SE Illinois News

Darius Beane does not sugarcoat the story of his first basketball game.

Beane told the Southeast Illinois News that his first memory of basketball was playing while in the fourth grade. However, he did not take it seriously at that time.

“I knew the game, but I wasn't, like, very good at it yet at that age,” Beane said.

He has made up for lost time. Beane, a junior point guard at Carbondale High School, enters this season rising the lists of top high-school basketball recruits in Illinois. 247sports.com has Beane ranked fifth among all Illinois players graduating in 2018, while ESPN.com has him ranked seventh. Both sites give him a three-star rating out of five stars.

As a freshman, according to statistics provided by Carbondale Head Coach Jim Miller, Beane averaged 5.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game as a freshman and 12.3 points, seven rebounds and 2.5 assists per contest as a sophomore. In addition to his high school activity, Beane also plays for the St. Louis Eagles, a club team that has produced six McDonald's All-Americans, according to stleagles.com, and he goes to basketball camps.

Colleges already have taken notice of his rising profile.

Beane said the first college to reach out to him was Ohio State when he was in eighth grade. Lately, he said letters have arrived from Oklahoma, Florida State, Illinois, Southern Methodist, Kent State, Arizona and Illinois State. He said he has not made any visits to colleges yet.

Or course, Southern Illinois is of special interest to him, given the family's history with the Salukis program. His father, Anthony Beane Sr., is in his fifth season as an assistant coach for the SIU men's basketball team, according to siusalukis.com. Darius' brother, Anthony Beane Jr., played for the Salukis from 2012-16, garnering honors from the Missouri Valley Conference each season, culminating in being a first-team all-league selection earlier this year.

However, Beane said there's no pressure on him.

“My dad tells me every day, 'Is this something you want to do -- it 's your choice,'” he said. “He's not pushing me to go anywhere. He says, 'If you don't want to play, you don't have to,' but he knows it's something I want to do.”

However, right now, Beane said he's concentrating on high school.

“I just try to stay focused and keep getting better,” he said.

Beane is not picky about where he wants to improve, saying he wants to “improve on everything.”

“Right now, I'm not where I want to be by the time I graduate,” he said. “I want to gain a lot more weight. I want to become, like, a better overall player in every aspect of the game.”

Carbondale also has a promising season ahead. The Terriers are coming off an 18-9 season and have four starters back this season.

“It's going to be really fun,” Beane said. “I hope I see us going far this year.”