Guards KJ Davis , Tyler Foster , DeShaun Wade and Tae Hardy , and forward Justin Whatley have all entered the portal and are expected to leave the program. The departures give head coach Joe Dooley and his staff room to make some important offseason additions and upgrade the talent heading into their second year. ECU is coming off a disappointing 10-21 overall season, including a 3-15 mark in American Athletic Conference play.
Following the graduations of seniors Isaac Fleming , Justice Obasohan and Addison Hill , plus these five expected defections, ECU will now have at least eight scholarships to use for offseason additions for the upcoming season. The NCAA allows Division I teams 13 scholarships for each season.
Honestly, I thought they looked like they quit against us in Greenville. The coach and the guy who had the cheap shot on Fabian and got tossed sure look like they wanted to leave early.
So…ECU’s going for the cupcake OOC schedule. This may be the worst OOC schedule in the country. Continues the trend as their schedule last year was ranked 347th overall.
2019-20 ECU Men’s Basketball Non-Conference Schedule Nov. 5 – VMI Nov. 8– at Navy Nov. 12 – at Appalachian State Nov. 16 – LIBERTY Nov. 22 – vs. Evansville (Nassasu, Bahamas) Nov. 23 – vs. George Washington or UMKC (Nassau, Bahamas) Nov. 24 – vs. Liberty, Milwaukee, Morgan State or Rice (Nassau, Bahamas) Nov. 30 – at James Madison Dec. 3 – COPPIN STATE Dec. 14 – CAMPBELL Dec. 17- UMES Dec. 22- CHARLOTTE Dec. 28 – EASTERN KENTUCKY
USF had a largely new team last year and rode a cupcakey non-conference to actually being a tough middle of the pack AAC team.
If ECU somehow wins 19-20 regular season games, that’ll be more of the focus than how awful their non-conference schedule was. They’re gonna be senior heavy in 2020-21, but 6/11 of the new guys Dooley brought in are FR/SOPHs so their roster is less crazy imbalanced than I expected.
I get why they’re doing it, and I understand as CKS did the same thing when he first got here. Problem is, from a conference perspective, it doesn’t help the rankings of the conference or the best teams in it when teams schedule like this.
But, then, if I’m ECU’s head coach, I’m not worried about everyone else if no one is forcing me to schedule up. I’m worried about my job and getting fans in the stands.
Yeah, even if they get 19-20 wins, I have a hard time seeing that breaking the top 150 in NET or KenPom unless they get some big upsets in conference play… and if they’re not in that range then they’re dragging our ratings down.
JUCO school: Northwest Mississippi Community College
Although he elected to redshirt this past season, Robinson’s freshmen campaign made him a coveted prospect throughout the year. Despite having better offers, the 6’1 point guard picked East Carolina and Joe Dooley. Known as an athletic scorer with efficient range, Robinson averaged over 18 ppg when he was at Northwest Mississippi.
The reason why I have Robinson so high up is that the starting point guard position is all his. With the exception of talented forwards Jayden Gardner and Seth Delay, it’s literally a completely new roster. An 11-man incoming class spearheaded by Robinson with a mix of JUCOs and high school commits will make the Pirates an intriguing team to watch. But just like Jolly for SMU, Robinson’s play will be a huge determining factor this upcoming season."
" 3. Completely new roster for East Carolina to work with
After 20 years since his first stint with East Carolina, former Florida Gulf Coast Head Coach Joe Dooley is back. And after a 10-win campaign in his first year, he’s electing to have a roster that fits his style of play. There were a number of transfers outgoing for the Pirates, opening up a ton of roster space.
Through a combination of both high school recruits and JUCO transfers, there are 11 newcomers to the program, easily the most for a division one school. The headliner is Tremont Robinson-White, one of the top overall JUCO prospects in the class. The 6’1 point guard will likely come right in as a starter to replace Isaac Fleming at that position. 7’0 center Charles Coleman is another newcomer to keep an eye on for a Pirates team that was pretty small a year ago.
There are two returning players that will lead East Carolina this upcoming season. Sophomore forward Jayden Gardner is an All-Conference contender after his 16.3 ppg and 8.5 rpg seasonal performance and Seth LeDay is a solid forward piece. If the guards can compete at a high level out the gate, the Pirates can surprise some folks in the AAC and not be at the bottom. Otherwise, it’ll be Gardner putting up numbers for a team who will struggle big time."