Brian Barone had already done the office-supply shopping for the moment.
The former player at Marquette from 1998 to 2001 and now an NCAA Division I head coach, Barone just led Southern Illinois University Edwardsville to its first NCAA men’s basketball tournament, capped with a 69-48 win in the Ohio Valley Conference championship over top-seeded Southeast Missouri on Saturday.
During the postgame telecast, Barone showed off a pair of framed scissors that he had mounted above the team’s locker room door six years ago, with the expectation that they’d be used to cut down nets at some point. The OVC entrant became the first team to earn an automatic berth in the 2025 showcase.
Barone’s history in Wisconsin basketball doesn’t just touch MU. He served as an assistant under former MU teammate Brian Wardle at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and was among those who reportedly interviewed for the head coaching job at UWGB that went to Linc Darner in 2015. UWGB defeated Marquette in December 2012, 49-47, with Wardle and Barone on staff.
Barone also worked on staff as the coordinator of basketball operations and video coordinator at Marquette with Tom Crean in 2007-08 after earning his bachelor’s degree at Marquette in 2000 and his master’s degree in 2002.
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Barone announced he’d be transferring from Texas A&M to Marquette in April 1998, needing to sit out a season because of NCAA transfer rules. Barone served as the backup point guard to Cordell Henry, who joined the program as a freshman for the 1998-99 season.
Barone’s father, Tony, had just been dismissed as head coach at Texas A&M and later became director of player personnel for the Memphis Grizzlies. The elder Barone had been a candidate for the Marquette job when the program hired Kevin O’Neill in 1989.
Barone won the “Super Sub” Award on the team as a senior in 2001. He averaged 2.4 points per game for MU in 58 games played (with one start) over two seasons.
Barone’s SIU-Edwardsville team played Marquette in November 2021, the first game played by MU under new head coach Shaka Smart; the Golden Eagles prevailed, 88-77.
Former New Berlin West star Desmond Polk a starter for SIU-Edwardsville
Barone isn’t the only Wisconsin connection on the Cougars.
Desmond Polk, who has started every game for the squad and averages 6.2 points per game, originally attended New Berlin West High School for two seasons before playing his junior year at La Lumiere School in Indiana. He finished his high-school career at Link Year Prep in Missouri and has been with the SIUE program for five seasons.
Another starter, junior Brian Taylor, appeared in seven games for UW-Milwaukee as a freshman in the 2022-23 season. This year, he’s started every game and averages 12.0 points and 4.1 rebounds for the Cougars.
