ESPN Men's Basketball

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(Information in this team report is as of October 1.)

It has been 10 years since East Carolina finished with a winning record, 14 years since the Pirates last earned an NCAA Tournament berth and two years since they won more than nine games.

It took less than one season for ECU coach Ricky Stokes to determine that putting the program on the path toward success would not come without some major changes.

"Change is good sometimes," said Stokes, the former Virginia Tech head coach and South Carolina assistant who followed an 8-20 record in his first season at ECU by parting ways with 11 letter-winners and bringing in 10 new players. "We were competitive last year. We were close in most of our Conference USA games, but we still couldn't get over the hump.

"We decided to evaluate everything in our program and had an opportunity, when the season ended, to meet with each individual player and see what was best for that individual. Based on those meetings, some kids actually wanted to go elsewhere for other opportunities to play and we did everything we could to help them do that.

"It wasn't an adversarial situation, but I think it was a good thing for everyone involved and it will give us a chance to be better."

To be fair, Stokes didn't run off everyone who left. Three of those players, including leading scorer and rebounder Corey Rouse, completed their eligibility. Stokes informed some of the other players, such as senior point guard Japhet McNeil, junior guard Tom Hammonds Jr., senior forward Tyronne Beale and junior forward Jonathan Hart, he could make no promises about starting jobs, more playing time and more scoring opportunities.

Still others, such as sophomore forward Quinton Goods, were encouraged to find another place to play. Three of those 11 were walk-ons who decided to accept scholarships at other programs.

Only two of the departed players, Rouse and Beale, started at least 19 games. The others, including the mercurial McNeil and his 15 starts and 5.6 assists per game, were role players who will be replaced by Stokes' first full recruiting class.

"When you're trying to demand excellence and change expectations, sometimes you have to do things differently," Stokes said. "No question we have everything in place to be successful here. We're in a great conference. We have a great school, great academics, great facilities. Now we need to strive for that excellence and demand that excellence. That's what we're going to try to do."

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