Sophomores Cody Ellis and Christian Salecich took a long road to get to Saint Louis. Today the two are close friends and huge keys to the Billikens success.
What is the difference between Cody Ellis and Christian Salecich- sophomore basketball sensations, roommates and close friends- and most other students here on campus?
About a foot in height, a whole lot of athletic ability and roughly 9,000 miles.
Salecich, a 6-foot-3, 190 pound guard, and Ellis, a 6-foot-8, 240 pound forward, hail from Gold Coast and Perth, Australia, respectively. The two Aussie natives have been integral components of the Billiken’s hardwood success since the day they arrived. Salecich started 31 games as a freshman last season, chipping in 6.4 PPG and providing lockdown defense from the guard position.
Ellis, the sharp-shooting big man, started 19 of the 22 games in which he played, averaging nearly 11 points and 4.9 rebounds per game en route to being named to the Atlantic 10 All-Rookie team.
Finding success on the hardwood together is nothing new to this duo. The two have been competing together and against each other since they were 14-years-old.
Salecich and Ellis met competing against each other in Australia playing for their respective state teams and competing for national supremacy.
“If you make your state team, you go on to the Australian National Championships,” Salecich said. “Here it would be like Illinois vs. Missouri then, say, Illinois vs. Florida.”
Salecich’s Queensland squad boasted multiple future NCAA Division I players and won the U-20 Australian Nationals.
“It wasn’t really fair,” Ellis joked.
After competing against each other, the two found themselves representing Australia together in the 2007 Oceania tournament, earning a silver medal, and in the 2008 Albert Schweitzer Tournament in Germany as well. The two eventually began playing together full-time at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), a world-renowned athletic training and educational institute that houses the top athletes in Australia.
In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, a whopping 263 former or current AIS athletes competed.
The performances of Ellis and Salecich earned them high praise not only in Australia, but internationally as well. Chris Harrimann, assistant coach at SLU and Sydney native, was quick to recognize the talent that the two possessed.
“The pro league back home isn’t too good at the moment,” Ellis said. “It’s getting better, but it’s all we have aside from the Institute when it comes to basketball. College has been the dream since we started.”
Before the two could suit up for SLU, however, they had an opportunity to represent their homeland on their biggest stage yet. Both Ellis and Salecich were selected to play on the Under-19 Australian men’s team at the FIBA World Championships, a tournament perhaps only second to the Olympics in prestige.
Both Ellis and Salecich cite their experiences in international competition as building blocks for their successes as Billikens, acknowledging the similarities and contrasts between the Australian and American styles of play.
“You come over here, and the speed is so much faster compared to what we were used to back home,” Salecich said. “Even at the world tournament, we were the team that ran… we [then came] over here, and it’s like ‘wow.’ It’s a lot more scrappy in Australia.”
Individually, developing their games overseas has benefitted both. Ellis, despite his 6’8” frame, was one of the leading 3-point shooters for the Billikens last year, knocking down 39 triples and playing well in the post.
“In the international game, you see a lot of the bigger guys that are able to step out and shoot the three and stretch the defense,” Ellis said. “It’s definitely something I worked on back home, and the coaches here like that I can stretch the defense.”
Playing against top-tier competition from a young age aided the two in some of the more subtle aspects of the game as well.
Despite the distance from their homeland, the two made a smooth transition to living in the United States. With the support of each other, the coaches and their teammates, the two found a comfort zone shortly after their arrivals.
“The guys and coaches really helped out and made us feel at home,” Salecich said. “It’s good to have [assistant coach] Chris Harriman, another Australian, to talk to about it. It was tough, but we were always away from home a lot, traveling and living at the Institute.”
With a season of collegiate play and a breadth of international experience, Salecich and Ellis are looking not only to fill up the stat sheet, but to provide leadership to a young team. Both hope to draw off of the successes and struggles of their basketball careers to guide the Billikens to success.
“We have a lot of freshman coming in, and we have two new point guards,” Salecich said. “A year under our belt and guys like Kyle [Cassity], Paul [Eckerle] and [Brian] Conklin, we’re all able to give the new guys some direction.
“I know that in key situations in games, we can draw on the double overtime wins we’ve had and games like our fifteen-point comeback at Dayton,” he continued.
“You see a lot of teams that have sophomores and juniors not seeing a lot of playing time, spending a lot of time on the bench freshman year,” Ellis added. “They have to get used to the game, so it’s definitely an advantage for us to have that year of experience, where most kids are sitting on the bench.”
Off the court, the two friends are, well, typical college kids. From studying to working to relaxing, they say they live the average American college life.
And although they have lots of time left in Billiken blue, the duo already knows what their ultimate basketball goal is.
“Our biggest dream is to play for our country in the Olympics,” Salecich said. “Anytime you get a chance to represent your country, it’s a great feeling.”
