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NEWS, NOTES &
COMMENTARY
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The
Bradsher Beat
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
By Bethany Bradsher |
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Exits pave way for new
faces, new possibilities
©2006 Bonesville.net
The revolving door for the major head coaching
jobs seems to have stilled, but college athletics is always marked by
introductions and departures, by athletes and coaches leaving with
unfulfilled potential or new faces coming on the scene with the promise of
talent and determination.
Although still unconfirmed by the athletic
department in the wake of a report last Saturday by The Daily Reflector of
Greenville, it seems certain that the next version of the Pirates basketball
team is going to look markedly different than the group that last took the
floor.
According to sophomore guard Tom Hammonds, Jr.,
he is one of seven players who are opting to leave ECU to transfer to new
programs.
The other soon-to-be ex-Pirates include starting
point guard Japhet McNeil, who holds the school’s single-season assists
record and was on course to break the school’s all-time record, Jonathan
Hart, Quinton Goods, Nick Mattone, Jeff Robinson and Josh King.
Hammonds knows of one other player who is
planning to transfer, he said, but he didn’t want to reveal the name until
it was official. Hammonds hasn’t received his release papers from ECU yet,
he said, but he expects to get official word this week.
“I just want to go somewhere where the
competition is good, pretty much wherever the best fit is,” said Hammonds,
who also said that the new coaches have been supportive of his decision.
“This year, with this coaching staff, for whatever reason we didn’t click
like the last coaching staff.”
Head coach Ricky Stokes declined to comment on
specific players’ decisions, but he issued a statement saying, in part:
“Several players have expressed an interest in exploring other options. This
is an ongoing process and we will continue to counsel each individual player
in making the best possible decision for his academic and athletic future.”
Stokes and staff, no
doubt, are also counseling targeted prospective players about the upside of
factoring an ambitious East Carolina program into their future academic and
hoops plans.
Women's golf in the
limelight
Two members of the Pirates’ women’s golf program
are making an impression this spring — one for her play on the links and one
for her survival skills on reality television.
Lene Krog, a freshman from Norway, shot a 71 in
the final round of the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic this weekend to claim
a share of fourth place in the field of golfers from 17 colleges. It was
Krog’s sixth Top 10 finish of the season so far. She finished in front of 23
of the top 50 female collegiate golfers in the nation at the Athens, GA,
event.
Krog’s coach, Kim Lewellen, is new to East
Carolina but already has something of a following as
a
contestant on The Big Break V, the Golf Channel’s reality
series that offers a spot in a PGA tournament and other prizes to the
amateur golfer who outlasts her competitors. Lewellen, who golfed for the
University of North Carolina and last coached at The Citadel, is one of five
women left in the running out of the 11 who started the show in January.
Each week on The Big Break, contestants first
try to win an immunity challenge, and the remaining women participate in
various golf challenges to see who will advance. On last week’s show,
Lewellen didn’t win the immunity challenge but survived an elimination
challenge that had the players take shots from two difficult locations
toward the same hole. The contestant with the highest score from the two
shots had the leave the show.
Heavy-duty thrower
On the track and field scene, Pirate junior Eric
Frasure is making a national impression in the throwing events. After
performing well enough in the indoor season to be named an All-American,
Frasure led ECU at the Aggie Relays in College Station, TX, over the
weekend. At the meet, he won first place in both the discus and the hammer
throws and set a new school record for the discus with his throw of 50.46
meters.
Frasure, who finished seventh place in the NCAA
national indoor meet in the 35-pound weight throw, also placed second in the
shot put at the Aggie Relays, recording a personal-best throw of 15.87
meters.
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02/23/2007 01:12:54 AM |
