View from the East
Friday, April 6, 2012
By Al Myatt |
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Basketball
building task continues
By
Al Myatt
©2012 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
The men's college
basketball season ended Monday night with Kentucky claiming its eighth
national championship with a 67-59 win over Kansas in New Orleans.
East Carolina's hoops
season had ended 25 days earlier. The Pirates' 2011-12 campaign had its
moments and was successful by ECU standards but Pirates coach Jeff Lebo
knows there is still a lot of work to do. ECU hasn't made the NCAA
Tournament since 1993.
The Pirates coach put the
recent campaign into perspective and shared some thoughts about the
impact that three additional players will provide for the future.
"It was kind of an
interesting year for us," Lebo said after a trip to the Big Easy for
coaches meetings and semifinal Saturday at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
"We had a lot of adversity. We had some injuries. We lost some key
players.
"We overcame a lot during
the course of the season. I think we were playing our best basketball at
the end of the year. That's when you want to be playing your best
basketball.
"We certainly had a couple
of games that we lost that were close games that could have made a big
difference for us in the season."
The Pirates
edged Marshall 69-68 in overtime
on Senior Night as lone senior Darrius Morrow responded to the occasion
on Leap Night, Feb. 29, with 27 points and 8 rebounds. That was the
start of a three-game winning streak that included
a 66-49 win at Tulane to
conclude the regular season and
a 68-66 triumph over Rice
in the first round of the Conference USA Tournament.
The season ended with
an 81-78 overtime loss to Southern Miss
in the quarterfinals of the C-USA Tournament in Memphis. ECU finished
15-16 overall and 5-11 in the conference in Lebo's second season as head
coach. The Pirates were 18-16 in Lebo's first season as a group of four
seniors were determined to provide the program with its first winning
record since 1996-97.
"Overall, I thought our
kids did a lot of nice things. We had one senior. The rest of the team
will be back next year. (Morrow) is an important guy. We did some good
things but we've got a long way to go. There's no doubt about it. We
would have liked to have won some more games but you look back at the
history of the last 15 years, 15 wins is the second most in the last 15
years."
That's just behind last
year's 18-win total.
"That shows you how long
and how far we have to go with our basketball program," Lebo said. "It's
ammo and motivation for us all. We want to get to the upper echelon of
our league. To do that, we've got to get consistently to the middle.
We're not there yet."
The league schedule has
been one hurdle the Pirates have had to overcome.
"The way the league has
worked out the last two years, we've had the hardest teams to play
twice," Lebo said. "You look at the top of the league — Memphis,
Southern Miss, Central Florida, Marshall and UAB were the top. We had to
play them twice. The Conference RPI (ratings power index strength of
schedule) East Carolina is No. 1 and has been the last two years. We've
got a hard row to hoe to try to dent it against the best part of our
league. ... That's just the way it falls but I think we're making
inroads.
"I think our kids have
learned how to play hard. We've got to add some pieces to the puzzle
mainly from a size standpoint and a physicality standpoint which we
don't have to compete consistently against the upper echelon part of the
league."
ECU lost 6-foot-10
freshman Yasin Kolo to a foot condition early last season. Austin Steed,
a 6-8 transfer from South Carolina, was lost on a graduate school
academic situation at semester break. Robert Sampson played with a thumb
brace on his left, shooting hand for much of the season. Forward Maurice
Kemp and swing man Erin Straughn also missed time for various reasons.
With thin frontcourt
personnel, the Pirates sought to compensate with 3-point shooting. ECU
made 34.9 percent behind the arc during 2011-12.
Akeem Richmond, a transfer
from Rhode Island, should bolster ECU's outside shooting next season.
Richmond was 156 for 440 from 3-point range during two seasons with the
Rams, a shooting percentage of 35.5. Richmond scored 2,846 points at
Southern Lee High School in Sanford, the second highest career total in
North Carolina High School Athletic Association history.
"He can score and he's got
some speed with the ball," Lebo said. "He's got some range shooting the
basketball. That's one thing that he can really do. He's a proven guy.
He's scored some points already at this level."
Richmond averaged 8.9
points and 22.8 minutes in two seasons at Rhode Island. Lebo said the
Pirates also will try to develop Richmond to play some at the point.
"The thing with Akeem is
having value in other areas than scoring," Lebo said. "We know he can
score but he needs to work on other parts of his game to add to his
value. We've got everybody back at the guard spots so there will be a
lot of competition there for playing time. I think that's great because
I think that's how you get better. He'll add some things to us from the
standpoint of being able to shoot the ball. He can make shots with some
range. He's got some speed and some quickness with the ball offensively.
"I can see him and Miguel
(Paul, rising senior point guard) playing some together."
The Pirates have signed
6-10 Marshall Guilmette from Kennesaw, GA, and 6-9 Mike Zangari from
Lewisberry, PA. Their arrival should help alleviate some of the depth
shortages in the frontcourt that challenged ECU in Lebo's second season
at the Pirate helm.
"They will be freshmen,"
Lebo said. "We think they've got bodies to be able to compete right away
but they're going to have to get bigger and stronger. ... I think
they're pretty skilled guys, too. What's exciting to me is that they
really want to get better. They really want to work. They've got the
right attitudes and the right mindset to really get better. ... They
will help us. We have Yasin Kolo, who was out, who is 6-10, 250
(pounds). ... He's kind of an X factor. We really don't know how he'll
respond because he's missed so much but he's got a big body and is a
pretty skilled guy.
"Of course, we've got
Robert Sampson and Maurice Kemp back. They give us some athleticism and
some length. ... We've got some good parts there. Replacing Morrow is
going to be huge. He was possibly the best back-to-the-basket scorer in
the league. We're going to have to work hard to be able to replace his
offensive ability there."
Morrow averaged 13.5
points and 5.9 rebounds during his senior campaign.
Lebo expects the
conference schedule to remain challenging. The non-conference schedule
will include a visit from Old Dominion, a trip to Charlotte, a game with
Appalachian State in Greenville and a home game with Gardner-Webb.
"We're in the process of
trying to finalize that right now," Lebo said.
Efforts continue to make a
$15 million practice facility a reality as NCAA rules have changed to
allow coaches to work out players who are in summer school.
"Almost everybody in our
league has one," Lebo said. "This is not going to catapult us as far as
facilities are concerned. It's going to make it more even for us. It's
just vital for the growth of our program, the growth of our players. ...
We're so crushed right now with gym time and space. We're having a hard
time figuring when we're going to work our guys out in the summer. This
thing is just vital for us to move forward with our program. We're
excited about that. We can't get it here fast enough."
E-mail Al Myatt
PAGE UPDATED
04/06/12 02:41 AM.
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