Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Observations from Fordham victory

Observations from Charlotte's 74-68 victory against Fordham:

-- Depth and defense. That's been Charlotte's mantra all season and at no time was it more apparent than Wednesday.

The 49ers' bench -- led by DeMario Mayfield (18 points), J.T. Thompson (12) and Darion Clark (11), not only outscored Fordham's 44-16, but also outscored Charlotte's starters 44-30.

As Rams coach Tom Pecora put it: “They just throw fresh bodies at you. They’ve got that depth. They’re the real deal that way.”

And the defense. Charlotte entered the game 10th nationally (and leading the Atlantic 10) in field-goal percentage defense at 36.5%. The 49ers held Fordham to 37.3%, including 1 of 12 for star forward Chris Gaston.
 

-- The Atlantic 10 will honor men’s and women’s basketball legends from each of its 16 schools at the league’s basketball tournament in March. Charlotte’s legends will be Cedric Maxwell and Paula Bennett.

-- Chris Braswell had a tough first half, scoring five points on 2-of-7 shooting. He also missed two 3-pointers. Braswell has struggled since returning to the starting lineup, making 4-of-14 shots in two games previous to Wednesday. He finished with seven points on 3 of 10 shooting.
 
Among the missed shots were five jumpers, two from 3-point range. Coach Alan Major wasn't unhappy with Braswell's shot selection, saying they were OK since he was trying to get the 49ers going offensively. But Major also said that if the team is having trouble finding its offensive rhythm, then Braswell should "pick and choose more wisely."
 
-- 49ers guard Terrence Williams appeared to find his shooting form (or some of it) in the first half. Williams, who was in a 16-of-67 shooting slump over Charlotte’s previous nine games, was 4-of-8 and scored eight points. He also had three rebounds.
   

15 comments:

Jeff said...

Chris Braswell should take his desire to whine and complain channel it into a desire to rebound ! So much talent going to waste !

Anonymous said...

Everyone who called for Braswell to start, please come on here and apoligize now.

Anonymous said...

Idiots.....Braz is in a slump, thats all. He has been our best player for 3.5 years. He will be fine and then you guys will be nowhere to be found.

Anonymous said...

Please don't get caught up in UNCc's record...Are you kidding me...Fordham, LaSalle, UNCA...are these really quality wins? I swear West Charlotte could/would beat any of these teams...UNCc sucks and barely beating Fordham should not qualify as a credible win....Wow, Judy Rose playing the system again to make her hire not look like a Major disaster....

Anonymous said...

Charlotte is definitely the worst 15-win team in the country. PREPARE TO PLUNGE! P.S. the Asheville win was a good win, so was Davidson, but that is it.

Anonymous said...

to the haters stalking the niners, out rpi is top 60 with 3 top 100 wins and 0 bad losses. I agree our schedule hasn't been strong, but let the conf schedule continue to play out and see how we do. Major blew up the team 2 years ago and we are picked to finish 12th.

Have you seen us play at all? contributors are mainly fresh and sophs. mayfield- jr and bras and thompson srs.

As for being the worst 15 win team in the country, I'll take it. and will continue to enjoy each win as we earn them. This team seems to have great chemistry and a great future.

do you haters actually have a favorite team? certainly you have at least purchased some merchandise at the walmart or something? GO NINERS!!
ch49r88

Anonymous said...

the goalposts are practically in china by now

Anonymous said...

If Braswell had been our best player.....whats that say about the team ? He has had the potential to be one of the best to ever put on a Niner uniform, but he refuses to learn to play post basketball. He watches half the plays from 15-20 feet from the basket. Late back on defense, couldn't set a pick if he was in his Cadillac. I've love the guy to death, just sick of his half ass play. Let Thorne have some of his minutes unless he's ready to step up. And shooting threes is not "stepping up"! He's made himself a great free throw shooter and thats where he can do the most damage to opponents.

Anonymous said...

I agree he's watching and would like to see Thorne get some of his minutes. I just hope that braswell's lack of development is a reflection on the player rather than the coaches' abilities to develop talent. he has the potential to foul our opposing big men but seems reluctant to go in and "mix it up". unlike Clayton and Clark who bring the pick axe to the court and go to work in the paint.
ch49r88

Anonymous said...

UNCc finally played someone, well they played Richmond, not exactly West Charlotte, but they are a DI team...and guess what....THEY GOT KILLED!!! They suck, Judy sucks, Major sucks...Playing cupcakes doesn't prepare your team for a conference run..playing cupcakes gives you imaginary wins that make you look like something you are NOT..a winner!!! Welcome to reality UNCc

Anonymous said...

^^^^
WTF would an insane blog troll know about reality?
You are quite mental, my friend.

Anonymous said...

Agree with the reality statement. Charlotte finally played a game and they were outclassed from the start. And because people get on here and point out the obvious, doesn't make them a "troll." I can't wait for them to play Butler or a real team. Can you say spanking?

Anonymous said...

OK, he's not a troll-just a miserable human being glorying in the failures of others. Much better, I guess.

Anonymous said...

I completely disagree about not being a troll. He comes on here only to put down the Niners and fans of the Niners for the sole purpose of stirring up those who come on here to read it, who for the most part are fans. Sounds like the very definition of a troll to me. Oh but we should be thanking him for bringing us back down to earth, right? Just let us be fans! You don't need to state the obvious!

I think most of us would agree that yes, our non-conference schedule was pretty weak, and yes, really good teams will have their way with us. However, anyone who has followed the A-10 for the past seven years should know that when it comes to conference play, absolutely anyone can win. Richmond wasn't that awesome as a team, they just had one guy that for one night decided to play out of his mind. And we didn't come up with a way to stop him. The fact is, we never play well at Richmond, and I'm not surprised about what happened.

So if you can, try to find a way to let those of us that are still committed to this team be happy. We're 15-3, which most of us haven't seen in awhile, or at all. I don't care if the 15 teams we've beaten are the 15 worst in Div I basketball, WE'VE STILL BEATEN THE TEAMS WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BEAT. For the first time as a Niner fan, I haven't seen a bad loss this season. So I'll keep finding things to be happy about, especially that since this team is so young, the Niners are only going to get better from here. While you will continue to find anything and everything to complain about. Just try not to ruin it for the rest of us and bring us down to your level.

GO NINERS!

Anonymous said...

To Anon 2:52 PM, Can you say that you are not as smart as you thought you were. Charlotte beat Xavier tonight. I guess they finally faced that real team you kept talking about and came out on top. Pointing out the obvious is not your strong suit. Keep your opinions to yourself or the 49ers will continue to make you look foolish. And by the way, you are a troll.