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Bailey's
Take on Pirate Sports
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From the Anchor Desk
Wednesday, March 27, 2002
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By Brian Bailey
Sports Anchor of WNCT-TV 9 |
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Pirates seek experience in JUCO targets
©2002 Bonesville.net
Pirate basketball
coach Bill Herrion never stops working. He has seen his league get three
teams in the NCAA tournament. Next year, he wants one of those Conference
USA entries to be East Carolina.
“I don’t know if we
can pull it off,” said Herrion. “But that certainly will be our goal. We
want this team to play in the post season and we want it as soon as
possible.”
Quick fixes aren’t the answer, but the Pirate coach
says a little help from the Junior Colleges may be just what this team
needs.
“Just look at what Kelvin Sampson did at Oklahoma,”
Herrion explained. “He had a lot of the people in place that he needed. But
the juco kids come in with so much great experience, that in some cases it
can put you over the top. It just has to be the right mix. That’s what Coach
Sampson got and that’s what we are looking for.”
The Pirates already have Kinston’s Corey Rouse signed.
He was so good during his senior season that he got several second looks
from the ACC and the Big 12. Rouse, though, was already in the Herrion fold.
The latest verbal comes from blue-chipper Belton Rivers from Atlanta.
Rivers averaged 32 points, six assists, five rebounds and two and a half
steals per game during his senior season. He averaged almost five triples
per game last season, and exploded for ten 3’s in a 36-point effort against
Clarkston High School this season.
The Pirate coaching staff has zeroed in on a trio of candidates to fill
the last two scholarship slots that are available. All three are junior
college players, but their top choice would still have three years remaining
of eligibility.
The staff hopes to get those final two verbals very soon.
Spring Football, Where are
You?
Basketball is winding down. Major league baseball’s opening day is just
around the corner. What we need right now is some Spring Football to take
the edge off.
However, Coach Steve Logan likes to get spring football over before
spring begins, so we have to wait a while for some football.
I get conflicting reports on the “new” style of defense that has been
installed. I’ve read where there are major changes, but that the coaching
staff didn’t want to give anything away.
I’ve also been told that there aren’t really that many changes, just a
change in attitude. The staff really wants the defense to step it up in
practice, to get after it a little harder. Make that a LOT HARDER. Hopefully
we’ll notice some changes in the fall.
Baseball Features a Long
Season
As I said in my Monday sportscast this week, baseball features a very
long season. TCU’s three game sweep knocked the Pirates out of the national
rankings, for now.
Baseball is a sport based on failures. In what other sport do you fail
over half the time, and still put up great numbers. That .450 batting
average will take a player a long way.
Just how the Pirates react to this three game sweep will go a long way
toward determining the team’s chances for success in this first season of
Conference USA baseball.
 Hopefully
when the dust settles in Kinston in May, we’ll all look back at these three
games and consider them just a minor hic-cup on the way to another
post-season appearance for the Pirates in baseball.
The hangover is already over. The Pirates came from behind to beat Old
Dominion on Tuesday night 9-5. Next up is Campbell, and then another
Conference USA series with UAB.
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Brian Bailey.
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02/23/2007 01:22:40 AM
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