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Bailey's
Take on Pirate Hoops
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From the Anchor Desk
Tuesday, March 5, 2002
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By Brian Bailey
Sports Anchor of WNCT-TV 9
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Huge Week of C-USA and
Prep Hoops Is Upon Us
©2002 Bonesville.net
Pirates 'Reaping Rewards' for
Effort
I wrote last week that the month of March is a
celebration of basketball.
Let the party begin!
East Carolina is in Cincinnati this week for their
first-ever Conference USA basketball tournament. The Pirates will conduct
their workout at noon today, and play Houston at 3:30 on Wednesday.
Pirate Coach Bill Herrion says this team is reaping
the rewards from all of its hard work this season.
“I think we’ve convinced everyone in the program
that you can win when you work hard,” said Herrion. “I am so proud of how
hard the guys have worked. Last year, we couldn’t go to the postseason
tournament in the CAA because we were leaving the league, so it’s good for
this team to get back into the postseason.”
Pirate forward Erroyl Bing says that the goals for
this team have now changed.
“Our goal was to make the tournament, and we did
that,” said Bing. “Now, our goal is to win our first game against Houston.
We know that we can do it, but it will take a great effort from all of us.”
The Pirates had a very spirited practice on Monday
afternoon before leaving for Cincinnati. You could see it in many of the
player’s eyes, that there is still some basketball to be played.
ECU has obviously struggled on the road, but this
tournament is on a neutral court. Herrion and company are actually 2-0 on a
neutral court this season, beating Rutgers and Northwestern in the BCA
Invitational in Raleigh. The only Pirate loss in that tournament came
against North Carolina State in the championship game — when the
Entertainment and Sports Arena was certainly not a neutral court.
Herrion gave good marks to his team for the
season-opening effort in the ESA and pointed out that the two opponents the
Pirates defeated have turned out to be not too shabby.
“We played very well in Raleigh on a neutral court,”
said Herrion. “I think both Rutgers and Northwestern will play in the
postseason somewhere."
This is a basketball team that has played very well
down the stretch. Good teams play well in March, and Coach Herrion has his
team on the upswing to start this month best known for madness.
“That’s what I’m most pleased about,” said Herrion.
“We haven’t played well late in the season in our first two years here. But
we are playing well this season — when we certainly need to be.”
Prep Regionals to Rock
Williams Arena; C-USA Recruits on Display
This is a great week of hoops, with Greenville and
ECU hosting the Eastern Regionals in high school basketball.
Several of the coaches of the teams set to play in
the regionals got a change to watch East Carolina's final practice before
the Pirates' trip to Cincinnati on Monday.
Kinston will play Thursday night. Future Pirate
Corey Rouse will be on display as the Vikings take on Winston-Salem
Parkland. Rouse has averaged 23.4 points per game and 9 rebounds per
contest.
“He is a very special player,” said Kinston Coach
Wells Gulledge. “He has really matured this season and I think East Carolina
is getting an outstanding player. In fact, several ACC and Big 12 schools
have called recently, and if Rouse hadn’t already signed, well, it might
have been tough for Coach Herrion to keep Corey in Greenville.”
The Vikings had four first-team All-Conference
Selections, led by Rouse. Dodson Worthington, Herbert Hill and Jeremy Ingram
also were on that first team for the Eastern Carolina 3A Conference.
Hill has committed to Providence, while Worthington
will most likely play in the Ivy League. Ingram is only a junior, and may be
the best of the bunch.
On the other side of that 3A bracket, Dudley takes
on White Oak. Dudley features Eric Hines, who averages 30.6 points per game!
Hines will play in Conference USA. He’ll be a Bearcat and play for Bob
Huggins.
On the 4A ranks, Duke recruit Shavlik Randolph will
be making his second straight regional appearance in Greenville. The 4A
games historically bring in the biggest crowds of the week, and lots of
folks will be out to see Randolph again on Friday night.
This is a great week of basketball at Williams
Arena. The enthusiasm the young people bring to the campus is really
something special. The sound of the coliseum is like none other you will
ever hear.
The collegiate stars of tomorrow will be on display
all week long. It’s great basketball, so check out the future standouts this
week on ECU home court.
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Brian Bailey.
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archives.
02/23/2007 01:22:37 AM
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