CHRONICLING ECU & C-USA SPORTS
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View
from the 'ville
Thursday,
May 25, 2006
By Al Myatt |
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Stokes stocks up for major
renovation
©2006 Bonesville.net
Game in and game out during East Carolina's
2005-06 basketball season, the Pirates were outsized in the frontcourt
despite the best efforts of senior Corey Rouse.
The overachieving Rouse, 6-foot-8 and a slight
195 pounds, made second-team All-Conference USA with an average of 14.3
points and 10.8 rebounds.
Rouse was the best among eight players the
Pirates will lose from an 8-20 team that went 2-12 in league play. The ECU
roster will feature wholesale changes for 2006-07. Three more recruits were
announced last week swelling the incoming class to seven players.
Pirate fans should remember that it took two
seasons for Rouse to become a productive player as expectations take shape
for the second season of the program under coach Ricky Stokes.
"We're excited about the kids we have," Stokes
said after returning from league meetings last week in Florida. "Naturally,
we're looking forward to competing and getting better as a program.
"We competed most nights last season but still
it did not result in wins. We have to work harder, get stronger and get
bigger. We have to improve shooting the basketball. We have to shoot free
throws better.
"Hopefully, we'll be able to address some of
those needs."
Stokes was on target in his assessment of
shooting accuracy.
The Pirates shot 39.5 percent from the floor
last season, 36.3 percent in C-USA games for 12th and last in the league.
ECU was also last in 3-point percentage in league games at 27.4 percent. The
Pirates made 64.1 percent of their free throws, 66.8 percent within the
league.
ECU signed all frontcourt players in the fall
and all backcourt performers last week, a pattern that Stokes indicated was
developed by design.
The fall class included freshmen Gabe Blair
(6-8, 190), John Fields (6-9, 205), Hillary Haley (6-6, 195) and Chad Wynn
(6-11, 255).
"We planned it that way," Stokes said. "One of
the major needs with Corey graduating was that we definitely needed to
bolster our frontcourt. It's often harder in college basketball to get big
guys later. We put our efforts into rebuilding the frontcourt."
ECU managed to battle opponents to a virtual
standstill on the boards last season. Foes got just one more carom for the
season, 976-975. ECU was outrebounded by a 519-494 margin in C-USA games.
That was with Rouse often toiling against taller, bigger opponents as he led
the league in rebounding.
ECU's leading returning rebounder is guard
Jeremy Ingram, who averaged 10.3 points and 3.5 rebounds. Obviously, talent
will need to emerge quickly on the boards to fill the void created by
Rouse's departure.
Physically, Wynn is one of the bigger players
ECU has ever signed but Stokes is cautious about expecting too much too soon
from any of the new signees.
"It's a hard transition for any player,
freshman or junior college," Stokes said. "All of our guys will have an
opportunity to come in and play but it's a big jump from an academic
standpoint and from a conditioning standpoint. There's new terminology and
new coaches in addition to moving up to a new level of competition.
"He (Wynn) provides us size. We're looking for
all of them to help the team improve, but we know it's a big adjustment for
any newcomer."
The spring class features junior college
shooting guards Cory Farmer and Darrell Jenkins as well as incoming freshman
point guard Brandon Evans.
"I'm sure they're all eager to get started,"
Stokes said. "It's a large class and there's going to be a lot of teaching,
a lot of terminology and getting adjusted to the level of play.
"We're starting to get more depth, but we'll
be inexperienced. Young guys don't know as much as they think they know. We
have to take it at the appropriate speed."
C-USA adds two league games
One of the developments at the league meetings
last week was the expansion of the C-USA hoops schedule from 14 to 16 games.
That means the Pirates will increase the number of teams they play home and
home in C-USA from three to five. ECU will play every other program in the
12-team league at least once.
The Pirates will play Tulane, Central Florida
and Marshall home and home again next season and they will play two more
C-USA teams twice under the new plan. The league will determine who the
Pirates' additional home and home opponents will be. The pairings with
Tulane, Central Florida and Marshall were for two seasons with 2006-07 being
the final season in those pairings, according to the ECU coach.
The C-USA Tournament will remain in Memphis.
Stokes hopes to soon be in position to
announce the 2006-07 schedule.
"A lot of people want to play us at their
place but they don't want to play at our place," Stokes said. "We like to
play home games, too."
Seven of ECU's eight wins came within the
supportive atmosphere in Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum last season. The
Pirates averaged 5,169 fans for 15 home dates, 5,434 for seven C-USA
contests. That was up slightly from the home average of 4,800 in 2004-05.
ECU's best season for home attendance was 1994-95 when the average was
5,980.
Staff intact
Stokes was pleased to assemble a staff that
included Mack McCarthy, Chris Ferguson and Larry Dixon when he took the ECU
job a little over a year ago.
He made the comment at the time that he didn't
know how long he could keep the group in Greenville because of their
coaching talents and contacts. Although McCarthy's name has been mentioned
in connection with some openings at other programs in the offseason, Stokes
said his staff remains in place for now.
"I saw everyone in the office this morning,"
Stokes said with a little chuckle on Tuesday. "They were all here with a
smile on their face. That's about as far as I can see it. In this
profession, things can change quickly but everybody was in the office this
morning."
Stokes on NCSU search
Stokes was busy trying to build his own
program while N.C. State was pursuing candidates to replace Herb Sendek as
its coach.
"We had enough to worry about with ourselves,"
Stokes said. "We were busy with recruiting and following up on academics. I
was just flipping the pages like everyone else."
The case could be made that it was in C-USA's
best interest for John Calipari to remain at Memphis rather than accept the
Wolfpack's offer. Under his leadership, the Tigers have returned to a
position among the nation's elite. Despite the loss of some powerful and
prestigious programs, Memphis has allowed C-USA to maintain a national
profile.
Sidney Lowe, of course, got the Pack job when
the musical chairs process was complete. Numerous other candidates opted to
remain in place, some with enhanced deals after NCSU expressed interest.
"I'm happy for both," Stokes said of Calipari
and Lowe. "Both parties are happy and I'm happy that both are happy."
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02/23/2007 12:30:17 AM
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