Southeast Missouri State University men's basketball coach Gary Garner said the Indians will be signing several players in the very near future, although he's not sure how many of those commitments -- if any -- will come today when the spring signing period begins.

College basketball programs have from today through May 15 to sign players for next season.

"We might not sign anybody that first day, but there are about three kids we think we're going to sign within the next week to 10 days," said Garner.

Garner is prohibited by NCAA regulations from talking about specific recruits but he said the Indians are in need of guards and a center.

"We have the two (starting) forwards coming back (Mike Branson and Roderick Johnson)," said Garner. "But we lost our two guards (Cory Johnson and Kahn Cotton) and our center (Bud Eley), so we definitely need help at those positions."

Southeast has five more available scholarships after landing two players last November during the early signing period.

Garner said he would ideally like to sign a mixture of high school and junior college players.

"You'd really like to have a good mix (of jucos and high schoolers) coming into your program every year," he said.

Signing with Southeast in November were two players from St. Louis: 6-foot-8 forward Jamel Richardson out of Florissant Valley Community College 6-6 guard/forward Mike Sutherland from Lutheran North High School.

Both Richardson and Sutherland had impressive seasons this year, Richardson being named all-conference and Sutherland earning Class 2A all-state honors.

* Southeast women's coach Ed Arnzen has only one more available scholarship after signing three high school players early.

Arnzen said he's not sure if he'll even try to use the final scholarship for next season.

"Only if it's the right person we really want," he said. "Otherwise, we might just wait."

One intriguing possibility for the final scholarship recently surfaced when former Jackson High all-stater Christa Millham decided to leave New Mexico State after her freshman season.

Southeast is reportedly one of the schools Millham is considering transferring to. Arnzen could not comment directly on the Millham situation, but he would likely use a scholarship if Millham picked the Otahkians.

Players the Otahkians signed early were Lori Chase, a 5-11 forward from, Rosary High in St. Louis; Jennifer Gries, a 5-9 guard from Elk Horn, Iowa; and Kristy Roherty, a 5-7 guard from Milton, Wisc.