Observations from Charlotte's 71-51 loss against Temple on Sunday:
-- As the 49ers' recent slide continues, it's hard to see them getting fully back on track unless Chris Braswell snaps out of his offensive slump. Charlotte, which shot 27.4 percent against the Owls, has no other proven scorer with DeMario Mayfield kicked off the team. Braswell was a non-factor against the Owls, scoring four points on 1-of-6 shooting.
-- Charlotte and Temple are both leaving the Atlantic 10 after this season, the 49ers to Conference USA and the Owls to the Big East. Charlotte and Temple were travel partners this season, playing each other twice and facing the other teams in the 16-school league once in the 16-game conference season.
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Observations from Temple loss
-- Freshman center Mike Thorne had a career-high 10 points and seven rebounds. He was one of two 49ers to make at least half his shots, too. Thorne continues to progress and will certainly be counted on next season with Braswell gone. "He grew up before our eyes (Sunday)," said coach Alan Major.
-- It was a physical game – both teams had players called for flagrant fouls (Charlotte’s Willie Clayton and Temple’s Scootie Randall). Neither team reached the bonus in the second half, however, and Charlotte only committed nine fouls the entire game.
-- Temple’s Jake O’Brien must like to play Charlotte. O’Brien, who averaged 8.5 points before the game, scored 10 Sunday after scoring 22 against the 49ers in their first game.
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37 comments:
And to think the delirious NNN club actually touted this team as NCAA bubble caliber. What a joke.
MAJOR DISASTER
AM, this team and there record has been a fraud from day one. The lack of fan support for AM in Halton today's huge game speaks volumes. He is way out of his league. C-USA can't get here fast enough. Or maybe yet the MEAC might be better suited for Major's coaching abilities. Judy Rose you certainly blew this coaching hire. Spent alot ah good university money for this BUM.
We really stunk it up today. We cannot play like this again this season.
I have to agree that AM has shown no signs that he can handle a head coaching D1 position. I kept holding out hope that things would change as he brought players in, but this team is in total dis-array! We have a couple guys playing their butts off and the rest act like its the first time they've been in an organized game. Fundamentally un-sound and make some of the dumbest mistake I've ever seen out of college aged players. Totally careless with the basketball. We thugged the weak teams earlier in the season and are now getting slapped around without any respect of fear whatsoever from our opponents ! This is the same problem everyone had with the later Lutz coached teams......digressed as the season went on instead of improving. And this team is doing it with a helluva lot more expensive coach !
looks like the same old niner teams of late. fading into the sunset as the season goes on. oh well. football will be here soon.
I just don't understand. When Mullins too over from Wissel, we were so far down it was virtually over. So, going 8-20, 18-14 and winning the Sun Belt in his 3rd year was remarkable.
When Watkins took over, Mullins left the team in great shape after 11 years of reshaping the program -- in other words as the University grew we grew with it: Sun Belt to Metro to original and valid C-USA. Watkins did an admirable job with a great staff.
When Lutz took over from Watkins, it was understood that he was responsible for so much coaching so he beat out Matt "Doh" Doherty for the job. All he did was establish a winning tradition against the toughest competition we played year in and year out. He won so many big games and got fired for winning "only 19". He definitely slumped in the A-10, but we have seen how tough the A-10 is and was.
So, now we have a coach who had never, ever led a program. He took over a team that "only won 19 and hadn't played in the NCAA Tourney in 5 years..." And, what did he do with the program? “Major”, only in name, made sure expectations were so bad that we are excited about a middling finish in the league again. He fooled everyone with a terrible non-con schedule in which we lost to our only major opponents (badly at Miami - understood, but shamed, and at TWC against a poor Florida State team). How we won at Davidson is still beyond me.
So, here we are: 18-9, 6-6 and reeling. Attendance is taking a bath and we have moved to a miserable basketball league.
I'd say that was a Major screw-up. In so many ways.
I thought attendance was pretty good yesterday ... it was against the Daytona 500 which is a pretty big deal in Charlotte...
