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Hampton U. hopes late season success is springboard for next season

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HAMPTON — If such a quality as exhausted enthusiasm exists, Hampton University’s men’s basketball team displayed it Friday.

The Pirates arrived back at campus Friday afternoon following a four-day, two-city whirlwind in which they won the second NCAA tournament game in program history, went toe-to-toe with the No. 1 team in the country, and heard their names mentioned on radio and TV broadcasts all over the nation.

“Amazing,” forward Quinton Chievous said. “Just bonding with my teammates. Playing in the NCAA tournament, winning the MEAC championship. It’s been a fun and amazing experience that I’ll remember forever, and we’re a part of history.”

Hampton’s NCAA tournament trip actually concluded a 10-day journey in which the Pirates overcame an inconsistent regular season and the loss of their leading scorer and rebounder to win the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament title.

“I think the biggest joy for any coach is watching his players finally get it and become a team,” coach Ed Joyner Jr. said. “Over the last two weeks, they got it.”

One day after winning the MEAC title, the Pirates saw the school’s name flash up on TV almost immediately during the NCAA tournament selection show. They were bound for Dayton, Ohio, and a first-round game against Manhattan, with the winner getting No. 1 Kentucky in Louisville in the tournament’s regular draw.

HU defeated Manhattan, and the gregarious Joyner became one of the instant celebrities that the tournament creates each March. That the Pirates were no match for Kentucky’s size and depth didn’t diminish their two-week run in the least.

“We fought hard against Kentucky for as long as we could,” Joyner said, “and I think we fought harder than people probably thought we could. If we could have hit a few more shots, I’m not going to say we could have beaten them, but it could have been a different game. I was pleased with the effort, I was pleased with the way they played.”

The entire season turned into a teaching tool, for players and coaches alike. The Pirates were expected to be one of the MEAC’s best teams, which they were by the end, though the path was bumpier than many forecast. They entered the MEAC tournament 12-17 overall and 8-8 in the conference, for the sixth seed.

Point guard Deron Powers, the Williamsburg native and the team’s engine, played through ankle and Achilles’ heel problems for much of the season. Transfers Reggie Johnson and Chievous took time to work their way into a veteran group.

Forwards Jervon Pressley and Charles Wilson-Fisher dealt with midseason injuries. The playing rotation of an overloaded group of guards didn’t shake out until season’s end.

Versatile junior forward Dwight Meikle, the team’s leading scorer and rebounder and most consistent player all season, injured his left ankle in the MEAC tournament opener and was unavailable for the final five postseason games. The Pirates unquestionably missed his production, but his absence served as catalyst for their postseason run.

“We all had to get used to playing with each other and I feel like toward the end of the year we all just got on the same page and knew we could win,” Chievous said. “I feel like going into next year we won’t have those same problems because we’ve got the same team. It was kind of a transition, with two transfers coming in and messing stuff up a little, but everyone got used to that.”

Indeed, the Pirates’ only significant loss is senior forward Emmanuel Okoroba, who delivered valuable minutes in Meikle’s absence. HU returns 96 percent of its scoring and almost 94 percent of its rebounding.

“I think having pretty much the same team coming back next year,” Johnson said, “we learned we have to take care of business early and have a good regular season and prepare ourselves to still win the MEAC, so when we do make the NCAA tournament, we’re not thrown in the fire right away to play such a good team like Kentucky in the first round. I feel like we need to take the appropriate steps through the season and prepare ourselves better for the end of the season.”

Johnson, who wasn’t eligible until after first semester, was exceptional the second half of the season, averaging 15 points per game in the final 14 games. He demonstrated the willingness to take, and make, big shots.

The 6-6 Chievous, who banged and scrapped his way to 37 points and 23 rebounds in the two NCAA games, didn’t care if he started or came off the bench.

Joyner said that this team, and this season, taught him lessons, as well.

“It took us too long to figure out how to put them together,” he said, “because we had so many different people, so many injuries, so many people coming in second semester. I think we’ll know better how to manage this team. I believe that every year, every team is different. But I believe that next year we’ll do a much better job of that, and I’ll do a much better job of handling them.

“You always hear coaches say the hardest thing to coach is a bunch of talent. I learned a valuable lesson about how to deal with a bunch of talented kids and how to get the best out of them.”

The Pirates expected much of themselves this season. They ultimately delivered, but they know that they will be viewed differently by everyone next season.

“We know that we have something to defend,” Johnson said. “Even though you go into every year knowing you need to get ready, you need to get focused, now you go into the offseason as the defending champs.

“The bull’s eye is on our backs. Even though the bull’s eye was on our backs going into this season because we were supposed to have a talented team, we weren’t the champs. Now we’re the champs, so we have to get back to work and get better so we can advance further.”

Fairbank can be reached by phone at 757-247-4637.