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Hard-working Pirates Prepare for
Stepped Up Competition of C-USA
By
Ron Ferrell
Pirates' Chest Editor
©2001 Pirates' Chest
 East Carolina's basketball Pirates walked slowly off the court one
afternoon last week as they wrapped up a nearly three hour session in
Williams Arena. It was the end of the fifth straight day of hard, taxing
practices for the Pirates to start the season. They showed the inevitable
bumps, bruises and soreness that comes with the beginning of practice.
Now in his third season leading the Pirates, Coach Bill Herrion has
worked to mold this group into an energetic, hard-working team that goes
about practice the same way it goes at the game — with 100 percent effort.
Herrion and his staff know that will be the only way ECU can compete this
year as they play their first season in powerful Conference USA.
Herrion knows that the tough, demanding practices are essential to help
the Pirates prepare for the fast-paced, physical games ECU will find itself
in this season. He hopes the hard work now, will reap benefits down the
road.
"We've gone five straight days. The kids have been going really hard,"
Herrion said as his players worked on some extra shooting following the
practice session. "I have no complaints with the work ethic and the
competitiveness they are playing with. I think that today, though, we kind
of hit that five day wall.
"We've got a lot of new kids. Jonathan Moore sat out last year, Devin
Boddie, Moussa Badiane and Brahin Howard are true freshmen so you have
really got four new guys. This is different from anything they did in high
school. College basketball is much tougher and they work much harder."
Watching young players make mistakes can get frustrating when the coaches
know the program has to make a big jump this year, but the Pirates have
nearly three weeks until the first exhibition game, a November 6 matchup
against the U.S. Marine Corps.
Herrion said he and his staff are making it a point to avoid placing too
many demands too soon on such a young group.
"We are about three weeks from our first exhibition game and I think we
have to be careful and we have to understand that we have a lot of new
guys," he said. "We have a lot of young faces. I think we have to watch
trying to get ahead of ourselves.
"The first thing is that you want to create a competitive environment.
That is number one. For us to be successful and for us to have a chance this
year to be successful, we've got to really compete at a high level. It has
to start there first.
"Then, I think secondly, we are changing our style a little bit. We are
trying to press a little bit more defensively. I think we are trying to see
what guys can fit in and adapt to that style."
Herrion wants to be patient, but he realizes that this is a team that
needs to win games early to have the confidence to compete when conference
games come around.
"We've got to be careful here. We have to look at it as almost a two
season thing in one year," he said. "We've got to try and win as many of our
non-conference games as we possibly can, hopefully to gain some confidence
before we get into conference play in January.
"It is the same as with any team I have ever coached. You want to get
them ready. Our first check-point is the exhibition game on November 6th.
Then we have a second one on November 10th.
"In everything that you do in practice, these kids are being evaluated
and how you practice and approach practice determines if you play in games."
The Pirates have four seniors who will play an important role in what
this team does this year, but there are also freshmen and sophomores whose
contributions will be important.
Kenyatta Brown, Bryan Fox, Brandon Hawkins and Fred Primus, all seniors,
will have to provide much of the perimeter game for the Pirates along with
junior point guard Travis Holcomb-Faye.
ECU's inside game, which will be dominated by younger players, may turn
out to be the team's biggest strength.
Sophomore Gabriel Mikulas was the CAA Rookie of the Year last season
while really playing out of position much of the year. Erroyl Bing also
returns for his second season on the inside.
Mikulas and Bing carried the burden down low for ECU a year ago, but
Herrion is hoping they will get a lot of help this year from two 6-10
freshmen.
Moussa Badiane and Brahin Howard could give the Pirates a kind of
quickness and athleticism inside they haven't seen before. Each weighs only
215 pounds, though, and it remains to be seen how they can handle physical
inside play.
"Moussa is very athletic, he is very long, he has got a great work ethic
and he will touch shots around the basket," said Herrion. "What has happened
is that we have gotten bigger around the basket. If we can take the two
freshmen, Moussa and Brahin Howard, and combine them into one, then we will
be okay up front.
"If Badiane and Brahin can be productive around the basket, it will allow
Mikulas, Bing and sophomore Jonathan Moore to face the basket and operate on
the outside more and take smaller defenders inside."
The added size in the frontcourt opens the door for the Pirates to
implement new offensive strategies.
"The last two years we have really played kind of a three-guard offense
where you have a small point guard and two smaller two and three men,"
Herrion said. "Now we have a Jonathan Moore who is a 6-7 athlete at the
three. Kenyatta Brown is a 6-5 athlete so you are bigger at the three
position already."
Herrion is also looking for bigger things and more versatility from
Mikulas, last year's leading scorer.
"I think that after five days of practice Mikulas is playing so much
harder than last year, he is running the floor harder and he is stronger,"
said Herrion. "We can't just lock him in with his back to the basket. We've
got to let him come out."
Herrion said ECU administrators are still awaiting a decision from the
NCAA that could result in foreign players like Mikulas and Badiane missing
games as a penalty for involvement with European club teams. School
officials believe that penalties will likely result in suspensions of two or
three games.
The team's physical skills give Herrion reason for tempered optimism, but
he's willing to be patient as the veterans and newcomers mesh as a unit and
refine their playing style.
"I think it is an athletic team," Herrion said. "I don't know if we are
going to have the ability to just get into half court, grind it out
basketball games. I think we have to look at this thing as we put this team
together over the long haul and look at the big picture, not the small
picture."
The team's elevated level of athleticism, according to Herrion, will be
reflected in the Pirates' approach on both ends of the court.
"That is one of the reasons why we are trying to press on the defensive
end more. We think we have got good young bodies," he said. "We think we
have got more athletes in the program. We think we have people who can run
the floor better so you go one of two ways. You can slow it down, take the
air out of the ball and use the shot clock and let's play in the 40s, 50s,
60s.
"Or you kind of open the floor and get these kids to play hard and try to
get easy baskets. I think from a recruiting standpoint, the game has
changed. I think that is how kids want to play in this day and age."
Send an e-mail message to Ron Ferrell of the PIRATES' CHEST.
02/23/2007 02:03:24 PM
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Click
here for a RealPlayer clip of Bill Herrion commenting on East Carolina's
upcoming basketball season.