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Bailey's
Take on Pirate Hoops
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From the Anchor Desk
Tuesday, March 12, 2002
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By Brian Bailey
Sports Anchor of WNCT-TV 9
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When It
Comes to Postseason Bids, I'll Take C-USA
�2002 Bonesville.net
Pirates' New
Conference Puts Seven in the March Mix
In the Colonial
Athletic Association, you win the tournament and you go to the postseason.
That�s it.
In Conference
USA,
the odds are not so long. If you merely have a winning season, you have a
great chance to keep playing.
That�s the
difference, and that�s why
East Carolina
was so excited about making the jump to the better basketball league.
Cincinnati,
Marquette and Charlotte all made the NCAA Tournament. South Florida,
Louisville,
Memphis and Houston all made the NIT.
The Pirates had
three wins over that group in ECU�s first ever season in Conference
USA.
With that said, the
Pirates will compete for a postseason spot next season. That will be the
East Carolina
goal from day one, to play well enough to make it into the NIT or the NCAA.
As soon as the
Pirates learn to play better on the road, the odds of making it into the
postseason improve dramatically. Remember that East Carolina, playing in the
tougher half of Conference
USA,
was 5-3 at home.
Also, the Pirates
were without Gabriel Mikulas and Moussa Badiane earlier in the season. This
just might have been a winning season had it not been for the NCAA�s red
tape to start the season.
League
Looks to Flex Some Muscle in NCAA�s
Cincinnati
is the number one seed in the West and the only team in the tournament with
30 victories. The West may be the toughest regional in the field, with many
thinking that Oklahoma should have been the top seed instead of the
Bearcats.
Cincinnati
faces a potential matchup with UCLA in the second round, and will most
likely see Ohio State or Miami in the �Sweet 16�.
Charlotte
gets a chance to take advantage of the NCAA�s new �pod� policy, which
attempts to keep some teams closer to home for the first two rounds. The
49ers will meet Notre Dame in Greenville, SC, and then, with a win, must
face the top seed in the East � Duke.
Getting teams to
play closer to home worked in some cases, but somebody must have dropped the
compass for UNC Wilmington. The Seahawks are in the South Region, playing
their first round games in Sacramento, CA. The �Hawks will play Southern Cal
in that first round matchup.
Marquette
is a five seed, and I like the Golden Eagles to make it to the �Sweet 16�.
There, they would get a shot at Maryland. Of course, Kentucky stands in
Marquette�s path in round two.
Family of Coaching
I had a chance to
visit with Pirate Coach Bill Herrion�s brother in Charlotte this week.
Tommy Herrion is an
assistant coach at Virginia. He is actually Pete Gillen�s right hand man
with the Cavaliers.
The younger Herrion
was obviously frustrated with Virginia�s play in Charlotte. When we talked
on Thursday, he was still hopeful that his team could turn things around and
perhaps sneak into the NCAA tournament � which it didn't.
Tom is very much
like the Pirate coach in a variety of ways. Both are hard workers during the
game, coaching for a true 40 minutes.
Watching Tom, it got
me thinking about what Thanksgiving dinner at the Herrion household might be
like.
�Mom, get that
turkey over here, get a screen off the salt shaker,� screams Tom.
�No, no, Mom! Get
those hands up, the stuffing is coming out,� yells Bill.
�Great job, Mom, now
get back for that apple pie. Move, move�.�
�High hands! High
hands! The cranberry sauce is open�.�
 You
get the idea. Both are great coaches, and both will be instrumental in
getting their respective teams into the NCAA�s over the next couple of
seasons.
Enjoy these next
couple of weeks of �March Madness.� Stay positive to the program at East
Carolina, and the Pirates will soon be very much a part of what is annually
one of the great sporting events each year, the NCAA Tournament.
Send an e-mail message to
Brian Bailey.
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archives.
02/23/2007 01:22:38 AM
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