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Posted: Thursday October 31, 2002 5:20 PM Updated: Monday November 04, 2002 4:08 PM East Carolina Pirates
The following preview is provided by Blue Ribbon. For the most thorough preview available of the upcoming season, order the 2002-03 Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, on sale now at 1-800-775-2518. Team Preview | Blue Ribbon Analysis
Bill Herrion knew exactly what he was getting in to when he bid farewell to a successful Drexel program for East Carolina four years ago. At the time Herrion left Philadelphia, his move seemed like a lateral one at best to some observers. But Herrion knew ECU had big aspirations for its basketball program and would soon be leaving the cozy confines of the Colonial Athletic Association for the rough-and-tumble Conference USA. Last season, the Pirates got their first taste of their new league. And predictably, they found the going considerably rougher than it was in the CAA. But Herrion saw positive signs beneath ECU’s 12-18 record, signs that convinced him he’s going about retooling the program the best way he can. The Pirates, Herrion hopes, will soon be able to keep pace on the floor with C-USA’s best teams by not trying to keep pace with them in the recruiting wars. When it comes to stocking the roster, Herrion and his staff have been forced to become creative. "When it was announced my first year we were joining Conference USA, the misconception was automatically, ‘OK, now you’re joining a power conference, you’re going to be able to recruit the top 50, 100 kids in the country.’ " Herrion said. "But it doesn’t work that way."
Therein lies Herrion’s high hopes for the future. With a roster full of players that were far below the radar of Memphis, Cincinnati and Louisville, the Pirates scratched out five conference wins and were competitive in most of their losses. "A year ago, as we approached the season, before we’d played a Conference USA game, the consensus among 99 percent of the people was 'These guys have got no chance.' People literally thought we weren’t going to win a game." That the Pirates proved the naysayers wrong was due in large part to the efforts of a front line that Herrion and his staff loaded with international players. Had the NCAA, in its 2001 crackdown on eligibility, not handed out a 13-game suspension to 6-foot-8, 230-pound junior Gabriel Mikulas (11.8 ppg, 6.1 rpg) and docked 6-10 sophomore Moussa Badiane (6.5 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 3.6 bpg) six games, ECU might have added another win or two in the league. "[The suspension] really hurt Mikulas," Herrion said. "He came back after 13 games, and he never really did get his timing back. It’s not like we’re Louisville or Cincinnati or Kansas and we can say, ‘OK, go to the next guy [on the bench].’ We lose Milulas, and now we’re looking around wondering how we’re going to score." Mikluas, the 2000-2001 freshman of the year in the CAA, did the best he could to make up for lost time, starting 16 of the 17 games in which he played and averaging 31 minutes. The native of Argentina wound up as the Pirates’ second-leading scorer. "He’s a back to the basket kind of guy," Herrion said. "Sort of a poor man’s Kevin McHale. He’s not a great athlete, but he’s very crafty." Like Mikulas the year before, Badiane made his presence known as a freshman, leading C-USA in blocked shots and setting a league record for blocks per game. His total of 87 rejections set a school record and is second all time in C-USA history. Not merely a defensive presence, Badiane also shot .554 from the field, tops on his team, thanks in large part to the fact he’s a power dunker. Badiane is an prime example of how ECU has to recruit. Herrion and assistant coach Greg Herenda found him in France. "I remember sending Greg to France to see some kids," Herrion said. "I called him to see how it was going. He said, ‘Coach, there’s this 6-10 kid who’s really skinny and real raw, but he’s a great athlete, blocks everything around the basket and dunks everything around the basket. I said, 'Get him.' This kid goes to Nike camp or adidas camp, and there’s no way we get him. It’s safe to say he exceeded our expectations as a freshman. He’s got things you can’t coach. He’s got tremendous timing, he’s long around the basket and he runs like a deer." With the help of Mikulas and Badiane, 6-6, 250-pound senior Erroyl Bing (12.6 ppg, 8.7 rpg) had his best season. Bing is more than the typical wide-bodied banger. He does like to mix it up inside and is an aggressive rebounder, but he can sneak out and hit the 3-pointer (37-of-99, 37 percent, a year ago). "Bing’s a guy that stands for what you want your program to stand for," Herrion said. "We want to play hard and compete hard every night. Bing epitomizes