SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Billy Baron was hurting. You could see it from the facial expression, then in his voice as he spoke. Usually full of life and energy, he wasn’t quite that after Canisius’ season ended with a tough 89-85 loss to Iona in the MAAC quarterfinals on Saturday. He was more than a little subdued.
“This is really painful right now,” said the junior guard.
It’s at times like this that it’s clear some of the directions many of us would look are not where players’ and coaches’ heads are at. We might wonder about the year in review, or about the future, but competitors are in the moment. So all the positives that come to mind right away about the season they had or what may be ahead next season don’t mean anything at the time.
In Jim Baron’s first season at the helm, Canisius has 13 more wins than they had last season. It’s a remarkable turnaround for the first year, although Baron has turned programs around often in his career. The Golden Griffins had not been relevant in the MAAC for a while, but that changed quickly as they started out 6-1, including two road wins in early MAAC games, then later won at Temple. They came back to early a bit when MAAC play began in earnest, but this team held its own in going 11-7 in the conference and beating every team at least once.
“These guys deserve all the credit for that,” said Jim Baron. “To go from five wins to 18, and we lost a number of games by one point, a couple of points here and there.”
Billy Baron had a big year. Now at his third school, he followed his father to Canisius and broke out this year as a first team All-MAAC performer. As much as anyone, he emptied his tank on Saturday with 24 points, four assists and no turnovers in 39 minutes, going 8-16 from the field. He was one of five who scored in double figures. The Golden Griffins didn’t put up a clunker by any stretch. That’s why this stung him, and surely, the rest of the team.
Besides the bottom line, the Golden Griffins also had better attendance this season. In fact, it was up significantly from last year from about 1,200 to over 1,600 as Baron has been known to reach out to students and the community everywhere he’s been. He knows what has to be done to drum up interest in his program, and he’s seeing results already. He won’t stop doing it because he knows that’s not an option.
“I’m real excited, but you can’t do it alone,” said Jim Baron. “It’s a complete overhaul. To have three sellouts, four sellouts at home is phenomenal, and it just shows the potential that we do have.”
The Golden Griffins will certainly hold out hope for a postseason bid, likely in either the CBI or CIT. They are well-positioned for another good year next year, much as they will miss the departing seniors, and with Jim Baron coaching at the kind of school where he has won before, there is reason to believe good things are not far away for this program. But after Saturday’s loss, all of that doesn’t matter at the moment. That’s all stuff for another time.
