In the 20-year period from 2001-2002 until 2020-21 ECU recruited 67 recruits from High School that entered school and only 15 Graduated from ECU (22%). Keep in mind all but 2 were prior to the free transfer or NIL incentives rules changing last year as well making it easier. Now even winning programs are losing their entire rosters like Murray St. Lets take a look at each class, how it ended, if they were successful, pushed out etc.
These are the 15 players that made it all 4 years as a pirate in the last two decades. They are listed in chronological order. BJ Tyson was the last in 2018, five years ago and he was an NQ, that ECU couldn't take today. The year sitting out likely kept him from transfering too. Prince was a walk on, but I included the few good ones.
This doesn't including the last Dooley class since we don't know what a couple will do. Three of them are already gone as well. Even Elijah Jones from this class only made it one semester.
Attrition has always been the most significant issue holding ECU basketball back IMO. Here is the entire list split up by class and where they ended up, with the most recent last. There are also a group that signed and never made it in school like M. Stakic, Jaquan Scott, Keith Foster, Paul Stone etc.
Without the one outlier class that was handed off to Lebo it would have been much worse. The timing likely helped ECU more than anything for them because you weren't going to sit out as a senior to play one year some where else. This was before waivers were being given out at a 70% rate.
How It Breaks Down
Players that ended up at Power 6 programs. (I included WSU considering how good they were)
Ended up in Top 15 Conferences (of 32)
Averaged at least 10+ppg at low majors
Belton Rivers averaged 18ppg, Frank Robinson 16ppg 7rpg for an NCAA team.
The rest: Most of these guys played roles at low majors but weren't that impressive.
Non D1
Other
Conclusion
As you can see the majority of these players were quality college players by their upperclass seasons. Even some of the D2 players would have helped ECU as mature experienced players. Many of them went on to play in NCAA and NIT tournaments have low end professional careers etc.
The one common theme with all is nearly all were useless as underclassmen at ECU. They weren't efficient as and didn't contribute to winning basketball. Even some of the best like Hughes who is in the NBA didn't start and was below average here as a freshman. (13 PER, .47% TS)
By the time ECU had farmed most of these players up they moved on. Certainly, more recently there have been some players that were pushed out, but most of this list just left ECU hanging. I estimate about 35 of the 67 were starter quality on a good team as upperclassmen given how well they did those years. It's not a terrible hit rate, but retention is key.
Contrast that strategy to the best stretch of talent collection I believe ever was when Lebo recruited transfers with D1 experience heavily when there were less than a third of the transfers there are today. Thats before the portal and free transfer made it easy. Paul, Richmond, Kemp, Washington, Whisnant, Armstrong etc. They came in older, proven, and it showed.
Most history doesn't make a hill of beans to what's going on at ECU today, when it was a much different supported program. This however seems relevant only because it's a window into the overall recruit of today and it's happening everywhere now. Not just ECU. It's a broader issue that doesn't even start in college, these players move around and change high school and AAU teams all the time for various reasons. It's in the culture before they even get to ECU.
22%
