Busting Brackets
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AAC Basketball: Preseason rankings for 2019-20 season

By Pan Karalis

ORLANDO, FL - MARCH 11: during the final game of the 2018 AAC Basketball Championship against at Amway Center on March 11, 2018 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) *** Local Caption ***
ORLANDO, FL - MARCH 11: during the final game of the 2018 AAC Basketball Championship against at Amway Center on March 11, 2018 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** /
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HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, KY – JANUARY 20: B.J. Tyson #21 of the East Carolina Pirates looks to pass the ball while defended by Justin Jenifer #3 of the Cincinnati Bearcats in the first half of a game at BB&T Arena on January 20, 2018 in Highland Heights, Kentucky. Cincinnati won 86-60. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, KY – JANUARY 20: B.J. Tyson #21 of the East Carolina Pirates looks to pass the ball while defended by Justin Jenifer #3 of the Cincinnati Bearcats in the first half of a game at BB&T Arena on January 20, 2018 in Highland Heights, Kentucky. Cincinnati won 86-60. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

933. . . . Pirates . 10. team

East Carolina lost an even bigger chunk of last season’s roster to the transfer market than did Tulane after Joe Dooley’s first season in his second stint with the Pirates. Junior Shawn Williams was the biggest loss for ECU, having averaged almost 13 points last season before leaving for New Mexico State.

The good news for East Carolina is that their two most impactful players from last year’s team both decided to return to campus. AAC all-rookie selection Jayden Gardner and senior Seth LeDay will be back to form the nucleus of a team that might win a game or two more than it did a season ago despite the huge roster turnover. The two combined to average over 27 points and 14 boards a game last year.

And Joe Dooley wasted no time rebuilding his roster; 11 players joined the team this off-season, many from the expansive Florida JUCO pipeline he built coaching Florida Gulf Coast; most notably, former Washington Husky Bitumba Baruti and 7-foot center Charles Coleman, who held offers from Duke, LSU, and Cincinnati, will be joining the Pirates this year.

ECU might be a little better than last season, but any significant improvement is hard to expect from a program turning over such a large portion of the roster. Expect Joe Dooley to eventually break the program’s record AAC win total, which currently stands at six, but it’ll be one step at a time in Greenville.