DURHAM -- CHARLOTTE -- Henry Dickerson said before the season he was expecting his N.C. Central basketball team to struggle in the win-loss department. 

And the Eagles' second-year coach was right about that. 

The Eagles, who returned only junior guard Chris Tyrance from last season's sometimes flashy 

16-12 team, finished 10-18 after losing once again to superpower Virginia Union in Thursday's quarterfinals of the CIAA Tournament. 

At least Dickerson knew it would be a rebuilding year. 

The Eagles were supposed to have one senior player in 6-9 center Jason Hervey, who would have given them a big, experienced presence in the paint and would have been a candidate for All-CIAA. 

But Hervey had suffered a knee injury last February that eventually required surgery, and right up until the beginning of the season Dickerson toyed with the idea of playing the big man instead of giving him a redshirt. 

Dickerson said he decided to save him for next year, and has never regretted the decision. 

It might have cost NCCU a chance for a bare winning season this time, but time may tell that it gives the Eagles a chance to be great in their final season in the CIAA in 2006-07. 

That's when Dickerson will have a chance to put together a team that's better than the sum of its parts. 

When the Eagles hit the floor in November, they'll have a nucleus that has played together for a season plus a man in the middle who could be a candidate for conference player of the year. And they should have occasionally brilliant point guard Will Price, who missed all but two games with his own knee injury, ready for Opening Night as well. 

This season, with a roster cobbled together with freshmen and transfers from both junior colleges and four-year NCAA members, NCCU was just too inconsistent. The Eagles had plenty of All-CIAA caliber performances, but nobody who got the job done well enough night-in and night-out to make the All-CIAA team. 

Junior Drew Johnson, a transfer from Virginia Commonwealth, led the Eagles with 

11.4 points per game and scored 37 points on one dream night at Fayetteville State. 

Sophomore forward Charles Futrell, fresh off his CIAA football championship season in which he did double duty as a quarterback and wide receiver, ended up averaging 10.0 points and 6.4 rebounds and made the all-rookie team. And junior football teammate Julius McClellan added a strong presence inside. 

Tyrance was a calming factor, providing some steady floor leadership for his younger teammates. 

Junior Radford transfer Chris Prince and sophomore Kevin Noell, a transfer from Olney (Ill.) CC who played his high school ball at East Chapel Hill, each provided an improving inside presence and will be able to move down a position with Hervey back in the lineup. 

Junior High Point transfer and Riverside alumnus Chris Mayshack was often a deadly shooter from the perimeter. 

True freshmen Bryan Ayala and DeAngelo Spruill were playing their best basketball in February, and freshman J'Mell Walters - who was supposed to be a redshirt before Dickerson changed course after Christmas - got valuable experience against tough CIAA opponents. 

Ten different Eagles had at least one double-figure game in conference play. 

Dickerson presented his team with a killer schedule, playing seven elective games against teams that played in last season's NCAA Division II Tournament including an extra non-conference game against VUU. And that doesn't even count the exhibition game at Duke. 

With an easier schedule, the Eagles might have been able to eke out a .500 record. But Dickerson stayed true to the NCCU athletic department's transparent philosophy of scheduling tough non-conference games instead of sure wins. 

Next season they should do more playing smart, with a chance to collect 20 wins and an NCAA bid. And maybe, just maybe, even a CIAA title.