East Carolina basketball has done some growing under the leadership of Mike Schwartz and the Pirate program is getting bigger in several aspects, including revenue sharing.

The recruiting haul after the first winning season since 2014 focused on bringing in size so ECU has added stature in a literal sense.

After going 19-14 overall and 10-8 in the American in 2024-25, expectations will increase. There should be some momentum in ticket sales as people don’t come to Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum to watch the Pirates lose.

Success will come as ECU answers big challenges. Shwartz calls the pending nonconference schedule possibly the toughest in program history.

Another big change will be the site of the American tournament, the potential launching pad for a berth in the NCAA tournament.

Roster rebuild

Last season’s top two scorers, R.J. Felton (18.8 points per game) and C.J. Walker (16.7), completed their eligibility so there was work to do in terms of replacing offensive firepower.

Jordan Riley returns after averaging 14.5 points and 6.0 rebounds.

An annual roster overhaul has become routine.

“That’s just become the new normal in college athletics regardless of the sport,” Schwartz said. ” … We’ve been fortunate enough to retain our leading scorer each season that had remaining eligibility. … Jordan Riley would be considered our leading returning scorer, and he had plenty of opportunities coming off the season to look elsewhere.

“One thing that I do love about this program, this coaching staff, ECU, and this community, is that our players not only from a number of standpoint — six guys this year and every year we’ve had more than half of our team return, but also from a productivity standpoint, some of the key guys.

“This year it’s Jordan Riley, Jay Woodard, Trevi LaBeaux, Reid Cason, who had all started games last year and all of them came back.

“There is a roster rebuild, so to speak, a roster construction, and we had a very intentional purpose of what we were looking to do this spring in terms of what we wanted it to look like. And we did that we feel like. But the retention piece will never go unnoticed or be underestimated as to how important that is. And the guys that have come back, we’re really excited about that group.”

Recruiting results, frontcourt

The Pirates sought two factors in recent recruiting efforts.

“There were really two main components that we wanted to try and add this spring,” Schwartz said.  “We hope we’ve done that. The first was size — just size in the frontcourt.

“I’ll start there, Eli DeLaurier, who’s a 6 feet, 9 inch transfer from Providence. He’s a very skilled basketball player that can play outside in, can play inside as a true power forward, but can also stretch the floor. He understands the game in terms of IQ, passing the basketball and can make reads. Very excited about him.

“We went and got Vito Perkovic, a freshman from Hamilton Heights High School (Chattanooga), that at 6-10, 250 (pounds) as a freshman, has a long way to go in terms of getting the physical shape and obviously understanding of the college game. But what he is at 6-10 is a very skilled player that also can play outside in and can shoot the basketball, which is very important. We hope that it translates in his freshman year.

“The big piece was Giovanni Emejuru, transfer from George Mason, who came in here last year in a really exciting game that we were fortunate enough to win (78-77, 2 OTs) versus them. He had 12 points, nine rebounds (35 minutes). We’ve known about Gio for a long time, even before he was at George Mason. When he was at Siena, he averaged (11.3 points, 6.3 rebounds in 2023-24).

“He’s a 6-11, 260-pound, true center. He’s not worried about playing on the perimeter. He doesn’t want to play on the perimeter. He knows who he is, and he’s a guy that can be a physical presence in the post.

“Those three guys, Gio Emejuru, Eli DeLaurier, and Vito Perkovic, being able to add that size this offseason. And then in addition, Luke Davis, who is a Greenville product at South Central High School. He was a transfer from University of New Orleans. He’s 6-9, high motor forward. So to be able to bring him here and then Reid Cason returning. Reid has really gotten stronger this spring and summer.

“We feel like we have a good group of frontcourt players with the intent to be more physical upfront. We’ve been a physical team. We’ve been a physical team in the backcourt. We’ve had strong guards. We’ve posted our guards, but to be able to have a physical frontcourt with some depth, we hope we can establish that this year.”

Recruiting focus, perimeter

Shwartz and staff also went after perimeter shooting.

“We can be a better 3-point shooting team,” he said. “We know that was an area that we struggled with last season (31.6 percent). It’s not easy to just go out and get elite shooters. That’s one of the most coveted things in the country at every level.

“Through the recruiting process, outside of Gio, which we had zero concern if he could shoot the three or not, every other guy that came in was thought of in terms of their shooting ability regardless of their position. We think with the guards and even the post players we spoke about, that they can all play and keep the defense stretched.

“I hope they’re basketball players that can shoot the ball. I’ll start with Corey Caulker as a point guard that we brought in from Eastern Florida Community College. Corey has had a really strong summer. He’s a true point guard that can play, make plays off ball screens and get to the paint at a very high level.

“He’s got good speed, but he can shoot the basketball. He’s had a good summer shooting the basketball. Very excited about Corey. He can keep defenses honest off ball screens in terms of getting downhill or shooting the ball.