When you have poor shooting and the other team is bigger (lengthy) than you, you are going to lose. Experts please post specific ways you would employ to beat Temple with this squad.
The coaching staff is fully aware of what pieces the team lacks and is working to add those pieces. If recruiting does not make us better in the next 2 years, THEN will be the time to start hyperventilating and calling for heads. Meanwhile, relax and/or go back to your spot under the bridge.
how does a top 100, 4 star player, Chris Braswell avg 9 pts and 9 rebs as a freshman but has completely fallen apart by his SR yr? The answer is Chris has done exactly as he was coached. Poorly. Supposedly Major was a "big man coach"?
If we had a 4 star freshman today averaging 9/9 the NN faithful would erect a statue.
This season is a mirror image of the year Lutz was let go. Hot start, bad finish. And an entire team coming back (for the most part). Only difference is this staff has lower hurdles to clear. Sagarin of 115 is now progress where it used to get you a pink slip.
Patrick
6000 for a must win game is now good attendance? Um no. Watch the Observer slide show. Empty seats everywhere. Truth is the base isn't the slightest enthused over Major style on the court or off. Vanilla
I don't need to look at the slideshow. I was there. As I am most games. Were you?
The crowd was decent. Again up against record Daytona 500 ratings in Charlotte on a beautiful day sandwiched between many days of rain on each side.
MARC JAMES @marcjames
Top 5 markets for Daytona 500 ratings: Greensboro (21.2), Indianapolis (20.5), Charlotte (20.3), Jacksonville (19.6), and Dayton (19.1).
I dont think you people realize how young of a line-up the 49ers are running.
We've started mostly freshman and sophmores all season.
And considering one of our best players just got kicked off the team, our gameplan and team chemistry that they've been working on all season is now completely thrown off.
So Im not surprised at all that this is how the season is going.
I'm a UNCC Alum, and avid 49er fan. I haven't been Major fan since day one, but I do try my hardest to keep a positive, unbiased, sports-fan's mentality about our program. Major hasn't shown alot of promise,yet. He is playing a young roster, and putting up decent numbers with them.
I say give him another year to show what he can do with HIS recruits (because it's more than apparent that he's doing his best to get rid of Bobby's recruits), and then decide his fate.
Major has already secured his contract extension for another 5 years with his wins over Xavier and Butler. Cutting Mayfield (his leading scorer) gives excuse #10296 for a bad season, which means he can put it on autopilot and coast on out the rest of the year!
Next years recruiting class is steller!
^^^^
Yea, that's right. Major let Mayfield go to provide an excuse. Now he's going to go all Tanya Harding and kneecap a couple of team members so he can lose some more. Your powers of observation are very keen!
Yes had NOTHING to do with Mayfield failing the substance abuse policy 3 times in 2 years...
Fact, the 19 win season Lutz got canned, all the scorers were returning sans Dijuan. Next yr 40% of the 67ppg wont be here. Gonna be hard to find those points with very limited roster on offense. Better win alot of games 45-40. Better have top 30 ooc scedule too. Mtsu did it this yr.
This team is currently no better and possibly worse than the 19 win team that got Lutz canned. I would not have made this statement 2 weeks ago but yesterday's game and the St Louis game were both wakeup calls. The lack of offense is one thing but to leave their shooters wide open the entire game was worse. This team MAY win more than 19 games but that is misleading when considering the ultra easy OOC schedule they played.
^^^^ I will add Major is supposed to be a defensive coach. Where was the defense yesterday. Over half of Temple's 3 point shots were taken with no defender within 8 feet of the shooter. I'm getting tired of the smokescreen and dog and pony show. The easy nonconference schedule was a joke. I have been a season ticket holder every year Halton has been open. I will not renew my season tickets next year if this year's team does not at least make the NIT.
@ 2:16
I heard that Major dropped a bowling ball on Willie Clayton's foot so as to injure him and provide an excuse for losing to Temple on Sunday.
After surviving three years of Wissel Ball (one of about thirty die hards that actually went to games) it seemed like everything was up. Jeff not only energized the fan base, he gave us legitimacy as a university in so many ways. Melvin did an admirable job with Jeff's players.
