Joe Dooley Looks to Speed Things Up
East Carolina basketball practice got underway on Thursday in anticipation of the Pirates' November 9 season opener against South Carolina State.
So far things are rolling right along and veteran ECU head coach Joe Dooley likes where his team is headed coming into fall practice.
"I think this year is a little bit easier because we're able to work with them. Last year we weren't able to do anything in the spring or in the summer which made it a little bit more difficult," Dooley told PirateIllustrated.com,.
"Even this time of year we were in smaller groups, so it's been easier to put things in. We have a lot more familiarity and I think the older guys - the new guys especially the older guys who transferred in have a pretty good clue. They all played in good programs."
The roster includes an infusion of seven freshmen along with several transfers including 6-8 Alonzo Frink who comes to ECU from South Carolina. He is joined by 6-9 Arkansas transfer Vance Jackson and 6-3 Boston College guard Wynston Tabbs.
Tabbs averaged over 13 points a game in two campaigns with the Eagles and connected on 42 percent from the floor including 39.7 percent from the arc last year and 79.4 percent from the charity stripe. Tabbs is seven weeks into a knee surgery rehab and is close to being cleared for full practice workouts.
Frink missed all but the first three games due to medical reasons, but he did pull down nine rebounds in the Tulsa game last year. He played in thirty games the prior year averaging 5.3 points and 3.7 boards with twelve starts.
Jackson began his career at UConn where he averaged 8.1 points and 3.2 rebounds and was named to the American Athletic Conference All-Rookie Team. He was twice selected as the league’s Rookie-of-the-Week. He then moved on to New Mexico where he averaged 13.1 per game and seven rebounds a game. Dooley talked about what that does for ECU.
"Being able to stretch the defense. Jayden was a great scorer but historically he had not been a three-point shooter. I'm sure he could evolve into one but Vance has done that. Wynston Tabbs is a career 40 percent shooter. I think those guys can do some things scoring wise where we can play a little bit differently."
With the departure of leading scorer and All-AAC forward Jayden Gardner who has transferred to Virginia, the future did not look that bright but Dooley kept his nose to the grindstone and churned out another solid group of incoming Pirates.
Marlon Leston at 6-9 out of Montreal, 6-9 forward, Alexis Reyes from Roxbury, Mass., 6-8 Raleigh forward Brandon Johnson, 6-7 Tay Mosher from Texas, 6-3 Aiken, S.C. guard R.J. Felton and 6-2 guard Javon Small from South Bend, Indiana along with 5-9 guard Brendon Kelly who played for Bob Hurley Sr. for a time before transferring to Scotland Campus prep give ECU an infusion of young talent for the future.
Returnees include guards Brandon Suggs, J.J. Miles, Tristen Newton, former Navy guard David Kasangany who didn't see action last season, Tre Robinson-White along with big Ludgy Debeut who make up the nucleus of players from last year's team.
"J.J has been unbelievable as far as helping the young guys. He's been a really good leader. Those guys - Brandon and all of those guys have done a really good job of trying to educate those guys and put them in a position to be successful. The players coaching each other helps also."
Suggs, Miles, Newton and Robinson-White all contributed heavily on the scoring end of the court as well as defensively.
"I like the guys we got. I think Vance is a proven guy. He has put up numbers at UConn and New Mexico. Obviously Wynston has, Frink is going to be a good addition and we've got four guys who started a lot of games for us," said Dooley, "I think with some extra shooting and some familiarity we'll be even stronger."
Dooley says he hopes to get out in transition more where the Pirates have an advantage at the guard position and get some easier baskets rather than having to grind everything out in the half court game.
"I'd like to play faster. I thought we were playing a little faster last year and obviously the Covid shutdown affected our offense more than our defense. Statistically, we need to shoot the ball better from three which hopefully we will."
With Covid-19 a team will lose a player for 16 days with a positive test but this season those who do will not be contact traced.
"At one point last year we had four guys, so hopefully you won't get to that type of situation. Obviously you still have to worry about losing a guy because 16 days and ten days of getting out of shape, I don't think you can get back in shape in six days. From that standpoint it makes it a lot harder but hopefully there won't be as many disruptions. It was rough on a lot of people last year."
Dooley says the team has done some boxing, spent time hanging around the locker room and also going to football games which are all team building exercises that help build unity. He outlined his biggest tasks in getting this team ready for a fast approaching basketball season.
"I think we need to do a lot of team stuff. We've been able to get in more stuff and do some drills that we hadn't been able to do," Dooley told PI, "Last year was a wash at this point. Conceptually, these guys have a little bit better feel and I feel more comfortable that these guys have a grasp of what we're trying to do."
"Even little things like guys being able to hang around the locker room doesn't sound like a big thing, but the first football game our guys were in and out of the locker room watching games and watching us play the Gamecocks. I think those kinds of things are good for the guys."
The Pirates play ten of their first fifteen contests in the comfortable confines of Williams Arena. In mid-November ECU travels to the Myrtle Beach Invitational where they will take on Oklahoma, Indiana St. and Old Dominion.
In the Basketball Hall of Fame Shootout in Charlotte, East Carolina will appear to take on Liberty in mid-December. Longtime ECU rival Southern Miss rolls into Greenville four days before Christmas before bookend games against Wichita State highlight the American Athletic Conference slate.
Stay tuned for the very latest as PirateIllustrated.com embarks on our 17th season of ECU basketball coverage.
