By RICHARD CROOME
Eagle Staff Writer

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ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Marquette assistant Brian Barone tried to sell himself short once. A 14-year-old friend and a coach made sure the former A&M Consolidated and Texas A&M player didn't get away with it.

Barone arrived in College Station in time to play basketball as a freshman at Consol. His father, Tony, had just been named Texas A&M men's basketball coach, and Brian and his family made the move from Omaha, Neb.

Just before the Tigers' season started, coach Mike Terral asked the freshman Barone what his goals were for the season.

As Terral tells the story, Barone timidly said he'd like to start on the JV. But Terral and his assistants had higher hopes for the then-5-foot-9 point guard.

Barone remembers the meeting well. It meant everything to him then and maybe more now.

"I never wanted the spotlight, and that day I went back to [teammate] Cameron Satterwhite's house, and he told me right after coach Terral's conversation, 'There is no reason that you can't start every game from here on in high school,'" Barone said. "That is weird ... and mature coming from a 14-year-old to another 14-year-old."

Barone started on the varsity team as a freshman and continued to lead the Tigers until he had knee surgery midway through his senior season. Consol started 15-2 that year but played around .500 after his injury.

"I loved Brian," Terral said. "He was the consummate team player. His numbers weren't flashy because we just wanted him to take care of the ball, run the team."

Barone averaged more than 17 points and eight assists during his last two seasons at Consol. He then played two seasons for his father at Texas A&M before transferring to Marquette, where he played two seasons and was a captain on the 2000-01 team.

Barone is now Marquette's coordinator of basketball operations and video coordinator under head coach Tom Crean.

Marquette beat Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before losing to Stanford in overtime Saturday at the Honda Center.

"My goals are to continue coaching," Barone said. "I've been very fortunate, starting at the high school level with coach Terral, of always being under a coach I really respected. My respect and admiration for coach Crean is still growing every day that I'm here. I want to continue to learn under guys like that and just forward my coaching career."

Barone said he gets chills thinking of that day when he was a Consol freshman, which he does often, especially since Satterwhite died last summer in a motorcycle accident.

"[The things] he said to me that day I wrote to his parents and told them how much he had meant to me," Barone said. "I sent that letter a month ago to his parents quoting that exact thing that happened to me because I thought coach Terral and Cameron changed my perspective as to what I could be as a player by broadening my goals."

NOTES -- Barone injured his knee on his 18th birthday. He's since had surgery on the other knee. ... Tony Barone Jr., Brian's older brother who also played at Texas A&M, is the director of scouting for the Memphis Grizzlies. His father is the director of player personnel.

• Richard Croome's e-mail address is richard.croome@theeagle.com.

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