Saturday, November 24, 2012

Why Braswell isn't starting; football gets a kicker

A few Charlotte 49ers notes while waiting for tonight's 12:30 tip against Northeastern for the Great Alaska Shootout championship:

-- Why isn't Chris Braswell starting? After being suspended for the first game of the season, Braswell hasn't started, instead coming off the bench behind freshmen Willie Clayton and Darion Clark as the 49ers have won their first five games.

The reason Braswell hasn't started since coming back is pretty simple: Coach Alan Major doesn't want to mess with what's working (for the time being).

“Our coaches, like anyone else, want to stay with what you’re doing,” said Major. “Probably one of the reasons we’ve had some success early in the season is Braz has come in with great energy. He’s also going against some second-level defenders, and that’s having an impact.”

Braswell is averaging 24.3 minutes (fourth on the team behind Perria Henry, 32.6; Terrence Williams, 26.6; DeMario Mayfield, 25.0). Those minutes are significantly less than last season, when he averaged 29.8 and scored 15.8 points and 7.6 rebounds.

But he's got more help in the front court this season with Clark (20.0) Clayton (18.0 minutes), so his court time might have gone down anyway.

Don't expect Braswell to be a candidate for the Atlantic 10 sixth-man-of-the-year award, however. He'll be back in the starting lineup soon, I'd bet.

Mayfield, incidentally, also might have been a starter had he not been suspended the first two games of the season. But he's been effective off the bench, too, as his 17 points against Oral Roberts in the Alaska semifinals attest.

-- The 49ers football team picked up a commitment from Concord Cannon School kicker Blake Brewer. Brewer, who has made has made a 52-yarder, has said also had interest from North Carolina, N.C. State, Tennessee and Virginia. Here's a story the Observer's Sergio Tovar wrote about Brewer in August.

-- If you're heading to the women's basketball game Saturday night against Kansas State, you'll see football coach Brad Lambert on the bench serving as an honorary assistant coach. Lambert was a defensive back at K-State in the 1980s. 

27 comments:

Clint said...

We will get blown up like Hiroshima if Braswell comes off the bench against a top 100 team. Using him as the 6th man will hav you down 15 pts against most o the a10

Anonymous said...

Hit me back when Strength of Schedule goes below 300. Embarrassing.

Anonymous said...

Majors has always had a prejudice against Lutz recruits. Braz rides the pine just like Spears, Green, and Briscoe. Its just Majors/Oliver enforcing there 'system'.

Anonymous said...

Anon 10:49, you beat me to it. Major never minded chasing away Lutz's players so he could use the excuse we were young to justify his losing. Now he wants to prove he can win without Bobby's players. We are awesome so far against the 329th, 315, and 298th best teams in the nation. Keeping your best player on the bench as a mens to promote yourself can be self defeating too.

The A10 is projected to be the 5th best conference this year and we need to beat those teams too. We either return to the NCAA this year or Major needs to go. Hanging your hat on wins over these teams we have played is nothing to hang your hat on.

Anonymous said...

I'm happy with the 6-0 start. But I also remember how Lutz got his contract extension around the first week of January in '09. Please, please, please wait until the season is over before even considering any extension.

Anonymous said...

Please, no extension talk until we make postseason. Bobby was a regular in postseason and we fired him after 19 wins one year. Now our fans think Major has done a great job and he has not even had a winning season.

Anonymous said...

I saw where a mod on NNN is positive we are Final 4 bound this year. Anyone objecting to their superior wisdom will be banned.

Anonymous said...

That's the best lie you can come up with since you can't talk shit about being undefeated,Tim?

Somewhere out there, someone cares about your constant bitching...right?

Anonymous said...

Braswell playing 4th highest minute total per game. Not starting but getting "starter" minutes. 10:49...braz hardly "rides the pine." He is one of the very important pieces of the puzzle, but he is just one piece.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/team/stats/_/id/2429/charlotte-49ers

Anonymous said...

Majors should have just let Braswell transfer if he intends to keep him on the bench! Bras has potential to make the NBA if Major would utilize him.

Anonymous said...

^^^
How can you post this after being TOLD that Braswell is getting lots of playing time? If you are going to insult the coach with your dumb "observations", at least get his name right.

Anonymous said...

