While coach Alan Major has somewhat understandably tried to downplay the importance of making the Atlantic 10 tournament, senior forward An'Juan Wilderness sounded off about how the players feel about it after Charlotte's 72-59 loss to Richmond on Saturday.
“We think about and talk about the tournament all the time,” said Wilderness, who led the 49ers with 16 points. “We need to win a couple more games. If we win those, it’s anybody’s game after that. If we win these next two games and that puts me in the tournament, we feel like we can make a run.
"And it's my senior year, so it's very important to me."
Wishful thinking perhaps -- 13th-place Charlotte finishes the regular season at first-place Xavier and at home against 12th-place Saint Joseph's next Saturday. The 49ers (2-12) will need to be tied or within a game of the Hawks (3-11) when they play each other in Halton in the regular-season finale (a tie in the standings goes to the head-to-head winner). Saint Joseph's hosts Richmond on Wednesday.
Major has said he values the process of his team's progress at least as much as the results -- thereby lowering expectations as the season has continued to get away from the 49ers -- but backed off that a little bit Saturday night as the direness of his team's situation settled in.
“I try to not hang too much over these guys’ heads with absolutes, that you’ve got to do this or that,” said Major. “We want to concentrate on playing good basketball. And if there’s a week to try and capture that, this is going to be it.”
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Making tournament IS important to 49ers
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20 comments:
Anyone who thinks this team is playing better basketball while it's losing down the stretch, has their head in the sand. If anything, it's getting WORSE. Time to cut our losses and start over. Again.
The 9ers really tried hard tonight but ALL the breaks - including the officiating - went the way of Richmond. The arachnids shot 100 freakin' percent from the free throw line when they normally shot in the mid 60s. But, the Niners are in one big HOLE.....!! And, truthfully, they could have been more patient at one point and tied the game in the second half - the momentum was shifting.....
anyone have a good Youtube link of a trainwreck??
It is time for Judy Rose to go. Do people forget we were 11-20 2 seasons ago? Did you know Lutz got an extension at the end of that season? That's right, 11-20 got a 1 year extension and he was fired after the next season. Bobby made about $400k a year, so if you do the math, it was a $400k mistake.
Judy Rose cannot handle the athletic department now, let alone when it doubles.
I though it was Dubois' idea to give Bobby that extension. But you do have a point.
You were warned. Major and his staff are a joke. Overall the A-10is also considered weak. Time to apply for the 2nd oldest conf in America with the SOC formerly the ACC. At least save on travel expense.
Send that major loser of a coach packing back to Ohio. Who hired that idiot anyway?
Anonymous 7:42, your statement makes no sense. Are you saying apply to the Southern Conference? You need to get your facts straight. The A10 is usually rated around the 7th best conference (6th last year, ahead of PAC 10). The Southern Conference is usually ranked no better than 20th.
The A10 is a multi-bid conference. The Southern has never received more than one bid.
The problem with the A10 is no one in Charlotte realizes it is that strong of a conference. They should know. I wonder why they do not. Many Charlotteans still think the ACC is the strongest conference, which is way wrong. I wonder why they think this way.
It doesn't matter how strong the conference is if your team is at the BOTTOM of the standings. So 5 year absence from NCAA was unacceptable. Now, it's 6. You think this team is going next year? That will be 7. BAD hire. Fix it before it's too late.
9:07, BAD team, BAD hire, BAD administration. From a Final Four in 1977 when the entire city was behind them to now... a joke in college basketball. Wasn't Judy an assistant AD back then?
9:14.....no she wasn't.
11:23....Bobby got that extension based on his overall record of success not just on that one poor season which was the worst of his entire coaching career.
We suck. And, that's it. Major did nothing at all to make this year's team presentable. The one kid he signed whow as supposed to help us can't get his transcripts in order and will not be a factor next year. Neither will Derrio or Deuce.
Major is confused, bewildered and overmatched. We play timid and he's a cliche quote response mechanism. His press conferences are the 6th - 7th grade materal. You get nothing.
This was a bad hire. How do you give this program to someone WHO NEVER COACHED BEFORE? Seriously. Read those all caps and "splain it ot me Lucy".
Now, I am bewildered. And, I am not amused!
A lot of you obviously do not follow the 49ers as well as you like to slam on them. How was Major suppose to make an impact on this years team as late as he was brought in? The recruiting season was all but over. The previous staff had no recruits. Luka is a good recruit, but was out there because of his issues with transcripts. Major and others already knew of this. He also picked up a good transfer from Georgia. Both of these guys will be playing next year. Major also has the 2nd best recruiting class in the conference coming in next year.
Also, smart coaches don't give you anything in press conferences. Do you want him to give you the weaknesses of the players or his strategy to win the next game?
Bottom line, if the team was so great why did the coach get replaced. Anytime you replace a coach there is a better chance that the next year or two will be down years. Major's coaching style and Lutz's coaching styles are different. Look for Major's teams to be big and physical and to play agressive defense. He doesn't have the players to play his style yet.
I never thought I would see the 49ers—once regular NCAA tournament participants under Mullins, Watkins, and Lutz (until his later years)—not make the conference tournament. Nevertheless, I am not giving up on Coach Major; he did not inherit a good basketball team. He deserves more than one season to prove himself.
He inherited a team that had 19 wins last season and 4 starters returning. Was picked by College Sports magazine to be the surprise team of the A-10 at the beginning of this season (boy did they surprise). Anyone who tries to make excuses for this team not making the A-10 tournament is in serious denial. Denial is more than a river in Egypt!
The echoes of a bouncing basketball in an empty gym has proven to be deafening this year. I should have been a prophet. Act II next year will seem like the movie “Groundhog Day.”
... Americans 2nd oldest conference formed in 1921 in Atlanta with the famed historic Southern Conference SoCon makes PERFECT sense for the UNC Charlotte 49ers athletic program. The SoCon has spun off the SEC, ACC and parts of the Big East.
Who said the ACC wasnt the strongest basketball conf in America in the past 40 yrs is completely ignorant.
The ACC has won 11 NCAA titles since formed from the SOC in 1953 and 10 out of the last 35.
UCLA won 11 with the PAC10 but that was because Wooden recruited top black players before the other trad white schools in the 60s. Kentucky won 7, Indiana 5. UNCCH 5. Duke 4.
Bobby Knight won 3 with Indiana wanted to coach UNCC last year and has a beach house on the outer banks.
There are 31 D1 basketball conferences in America and rest assured the A-10 (A-14) is not even close to the top 10. Nothing resembling a powerhouse in A-10.
With the SoCon the UNCC 49ers would be more successful and cut its expenses by 75% easily. This would help pay for the football program and increase attendance from other closer schools like UNCG or Western, App etrc plus make perfect sense for football as a D1AA school. UNCC 49ers could immediately enter the SoCon football league.
You are talking 14 UNCC sports teams that could take a bus to all the confer schools instead of a expensive commercial 737.
Who picked this A-10 anyway? BAD MISTAKE.
Congrats to coach Major for making last season's late season-slide look impressive compared to this season's DISASTER. Don't tell me there isn't talent when you beat Tennessee and Xavier. You people can't have it both ways. This team is playing WORSE now than at any time in the year. That's COACHING people. WAKE UP.
To 9:18:
What are you talking about Bobby Knight wanted to coach Charlotte last year? Where are you getting your information? Also, how is the SoCon a better confer than the A-10? They are a ONE BID conference! We would be battling for the top spot every year. How many SoCon teams have you seen in the NCAA tournament? The A-10 had 4 last year.
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