the season progresses.

It's hard to think of a better thing to say about a college basketball coach.

For example, freshman guard Kent Williams (above) scored a career-high 25 vs. Indiana State, on 9-of-10 shooting from the field.

In some ways, St. Louisans are more familiar with Williams than with Weber. After all, as a prep star in Mt. Vernon, Illinois, Williams set the Kiel Center Shootout scoring record (49 points) in a December '98 game.

The MVC tournament, which takes place annually on the second weekend in March at St. Louis' Kiel Center, will provide area basketball fans with a better chance to get to know Weber, Williams and the rest of the Salukis...along with the rest of the Valley's player and coaches.