We are still a couple of months away from the tip-off of a new college basketball season, which means that we have plenty of time to start preparing for the action ahead. We will do so via a series of season previews featuring the best players/coaches in the country. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel commences our coverage with SIUE coach Brian Barone, who talked about making the NCAA tourney for the 1st time in school history last March and his expectations for this season.
Your father Tony Sr. made the 1966 Final 4 as a player at Duke and later was your coach at Texas A&M: how good a player was he back in the day, and how did you like playing for him? He was a 5’9”, 165-pound guard from Chicago who played in the Final 4. He was quick/feisty: I have seen some of the old film and it was cool to watch him play. He had a lot of credibility and is in multiple Halls of Fame: he did some innovative things like behind-the-back passing/dribbling. It was special to play for him: I wish I had appreciated it more because it got cut short after 2 years. He got the best out of me, and I was lucky enough to be around him every day.
In 1998 you finished top-3 in Big 12 with 4.8 APG/2.3 SPG: what is the secret to being a good PG? You must know the game plan and put yourself in a position to take calculated risks, but you must be strategic about when to attack. We were not as good as some of our opponents, so my preparation needed to be very good. I had a high basketball IQ and had some very good college coaches. I took great pride in playing harder than anyone else: I exhausted every ounce of my energy on the court.
After your father left the Aggies to coach in the NBA, you transferred to Marquette and became team captain: what is the key to being a good leader? Relationships: I was not the best player but was able to connect with everyone on my team from freshmen to 5th-year seniors. It was never awkward to room with someone on the road or sit down and eat lunch with them on campus. My effort was never questioned even if I did not take 1000 shots in practice.
You were also named to the conference All-Academic Team: how did you balance your work on the court with your work in the classroom? I was always able to do what I was supposed to do. There is a lot of time away from class because you are doing things for 5 hours/day that other students are not doing. I was not awesome at time management, and it did not always come easy to me, but I always did my work.
2 other coaching mentors who you worked for were Porter Moser/Tom Crean: what was the most important thing that you learned from either of them? Porter has tremendous energy and gets the most out of every day. I saw that when he played for my dad at Creighton: he got the most out of what he was given. He is relentless and brings it every day: he was always willing to study the game, which is why he keeps getting better as a coach each year. For Tom there was no “impossible” task: we would figure it out and push ourselves through whatever we thought we could not do. He worked every single day to figure out how to make you better.
Take me through the 2025 postseason:
In the OVC tourney you beat Tennessee State/Southeast Missouri to clinch the title: how big a deal was it to make the 1st NCAA tourney in school history? There are a lot of very good coaches who have never had the opportunity to coach in the NCAA tourney. The team overcame injuries/frustration and grew as close as any team I have ever coached. I do not take it for granted and it was great to give our community the feeling of “next-level winning”. We built the culture and had 3 winnings seasons in a row: it was amazing to see everyone embrace our team the way they did. I also enjoyed the value of their efforts because they were part of the ride with us.
In the NCAA tourney you had a 38-PT loss to a Houston team that was 1 shot away from winning a national title: where do the Cougars (58.6 PPG allowed) rank among the greatest defensive teams that you have ever seen? When you watch them on film you really appreciate them. I have studied Coach Kelvin Sampson, who has helped me over the years. I played against Kansas in Phog Allen Fieldhouse in January of 1997 when they were the #1 team in the country, and I recall them being very good. However, when I walked off the court after losing to Houston, I thought that not only were they good enough to win a title…but that they were perhaps the best team I have ever been on a court with.
You lost your top-2 scorers from last year (Brian/Ray’Sean Taylor): how will you try to replace all that offense/leadership? We also lost Desmond Polk, who was with us for 5 years. You must do it by committee: the people who are here have to be who they are. We did a good job of moving the ball and had a couple of primary scorers, so we must continue to defend and play team basketball. Ring Malith has produced at a high level and we will have to identify who we become.
Your brother Tony Jr. is the NCAA assistant director for basketball development/enforcement: what is the best part of having a brother in that job, and what is the not-so-best part (if any)? 1 of the best things about Tony is that he and our dad put the Memphis Grizzlies together before they ever made the playoffs. He has been around the best and scouted the best, and as a “basketball guy” in an entity that does not always have people like that in his position it is unique. He gives me insight into trends that are going on in other places. There has not been anything negative because we do things the right way here, so having him around is not too scary!
What are your goals for the upcoming season, and what are your expectations for the upcoming season? Our expectation is always to win. When I was fortunate enough to get the job I took over a program that never had a consistent winning culture. It took time to get there but I like that there was a build-up: we did not go from never winning to immediately making the NCAA tourney. This offseason I did not get caught up in figuring out the next step, but rather continuing to grow what has got us to where we are. That is the foundation: you must go in every day to affect winning and losing so that it goes in your favor. I believe in our guys and we were able to retain most of them, which is not easy in this era, so the by-product will be an opportunity to win. It will be a new challenge but I am excited about it: they keep telling me I have a job so I keep showing up!
