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Gregg Marshall is my favorite coach by far, for obvious reasons.
But Barry Hinson is easily second. I will admit, I was shamelessly rooting for SIU over the weekend. It wasn't that I was afraid of Indiana State or UNI, but it's simply too hard to not want to root for a team coached by Barry Hinson when you're watching it in person.
The SIU vs. Indiana State game was Barry at his best. The game gets delayed and they start playing "Jump Around" by House of Pain. I look down and see Barry dancing and clapping to the music. Just simply classic Barry.
Later in the second half, Indiana State scores off an offensive rebound and the game looks to be close to over. I believe SIU is down 8 or so at the time. Barry is furious and calls timeout and doesn't even wait for his team to get to the bench; he instead runs to halfcourt to meet them with anger. The more he yells at them, the louder the SIU crowd gets. He finishes with the players and runs over to the SIU fans across the court and motions for them to get louder. By this time, every SIU fan in the building is yelling. The timeout wasn't even close to over, so SIU's players stand on the court in a huddle while Barry paces on the sideline. Back and forth, back and forth. This lasts for at least a minute and was absolutely hilarious.
Of course, there's no way SIU doesn't come back after this. They come back all the way and if Desmar Jackson doesn't have the worst game of his life then we probably play them in the finals instead of the Sycamores. For all Barry's gone through this year - the loss of his son-in-law, the rant about the team and the backlash from one of his players, the team bus getting stranded - it's pretty amazing that he was able to have his team within 3 points of the finals in the conference tournament.
It's pretty dang hard not to like that guy.
But Barry Hinson is easily second. I will admit, I was shamelessly rooting for SIU over the weekend. It wasn't that I was afraid of Indiana State or UNI, but it's simply too hard to not want to root for a team coached by Barry Hinson when you're watching it in person.
The SIU vs. Indiana State game was Barry at his best. The game gets delayed and they start playing "Jump Around" by House of Pain. I look down and see Barry dancing and clapping to the music. Just simply classic Barry.
Later in the second half, Indiana State scores off an offensive rebound and the game looks to be close to over. I believe SIU is down 8 or so at the time. Barry is furious and calls timeout and doesn't even wait for his team to get to the bench; he instead runs to halfcourt to meet them with anger. The more he yells at them, the louder the SIU crowd gets. He finishes with the players and runs over to the SIU fans across the court and motions for them to get louder. By this time, every SIU fan in the building is yelling. The timeout wasn't even close to over, so SIU's players stand on the court in a huddle while Barry paces on the sideline. Back and forth, back and forth. This lasts for at least a minute and was absolutely hilarious.
Of course, there's no way SIU doesn't come back after this. They come back all the way and if Desmar Jackson doesn't have the worst game of his life then we probably play them in the finals instead of the Sycamores. For all Barry's gone through this year - the loss of his son-in-law, the rant about the team and the backlash from one of his players, the team bus getting stranded - it's pretty amazing that he was able to have his team within 3 points of the finals in the conference tournament.
It's pretty dang hard not to like that guy.
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