In My Words | Darius Beane
11/13/2018 | 9:31:00 | Men's Basketball
This really is a family for me.Â
My dad is an assistant coach at SIU, and my brother played here. It's still crazy to me. A year ago, I was watching these guys play, and now I'm a part of it.Â
I came to Carbondale in the seventh grade. It wasn't easy at first to leave behind my friends, but you get used to moving around when you're a coach's son. We lived in St. Louis, Cape Girardeau, and Jefferson City, so Carbondale was the next stop on the list.Â
Growing up, my brother is six years older than me, but we have always been really close. He took me to the park to play with his friends. I couldn't really keep up. They were all bigger, faster, and stronger than me. But Ant kept making me play. He would tell me, 'This is what's going to make you better.' And he was right.Â
A lot of people ask me if I feel pressure following in Ant's footsteps. Yes and no. I've been following him my whole life. We have always been really close. We have the same personality; we just like to joke around and have fun.Â
And when I got into high school, I was ranked as one of the best players in the state, so I felt that pressure more than anything else. In the end though, it's the pressure that fuels me to get better. Ant always tells me, 'Don't just be as good as me. Be better.' I've been thinking about that since high school.Â
Being a coach's son, I grew up around the teams. I would go the walk-throughs and dream about playing college basketball. When you're around it 24-7, all day every day, it becomes a part of you; it becomes a habit. Obviously, he's a dad first, but he treats me like a player. He gets on me, especially after practices, and tells me what I need to do better.Â
I remember the Wichita State game in 2013, when we won at the last second to beat them. They were ranked, and the crowd went crazy. That was a cool moment to be in the crowd for. My brother was obviously my favorite player on that team, and Desmar Jackson has always been one of my favorite players, too. I think I play like them. And I always liked Tyler Smithpeters, just because he was from around here, like me, and was so good.Â
In recruiting, the first day coaches were allowed to text me, my phone started blowing up. I told my dad, and he was happy for me. He said it was a good thing that so many other schools wanted me. He never told me I had to play for him, but I always figured this is where I would be.Â
Dad and Coach Hinson sat me down last fall and had a recruiting meeting with me. They gave me the pitch on why I should come to SIU. I already knew that this was the place for me, and I committed right after.Â
This summer, I had to deal with a foot injury, and I wasn't playing very well. The seniors and the coaches, almost all of them would talk to me. They would pull me aside at practice or after practice and say, 'Just play loose. Play your game.' After our Cuba trip, all of that clicked with me, and I started playing a lot better.Â
Cuba was an amazing experience. Seeing the people just makes you thankful for what you have. Giving them our stuff after games was cool. We were just trying to help out any way that we could. I really enjoyed going to Varadero and playing football in the ocean.Â
For this year's team, the goal is to win. The coolest thing about all this has been seeing the program grow. When I first moved here, the program was at the bottom of the league, and now we're close to taking it to the top. It's really a blessing to see that, and now be a part of it. I'm going to do whatever I can for this team. It's whatever the team needs. I'm going to play hard every second of every day, play good defense and take care of the ball. Whatever I can do to help this team have success, I'm going to do it.Â
I can't wait to get it started.
Darius
