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Pirate Hoops Preview
Wednesday, November 14, 2001

By Denny O'Brien
Staff Writer and Columnist

When East Carolina travels to Raleigh to play Rutgers in the first round of the BCA Invitational on Wednesday, it will mark a new era of Pirate basketball.

When Bill Herrion was named the Pirates' head basketball coach prior to the 1999-00 season, East Carolina was barely treading water as a member of the Colonial Athletic Association, a perennial one-bid league. All of that is about to change as the Pirates prepare for their first season in Conference USA, which is one of the premiere leagues in college basketball.

The transition will be aided by a solid cast of returnees and a talented group of newcomers. But with nightly battles against traditional powers Cincinnati, DePaul, and Louisville on the horizon, the Pirates are sure to take a few lumps along the way.

If Herrion lacks any in passion, he more than makes up for it with perspiration. Attend one of East Carolina's three-hour practice sessions, and you'll see first-hand that the Pirates' third-year head coach can easily soak a ten-gallon hat.

As the Pirates enter their first year of C-USA play, it's going to take all the sweat, passion, and determination they can muster to be competitive in one of the nation's power conferences.

Coming from a mid-major conference that typically sends just one entry to the NCAA's field of 64, the move might seem intimidating to some.

"Obviously, it's a great challenge," he said. "You're talking about going into a basketball conference that, arguably, is probably one of the top three, four, five, six basketball conferences in the country.

"I think it's a league that's going to get tougher, and tougher, and tougher. When you add a Rick Pitino at Louisville and a John Calipari at Memphis — guys that have proven themselves with other programs where they have coached national championship caliber teams — it's a great challenge for our basketball program."

Herrion couldn't have picked a better year to make the leap, as the Pirates return all five starters from last year's 14-14 team. That experience provides somewhat of a comfort zone for the coach.

"We're starting to piece the program together," he said. We've got a young nucleus of players coming back from last year's team — our top three or four leading scorers are back.

"(Gabriel) Mikulas was the rookie of the year in the CAA. Erroyl Bing was on the All-Rookie team. We've got a good corps of young players at least to build on."

In addition to Mikulas and Bing, both of whom will play a pivotal role in a league that has developed a reputation for its rough play in the post, the Pirates have added size and athleticism to their frontcourt with wingman Jonathan Moore and center Moussa Badiane.

The Pirates will have to wait for Mikulas and Badiane, though, as the NCAA still hasn't delivered a ruling on their eligibility. Both Mikulas and Badiane played for club teams that included paid players in their respective countries, which has been labeled a no-no by the NCAA. Neither Mikulas nor Badiane received money.

But ECU will have the immediate services of Moore, whom Herrion says can be successful in C-USA.

"He's a Conference USA-caliber athlete," he said. "As we build this program, and put the pieces together, we think he's a 6'7", 6'8" kind of perimeter player that is very athletic, that is long, that can score. He is going to be a good player in our program."

Back is a solid corps of perimeter players, including junior point guard Travis Holcomb-Faye, a three-year starter. Holcomb-Faye has improved steadily over his career, and led the Pirates with 119 assists last season.

Joining him will be seniors Brandon Hawkins and Fred Primus. Both Hawkins and Primus can be deadly behind the arc, providing the Pirates with a potent outside punch.

Freshman Devin Boddie will add depth to the backcourt, and should provide valuable minutes as the season wears on. According to Herrion, Boddie is the type of kid that that every program needs.

"He's just a solid program-type player," Herrion said. "Great kid. Great family. Great attitude. I think he is going to be a quality player."

It isn't hard to see that Herrion is making great strides in Greenville. For the first time in years, there seems to be a balance in experience and youth, size and athleticism.

But with all the returning experience, all the new talent, much of this season's success will ride on the shoulders of the man that carried the Pirates for much of last season — Mikulas.

Mikulas came to Greenville as a little-known kid from Argentina. He quickly made a name for himself in his second game, an 81-73 win over Marist in which he scored 29 points and pulled down 11 rebounds.

The six-foot-eight, 220-lb. forward went on to average 15 points per game, shooting almost 60 percent from the field. Mikulas was also near-automatic at the charity stripe, where he nailed almost 80 percent of his attempts.

Combining finesse around the basket with a quick drop-step and an excellent shooting touch, Mikulas was one of the CAA's most polished offensive players.

But without another capable post player, the Pirates' fabulous freshman was forced to play out of position, often guarding the opposing team's center. Thus, Mikulas often struggled defensively against bigger, more physical players such as George Mason's George Evans.

Now, with the Pirates making a step up in class, Herrion notes several areas on which Mikulas must improve.

"I think what he has to do is, number one, he has to get stronger physically," he said. "The conference that we are going into, you're going to be playing against a pretty physical guy on a nightly basis.

"We've got to move him away from the basket more. Last year, he was strictly a back-to-the-basket, five-man for us. I think we've got to get him a little more versatile, playing inside and out. I think he's a kid that's got a great, great future in our basketball program."

