The 2012 men’s basketball season has seen SIU score 100 points in a game, a victory over a nationally ranked conference team, two five game losing streaks and a first round exit from the conference tournament. The season was every bit of a roller coaster ride for the Salukis, who finished 10th in conference but ended the regular season on a three-game winning streak. The story of the season couldn’t be told solely by the statistics, but by the Saluki head coach’s one-liners and borderline rants that added color to the course

of the season.

First-year coach Barry Hinson said at his introductory press conference that part of the reason he came to

Carbondale was because of advice Athletic Director Mario Moccia gave his wife.

“My wife swore to me she would never wear maroon again, but Mario convinced her this was a prettier

maroon,” he said. “I want to thank my wife for putting up with me during this time; I really do think it is a pretty maroon she is wearing today.”

Hinson, a 51-year-old Marlow, Okla. native, joined the Twitterverse to form a better relationship with his new Saluki fans through social media. The coach was not without his difficulties in his early experience with the online realm.

“In the Twitter world one day, and my account has already been hacked. I guess 1234 is not a good password,” he tweeted.

At Maroon Madness, the public’s first view of Saluki basketball, Hinson implored students and fans to comeoutandsupportthebasketballprogram. Healsosawthisasanopportunityforsomelocalrecruiting because of a string of injuries that afflicted the team.

Of the 14 active players on the roster at the time, sophomore forwards Dantiel Daniels and Josh Swan were unavailable because they were recovering from injuries. Freshman forward Chase Heins went down with a leg injury, had surgery on Oct.23 and subsequently redshirted. Freshman forward Bola Olaniyan was also forced to redshirt his freshman year due to NCAA restrictions. Junior guard Diamond Taylor was suspended indefinetly for conduct detrimental to the team.

“I may need someone from the crowd to score for us next Saturday night,” he said. “I won’t guarantee wins, but I promise we’ll play our butts off. “

Before the first exhibition game against Lincoln University Oct. 27, Hinson said he was unimpressed with his team’s Maroon Madness performance.

“Obviously, we had a lot of guys that were nervous for Maroon Madness,” Hinson said. “We had a guy who is 6-foot-9 that couldn’t dunk the ball and was scared to death because the lights were on.”

He also joked at an Oct. 23 press conference that his team’s erratic and raw play might be hazardous to the team and its fans.

“Now I will say this, don’t be alarmed by the yellow tape that is around the first three or four rows at the exhibition games,” he said. “That’s there just to protect those people from errant passes that may happen during the game. So we will put yellow tape around the arena for the first four rows. Please have your eyes up at all times. It’s worse than a foul ball to get hit in the head with a basketball.”

After the Salukis won 83-47 against Lincoln, he praised senior guard Jeff Early for his ability to protect the ball despite his eight points and six rebounds in the contest.

“Jeff’s pretty good at turning the ball over. Last year, it looked like he was trying to get tax deductions. He can turn the ball over now,” Hinson said. “We’ve challenged him on that.”

The first-year coach also said despite Lincoln being just a year removed from division II basketball, hardly anyone expected the Salukis to win so easily.

“If you had taken a poll of our fans before the game, would the Salukis have won by 36, I guarantee 99 percent would have said no,” Hinson said. “The 1 percent that would have said yes would have just come from Midlands and been drunk as a skunk.”

Despite his encouraging words, he was unafraid to criticize players when they underperformed. After SIU lost its first game of the season, Hinson said he was disappointed in one of his senior’s defensive intensity.

“I think Kendal (Brown-Surles) has done everything we want him to do with the exception of two things,” he said. “I don’t think he guards a lick. I think he’s lazy on defense and lazy on the tongue. We had breakdowns the other night, and that’s when your quarterback tells you what to do. I need Kendal to be Peyton Manning. I need him to get to the line of scrimmage and start talking every time he’s on the floor, and right now, he’s not guarding a lick. He’s just playing that ole’ defense we talked about a couple weeks ago from Tijuana.”

Hinson wasn’t afraid to compliment and covet players from other teams, either. Before SIU faced off against Green Bay on Dec. 15, he said the Phoenix’s junior center Alec Brown is an asset to his team—an asset the Salukis could use.

“The thing that’s complicating about him is he’s their best 3-point shooter. He’s 7-foot-1 and shooting 50 percent from three. I really would like to have one of those guys. Matter of fact, if you guys

see Santa Claus, and you see a 7-foot-1 guy who can make threes, make sure Santa knows that’s what Coach Hinson would like to have,” he said.

After SIU was trampled 85-68 Jan. 5 by Evansville, UE junior guard Ned Cox’s 17-point performance drew a response from Hinson. The Saluki coach said he was impressed with how torrid Cox played.

“(Cox) was on fire,” he said. “If they had cracked an egg, they could’ve fried it on his backside because he was so hot.”

Commonly referred to as a ‘little man with a fiery spirit’, Hinson’s quotes after big home games were also very provoking. The Salukis won 74-68 in overtime during the BracketBuster’s game against Miami of Ohio University on the strength of senior guard Jeff Early’s 31 points and fellow senior guard Kendal Brown-Surles’ big block. Hinson said he was astounded by the play 5-foot-9 Brown-Surles made.

“Unbelievable. Unbelievable. He’s my height and blocks a (6- foot-11) guy’s shot and comes down and makes a three,” he said. “He had just turned it over, and I’m giving him the look of the devil. There is fire coming out of my eye sockets, and he goes down there and blocks it and I’m still giving him the eye socket fireball as he comes down and hits the three. I just let him sit down, and I didn’t holler at him.”

Even in difficult loses Hinson managed to stay captivating with his light-heartedness. After a Saluki loss in the first round of the 2012 MVC tournament, Hinson made fun of his team’s poor passing.

“We hit an elderly woman and almost knocked the popcorn out her hand,” he said. “I almost made (Jalen Pendleton) pay for it, poor lady.”

In his final year with the program, Lindsay said Hinson is probably one of the best orating coaches in the conference.

“Before every game he says that he won’t judge us by the scoreboard, but by our effort,” he said. “I’ve never seen someone so good at speaking. He always knows the right thing to say, and I’m sure that will be great for his future teams.”