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Tracking the College Stars of the Future
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Hoops
Recruiting Report
Saturday, March 9, 2002
By Thad Mumau
Special Correspondent |
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C-USA
Boosts Pirates' Recruiting Profile
©2002 Bonesville.net
Being a member
of Conference USA can only help East Carolina’s basketball program. It is
definitely going to help bring better players to Greenville.
While it’s not
a matter of riding the coat tails of a national power like Cincinnati or
other established basketball schools like Louisville, Marquette and DePaul,
it is a matter of cashing in on their reputations.
Big-name
coaches like the Cardinals' Rick Pitino, Cincy's Bob Huggins and John
Calipari of Memphis are going to help the Pirates’ recruiting, too.
How? Well,
wherever those guys are coaching, the television cameras can’t be far away.
And the kids love to play on TV. Many prospects will choose Conference USA
schools if they know they will receive a lot of exposure.
We don’t have
to look any farther than the Atlantic Coast Conference. Sure, Duke and North
Carolina have been the giants of that league over recent years, but they can
only sign so many players. Many other talented prospects choose other ACC
schools simply because of the conference’s name.
The kids want
to play in the ACC. They like the exposure, but they also like the idea of
playing against tough competition. During the early signing week in
November, ACC schools landed 20 of the top 100 seniors in the country as
ranked by Prepstars.com. Duke got five of them and Carolina three. That
means a dozen went to the other seven schools in the conference.
That’s how
East Carolina can benefit in Conference USA.
Over the
years, there have been many, many times when a prospect said the main reason
he chose a certain school was because it was in the ACC. The kid would
mention the opportunity to play in the conference before saying anything
about how beautiful the campus was, how terrific the coaching staff was or
how he felt about the academics.
It can be that
way for ECU, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
This is not to
say that Bill Herrion and his Pirates’ coaching staff don’t have what it
takes to recruit talented basketball players. But, like other sales jobs, it
always helps to have something to get a foot in the door. Conference USA
will help get the door open.
Just as many
young men get excited about the chance to play against Duke and UNC, so will
many others salivate about the chance to play against Cincinnati and
Louisville.
The good
recruiters never talk about other schools or programs. They sell their own
universities. They highlight athletic facilities, graduation rates,
tradition or whatever else might be a strength of their particular
institution and program.
The schedule
can be a strong selling point as well. And when you are playing Cincinnati,
Louisville, Memphis, Marquette, DePaul and Charlotte two times each, the
schedule is going to be pretty impressive. Louisville and DePaul
are not what they once were on the hardwood, but Pitino will have the
Cardinals there in a hurry, and the Blue Demons have the kind of past that
can help build a brighter future.
East Carolina
has obviously been known as a football school. (Pirate baseball has also
been very good over the years, but a lot of people don’t know that.)
Basketball is another story, one without consistent success.
A big reason
is that ECU is buried in ACC Country, and ACC basketball has been considered
the best in the land most of the time for decades. People have said there is
no way the Pirates can recruit against Duke, Carolina and N.C. State.
That’s true.
But the Bucs’
coaching staff is now recruiting against Cincinnati, Louisville, Memphis and
Charlotte. Some very good prospects are going to play for those schools.
There are many others who will play for the other Conference USA schools.
East Carolina can get its share.
The thing
about basketball is that one or two players can make a huge difference. A
good 7-footer and a penetrating point guard who can score a little can turn
a program around. Get a couple of good players and more follow to play with
them.
It isn’t that simple, but it isn’t that far-fetched, either. Herrion has
some nice tools to help him build.
There may be
Division I prospects at North Carolina high schools who want to stay in the
state. Because East Carolina is in Conference USA, some of those kids may
head for Greenville where they can play a lot rather than sit at the end of
the Carolina or State bench.
Gaining
membership in Conference USA — and proving it can compete, as it did in its
first season — will transform ECU basketball in a way that was unimaginable
in the past.
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Thad Mumau.
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02/23/2007 02:39:43 PM
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