As Herrion and his assistants comb the recruiting trail, it's that type of player that they must target.

Herrion knows that if his program is to compete at an elite level, it has to attract elite athletes. In just three years, Herrion has made some strides in bolstering the talent level in Greenville.

"You're only going to be as good as your players in your program," he said. "What Conference USA has done for us is, when we go out and recruit, it has opened so many doors for us.

"Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that you are automatically going to get the top 25-50 kid in the country. But I think what happens now with East Carolina basketball, which hasn't happened in the past, especially locally here in North Carolina, I think now we become a viable option for a kid."

Pirate fans watched talented recruits slip away during the Joe Dooley era, many of whom opted to play in the ACC.

Three North Carolina high schoolers — Antwan Scott, Ervin Murray, and Josh Howard — all chose Wake Forest after seriously considering East Carolina. The lure of the nation's premier conference was too much to overcome, and the three, now juniors, are all major contributors for Skip Prosser's Demon Deacons.

Another Wake Forest standout, Darius Songalia, gave a verbal, non-binding pledge to play with the Pirates and join his good friend Evaldys Jocys, but eventually reneged on that commitment when his stock rose at the summer camps.

Herrion can certainly understand why blue-chippers have often overlooked the East Carolina program in the past.

"We're in ACC country," he said. "So many of these kids grow up with ACC basketball, and that's all they know. This is no disrespect to the conference that we came from, but the kids just weren't dying to play in the CAA."

For the Pirates to be successful in C-USA, Herrion must now contend with the likes of Wake Forest for highly-prized recruits. But at a school that lacks basketball tradition, reeling in top-notch talent is easier said than done.

"I think we have to be realistic with this whole thing," he said. "I don't think we're ready right now to go head to head with a Duke or a North Carolina on a kid.

"But to be honest with you, we've got to get the kids that N.C State is getting, that Wake Forest is getting, that Clemson is getting. That's the kid that we've got to get."

It's the kid that East Carolina hasn't been able to secure in the past, the kid that Herrion hopes will have dreams of playing in C-USA.

Tobacco Road is that legendary strip of highway that includes North Carolina's four storied basketball programs — Duke, North Carolina, N.C. State, and Wake Forest.

Each program has a rich tradition of hardwood glory, to go along with legendary names that brought each school greatness. Names like Rosenbluth, Heyman, Thompson, and Chappell put their schools on the map, while hanging banners in their gyms.

Down East, where the tobacco still grows, much of the hoopla that surrounds the state each March has by-passed the East Carolina program. Herrion, though, hopes to add an extension to college basketball's most famous road.

It won't be easy, and Herrion knows it. Still, you have to start somewhere, as tradition isn't built on its own. Herrion began laying the foundation last year, instilling in his team the importance of toughness and playing hard, regardless of the score.

"Every good program has to have a trademark, and you have to have something that you stand for," Herrion said. "What we haven't stood for so far at East Carolina in basketball is a winning tradition.

"We just haven't won consistently enough. I think where it has to start with our basketball team is we have to play hard."

Playing hard was certainly a trademark of last year's team, which showed the intensity and the will that is often associated with their coach. It was a team that at times showed brilliance, highlighted by a victory over Richmond — and it was a team that at times showed its vulnerability, showcased by a loss to Birmingham Southern.

But through it all, it was a team that played hard, which will be one of the keys to building that extension to Tobacco Road.

Tobacco Road isn't the only obstacle that East Carolina basketball has had to contend with over the years. The Pirate basketball program has taken a back seat to the football program, which for decades has been the engine that has driven ECU athletics.

Players such as wingman Kenyatta Brown often walk across the ECU campus virtually unnoticed. Meanwhile, senior quarterback David Garrard often gets mobbed for autographs.

The fan frenzy that has been created by football, yet is lacking in basketball, wasn't enough to cause Herrion to shy away from the Pirate hoops coaching job when it came open. Herrion, who had previously built a consistent winner at Drexel, refuses to accept the 'football school' label as a reason that the Pirates can't win on the hardwood.

"When I took this job two years ago, I said to myself, 'If they can win in football, they can win in basketball,'" Herrion said. "Everybody has always told me that North Carolina is a great state for basketball, so why can't we win in basketball. I think there are enough good players to go around in this state."

Herrion believes that the football program's success in recent years has been a huge plus as he and his assistants are out recruiting. Potential recruits often comment to him about the Pirates' football program and the high level on which it competes.

And the more exposure football gets, the easier it is to sell Pirate basketball.

"I think the effect that a successful football program has on our basketball program, is that football gets so much national exposure on television and going to bowl games — I think that helps our basketball program'" Herrion said. "So, the better off our football team does, and the more success it has, it benefits our basketball program. There's no question about it."

Still, Herrion hopes the day will come when he doesn't need to ride the coattails of football, and his program can stand on its own. And for players, coaches, and fans alike, the dream is that East Carolina will soon shed its image of being just a football school.