By Al Myatt
©2014 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.

In its first year, the American Athletic Conference set the highest possible standard in basketball by going two-for-two in NCAA Tournament championships.

Connecticut cut down the nets in the men's and women's tournaments, a stunning run by a seventh seed for the Huskies men and a continuation of excellence for the UConn women.

East Carolina officially joins the AAC on July 1.

A tremendous challenge awaits the Pirates in hoops.

It says a lot about the competitive depth of the league ECU is joining when you consider the Huskies men had a 12-6 record in conference play and were tied for third with Memphis and Southern Methodist.

Louisville, the 2012-13 NCAA champion, and Cincinnati were each 15-3. The Cardinals won't be around next season as they transition to the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Among the AAC schools, contending for and winning national titles is not limited to UConn.

The Bearcats won the NCAA Tournament in 1961 and 1962.

Memphis and Houston have each reached the final game twice.

Larry Brown, who coached Kansas to the NCAA crown in 1988, has SMU trending upward. There was sentiment that the Mustangs should have made the NCAA field this year. Spurned, they made a run to the NIT final.

Temple has a lot of basketball tradition.

Even the lesser lights such as Central Florida and South Florida were tough matchups for the Pirates in Conference USA.

"It's not just a step up," said ECU coach Jeff Lebo of the pending membership in the AAC. "It's several steps up."

Lebo said basketball may have the biggest competitive jump to the new league of all the athletic programs at ECU.

At least the group of transfers who sat out this season and the new recruits will give Lebo a significantly deeper pool of players from which to develop a rotation than the group that miraculously produced a 17-17 record this past season.

Richmond's mom is money, too

Akeem Richmond was an entertaining player to watch for the last two seasons primarily because of his three-point shooting ability.

He hit the buzzer-beater from beyond the arc to beat host Weber State 77-74 in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament as a junior.

Richmond led the nation in threes as a senior with 155.

When Richmond got hot, he was money, as they say.

He must get some of that from his mom, Vickie. She won $1 million in a scratch-off game in the North Carolina Education Lottery last month.

She purchased the $20 ticket from a convenience store in Sanford, Richmond's home town.

The Pirates' three-point career leader in just two seasons went with his family to pick up the earnings in Raleigh, $415,206 after taxes.

Spring football wrapping up

East Carolina football coach Ruffin McNeill works year-round for his $1 million-plus salary.

McNeill has been busy developing his program with spring practice since March 21. The spring football game at 2:30 p.m. Saturday will be the hub for a variety of activities and McNeill can hardly wait.

He will be focused on several factors as about 60 snaps are planned for the penultimate session of spring practice. The last session is scheduled for Monday and will give reserves some additional reps.

"We'll be looking for execution and fundamental improvement from day one of spring ball," said the ECU alumnus whose fifth season at the Pirate helm will include the maiden voyage through the AAC.

"I'd like to see us play consistent," said McNeill, whose 2013 team produced a 10-3 record that included a 37-20 triumph over Ohio in the Beef O'Brady's Bowl.

McNeill also will be looking for what he calls "11-man football."

The personality of the 2014 team is in the formative process.

"It will come out probably this summer and in two-a-days," McNeill said. "It's developing. We've got a great leadership core. They enjoy practice and this unit has a very competitive spirit."

Secondary shaping up; OL, too

The Pirates lost three of four starters in the secondary but McNeill, a former ECU safety, thinks that unit will reload for 2014.

Defensive coordinator and secondary coach Rick Smith has had numbers with which to work.

"Rick is one of the best secondary coaches I've been around," McNeill said. "Dominique Lennon (strong safety) had a great spring. Lamar Ivey (free safety), Josh Hawkins (field corner), Detrick Allen (boundary corner), DaShaun Amos (boundary), DaShawn Benton (field) and Travon Simmons (free safety). Those guys have done a great job of competing during the spring."

The offensive line was another area with holes to fill.

"Tre Robertson has been a great leader for us up front," McNeill said. "Taylor Hudson has done a great job coming along and J.T. Boyd as well, offensive line-wise."

Gregory has rings

Worth Gregory, a transfer from Alabama, appears likely to take over the punting duties that Trent Tignor performed so well.

Gregory didn't get on the field for the Tide but he did receive rings for the SEC title and national championship which Alabama won for the 2012 season.

McNeill said Warren Harvey was "the No. 1 guy" among kickers.

Carden mentoring Benkert

Returning quarterback Shane Carden has been a good influence on redshirt freshman Kurt Benkert.

"Kurt is learning very well," McNeill said. "Shane is doing a good job of teaching Kurt and Kurt is doing a great job of absorbing teaching. Lincoln (Riley, offensive coordinator) is doing a great job of bringing Kurt along.