Clint, 10:49, 10:10, 11:30, 4:34 - Are y'all just UNC-Greenville fans in disguise? Your posts reek with ignorance.

READ THE POST - Only 3 players are playing more minutes. He is playing very well. This doesn't even come remotely close to resembling the other Lutz players who are no longer here.

The schedule? Yes, it's weak so far, but we have beaten every team put before us. The Alaska tourney would have meant more if we had beaten Belmont in the final, but Northeastern beat them and that has nothing to do with us. The SOS doesn't get any better by playing UNC-Greenville this week, but we have some good games coming up against Davidson, Miami and Florida St, and of course the conference schedule.

I agree that a postseason tournament is a requirement for Major to continue as head coach. However, an NIT slot would be enough. Remember, 2 years ago we literally had half a basketball team - most games from early December on, we had 9 players in uniform, and 2 of those were walk-ons. To go from that to an NIT team in 2 years means the program is going in the right direction. With that half-team beating Tennessee and last year's team beating Davidson and this year's team starting 6-0, I think we know Major can coach. And even the dumbest imbecile on Earth can see that he has recruited much better talent. I think we're going to be fine.

Walter Mattox said...

Love how some people profess to have no interest in program but can't stay away. So afraid people will forget who they were long ago. Hit me back when South Carolina makes NCAA tourney metro. Morgan State and Elon are great wins...or losses.

Niner4life said...

4 of first 6 games on national TV. Nationally respected ESPN and USA today writers declaring the 49ers are back. Starting two sophs and three freshmen. 6-0 start. Wins over predicted conference champs Chas Southern and Oral Roberts. Victory over 2012 NCAA participant Lamar. Wow.

Anonymous said...

Hey Darion! Looks like we are on national TV. Good thing you didn't listen to the avid "supporter" that tried to get you to abandon Charlotte.

Anonymous said...

But Tim Collie is a huge Charlotte 49ers supporter! He's going to to start donating when we get football, I mean when we fire Major, I mean when we fire Judy, I mean when...oh never mind.

I'll just go back to reading his words of wisdom for a minute.

TC said...

completely hilarious, just read this...I'm mentioned several times? move along folks, there are 98,000 alumni not happy with UNCC...TC

TC2 said...

Maybe a certain former player hasn't noticed that we are 6-0. Hate on a winner is the true mark of a superfan. Crawl back under the rock until we lose.

Anonymous said...

But again, I don't care about the program any more. That is why I never post comments on observer articles or come back to NNN as a "new" poster under a tenth different name and claim I am there for the first time.

Anonymous said...

Some of this stuff is funny. Niners have a couple fans that feel unhappy when things are going good because it makes their rants invalid. Their only goal is to see things derail so they can be there to yell I told you so. Sad part is 99 pct of Niner fans only know TC as a relentless doomsday voice and not as the accomplished player of years ago.

Anonymous said...

I remember when Niner Advocate told us the best part of his day was rushing to the shoutbox during lunch every day. Maybe Tim should adopt the same attitude and learn to gossip instead of taking Niner sports too seriously.

Anonymous said...

^^^^ Maybe NA needs to get a life.

Tim has his name and number hanging on the fence in the baseball stadium. Let's at least show him some respect even if we disagree with him. He has earned the right to voice his opinion.

Ninerbaseballfan said...

^^^
Actually he doesn't. Those were removed last year and weren't on the fence.

Anonymous said...


49er#1 says- We just have to win. We don't deserve any coverage if we don't go undefeated.

77niner said...

Don't just look at the strength of schedule, look at how we're playing together as a team. We no longer just rely on kicking the ball out to a 3-point shooter time after time. We have interior players boxing out, scrambling for loose balls and throwing quick outlet pases to a streaking teammate for a fast break basket. Points in the paint, rebounds, steals, and good free throw shooting. Maybe Major knows what it takes to build a good basketball team, and is finally able to do it because he recruited athletes who want to play that kind of ball. Bras has serious talent, but at times he can be really lazy. Coming off the bench seems to have helped that, so let's just see where this team goes. At least they've been fun to watch this year.

Anonymous said...

Major is a joke/comedian ... no coach in the country would have their best player the only one with NBA potential 4th in minutes on a team picked by virtually every pundit to finish in the bottom of their conference.

Anonymous said...

5:09......Charlotte was picked by NO ONE to "finish in the bottom of their conference"......idiot