Southern Illinois' Antonio Bryer Leaves Team

It has been a surprising season for the Salukis so far. They entered the year with a brand new head coach in Barry Hinson who was hoping to rebuild a team that was coming off a horribly down year.

He did not have a lot of talent to do that with, and the talent he had dwindled by the day, with things like Diamond Taylor's suspension sucking the lifeblood out of the squad.

One player he did still have was Antonio Bryer, who had seen an increase to about 19 minutes per game in the early going of the season, chipping in about eight points and two boards per game off the bench. He probably could have done more had he not spent most of those three games in foul trouble.

Then against SIU - Edwardsville he got in a scrum and got ejected, which meant that against Saint Louis, he didn't play at all. Then against New Orleans, he only saw three minutes of game action. Now, he has formally announced that he is leaving the team for personal reasons - which I believe cuts his minutes to zero.

Who knows yet what exactly his motivations were for this decision, and whether they have anything to do with the recent discipline and subsequent reduced minutes, but it's just another ding in the armor for the Salukis as they attempt to keep surprising people on the court.