“Isaiah Mbeng transferred from William & Mary. He shot 50 percent from three in the last 10 games of the season of his freshman year. I think he shot in the thirties, somewhere in the thirties during his freshman year, but led them in assists (3.4) last year as a freshman at William & Mary. He was positive on assist to turnover ratio, an all CAA (Coastal Athletic Association) rookie team selection. Isaiah is another guy that works extremely hard. He has a real strong mind for the game and can shoot the basketball. We need that to translate into his time here as he comes into ECU.

“Paddy D’Arcy from Australia at one point was the leading 3-point shooter in one of his international tournaments. … He’s another guy who has not had a chance to be here all summer because of how long it takes sometimes with international student visas. So, he got here late, but he’s somebody that we think can be at some point a very strong 3-point shooter for us. That’s what he does best and we were very intentional about going out and trying to get that.

“Vito Perkovic is a center, freshman that can step out and shoot the basketball. He does that about as well as any big guy that I’ve been around that you could say he’s a true forward center. He can step out and shoot the basketball.

“Daithi Quinn, 6-3 guard from Quincy, MA. Another guard that can shoot the basketball. Played for a great high school program and a youth program, the Middlesex Magic. Really tough. He reminds me a lot of an R.J. Felton-type freshmen in terms of physicality and being strong as a freshman.

“Daithi Quinn is another guy that can shoot the basketball. He’s had multiple games in high school of making five plus 3-pointers. So he’s that kind of guy. He does a lot more than just shoot, but he’s a guy that can shoot the basketball..

“Our returning guys have just continued to work on their shooting, whether it’s Jay Woodard, Jordan Riley and Trevi LeBeaux on the perimeter and Tybo Bailey. I think our fans will really see a different Tybo Bailey this year. … We need Tybo to be someone that really keeps the floor spaced for us and is one of our better shooters.”

Rev sharing

Athletic director Jon Gilbert has said that basketball will be involved in revenue sharing.

“We feel very fortunate and blessed from the university standpoint,” Schwartz said. “Chancellor (Philip G.) Rogers and Jon Gilbert and everybody from the campus side to the athletic side that has supported men’s basketball in this new era of college athletics and revenue sharing and how that looks. We feel very fortunate to be a part of that.”

Schwartz said the program will remain at 13 scholarships.

Staff addition

There have been some staff changes in men’s basketball.

“We added Jaylen Bond to our coaching staff,” Schwartz said. “Really excited about him. Former player, played for Rick Barnes at Texas, played for Fran Dunphy at Temple. He has been a graduate assistant at Temple. Got his master’s degree there. Coached for a year at Albany under Dwayne Killings. A really good coach there.

“Has had a professional career both in the G League and overseas. He does a great job and has done a great job with our post players in the short time he’s been here. Great human being, great coach and very excited he’s with us.”

Challenging schedule

A game at North Carolina is among the highlights on the 2025-26 schedule.

“This will be as challenging as any schedule ECU has had in the nonconference,” Schwartz said. “I would quite honestly say potentially in the history of the program, but definitely up there at the very upper tier of that in terms of the nonconference games and difficult games.

“That North Carolina game on December 22nd is one of many. … There’s a lot of games between November 3rd to December 22nd that we know are extremely difficult games. (UNC) will be the last game before the break. But to be able to play an in-state powerhouse like North Carolina and a program like that obviously is a good thing for East Carolina.

“We do go to Wilmington, which we know how difficult that is, and it doesn’t matter where you play Wilmington, it’s difficult. They’re such a good program. It’s such a well-coached team and the program’s been successful for a long time.

“We had a battle our first year there at Wilmington and we came up short (61-74) and we were fortunate enough to win in year two in our building (74-66). And last year they came in and they won in our building (53-67) and now the series starts again and this would be, I believe it’s a 6-year home and home back-and-forth thing. It’s at least four years, but it should be a series that goes on for a while, because Wilmington’s a great basketball program in this state. It’s a good rivalry game.

“Appalachian State will come in here this year. We go there next year, Richmond, we go to Richmond this year. They will come back into our building next year. (UNC) Greensboro comes into our building this year. We go to Greensboro next year. So I think between the home games, the road games, the series that have been put in place, and then you are talking about a MTE tournament in Florida over the Thanksgiving time versus Michigan State and St. Bonaventure.”

New look in Williams Area at Minges Coliseum

A huge new logo on the playing floor of ECU’s arena will leave no doubt with television viewers about where the game is being played.

“Yeah, I love it,” Schwartz said. “I think it looks fantastic. Jon Gilbert, Brian Robinson, J.J. McLamb and the whole crew in the Athletics Department just did such an awesome job designing and resurfacing and redesigning the court for men’s basketball, women’s basketball and volleyball.