Bobby is one of the nicest guys ever and got his guysup for big conference games. But how many second half leads did we blow because there were no halftime adjustments.
Major is more of a minor. We could have gotten Majeris for at least a couple of seasons, but our athletic department doesnt want anyone better known than Judy.
I have bled Green for 30 years, but that is changing. After that amount of time of more of the same, i am starting to lean toward our new CUSA rival RICE. We may beat them in basketball, but they are way above our league in so much more. I cant wait to see what the MOB (look it up) comes up with when we play them. My new loyalty may come from my My UNCC legacy daughter's time in Houston. Until we get beerbike we can just sit back in awe.
Let's compare apples to apples. Mullins took over a 4 win program and sent us to the NCAA in 2 years. Major took over a 19 win team and will eventually take us to the NCAA if we give him enough time. Patience, my fellow Niners. Patience. Don't forget. He is still learning.
Fact: Coach K had a losing record for 4 straight seasons when he went to Duke! Would you people fire Coach K?????
Fact: Lutz only had 3 losing seasons and we fired him.
Alan Major is not Coach K.
the K comparison is COMICAL
coach K will rip you a new one and your ancestors a new one if you don't adhere to his strat. Major is a wallflower to the team, the media, the fans, etc.
We should have been more patient wth Hal Wissel.
Anonymous at 10:55 pm who talked "apples". That is an awful way to look at it. Mullins took over a terrible program and had us dancing in three years. Major was handed a stout program with passionate, hungry fans and has completely spit the bit in three years. Two losing seasons. A dwindling fan base. No interest outside of a few, loyal fans -- maybe 1,800 season tickets actually sold and certainly no statewide interest, let alone national exposure. I'd say in less than 3 years he has made us invisible.
UNCC is trying to build a fan base for football and complains not enough seat licenses are being sold. Can't even afford a marching band. How long can you afford to lose money with the basketball program? Perhaps its time for a new AD as well as a new basketball coach
Was at every game last year. Went to last two conference tournaments (even though 9ers did not). Have not been to a game this year. They lost me last year. I have been to many great games games this year just not 9er games. This is my first response this year. The sound of a bouncing ball in an empty gym can be deafening!
^^^^^
Despite the Observer's link to the "utterly pathetic" article, attendance now is similar to the last Lutz years. The place isn't packed, by any means, but there is hardly the sound of a basketball bouncing in an empty arena.
Anon 4:12, if we play our remaining 4 regular season games the same way we played on Sunday, the final Lutz team will have more wina than this year's team, assuming that kind of play also gives us a loss in the 1st round of the conference tournament.
This is not a Lutz vrs Major issue. The fact is Major on his own merit has proven that the odds are he cannot take the 49ers to the next level. If the 9ers can't run the table for the rest of the regular season it should be a real eye opener.
At least Bobby was entertaining when his reams weren't ! He at least had the passion for his school instaed of walking around and acting like a mushroom !
and we haven't even got started on his hair!
Wow, some of the comments here are absolutely ridiculous. I don't even know what to say. I was a huge Lutz fan and went to his going away celebration where I signed a Charlotte flag for him and heard many great stories told of what his basketball teams meant to his fans. That said, BOBBY IS GONE! Some of you need to get that through your heads and move on with your lives. Major is the coach now, and certainly will be at least until we don't have to pay Bobby anymore and Major's contract is over. I wasn't around for Mullins, so I can't speak much on how he turned the team around, but the fact is that Major inherited a team that didn't fit into his style, and most of the players weren't willing to adapt to it. Only one such player is left now, and only next year will tell us what an Alan Major team looks like. If we don't make the NCAA's this year, I will still consider this a successful season, because this was still a huge improvement over the past two seasons and the late season collapse three seasons ago. Everybody just chill out and try to enjoy some basketball. If anyone predicted we'd have a record better than we currently do, you are the only ones who can complain right now.
Next year, patience, were on the right track, the losers national anthem. Alan Major sings lead while NNN sings backup. Judy Rose Productions.
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