EL PASO, Texas -- Observations from the Conference USA tournament, in which the ninth-seed Charlotte 49ers men advanced Wednesday (beating No. 8 UAB 80-70), but the No. 6 women's team was eliminated (losing to No. 14 Louisiana Tech 64-55):
-- Men's coach Alan Major tried to spread out the minutes among the rotation (with nobody playing more than 29 minutes) to keep the legs as fresh as possible for Thursday's quarterfinal against top-seed Louisiana Tech (which had a double bye). Point guard Pierria Henry played just 25 minutes, nine fewer than his average. Although Henry was in foul trouble in the second half, he was rested a few times in the first half, when he played just nine minutes. Marcus Bryan (23 minutes) and Ben Cherry (27) played more than they usually do. They both responded, with Bryan scoring 10 points and grabbing 7 rebounds, and Cherry scoring 10 on 2-of-6 3-point shooting and going 4-of-4 from the free-throw line.
-- UAB played without two starters, Rod Rucker and C.J. Washington. Washington has an injured shoulder, but Blazers coach Jerod Haase said that although Rucker had recovered from an undisclosed injury, he didn't play because of a team rule forbidding players to play if they don't practice the day before a game.
-- Scouting Louisiana Tech: Bulldogs guard Kenneth "Speedy" Smith averages 7.9 assists (second nationally). He needs three more assists to set C-USA's single-season record ... Charlotte's Henry is second in the league in assists (5.9) and steals (2.2), behind Smith in both categories ... Sophomore guard Alex Hamilton leads Louisiana Tech in scoring (14.5) .. The game might come down to rebounding -- the Bulldogs are second in the league (39.5) and Charlotte is third (38.3) ... The 49ers held UAB, the league's top rebounding team, to 37.
-- Charlotte's women had en epic 3-point shooting meltdown, missing all 18 of their attempts over the Lady Techsters' zone defense. Knowing they'd be facing a zone, coach Cara Consuegra said the 49ers worked on their shooting for three consecutive days entering the tournament. But to have sharpshooters like Hillary Sigmon, Lefty Webster and Ciara Gregory miss all their 3-pointers wasn't something anybody expected.
-- Charlotte is 15-15 and has an outside shot at landing a Women's NIT bid, which would mean a 12th consecutive postseason appearance.
-- The biggest story of the tournament has come from the women's side, where FIU senior guard Jerica Coley's 42 points in an 87-75 victory against East Carolina moved her from ninth place and into fifth place on the NCAA's all-time scoring list. These are the four legendary players she passed in one game: Southern Cal's Cheryl Miller, Tennessee's Chamique Holdsclaw, UConn's Maya Moore and Delaware's Elena Delle Donne. Coley has 3,054 career points and trails Drake's Lorri Bauman (3,115) for fourth.
-- UTEP's Haskins Center and Memorial Gym are located on Glory Road, named after the movie of the same name about the Miners' 1966 national championship. Then called Texas Western, the Miners were the first team with an all-black starting lineup to win a national title, beating Kentucky for the championship. The Miners played in Memorial Gym back then, with the larger Haskins Arena being constructed later and named for coach Don Haskins.
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Observations from C-USA tournament
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15 comments:
Is Jerica Coley related to Charlie Coley?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
ALAN MAJORS GOING 2 BE HERE ALOOOOOOOOONG TIME!!
HATERS!!!!!
Great effort by the Niners yesterday!! Good to see them listening to the coaches and making the necessary adjustments. Forty Niners!! #stateofcharlotte #family
We Believe in Alan Major!
Re-Post if you agree!
#proud #family #NinerNation #2015 #NCAAChamps!!!
I BELIEVE IN ALAN MAJOR!!
You know what angers me? Glad you asked. The AD has said this is not the year we are expecting big results. She said that because Major, yet again, could not retain his own recruits. 2 kids left (Clark and Nickerson) and we didn't fill our scholarship allotment. So, we knew this year would be short?! This waiting around for Major to become something really sucks. To get humiliated in this awful league really says something. It says we stink.
We believe in Alan Majors!
#family
I love that the Observer removed the article regarding the 49ers getting trounced out of the C-USA tourney and will not even get a bid to the NIT. Major is a joke and belongs coaching D-III ball. AD Rose should be run out of town. Student fees rose exponentially to field D-I sports and all we get is D-II quality. I am sure that this will be removed so that the Major "circle-jerk" crowd will have their exclusive say.
Student fees were raised to support football.
The students voted on this themselves.
Charlotte has had D1 athletics since the early
70's.
All the real 49er fans I know do NOT believe in Major. The have had enough.
I'm guessing to NIT left us out because they know Judy will accept nothing less than annual visits in the NCAA tournament....thats why she canned Bobby! Been another three year absence now hasn't it sports fans ?!
Great job coach....great hire Judy !
Even Jeff Lebo was available when Major was hired........Bring back Bobby......as AD !
I don't know why some of you keep blaming Judy for the downfall of men's basketball. Look at the good things she has done. The women's teams have taken great strides forward under Judy's leadership.
To the poster who stated that there was a vote for increased student fees- when? During 11AM to 1PM for a select demographic whose "daddy" or the taxpayer via "special programs" pay ? As an alumni and one who returned for an additional degree, I received no notification of any vote but I did get additional contribution requests in the mail. As a B-ball fan- guess where I put them? If you want I will mail them to you. You want my support? Fire Major.
We finished with a rpi of around 170 this year and the AD acts like that is a great accomplishment.
I have been a season ticket holder in Halton Arena since the first year it opened. I used to donate $1000 a year. That amount was cut in half last year when they extended Major's contract. I will give them no more money and buy no more tickets unless a change is made. The product on the floor is not worth the amount of time it takes to drive to the school.
The administration has obviously written off basketball. The football stadium only seats 15,300 and the AD does not want to enlarge the stadium even though we have to expand it to 15,000 to stay in CUSA. What are they trying to do?
Judy gets blamed because she is the "Athletic Director", not director of womens sports ! She fired a coach that won 19 games because he couldn't get us to the NBCAA tournament every year, then brought in and un-proven,or experienced coach to do worse, then extended his contract un-warranted, then refuses to admit the flaws in the plan. She got the postion in the beginning to be Jeff Mullins' proxy because he had to give up his "official" duties as AD and now is in over her head apparently !
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