"I'm looking forward to seeing Kurt's progress. He's done a great job all spring. He's learning each day and getting better.

"He's got a great teacher in front of him."

'Get a Pirate, win a Super Bowl'

The last four Super Bowl champions have had a former Pirate on their roster.

The streak started when defensive linemen Jay Ross and C.J. Wilson were with the Green Bay Packers in 2011. Defensive lineman Linval Joseph helped the New York Giants to the Super Bowl championship for the 2012 season. Fullback Vonta Leach continued the streak with the Baltimore Ravens in 2013. Former Pirate defensive lineman Michael Brooks was with the Seattle Seahawks this past season.

In all, 14 former Pirates have played on Super Bowl champions. One of McNeill's teammates, linebacker Zack Valentine, was the first with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1980.

Linebacker Robert Jones, the father of current ECU receiver Isaiah Jones, played on three Super Bowl champs with the Dallas Cowboys in 1993, 1994 and 1996, the most of any former Pirates player.

Punter John Jett of ECU was on those Cowboys teams in 1994 and 1996.

McNeill had some advice for NFL scouts as the Pirates held their pro day recently.

"If you want to win a Super Bowl, draft a Pirate," McNeill said. "That's what I told 'em."

Baseball finds a groove

While spring football is winding down, it seems that East Carolina baseball is just getting started.

The Pirates have won 10 of their last 12 and atoned for the two losses during that span in their ensuing games with Rice and N.C. State.

ECU was 8-10 before a doubleheader sweep of Tulane on March 15.

Pirates coach Billy Godwin ran the numbers since taking the last two in the Conference USA series with the Green Wave.

"We're hitting over .300," Godwin noted. "We walked 22 guys in those 14 games (ECU was 11-3 in that span) and we fielded close to .980. We've had timely hits and guys are getting comfortable in their roles. We're playing a lineup pretty much every day that's consistent.

"Guys know what their roles are. Josh Lovick knows he's coming off the bench late in the game and play defense for us."

David Lucroy has contributed several solid starts in the weekend rotation after a shaky start.

"David has certainly been a big part of our turnaround," Godwin said. "Going into the year, we felt he was a guy who had put up some numbers. He had the credentials. He had had success at this level. He got off to a slow start so certainly that hurt us. His last three starts have been as good, if not better, than what I saw from him last year. We need him to continue that track for us."

Ryan Williams' relocation to the bullpen has probably been the best coaching move of the season. Williams is 9-1 going into a C-USA series at Old Dominion, which starts with a 6 p.m. game today. He has an earned run average of 0.81 as well as three saves.

"I got asked the other day if I would consider putting him back in the rotation," Godwin said. "I said, 'For what?' If he's in our rotation, he has an impact one day a week. If he's doing what he's doing he has a chance to have an impact two to three games a week. He's certainly exceeded everything we had hoped him to do in that role and he just seems to be getting better from it."

Better health a factor

Godwin isn't one for making excuses but his team had an early-season spell of illnesses that hindered consistency.

"We had a period there of almost a full month where we didn't have our entire team together, all 35 guys in one place at one time, just because of sickness," Godwin said.

There was also a period where the Pirates were unable to practice on an actual baseball field due to bad weather. That 16-day streak ended March 20, the day before the Charlotte series.

"I thinking the weather breaking has helped us immensely," Godwin said. "Our game is a game of repetition. You've got to practice. You've got to be fundamental. It was just tough sledding early on to try to get those reps in, especially with a lot of new guys. ...

"Those repetitions are important to be good defensively and even for hitters just to see the ball fly instead of the batting cage."

A helpful moment for Harman

ECU was down to its last strike with two out and an 0-2 count on Bryce Harman in the third and deciding game of the series at Rice on Sunday. The Owls were leading 1-0 in the top of the ninth.

Godwin called time to talk to the big left-handed hitter.

"I just felt like the game was starting to speed up a little bit right there," said the ECU coach. "You've got a freshman up there. He's in a big situation. I wanted to make sure it didn't get fast for him because it can. ... You won't see me do that to Bryce as a junior or senior.

"It was like (Drew) Reynolds was in that situation (Wednesday night, 0-2 count vs. N.C. State). He was focused. He knows what he needs to do."

Knowing when to coach is sometimes as important as strategy itself.

Harman ended up drawing a walk to start a two-run rally that led to a 2-1 win over the Owls.

Reynolds hit a two-run triple from his 0-2 situation to push ECU's lead to 6-0. The Pirates added another run to defeat the Wolfpack 7-0.