49er Update

The latest on Charlotte 49ers sports, especially basketball (what else is there?). Pregame and postgame write ups.

Wednesday, March 14

Podcast

Since this will be just read into a podcast type format, I'm not really worried about grammar and organization. Bite me.

Well, the season has finally come to a close. I'm not sure if I should feel disappointed, or just relieved that it's over. Don't get me wrong, I love basketball, especially Niner basketball, but this season at points was almost unbearable. There were some really low points...getting crushed @Davidson, by Houston, by Xavier, do I need to continue? Luckily, we only got blown out at home once, by North Texas, and we still managed to win ten games at home in Halton this year, so the majority of the time us fans left Halton at least somewhat satisfied.

I'm not really here to talk about Niner basketball, I'm supposed to discuss what it's like being a 49er Athletics fan. That would entail discussing being a fan of all sports, so after this broadcast, I'll try not to mention Men's Basketball too much until next season is close.

First off, to all the fans who came often and early to home games this year, thank you. Even though the team did not perform well this season, it has been one of the most memorable seasons as a fan. There was more comraderie in the front few rows this year than last, with all that facepaint sharing and everything. There is something to be said about fans who show up early to watch a team with a losing record. It is easy to pull for your winning teams, but true school spirit shines when teams are struggling. I don't know about everyone else, but my voice is just now recovered from the season.

While I'm discussing this, I have two gripes about this season. Both concern the George Washington @ home. We had a few fans show up early for this game for the first time. They got their ridiculously early so they could be front row on ESPN2, and got offended when the regulars didn't respect them or promise to save their seats for them. Yes, these students did show up early, but if there's one thing wrong with the system this year is that the regulars, the ones who show up early to every game, are in a position to get screwed over. There needs to be some sort of serious reward system for those of us who consistently come early, not just when our games are on TV.

The next thing that really ground my gears about that game was the way the fans were treated before the doors open. I don't know how many you were out there, but it was COLD, RAINY, and MISERABLE outside. How did the security staff react to this? How did they treat the hardcore fans who show up early to every game during a crummy season? They left us out in the cold and said the doors would not open until an hour and thirty minutes before tip off. Go ahead, tell me rules are rules, but show some compassion and appreciate those who are extremely dedicated. The fans put up with a bad season, so maybe throw them a favor every once in awhile.

There, I'm done griping.

I'd like to point out a few bright spots here at home this year. Kyle Church hitting a 3 at the buzzer in the exhibition, the season opener against Hofstra was exciting, destroying Wofford was a good way to end the year, the infamous "you're fly is down" game vs. UMASS which resulted in two students' ejections, the following home game poking fun at being kicked out with signs such as "I am not a crook", homecoming vs. Fordham was full of spirit and facepaint, Phaler's 3-3 3 pt. shooting game, and even though we lost, the George Washington game was one of the best, especially since the student section looked awesome on TV.

But its all over, no NCAA, no NIT for the men this year. We can only look forward another season of facepaint, sore throats, creative signs, and foolish antics next year.

For now, we've got an incredible baseball team (14-3) receiving votes in the top 25 polls (they play this weekend at home in Kannapolis against Charleston), and our Women's basketball team is taking on High Point thursday night in the NIT.

So, come on out to the games this week. Come join us in the loud, obnoxious student section. You can't miss us.

That'll be it for this week.

Sunday, March 19

Season Recap

Now that the season is over, I think its important that we take a look back at what was an amazing season. Yes, the fact that this team won 19 games and won a post-season game is an amazing fact. Take a look at some of our statistics, (courtesy of KenPom.com 's awesome rating system)

                   Offense              Defense
Raw Efficiency : 103.2 (128) 98.9 (120)
Adj Efficiency : 105.7 ( 85) 97.5 (108)

Effective FG% : 47.3 (252) 50.3 (201)
Turnover Pct. : 18.9 ( 45) 20.1 (223)
Off. Rebound% : 36.3 ( 49) 26.6 ( 9)
Free Throw Rate: 23.1 (227) 30.9 ( 65)

3-Point FG% : 36.9 ( 69) 35.3 (187)
2-Point FG% : 42.1 (322) 48.6 (174)
Free Throw Pct.: 65.4 (282) 67.6 ( 89)
Block Pct. : 9.4 (204) 7.8 (198)

3FGA/FGA : 39.3 ( 38) 39.0 (315)
A/FGM : 59.3 ( 89) 61.3 (297)
Ok, look over those stats and then let it all sink in.

