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College Sports in the Carolinas
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Watch for Al Myatt's
profile of new ECU Chancellor Steven Ballard in this summer's
Bonesville Magazine. |
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from the East
Monday, June 28, 2004
By Al Myatt |
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Chance ahead to cure 0-for-ACC
hoops blight
©2004 Bonesville.net
For the first time since Dec. 3, 1994, and a 100-74 loss at Georgia Tech,
East Carolina will have a regular season game scheduled against an Atlantic
Coast Conference foe in basketball. The 2004-05 schedule is expected to
include a late December trip to Clemson.
ECU played N.C. State in an early season tournament in 2001-02 but that
meeting resulted after the Pirates defeated Rutgers and Northwestern to
match up with the Wolfpack in the championship game.
The Tigers are paying the Pirates for the upcoming non-conference contest.
There will be no return game in Greenville as the contract is structured.
Playing ACC opponents has been a futile experience for the Pirates but the
degree of athleticism in the program has increased substantially through
recruiting in ECU's three seasons in Conference USA. Still, playing on the
road is a tremendous disadvantage in college basketball and ACC teams have
avoided playing in Greenville. North Carolina won a game in Greenville 79-63
in 1952-53, the season before the ACC was formed.
The Pirates beat Georgia Tech 66-64 in Atlanta in 1978-79, the season before
the Yellow Jackets joined the ACC.
A review of the ECU records shows that the Pirates are 0-47 against ACC
teams in hoops. ECU's most frequent ACC opponent has been Duke. The Pirates
are 0-20 against the Blue Devils, according to unofficial research. ECU is
0-15 against N.C. State, 0-6 at Maryland, 0-3 versus Wake Forest, 0-2
against Georgia Tech and 0-1 against UNC-CH, losing to the Tar Heels in the
1993 NCAA Tournament.
State stopped playing ECU regularly in Raleigh in 1982-83. Duke last played
the Pirates in 1991-92.
ECU has never played Clemson in hoops, according to a perusal of
season-by-season results. The Tigers have traditionally been one of the
weaker hoops programs in the ACC and are undergoing a rebuilding effort
under second-year coach Oliver Purnell.
ECU will be young but athletic. The Pirates may have a shot at breaking that
string of goose eggs against ACC teams that dates back to an 83-67 loss at
N.C. State on Jan. 20, 1968.
Hoops notes
Chad Reynolds, a 1996 ECU graduate who has served for three years as ECU's
director of basketball operations, will be named hoops coach at Parrott
Academy in Kinston this week. Reynolds has his masters degree in athletics
administration. ... Rising sophomore wing player Frank Robinson still has
not indicated if he will return for the 2004-05 season. ... Rising sophomore
point guard Japhet McNeil has gotten stronger in workouts with strength
coach Jim Whitten.
Fan involvement for football
ECU football coach John Thompson has come up with more means to get fans
close to his Pirates program. There will be a women's clinic at the Murphy
Center on Aug. 5 in which rules and fundamentals will be discussed.
Registration begins at 4 p.m. and the program should conclude around 9 p.m.
Cost is $40, which includes snacks and a T-shirt.
The following day ECU will hold a fantasy camp for men with registration
beginning at 9 a.m. Cost is $125. That includes on-field instruction, a
T-shirt and shorts. The practice sessions will be videotaped and
performances will be evaluated by the coaches. There will be discussions of
various aspects of ECU football.
"I first heard about this idea from Bill Johnson (Atlanta Falcons defensive
line coach) when he was at Arkansas," Thompson said. "They did something
like this at Texas A&M. We wanted to do something where we could get to know
people and people could get to know our program.
"It will sort of take them through the day in a life of a player. We'll have
meetings and we'll give them a pep talk. We'll teach 'em how we go about
practicing football. It's about fun and about being a Pirate for a day. It's
for guys who have an interest in our program and an interest in football.
The timing is good because that's just before we open up practice. We'll be
juiced up and ready to go."
Thompson said proceeds will go to the Pirate Club.
"Maybe we'll find a player while we're at it," he said.
For more information on the women's clinic or fantasy camp, contact the
football office at (252) 328-4570.
Thompson favors title game
Coach Thompson understands why there is debate among C-USA CEO's about
playing a football title game but he favors the idea.
"They're looking a where the Bowl Championship Series is headed and thinking
in terms of accessibility to the BCS," he said. "If a team is 11-0 and loses
in the C-USA championship game, that could cost the league a lot of money if
that loss knocks that team out of the BCS. There are also questions about
whether a neutral site is feasible and whether a campus site would be fair.
They're also looking at what a television package would get.
"I understand all those factors but I want a championship game. You just
have to keep winning."
J.T. hits the links
Coach Thompson was in his hometown of Forest City, Ark., last week for "The
Ralph," a golf tournament honoring his dad and former high school football
coach, the late Ralph Thompson. The ECU coach got to see some former players
and teammates at the function which raised money for the Fellowship of
Christian Athletes.
Thompson also has made a Sandhills swing during the
offseason. He recently played Pinehurst Nos. 2, 4, 7 and the challenging
Tobacco Road layout in Sanford.
Reader shares tale
Jim Craver of Richardson, Texas sent me an e-mail after a column this spring
about former ECU baseball coach Earl Smith.
Craver wrote:
"I played for one year under Coach Smith in 1968 until I
hurt my arm and had to hang up the spikes. We affectionately called
Coach Smith 'Goose' because of his rather plump belly and skinny legs.
One day the trainer, whose name I have long forgotten, Coach Smith and
Coach (George) Williams were together. The trainer says to Coach Smith,
'Do you know the players all call you 'Goose'?' Well, Coach Williams
roared laughing at that remark, and the trainer said, 'Don't laugh,
George, they call you 'mini-goose.' "
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02/23/2007 12:45:53 AM
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