that. He’s relentless, and he’s a great kid." Needing some perimeter firepower to go along with a promising front line, Herrion and his staff again went the unconventional route. Unconventional, at least, to the four North Carolina ACC schools with which Herrion quickly learned it would be tough to compete for in-state blue-chip talent. ECU mined the junior college ranks for 6-5 junior Luke MacKay and 6-4 junior Derrick Wiley. MacKay fits right into Herrion’s master plan. He’s a native of Australia, and don’t think Herrion won’t ask MacKay if he has some friends back home who can play. MacKay missed most of last season at Lon Morris (Texas) College after suffering a broken wrist, but as a freshman averaged 15 points. ECU caught a break when Oregon State coach Ritchie McKay left for New Mexico last spring. MacKay had signed with the Beavers, but asked out of his scholarship after McKay bolted. "He’s a multi-purpose guy who we can play at the one or two," Herrion said. "He can take care of the ball and make open threes. He’s kind of heady, and very tough." Wiley, who comes from Moberly (Mo.) Community College, is a good old-fashioned scorer. He finishes well in transition, has a reliable medium-range perimeter game and can even post up and score. Last year, he averaged 20.1 points, six rebounds and 2.7 steals. In the NJCAA championship tournament, he averaged 27.3 points and earned all-tournament honors. "He’s a tweener," Herrion said. "Just a guy you put on the floor and let play. He’s a very strong, physical kid. He can post a smaller perimeter guy or blow past a bigger, slower guy." Running Herrion’s offense for the fourth straight year is 6-1 senior Travis Holcomb-Faye (8.8 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 4.0 apg), who’s a pure point guard. He needs just 13 assists to become the school’s career leader. "The kid knows how to win," Herrion said. "He’s very competitive. We had some questions going into last year if he could play night in and night out [in C-USA] against some of the point guards we face and be effective. And he had some great games." Holcomb-Faye’s only weakness is perimeter shooting -- a year ago his 3-point percentage fell to .304 and his overall field-goal accuracy to .364. "He’s got to get better there, or people will start laying off of him," Herrion said. Six-foot-two sophomore Devin Boddie (2.6 ppg, 0.9 rpg) is the only other returning guard on the roster. He played 23 games and earned one start -- against Cincinnati -- as a freshman. Boddie is a good athlete who can run and leap, and he’s also reliable from 3-point range (.409 a year ago). ECU signed 6-3 freshman Belton Rivers from Atlanta's Douglass High School. Rivers, who averaged 32 points, five rebounds and five assists as a senior, can play either guard spot. He earned first-team all-state honors as a junior and senior. In the frontcourt, 6-8 junior Jonathan Moore (5.6 ppg, 3.3 rpg), will be counted on to provide relief help after earning nine starts and playing in 30 games last season. Moore can shoot free throws (.750) but had trouble from the field (.284) and 3-point range (.222) a year ago. He managed to reach double figures five times, even scoring 23 points in his debut game against Rutgers. Herrion signed two other frontcourt players who could help this season. Corey Rouse is a 6-8 freshman from Kinston (N.C.) High School who averaged 23 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks last season while earning second-team all-state honors. "He’s a long, athletic slasher," Herrion said. ECU brought in 6-8, 250-pound junior Garth Grindley after sophomore forward Jason Herring injured his knee in a car accident and was lost for the season. "You worry that he was still available in July," Herrion said of Grindley, who is from Jamaica and played last season for Monroe College in the Bronx, N.Y. "We’re not sure how good he is, but I do know he’s very strong and physical, and he plays very hard. If he works out, we kind of stole one." East Carolina won five Conference USA games in its first season in the league a year ago. All things considered, Herrion was pleased with the Pirates’ debut. "We proved to ourselves that we belonged in this league," Herrion said. "We still have a long way to go. We want to improve and get better. I think the players ended the season feeling pretty good about themselves." The Pirates will have a frontcourt that is capable of holding its own in C-USA, and point guard Holcomb-Faye has proven he can do the same. If Mikulas and Badiane can continue elevating their games and junior college recruits MacKay and Wiley provide some scoring punch, ECU is more than capable of tacking a few more league wins onto its record while further establishing itself in its new surroundings.
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