Teams need to 'be like a Duke to beat us.'

Ian Andersen and walkon Kyle Church are the only two seniors on the Charlotte 49ers's roster who have spent four seasons with the 49ers. I asked Andersen before practice on Friday to talk about the different teams he's been a part of during his career at Charlotte. He was very candid in his assessment and in the potential of this year's team, which is 8-1 heading into Sunday's game at Winthrop.

"My freshman year, that team just didn't have good chemistry. So that was a bad year in terms of team chemistry. Last year was a good year in terms of chemistry, we just had bad year with injuries and so forth. We just didn't do the right things all the time, but I thought we played hard and played pretty unselfishly.

"My sophomore year, that was special. Lee (Goldwire) had a great year. We really found Leemire. This team is different. On this team we just have more firepower. Two years ago, we knew Lee had to get off; Lee had to be good for us to be competitive - and he was. And the games he didn't, most of them we lost.

"This year, Shamari (Spears) can dominate a game but if we have a game where people throw two or three guys on him, there are other guys who can step up. This is definitely the deepest team I've been a part of here. That's exciting.

"A team is going to have be like a Duke to beat us. Duke played great and they are a great team, but we played poorly in that game. That is what teams are going to bring to beat us - a lot of athleticism, size, aggressiveness. We just have too much firepower."