Say this for Hampton men's basketball coach Ed Joyner Jr., he has a sense for the moment.

"What better script can you write?" Joyner asked Thursday, the day before his 16th-seed Pirates were to face top-seed Duke in a second-round NCAA tournament game at Time Warner Cable Arena.

Joyner, 38, a Winston-Salem native who attended Charlotte's Harding High before playing and coaching at Johnson C. Smith, had this script already etched in his mind two weeks ago, as Hampton prepared for the Mid-Eastern Athletic Association tournament in Winston-Salem.

Sitting in their car, Joyner, who said he was a Duke fan growing up, turned to his wife Aerian.

"You know what would be a great story?" Joyner recalled asking Aerian. "We would go to Winston, with everybody (there) and win the (MEAC) tournament. Then we'll get the (NCAA) pick, go to Charlotte and we'll play Duke."

Joyner paused after telling that story.

"I'll be dog if it didn't happen," he said, laughing. "I guess you've got to be careful what you ask for."

Joyner's roots are in the CIAA. His father Ed Joyner Sr. is the coach at St. Paul's and uncle Steve Joyner Sr. is the men's coach at J.C. Smith. Ed Joyner Jr.'s cousin - Steve Joyner Jr. - is the women's coach at Winston-Salem State.

Ed Joyner Jr. played four seasons in the early '90s for Steve Joyner Sr. at J.C. Smith, helping the Golden Bulls to three CIAA division titles and three appearances in the NCAA Division II tournament.

He then began coaching, assisting Steve Sr. and also serving as the Bulls' women's coach for five seasons. He was an assistant to J.C. Smith's dean of students over judiciary affairs.

Then, he spent three seasons as an assistant at Hampton before taking the head coaching job in 2009.

"Going to Smith, I think, made me the man that I am today," said Ed Joyner Jr. "Steve Joyner (Sr.), I think everybody from Charlotte who has dealt with (J.C. Smith) knows that he's a different (kind of) person. His sons are my brothers. If I could be half the person he is, my life, everything would fall into place. It's because of him I'm sitting where I am today."

Ed Joyner's footprint remains in Charlotte, where he is the owner and co-coordinator of Scholars, Inc., a nonprofit organization that helps underprivileged and at-risk kids. The organization sends kids to summer camps and also has an academic and sports unit that, according to Hampton's basketball media guide, has helped at least 25 students receive college scholarships.

But, for now, Joyner is focusing on Duke and another of his coaching idols, Mike Krzyzewski. Although a No.16 seed has never beaten a No.1, Hampton provided the NCAA tournament with one of its memorable upsets when the No. 15 Pirates beat No. 2 Iowa State in 2001.

Joyner was an assistant at J.C. Smith at the time.

"I was actually (in Charlotte) and one of the people who was sitting on the edge of their seat watching the game and amazed that it was done," he said. "Ten years later I get the opportunity to possibly make history again. No disrespect to Iowa State, they ain't Duke. We're going to go out there and try."

Joyner said he hadn't tried motivational ploys with his team, but that was likely to change Thursday night, when he said he'd probably have his team watch an inspirational sports movie, maybe "Miracle" or "Rudy."

"Everything," said Joyner, "is in the timing."