Mount St. Mary’s is the Place for Barber

Ron Bailey, Publisher

October 8, 2008 - Last week, Mount St. Mary’s secured a commitment from one of the most under-celebrated yet deserving big men in D.C./B’Mo hoops. That would be 6’8”, 220 pound senior frontcourt man, Raven Barber.

“I picked Mount St. Mary’s because I like the playing style, campus, players, and coaches” said Barber of why he chose ‘The Mount’ and its basketball program, coached by Milan Brown. Raven then added “They were the first ones who gave me a scholarship, and they kept trying”.

Glenn Farello, Barber’s high school coach at Paul VI (VA) willingly shined further light on Raven’s recruitment: “What made this process so smooth was the fact that Coach Brown and his staff identified Raven early last year as a priority and did a great job in recruiting him throughout the last year.
Raven likened the family atmosphere in which he has found at Paul VI to what he felt on his visit at The Mount, and that made the decision easy for him”.

The Mountaineers bested Quinnipiac, and Robert Morris - both fellow Northeast Conference schools that tendered scholarship offers – as well as a number of low to mid majors that came into the recruiting game late.

Barber was essentially under-recruited, in large measure to playing sporadically last year at Paul VI , and concentrating on his academic advancement this summer.

Barber, has shown his dedication not only in becoming a better basketball player but in attending Paul VI, as his home is in the Baltimore area.

Just because he didn’t hit the circuit this year doesn’t mean Raven was a stranger to the gym. “He’s worked very hard developing his game” noted Ken Johnson, an assistant coach at Paul VI. “He has a face up game, and is one of the more athletic ‘bigs’ in the area…He’s changed his body type”.

In Johnson’s estimation, Barber is at the point where - outside of the usual ongoing skill development all players need - he simply must “learn the game” by playing, given his relative inexperience and young 16 year old age.

Barber noted “I have to improve my defense by consitently becoming more active” when asked to identify his needed points of development.

Gaining that necessary experience, and refining his defensive motor will be possible this year at Paul VI, since Raven figures heavily into the plans of that resurgent Washington Catholic Athletic Conference program. Resultantly his personal, final season goals of contributing “more scoring, rebounding, and playing good defense, including blocking shots” and “doing well in the WCAC” will be likely.

“His upside is tremendous” said Johnson excitedly, of Barber’s potential. By the end of this year, Raven plans to tap into it, and then export that to ‘The Mount’.