SIUE – The Bar is Raised

One-on-One with Brian Barone

(St. Louis, MO) – When Brian Barone became the SIUE head basketball coach, very little was expected, but now the bar is raised. Barone’s first team won eight games and the second picked up nine. An eleven win season showed promise SIUE had never accomplished a winning Division 1 campaign.

The 2022-23 season changed all that. A 19-win season put the Cougars on the map and SIUE followed that with seventeen victories last year. Now the bar is raised for the Ohio Valley Conference program.

Four starters from last year’s team are gone. Graduation ended the college careers of the Wright twins (Lamar and Shamar) who were part of every one of Barone’s Edwardsville seasons. All-OVC guard Damarco Minor transferred to Oregon State. Starting center Terrance Thompson transferred, but is yet to find a college home for this season.

Four starters gone, but the bar has been raised. Barone and his outstanding staff believe they can achieve a third-straight winning season and reach the upper half of the OVC race.

Ray’Sean Taylor Is Back

Barone’s lone returning starter is a very good one. Ray’Sean Taylor could have gone practically anywhere he wanted. While battling injuries, the 6’1 guard has accumulated over 1,300 career points and has twice received OVC all-league honors.

During his three Cougar seasons the Collinsville, Illinois native has contributed 364 rebounds, 254 assists and over 200 three-pointers. In the ‘portal pandemic’ era he could have commanded serious money on other campuses, but Barone says Taylor wanted to ‘finish what he started’.

 

SIUE’s third all-time Division 1 leading scorer will finish his college basketball career as the greatest D1 Cougar of all time. Among players that have competed for SIUE at the D1 level, Taylor is already the all-time leader in three-point baskets. He will likely finish first or second in scoring, first in assists and first in steals.

I feel like standing and applauding.

Other Returners

While Barone has to fill four starting spots, he has some trusted players returning. Desmond Polk, Arnas Sakenis, Eddie Tirado, Jordan Pickett and Brian Taylor have been valuable bench players. Now they must step in to larger roles.

Polk was last season’s first man off the bench. He is a solid three-point shooter and Barone says he can fill many roles. The 7’1 Sarkenis has proven to be a solid post defender. Pickett and Taylor had outstanding high school careers and have shown flashes of that talent in Edwardsville.

Barone says all five of the returners will play significant roles this year.

 

Brian Taylor is Ray’Sean’s cousin and previously played for Milwaukee. Barone has been able to keep players longer than most basketball programs. The sixth year coach prioritizes relationships over transactional outcomes.

 

Bar is Raised for Newcomers

Minor’s stay in Edwardsville pointed out something important. Barone wants to sign winners. Junior college national champion Barton Community College finished the season 36-1. Barton teammates Ring Malith and Myles Thompson are now Cougars. The 6’9 Malith is ranked as the nation’s thirtieth best junior college player. The 6’7 Thompson was an ‘honorable mention’ performer.

Malith may be the ‘jewel’ of this year’s group of recruits.

 

6’6 Jordan Hamilton is a highly rated junior college performer.

Barone has landed outstanding ‘lower level’ players. NAIA star Jo Valrie and highly versatile D2 player Declan Dillon will play important roles. Darrion Baker red-shirted at Akron after being ranked as the State of Illinois’ tenth best high school player in 2023.

Barone says Valrie is a high character player that has experienced winning at his previous stops. Valrie has a ‘high motor’.

 

A wild-card in this year’s recruiting class is Kyle Thomas. The former Bradley Brave and Eastern Illinois forward has great potential. He is a 6’10 athletic frontcourt player. His experiences playing for Marty Simmons (EIU) and Brian Wardle (Bradley) have helped him grow his game and his habits. Thomas can be one of the OVC’s best big men.

Competitive OVC

Preston Spradlin has left Morehead State and Ryan Ridder has departed from Tennessee Martin. Virtually every all-OVC performer has graduated or transferred. Little Rock’s K.K. Robinson will likely be the league’s pre-season player of the year and reigning coach of the year Darrell Walker has reloaded a very talented Trojan roster.

Tennessee State has practically re-done its entire roster. The league is more wide open than ever before. Sadly, for an Ohio Valley Conference team their hopes of post season basketball come down to a long weekend in Evansville, Indiana.

 

To listen to my entire conversation with Brian Barone head to Valley Hoops Insider Podcasts.

Heading into this season Barone has been with his program longer than over half of the other OVC head coaches. His team has produced back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in its Division 1 history. The bar is raised and Barone and Taylor are embracing the greater expectations.

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