SIU basketball alumni tour Europe Beane, O'Brien moving up in European hoops leagues

Sean O'Brien and Anthony Beane Jr. were the heart and soul of Coach Barry Hinson's 20-13 Saluki basketball squad last season. Beane was the outside threat, and the 6-foot-7 O'Brien ruled the baseline.

Beane, one of the top scorers in SIU history, and O'Brien, one of SIU's all-time rebounders, will both eventually get looks as Hall of Fame candidates for the Saluki Hall of Fame, but right now both are grinding it out on European pro teams playing at "the next level".

Unfortunately for both, although competition has recently picked up a bit, "the next level" doesn't yet pay much, nor are the crowds what one would expect for pro-teams.

"You go from playing in large arenas in the USA to playing in small gyms," noted O'Brien in a recent Chicago Tribune article. "The first place I signed (Korihait in Finland), I was given a bad apartment and had to sleep on a cot. But I just signed with a better paying team (Turi Svitavy) in the Czech Republic - and like it a lot."

Sleeping on a cot seems more like joining the Army, not a reward for a professional career. In contrast, Beane graduated a year earlier than O'Brien and has been playing in a better league and for a better team (BK Ventspil in Latvia) for a longer time.

Beane started up with Legia, located in Warsaw, Poland, but then moved up to Ventspil (Latvia) after averaging 22.3 points per game for Legia. He only averaged 6.1 points per game this past season for the better Latvian team but shot 50 percent from the arc. His hope is to eventually make the leap to the NBA.

"I will be in the league," Beane tweeted. But both he and O'Brien have a long and winding road to really reach that next level.

Actually O'Brien, unlike Beane, wasn't even dreaming of such a leap until he was encouraged by several coaches in the MVC to stick his foot into the professional waters.

"MVC league coaches were telling me: 'If you want this thing at the next level, you can do it,'" O'Brien said. So, even though O'Brien was seriously contemplating giving up hoops when playing for Korihait, he was talked off the quitting ledge by his father, and became one of the best players in the league Korihait belongs to.

"I like it in the Czech Republic. I like the competition, food and especially the fans," said O'Brien. "They have a bus and follow us to games."

But O'Brien, like Beane, is looking to move up to one of the top European teams - those that get raided by the NBA at draft time.

He was signed through 2021 by Turi Svitavy but looks to move up to either a top Italian or German team soon.

"It would be a good step up for me in terms of pay and competition," said O'Brien. And making money is ultimately what it's about in pro sports.