On Oct. 12, 2022, the East Carolina Pirates were projected last in the American Athletic Conference.
On March 10, 2023, the Pirates defeated the Houston Cougars in the AAC conference championship. As a result, they punched their ticket to the program’s third NCAA tournament appearance.
Who Are the Pirates?
Located in Greenville, North Carolina, the Pirates of East Carolina University are coached by Kim McNeill, who is in her fourth season at ECU.
Holding a 23-9 record, McNeill led her team to the most wins in program history since the 2009-10 season, according to the ECU women’s basketball Instagram.
The team holds the AAC Defensive Player of the Year (Danae McNeal), the AAC Freshman of the Year (Amiya Joyner), and the AAC Coach of the Year (Coach McNeill).
In addition to the accolades, the Pirates take pride in their defense. The team is averaging 13.2 steals per game and forcing their opponents to 24.2 turnovers per game.
All of their players contribute in different aspects, but their defense plays the biggest factor in their success.
As the old saying goes, defense wins games.
Pirates Picked 11th?!?
The AAC preseason poll predicted the Pirates in the eleventh spot out of the eleven teams in the conference.
The program was disappointed with this prediction.
“It was definitely like a slap in the face,” Bobbi Smith said. “It was motivating, they picked us last, so we were the worst to everybody, so we had no choice but to trend upwards.”
Smith is a freshman guard for the Pirates this season. Along with Smith, there are three other freshmen on the team: Jayla Herp, Joyner, and Samora Watson.
“Although this was my first year on the team, and I had never played a game in this conference, this poll told me and my fellow freshmen that they don’t care who we are. That us coming in wasn’t going to do anything at all to help the team succeed,” Smith said.
Little did they know, the combination of the freshmen and the returners would prove the polls wrong.
Overview of the Season
Early into conference play, the team suffered losses to Tulsa, SMU, Memphis, and USF. However, they managed to bounce back and go into a six-game winning streak before it was snapped by Tulane.
Right before the AAC conference tournament, the Pirates lost 64-59 at Tulane. This was after they beat Houston Cougars in triple overtime to clinch the second seed in the conference.
“Honestly, I think the loss was kind of like a wake up call. We were on a winning streak going into that game, so it felt good to be winning and it may have caused us to get a little comfortable,” Smith said.
Ironically, the Pirates faced Tulane in the second round of the conference tournament. They went on to defeat Tulane 69-58.
“Seeing them again in the second round of the tournament was sweet too, like a get back game,” Smith said.
Finally, the championship game. After the shocking USF loss in the second round of the tournament, ECU and the Houston Cougars received their rematch from the triple overtime thriller.
“Some big focuses going into the game were limiting their key players, taking care of the ball offensively, and rebounding,” Smith said.
Fort Worth, Texas hosted the AAC conference tournament this year, so it was close to a home game for Houston.
Since defense was previously mentioned, this game came down to defense, which led to a lower-scoring game. The Pirates came on top defeating the Cougars 46-44.
“It’s such a happy thing that it doesn’t feel real,” Smith said. “We stayed on cloud 9 all weekend and then coming home to a greeting from Pirate Nation. Hearing them cheer as we walked back into the building, man it was amazing!”
What’s Next?
As of Sunday, the Pirates were selected as the thirteenth seed. They will face the No. 4 Texas Longhorns Saturday, March 18 at 10 p.m. in Austin, Texas.
According to Smith, the Longhorns lead the Big 12 conference in rebounding, so they have spent this week preparing for that matchup.
“We know we have to take advantage of every offensive possession we have and just be dogs. We’ve been practicing a lot of rebounding and defense in preparation for that,” Smith said.
Can the Pirates continue to prove the polls wrong? Find out Saturday night on ESPN.
