By Bill Koch
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Two years from now, Conference USA will be a shell of what it is today, with most of the marquee basketball teams having moved on to other conferences.

And while some coaches aren't pleased about what's about to happen to the league, there's one coach who doesn't think it's such a bad thing.

East Carolina's Bill Herrion, who has spent the past two-plus years struggling to compete in this conference, thinks his program will benefit from the exodus of seven schools, including the University of Cincinnati, which is moving to the Big East along with Louisville, Marquette, DePaul and South Florida.

"I think the new conference realignment, in the long run, will be much better for East Carolina from a basketball standpoint," Herrion said. "There's no question about that."

East Carolina (8-7, 0-5 C-USA) has never won a road game in C-USA in 19 tries. The Pirates, who play eighth-ranked UC (14-1, 5-1) at 8:05 p.m. today at Fifth Third Arena, are 8-29 in conference regular-season play since joining the league in 2001.

Herrion has done his best to remain upbeat in the face of so many losses. But he has been fighting an uphill battle that doesn't seem to be getting easier.

"Obviously, when the decision was made three or four years ago to go into this league, it was all based on football," Herrion said. "We had to do it."

Herrion pointed out that East Carolina officials essentially were asking him to take a mid-major program from the Colonial Athletic Association and make it competitive in a conference that's consistently ranked among the top six or seven in the country.

When UC and the others leave, they'll be replaced by Tulane, Rice, Southern Methodist, Central Florida and Marshall, schools that East Carolina, at least theoretically, should be able to compete with on more equal footing.

"All you want is a chance to step onto the floor in the conference and be competitive," Herrion said.

Herrion said East Carolina entered C-USA with little tradition of basketball success to fall back on. He talks about walking into Hofheinz Pavilion in Houston and seeing banners for such all-time greats as Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler.

"Come into our arena and look at the rafters," Herrion said. "We've got one banner."

Actually, there are two banners in Williams Arena - one each for the 1972 and 1993 East Carolina NCAA Tournament teams - but none in memory of past Pirates greats.

East Carolina played two close games against UC last season, losing by six in Greenville, N.C., and by one in Cincinnati when the Bearcats' Jason Maxiell hit a free throw with four seconds to play.

"They played really hard and we didn't make any shots," UC coach Bob Huggins said. "They just kept coming at us."

But such a close encounter isn't likely tonight. This is a much better UC team than last season's, and the Pirates are without senior forward Gabriel Mikulas, who was averaging 13 points and 6.8 rebounds before he broke his right arm Jan. 14. He's out for the season.

The Pirates, who have held their past three opponents to less than 40 percent field goal shooting, are trying to find a way to compensate for his loss.

"We're having trouble scoring," Herrion said. "We don't have anywhere to go inside if we need a bucket or we need somebody to get fouled."

No. 8 UC vs. East Carolina

Tipoff: 8:05 p.m. today, Fifth Third Arena (13,176).

Records: UC 14-1 (5-1 Conference USA), East Carolina 8-7(0-5).

Radio: WLW-AM (700).

TV: Ch. 19.

Series: UC leads 5-0.

Line: UC by 25.

UC

Player	Yr.	Ht.	PPG
James White	So.	6-7	9.5
Jason Maxiell	Jr.	6-7	14.7
Kareem Johnson	Sr.	6-7	4.7
Field Williams	Sr.	6-3	13.0
Nick Williams	Jr.	6-4	8.1

Coach: Bob Huggins (363-113, 15th season; 531-185 overall).

EAST CAROLINA

Player	Yr.	Ht.	PPG
Erroyl Bing	Sr.	6-7	9.3
Moussa Badiane	Jr.	6-10	6.6
Belton Rivers	So.	6-1	8.2
Japhet McNeil	Fr.	6-0	6.7
Derrick Wiley	Sr.	6-4	14.8

Coach: Bill Herrion (56-72, fifth season; 223-143 overall).

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E-mail bkoch@enquirer.com