By Roscoe Nance,
The Hampton Pirates have been the hottest team in the MEAC during the still young basketball season with their 14-4 record. After beating North Carolina A&T 82-77 on Monday, the Pirates have won two straight and 14 of their last 17 games. Dating back to last season, the Pirates have won 19 of their last 24 games.
Hampton opened the season with a 63-58 loss to Wake Forest. Then they reeled off seven consecutive wins for their second-best start since moving to Division I in 1995 before dropping a disappointing 55-53 decision to Delaware.
The Pirates were picked to finish third in the MEAC preseason poll after reaching the semifinals of the conference tournament a year ago. Still, interim coach Ed Joyner Jr. acknowledges he didn't see his team's fast start coming because the Pirates were counting on a number of role players from last year's squad and newcomers to be major contributors.
Those role players have stepped up.
Swingman Darrion Pellum is the Pirates' leading scorer at 18.2 points a game after averaging 11.5 a year ago, second best on the team; Kwame Morgan has moved into the starting lineup and averages 15.1 points after averaging 7.4 off the bench last season, and forward Charles Funchess is the third-leading scorer at 11.8 points a game and the top rebounder at 7.7 boards a game. Funchess averaged 9.2 points and 6.8 rebounds last season.
Senior Brandon Tunnell has done a solid job as the full-time starting point guard after being a part-time starter the past three seasons. Junior college transfer Danny Agbelese, a 6-8 forward, has provided an inside presence and ranks sixth in the nation with 3.1 blocks and 5.8 rebounds a game
"It was one of those things where we didn't know what to expect,'' Joyner says. "I thought we could be successful if we came on.''
Defense is the area in which the Pirates have come on strongest. They allow 59.6 points a game, which ranks 18th in the nation; they hold opponents to 37.5 percent shooting from the field and 37.5-percent form 3-point range.
"The key is we've been defending,'' Joyner says. "Our offense is a work in progress. But we're defending. When you defend you've got a chance.''
It's no coincidence that the Pirates' have a proclivity for defense. That was Joyner's forte when he played at guard at Johnson C. Smith where he twice named the CIAA Defensive Player of the Year.
Joyner hails from a family of coaches. His father, Ed Joyner Sr., is men's coach at Saint Paul's College; his uncle Steve Joyner Sr., is men's coach at Johnson C. Smith and was his college coach; his cousin Steve Joyner Jr. is the women's coach at Winston-Salem State.
Like most college basketball players, Joyner envisioned playing professionally after his college career ended. But he says his stats - even though he is in the top 10 among Johnson C. Smith's all-time assists leaders - and height (5-11) let him know that chasing his dream wouldn't be a worthwhile endeavor.
Joyner's uncle offered him a job as his assistant at Johnson C. Smith, and that was the beginning of what has become another successful coaching career for the Joyner family.
"I realized I got the same thrill from coaching as I did from playing,'' Joyner says.''
During his 11 years as an assistant at Johnson C. Smith, Joyner helped develop 13 first team all-conference players and seven All-Americans. The Golden Bulls made seven appearances in the NCAA Division II Tournament; they reached the Elite Eight in 2001 after winning the CIAA championship.
Joyner was also head women's coach his last five years at Johnson C. Smith, and his teams reached the CIAA championship game three times and NCAA Tournament once.
To say that Joyner was raised around basketball is an understatement. His father raised him as a single parent, and the younger Joyner went everywhere with him. He even did his homework in the gym while his father's teams practiced.
Ed Joyner Sr. was an assistant coach on his brother's staff at Johnson C. Smith when his son played for the Golden Bulls. He says he knew Ed Jr. had what it takes to become an outstanding head coach when he became their starting point guard.
"We saw he had he the knowledge to be a coach from the way he ran the team,'' the elder Joyner says. "We're proud of both (Steve Jr. and Ed Jr.) of them. To see your kids follow in your footsteps makes you feel good as parent.''
Joyner says even though Hampton's strong suit this season has been defense, his son is more of offensive-oriented coach who style is more similar to Steve Joyner's than it is to his.
"He's little bit like both of us,'' says Ed Sr., who is in his 12th season as coach at Saint Paul's. "He's a stronger offensive coach, but he does know defense. He does a lot of gimmick defenses. That's why people don't recognize what he's doing.''
Steve Joyner Sr., in his 24th season at Johnson C. Smith, says his nephew was a heady floor leader with a true point guard mentality.
"He was interested in the intricacies and philosophies of basketball,'' Joyner says, adding that Ed Jr. kept a diary of plays that he thought would help him when he became a coach. That's why Joyner says he is not surprised that his nephew's team is doing well.
"He has pretty much been the person I thought he would be,'' he says. "What concerns me about young coaches is patience. He has to be patient with himself and his players. What I like is he has maintained his desire to develop student-athletes on and off the court. He's handling himself quite well.''
Joyner, Jr. who had been an assistant at Hampton for three years, was named interim coach when Kevin Nickelberry resigned prior to the start of last season. Joyner, Jr. guided the Pirates to a 14-18 record in a season filled with adversity in the wake of the death of team captain Theo Smalling prior to the start of the year. "That was new to me,'' Joyner says. "I come from a long line of coaches, and I talk to a lot of coaches. They couldn't help me with that. There is no paragraph in the coaches' manual to tell you how to deal with it. I found that we had 16 kids, and all 16 grieved different.''
The Pirates overcame their grief and finished the year on an up tick. They won six straight games to end the regular season and open MEAC tournament play.
Joyner says the strong finish, plus the Pirates' offseason work ethic has carried over to this season and helped them to get off to their quick start.
"They bought into system,'' he says. "Hopefully, they're getting fruit of their labors and good things will continue.''
Hampton has beaten some impressive nonconference opponents this season, including nine Division I opponents. Their lone conference loss was a 78-72 defeat to the defending MEAC Champion Morgan State Bears on Jan. 10.
"Without a doubt we're very pleased with the job he has done,'' Hampton director of athletics Lonza Hardy Jr. says. "The season is still young, but we're pleased. The team has played quality opponents that you see in the NCAA tournament and beaten some of them. We could easily be undefeated.''
The Pirates were unable to recover from cold-shooting first half - they shot 22% from the field - in their season-opening loss to Wake Forest, and they missed 14 of 31 foul shots in a 55-53 loss to Delaware.
Hardy says a decision on whether to name Joyner permanent coach will be made at the end of the season.
"We don't negotiate contracts during the season,'' Hardy says.
Joyner says the interim tag has no bearing how he goes about doing his job.
"That's not a big concern to me,'' he says. "I've got job to do. You have to take on the task at hand. In this business, you're year to year. I don't care what anybody says. You're judged basically on wins and losses. I worked hard last year; we had lot of obstacles to overcome. If I was worried about tags and titles it have could affected my decision-making. My goal is to get better day by day and game by game.''