Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Pulling into basketball with new perspective

It’s back to basketball this week as I have completed my two-week tour of Speedweeks in Daytona Beach, Fla. Charlotte was 3-1 while I was gone, which leaves me wondering if my arrival at Duquesne will be welcomed for Wednesday night’s game against the Dukes.
One thing I noticed about the 49ers while I was away – and sometimes it’s good to get a fresh perspective from the outside – is how much they rely upon offense to carry them this season. Even during some wins, Charlotte still allows its opponents to shoot well from the floor. When Charlotte does win, it seems to be because it is more effective in its offense than the other team.
There have been games when Charlotte has played well on defense, but as the season has gone on, the 49ers are struggling to play good defense for 40 minutes against tough competition. De’Angelo Alexander, Leemire Goldwire and E.J. Drayton are logging a lot of minutes and playing through injuries. But at this moment, what will be made of the remainder of the 49ers’ season lies in their hands.
– Jim Utter

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jim,

You are turning into a serious fan. The defensive numbers don't lie.

One of the frustrations with the 49ers during Lutz's run is the lack of commitment to defense. Even when we were beating good teams in C-USA, we were ALWAYS at or near the bottom in team defense FG%.

That coupled with the fact that Bobby's emphasis on finishing in the "top 4" instead of focusing on winning conference championships, puts the team in danger of being very mediocre or worse when we are not over-loaded with talent.

I love Bobby but junk defenses do not win conference championships or take you on long runs into the tournament.