Southern Illinois Basketball: Saluki's international frontline important for 2018-19

Southern Illinois Basketball: Saluki’s international frontline important for 2018-19

TAMPA, FL - MARCH 17: "We are the game" is written on the chairs of the UCLA Bruins bench against the Michigan State Spartans during the second round of the 2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament at St. Pete Times Forum on March 17, 2011 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /

In geography, there is the International Dateline. The Southern Illinois Salukis have the International Frontline.

There has been a lot of talk over the last couple of years about building walls. In Carbondale, Illinois the Southern Illinois Salukis have the blocks to build their own international wall around their basket in the Missouri Valley.

Senior center Kavion Pippen hails from Hamburg, Arkansas, fellow senior Thik Bol is from Omaha, Nebraska but was born in Sudan, Rudy Stradnieks is from Riga, Latvia, and incoming freshman Amadou Fall is from Senegal. All four men stand 6-8 or taller.

Pippen, the nephew of NBA great Scottie Pippen joined the Salukis last season after playing at Three Rivers Community College in Connecticut. The 6-10 Pippen was the team’s 2^nd leading scorer with 12 points and the team’s leading rebounder, grabbing 5.9 per game, as well as 1.4 blocks per game.

Bol stands 6-8 and ended up at Southern Illinois by way of Iowa Western Community College where he led the nation in blocked shots (4.9) as a freshman while adding 8.9 points and 8.5 rebounds. Two years ago, Bol was named to the Missouri Valley All-Defense team. He swatted 76 shots, third most in school history and grabbed 8.6 rebounds per game. He missed all of last season with a knee injury.

Stradnieks is a 6-9 stretch forward who has seen limited minutes during his time in Carbondale. He has seen increased minutes over his three previous seasons, averaging three points last season, but he did finish the year shooting at 49% from the field.

Finally, Fall joins head coach Barry Hinson after a post-graduate year at St. Louis Christian Academy in Missouri. Fall spent the two years prior to his post-graduate season at SEED Academy in Africa, the continent’s first such establishment for basketball student-athletes. The 6-9 Fall with a seven-foot wingspan has a polished game in the post and has the ability to score in the mid-range as well.

Coaches bound to have courts named after them. dark. Next

If the United States is a melting pot, the frontcourt of Southern Illinois is almost certainly college basketball’s International Front Line.