“We all feel very fortunate to have that. The guys have enjoyed being in there this summer and can’t wait for the fans to be in the building as well.”

Rule change

A new rule will play into strategy this season.

“They are going to go to a coach’s challenge this year,” Schwartz said. “It’s very hard to know exactly how it’s going to impact because it’s never been implemented before. I think they’re still trying to figure out the exact details of how it will look.

“They’re trying to go away from all the referee reviews at the end of the game where they’re going and looking at the clock and checking out of bounds over and over. I think they felt like the game ended up going a little bit too long.

“So now they are going to give every coach a coach’s challenge. If you’re successful with it, you took the challenge. If you’re not successful, you lose the challenge and you lose the timeout.

“There will be some strategy involved in that and we’ll just kind of see, because it’ll be the first year that we’re all going through it.”

10-minute quarters?

There are proponents for changing men’s college basketball to four 10-minute quarters from two 20-minute halves.

“Everything is based on TV,” Schwartz said. “I will say this, college, men’s basketball is the only basketball in the world that is not four quarters, whether you go to high school, whether you go to international, women’s basketball, professional, NBA, overseas, it doesn’t matter.

” … This is what I’m used to is two halves. If they went to four quarters, I’d be perfectly fine as well.”

Bahamas last year

ECU made a summer trip for some games in the Bahamas last year that helped personnel mesh. The Pirates won’t have that advantage this year.

“We hit a roadblock,” Schwartz said. “We hit a ditch in December. We struggled during the month of December last year, and I thought that the camaraderie and the chemistry of the team, how connected we were from that trip to the Bahamas allowed us not to get too deep in a hole.

“… We could fight out of it and do what we did in conference play. We don’t have that this year. So we have done a lot of team building and we’ve put a real emphasis on the chemistry of this team and the connectivity of this team this summer. … It will take a little bit longer as we get into the preseason, maybe those scrimmages that we have early in the year, whether it’s secret scrimmages or exhibition games or whatever we’re able to put together.

“I think we’re going to be figuring some of that out as we get into October versus maybe having had a chance to have some of that on film and see what we needed to see in August. … We had already played two games this time last year. … We had a little bit of a feel. We thought this and maybe this is going to be a little different than we thought. Maybe he needs to slide up a position, slide down a position. Hey, we feel like we can be really good here. We need to work on this because of what we were exposed to out there.

“Whatever it may be, we don’t have that yet. And so it’ll be a little bit more traditional, but I think this will be a team. And I’ve always said this and I thought we did it last year, we’re going to get better as the season goes. Our goal is to be playing our best in February and March, and I think we were doing that last year, and I think this will be another team that will continually grow.

“We’re not as old as we were last year. We have some experience. I think this team will grow, because of some of the youth and the guys that will make an impact and they’re younger. And I think as we get into September, October, November, December and on into conference play, I think this team will continue to grow and go upward, which is important.”

Potential NCAA tournament expansion

There has been discussion about expanding the NCAA tournament field from 68 teams.

“This is all based on TV and money,” Schwartz said.  “That is really what this is about. There’s really, there’s nothing more to it. The decision makers are making those decisions purely off of that, and a lot of that is run by or guided by the Power Four schools and the schools with those kind of resources.

“All of that being said, it will not happen this year. If they do it, if it’s 72 teams, you got to fight to try and be one of those 72. If it’s 76, if it’s 78, and right now it’s 68, and that’s where our mind is that — what can you do to find a way to get into that field?

“It’s the greatest sporting event, in my opinion, the college basketball NCAA tournament, and if they have 72 or 76 or 78, I think it will remain that. There’ll just be more teams that get to basically take part in it.”

American tournament

The most likely avenue into the NCAA tournament for the Pirates would be to win the conference tournament, which is moving from Fort Worth.

“It is now going to be in Birmingham, Alabama, this year, and then it will be in Tampa, Florida, the following two years. They’re on a three-year cycle. It will no longer be in Fort Worth. It will be in the Birmingham-Jefferson  Convention Complex. It’s a convention center downtown, which will be very cool.

“Then it will be at at South Florida at the Yuengling Center on the campus of South Florida for the following two years, which I guess the University of South Florida was able to bid and win that bid to be able to host it actually on their campus. So we’ll see how that goes, but that’s what the next three years looks like. Birmingham and then on the campus of South Florida and Tampa the following two years.”

The Tampa arena seats 10,400. The Birmingham facility accommodates 17,654.

The home court

The capacity of Minges Coliseum is between 7,100 and 8,000, but there’s no place like home.

“We’re very appreciative of what we have,” Schwartz said. ‘What I love about the facility and when it’s packed, the fans are in there and the Minges Maniacs and Pirate Nation is in there. It’s loud and it’s raucous in there with an electric atmosphere. That’s my favorite facility, and we don’t need a thing for it to be that because we can do that right now.

“We just feel very fortunate about the home court that we have.”