|
-----
Bailey's
Take on Pirate Sports
-----
|
From the Anchor Desk
Friday, February 1, 2002
-----
By Brian Bailey
Sports Anchor of WNCT-TV 9
|
 |
-----
-----
Pirates Must Clean Up Act and Regroup in a Hurry
�2001 Bonesville.net
This is a critical weekend for East Carolina�s
basketball program.
The Pirates are struggling in games and getting into
trouble off the floor.
Fred Primus has left the program. Coach Bill Herrion
suspended Primus for a curfew violation during the Cincinnati trip.
According to sources close to the team, Primus was
becoming a problem at practice because of his attitude. He appeared to be a
team leader during games, but sources say he was becoming a distraction at
practice.
Primus never really recovered from his broken ankle
injury from last year. He came into camp overweight and really struggled on
defense.
After his suspension, Primus went to Coach Herrion
and said he wanted to leave the team. That wish was granted.
Travis Holcomb-Faye and Brandon Hawkins returned to
the floor on Thursday for practice. Both players served one game suspensions
for the Cincinnati game, again for a curfew violation.
There was a difference in the violations. Put it this
way, as far as curfew violations go, Holcomb-Faye and Hawkins were about an
hour late, while Primus may still be trying to get home. Both, though, are
team rules violations.
�We have certain rules on this team that must be
followed,� explained Coach Bill Herrion. �When rules are broken, someone has
to pay a price. Unfortunately, the entire team suffers when others can�t
follow the rules.�
Give Coach Herrion credit for blowing the whistle
with the full knowledge that his only hope to beat Cincinnati was to have
great guard play in the game.
Alumni Game Is Born
Make plans to come out to Williams Arena on Saturday
afternoon for the first-ever alumni game at East Carolina.
Theodore �Blue� Edwards is the feature attraction.
Remember the night he shattered the backboard at Minges Coliseum.
Mike Steele, who was ECU's coach at the time, hosted
a Purple-Gold Scrimmage that included a slam dunk competition. Blue was an
amazing athlete, and he was an easy winner in the competition.
The competition ended a bit prematurely when Blue
pulled the rim down, shattering the glass into a million pieces on the
floor.
Believe it or not, I still have part of the glass
from that night.
If you�ve never seen the videotape, check us out on
WNCT-TV 9 on Friday night at six, and we�ll show you Blue�s best slam ever.
Several other former Pirate stars are due in town for
the game. The list includes Lester Lyons, Reed Lose, Ike Copeland, Kenny
Murphy and Gus Hill.
The Pirate basketball program isn't steeped in great
tradition � yet. But Coach Herrion is doing his part in trying to make
former players a part of the tradition-building process in this exciting new
era of Conference USA hoops.
Touch of Baseball Plus a Lot of Basketball
Equals Big Day
Pirate fans have a busy day set for Saturday.
First, it�s the alumni game at 3:00 at Williams Arena.
Then, the Pirate baseball team will host its annual
'Meet the Pirates Night'. Tickets for this event are limited, and last year
the event sold out.
Finally, it�s Conference USA basketball with the Billikens of Saint Louis
paying a 7 p.m. visit to Minges Coliseum.
It�s a great day to put on the purple and take a look at the past, the
future and, then, the present in Pirate athletics.
Funny thing though, football isn�t on the agenda. I say bring back the
Spring Game!
Send an e-mail message to
Brian Bailey.
Click here to dig into Brian Bailey's Bonesville
archives.
02/23/2007 01:22:07 AM
----- |