Why We Lost 12 games


Now for the bad part, we were among the bottom 4% of all teams in D1 basketball in 2-point FG%... that means yes, we were an abysmal shooting team. Since the way you win basketball games is shots, that means we did very poorly. Now for more bad news, we ranked 282 out of 334 teams in FT%, ouch!

Once our players shot the ball we had trouble getting over defenders, averaging 9.4% of all shots taken being blocked!
But just when you thought you'd heard the worst, lets look at defense.

We ranked 315th out of 334 teams in allowing other teams to hit 3s, that was apparent by watching this team play. Every team we played put on a 3-pt shooting clinic. Slightly better, we were only 297th in assists/field goals made which means we let teams pass the ball at will on us.

So now that the bad is out of the way, lets look at why we won so many games if our shooting, defensively and offensively was so inept.

Why We Won 19 games

It comes as no shock that we were a good rebounding team, ranked 9th in the nation in keeping offensive rebounds away from defenders, and 49th in the nation in getting our own offensive rebounds. We also had very few turnovers, only turning the ball over on 18.9% of our possessions, which ranks 45th in the nation. Also, we shot the 3 very well. Averaging 36.9% from behind the arc the Niners were the 69th best team overall in 3pt shooting percentage. Maybe thats we we shot more threes than 296 of all other D1 teams.

Surprises from the Team

On an individual level, our team had two major standouts.

DA was amazing at not turning the ball over and Curt was 16th in the nation in getting defensive rebounds.

Congrats to them on an amazing season.

There is no quick fix to shooting the ball, and I hope that our returning players for next year can improve the shooting, and stop the opposing team from hitting 3s. We will take a major hit on rebounding with the loss of Curt, but it isn't a loss we can't overcome if we can shoot better and stop the 3 ball.





Sunday, March 12

Charlotte Hosts Georgia Southern March 14th in NIT Tourney

Charlotte has been selected as a 9 seed in the NIT tournament and will host Georgia Southern on the 14th of March in Halton Arena. If we can win we'll face long time rival Cincinnati.

Here is a quick summary of Charlotte's path to Madison Square Garden, (assuming we win our games)

10 Georgia Southern @ 9 Charlotte - March 14th
9 Charlotte @ 1 Cincinnati - March 17th
9 Charlotte vs 4 Minnesota / 5 Wake Forest - 21st March (in NY)

From there on out it gets hard to project who we might play but we will likely play Florida State, Miami (OH), or South Carolina.

Link to entire bracket: http://graphics.fansonly.com/photos/schools/nit/genrel/auto_pdf/cumulative-stats.pdf


NIT Bound

The Charlotte 49ers are hopefully headed to the NIT after losing to Xavier in the 2nd round of the A10 tournament.

Let's hope we draw Wake Forest as a home game in the first round!


Thursday, March 9

Amazing Gameday Coverage from the Observer

Big thanks to the Charlotte Observer for so many great articles recently.

I know us Charlotte fans critisize them for covering the ACC but they are definately putting out some quality articles,

From the Charlotte Observer

Leemire Won't Be Defined as "Some Crazy Kid"

Synopsis - Leemire Goldwire hears the criticism. He's seen the replay more times than he cares to remember. And he won't forget.
Nor will he allow the controversial finish to Charlotte's 86-85
overtime loss at then-No. 7 George Washington last weekend cast a
shadow on him or his team."One play doesn't define me as a person or my character," said
Goldwire, a sophomore shooting guard. "I've learned from it. Sometimes things happen and God wants you to learn from it and understand why they happen."

49ers Created Own Challenges This Season

Synopsis - This is an unusual place for Charlotte to try to salvage its season.
Cincinnati is gray and rainy and if there was glamour it has been
washed away. The benches at US Bank Arena lack millionaire celebrity
coaches. Some don't even use gel.

Withers Call NCAA Tourney a Privilege

Synopsis -

Saint Joseph's coach Phil Martelli offered a warning to those who plan to watch today's tournament quarterfinal between his Hawks and Saint Louis.


"In the era of being politically correct, I will not tell
anyone to take a pill to stay awake during (the) game," he said. "It
will be a boring game.

Xavier Win Sets Up Rematch Against 49ers

Synopsis - Xavier exacted some revenge in eliminating Massachusetts 75-66
Wednesday night in the first round of the Atlantic 10 tournament at US
Bank Arena.

Now, Charlotte gets the same opportunity.

From the Cincinnati Enquirer:

Paths changed after XU Win

XUs Situation is Simple Now