Henry Dickerson didn't have an easy task ahead of him when he took over the N.C. Central men's basketball program last spring.

The Eagles had lost some key players in NBA draft pick David Young at forward, a one-time ACC signee Melvin Whitaker at center, hard-nosed guard James Tucker and steady forward Jermond Debro.

And he had to take over for fired coach Phil Spence, who had gone 16-13 two seasons in a row, taken his team to the CIAA title game last season and was by all accounts popular with his players.

Dickerson's first task was to keep the remaining parts of the team together, and he was certainly able to do that. And he made some very smart moves when he asked young veteran assistant coach MarQus Johnson and volunteer assistant Randy McMillan to stay on.

If All-CIAA forward Jonathan Moore or All-CIAA guard Curtis Knight had decided for whatever reason not to play one season for the new coach, it would have been disastrous. They stayed, along with fellow senior starters Mintrel Abney and Markael Brace and junior center Jason Hervey.

And by the time the season was over both Dickerson and his players had a lot to think about.

As Dickerson said in his press conference after the 79-69 loss to Johnson C. Smith in the CIAA quarterfinals, he had one of those teams that was golden on some nights and, well, not quite as good on some others.

The season had some huge highlights.

The Eagles went up to powerful Bowie State on Jan. 10, taking on a team that they had upset in the quarterfinals of last season's CIAA Tournament and should have been out for revenge. But that didn't happen, as NCCU escaped Jordan Arena with a win.

They beat a traditional power with probably the best coach in Division II on Feb. 19, when they beat Virginia Union 66-65 and got to see the student flood the floor after a contest shown on regional TV. One more amazing thing about that one was that it happened with Hervey on the bench in his Sunday best after he had sustained his season-ending knee injury a week earlier.

But when a team finishes 16-12, there are always going to be a lot of regrets.

Dickerson kept alluding to it all season long, as to how the Eagles had had so many close games that just didn't fall their way.

On only three nights all season -- in double-digit losses at Virginia Union and Winston-Salem State and, arguably, in their loss in the CIAA Tournament -- was it clear that the other team was just better.

NCCU lost twice to Livingstone, the most improved team in the conference after generations of being a doormat. One of those was in overtime, as was an 86-81 defeat by a very solid Winston-Salem State team on Feb. 5 at McLendon-McDougald Gym.

The Eagles won on the road agaist NCAA invitee Catawba and swept a good Clayton State club. But what might seem like a bad dream to Dickerson was the 0-5 road record against the CIAA Western Division that dropped his team to last place in the division at the same time it was fighting for an NCAA at-large bid.

If perhaps 10 more minutes all season had gone the Eagles' way, they may have won the division and been headed to postseason play this weekend.

There are definitely some positives around the NCCU men's basketball program. The Eagles have had three straight winning seasons. Moore is going to play some pro basketball, and it might even include a shot at the NBA. Knight, another one of the great academic success stories in college basketball, already had his degree when he started the season, and he has the potential to make a good living on the court for a few years as well.

And like they had under Spence, the Eagles not only conducted themselves with class but went to class as well.

Dickerson has shown NCCU fans he can coach.

The question is how well can he recruit?