If you see more people wearing suits and ties than uniforms on the NIU bench, you will not be seeing things.

With Huskie forward Jim Edmondson now ineligible, the NIU men’s basketball team will have only 10 men available the rest of the season. NIU’s thin depth chart meets its first challenge tonight at 7:30 when the Huskies take on Toledo at the Chick Evans Field House.

“We’re down to the 10 kids who want to be here,” said NIU Coach Jim Rosborough, whose team comes in with a 5-12 record. “I really think it’s up to us. Our own worst enemy has been ourselves, and we have to try to eliminate that in the next 11 games.”

Toledo, which suffered its first losing season in 26 years last year, is 8-8 overall and 2-4 in the Mid-American Conference. The Rockets have lost their last four conference games.

“We don’t think we’re that far from being a pretty good team,” said Toledo assistant coach Marc Comstock. “We haven’t won our last four conference games, but we’ve been in it until the last four or five minutes.”

After NIU’s disastrous showing on the defensive end last Wednesday in the 97-90 loss to Western Illinois, Rosborough promised changes in the lineup for Toledo. He said he probably would not know what the changes were until today.

“There will be at least two, maybe three (changes),” said Rosborough. “(Center) Scott Sullivan has wanted the chance to play, and now he has to be ready. They’re nice guys, but they’ve been hurting us on the defensive end. We went through about 10 to 12 minutes of (the Western Illinois) film with the kids. We gave them 18 points in the first 10 minutes.”

“We need to play a little better on the defensive end,” said NIU forward Eric Harrington. “If a guy gets beaten, another guy should help him out.”

With the roster reduced to 10, NIU might have problems if foul trouble abounds considering the bench is relatively inexperienced and untested. Rosborough and Harrington disagree about whether NIU might become tentative defensively if the fouls pile up.

“I just got tentative (against Western Illinois),” said Harrington. “We just cannot afford to get in foul trouble. We have to play hard but smart.”

“It shouldn’t be a problem,” said Rosborough. “We’re fine at any position. If John (Culbertson) gets in foul trouble, we can come in with Matt (Hardy) or Scott.”

NIU played Toledo three times last year. NIU lost at Toledo 79-77 in overtime and in the first round of the MAC tournament in Rockford 82-79. In the game at the fieldhouse, NIU prevailed 84-73.

NIU guard Rodney Davis, who leads the Huskies with 12.3 points per game, led NIU with 19 points in the victory. But the big man in that game was Toledo’s Blake Burnham, who tallied 21 points in the first half before settling with 28 total. Burnham tops the Rockets this year at 14.7 ppg and 5.5 rebounds per game.

“The key match-up is Burnham,” said Rosborough. “I think there we have to do a good job.”

arrington, who has witnessed eight NIU-Toledo games, said he does not see the Rockets as being aggressive.

“They’re definitely conservative with a lead—try to make the opponent play their game,” he said. “They’ve had a tradition of good players, but they aren’t any tougher than any other opponent we’ve played.”

Comstock holds the opposite view for the Huskies.

“They really go to the boards, which is a concern to us,” he said. “We’re concerned with their quickness. I think they’re an aggressive team. They’re a much better team than their record indicates.”