October 1, 2008
Pirate Fans,
Glad to be back in the business of the "Letters". A lot has gone on since we last talked and hopefully, the beginning of official practice on October the 17th will spark more interest and questions coming into the website. We have several "tip-off" events to drum up some publicity for and interest in Pirate Basketball. The second edition of the Fan Jam will get things started Friday, Oct. 17 at 5 p.m., the night before the Memphis football game. The marketing staff has done a great job with the first two events. The Fan Jam is aimed more at the students, but everyone is invited to come and see the first public appearance of the men and women's teams. We will scrimmage and dance, and mix with the ZooperStars (recently of America's Got Talent) who entertain at sporting venues across the country. The following weekend on Saturday, Oct. 25, we are having a closed practice for season ticket holders and Student Pirate Club members. Pirate All-Access will be hosted by former NBA great and current TNT analyst Charles Barkley. More information on that event is forthcoming. In between the Fan Jam and the Pirate All-Access, we also will be hosting our first annual Coaching Clinic for coaches of all levels. This will be an all day affair on October 19 and will include a practice, lunch, and our entire staff speaking in the afternoon. We have one more event, which I will mention at the end of the blog. Now to the questions.
Scott,
We are conditioning really hard. Part of that program is to assist us in our style of play and part of it is aimed directly at injury prevention. Brock Young, Jontae Sherrod and Chris Kupets have been getting time at the point guard position. Sam Hinnant played some there as a freshman. We have an offense where we could survive without a point guard in the most extreme of situations. Staying healthy is a very underrated aspect of all collegiate sports.
Scott and Brian,
We have four walk-ons on the roster at this time. Greyson Sargent returns for his third season as a member of the team. He is an outstanding shooter, great student and a fine young man. He has worked very hard in the off-season to improve his quickness and strength. He knows every drill, gives great effort, and is very coachable. He is one of the most valuable players we have in practice. Howard Hurt is a freshman that played high school basketball at North Davidson High School in Lexington, N.C. and then prepped a year at national champion Hargrave Military. Howard is an outstanding 6-foot-4 shooter and hard worker that can play anywhere on the perimeter who comes from a basketball family. Following in the footsteps of Taylor Gagnon is J.H. Rose High School graduate Matt Steele. Although he is listed at 6-foot-8, Matt is more of a perimeter player, who has a good work ethic and is working at getting stronger. He too also has genes from a father who played collegiately. Finally, we have added a young man named Derek O'Bryan to the roster. Derek is 6-8 and about 245. He played Division II basketball at Wingate before he decided to transfer to East Carolina. Our players who had played pick-up basketball with him in the summer at the rec center recommended him to us. He has a nice shooting touch and a big body. We are working with him to decipher the complexities of transferring and continuing eligibility. You will be able to read more about each one of theses young men on www.ecupirates.com soon.
Brian,
We ARE staying in Texas when we play Houston and SMU on a Wednesday and Saturday. It's not ideal, but the way we get to travel for the remainder of the conference season, we miss only two more days. We will do what we have to do to stay on top of our studies and other academic obligations. That will probably work out better than flying home late Wednesday night, getting home early Thursday morning and then turning around and going back to Texas on Friday.
Brian,
The football program has several outstanding basketball players. Playing two sports is really difficult though. First, you have the conditioning issue. Football shape versus basketball shape is a very different challenge. Playing a Division I sport over two semesters is difficult from an emotional, physical, and academic standpoint. Learning the complex systems at this level of competition is quite a challenge too. It's also very possible that we could be in a bowl game after the first of the year, which would limit the number of games a young man could play in for us.
Thanks again for all your questions and don't forget about the Mack's Mates inaugural meeting on October 12th. Check out the information about this on the message boards. Go Pirates!
Mack
