SIUE’s appearance in NCAA Tournament is ‘full-circle moment’ for Hellenthal

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. — Everything Ryan Hellenthal experiences this week during the SIU-Edwardsville men’s basketball team’s appearance in the NCAA Tournament is connecting his past to his present and so many of the things that have happened in between.

The Cougars, making their first NCAA Tournament appearance since becoming an NCAA Division I program in 2008, are the 16th seed in the Midwest Regional and will face Houston at 1 p.m. Thursday at Intrust Bank Arena in Wichita, Kan.

That’s three-plus hours from where Hellenthal’s collegiate coaching career began at Garden City (Kan.) Community College, but it will feel like he’s just a stone’s throw away.

“It’s kind of a full-circle moment,” said Hellenthal, a Quincy native who spent six seasons coaching at Quincy University — one as an assistant and five as head coach — before joining the staff at SIU-Edwardsville three years ago.

It was more than 20 years ago at the juco level where Hellenthal forged his relationship with SIUE head coach Brian Barone, who was an assistant at Garden City when Hellenthal joined the staff.

“I started my career with him in the same office,” Hellenthal said. “I owe so much to him. He believed in me and took a chance on me, and we’ve worked really well together the last three years. Hopefully I’ve had a positive impact on him and the program.”

As the Cougars awaited their NCAA destination and surveyed the host sites on the bracket, a return to Kansas piqued both Hellenthal and Barone’s interest.

“We talked about what it might be like to head to Wichita,” Hellenthal said. “It’s a full-circle moment.”

Wichita also will serve as a reminder of where his love for the game developed.

Hellenthal’s father, Mike, was a lifelong coach who spent 15 years as an assistant coach to Sherrill Hanks and Jerry Leggett at Quincy High School. During that time, Ryan was born in Quincy and discovered an appreciation for Blue Devil basketball, even after moving to and playing for Galesburg while his dad was athletic director at the Western Big 6 Conference rival.

His dad was a University of Missouri graduate and ardent supporter of the Tigers, and with sixth-seeded Mizzou slated to play 11th-seeded Drake at 6:35 p.m. Thursday in Wichita, Mike Hellenthal would have experienced the best of both worlds.

He could have watched his son coach and his beloved Tigers play in person on the same day.

“You know how much he would have loved that,” Hellenthal said as he fought back tears thinking of his father, who passed away in 2020. “He would have been in basketball Heaven.”

That’s where the Cougars are right now.

SIUE finished second in the Ohio Valley Conference regular-season standings, finishing two games behind Southeast Missouri. The Redhawks beat the Cougars twice in the regular season, but couldn’t complete the trifecta.

After outlasting Tennessee State 71-69 in the OVC Tournament semifinals, SIUE exacted some revenge on SEMO with a 69-48 victory in the title game to punch its ticket to the big dance for the first time. Prior to becoming a D-I program, SIUE was a member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference, the D-II league featuring Quincy University and Truman State University.

“It’s a dream come true really,” Hellenthal said. “It’s been a really exciting experience, exciting for our kids, exciting for the community, exciting for all the people who put so much time and energy from making the transition from Division II to Division I happen. They get to see the fruits of their labor in a national showcase as part of one of the best sporting events in the world.”

The fervor was evident Sunday night when 1,500 fans joined the team in First Community Arena to watch the NCAA selection show.

“There’s great energy and great excitement about the program and what Coach Barone has done since he got here,” Hellenthal said.

This will be Hellenthal’s third NCAA Tournament appearance as he served as an assistant coach when Long Beach State qualified for the Big Dance in 2012. He was an assistant coach at QU when the Hawks played in the Division II national tournament in 2017.

Each has been rewarding and unique with teams defined by loyalty and experience.

“We have a really good culture here,” Hellenthal said.

Starting a pair of fifth-year graduate students in the backcourt is evidence of that. Desmond Polk and Ray’Sean Taylor have been the steady mainstays guiding SIUE’s emergence with Taylor, a Collinsville product, becoming one of the greatest players in program history. 

“They have been loyal at a time in college athletics where it’s pretty easy to run to the next best thing,” Hellenthal said.

The next best thing for this group is what they accomplish together, something Hellenthal appreciates and embraces.

“I’m blessed to be here,” he said. “I’m blessed to be part of this team.”