Thursday, October 23, 2014

Lester leaving Charlotte 49ers to turn pro

Charlotte 49ers junior shooting guard Shawn Lester is leaving the basketball program to pursue a career in professional basketball, the school is announcing Thursday.

Lester, Charlotte’s second-leading scorer last season (11.9 points per game), is in the process of hiring an agent and will look hope to sign with a team overseas.

Lester played just one season at Charlotte out of Mooresville High. He was academically ineligible in 2012-13.

“Although we are saddened that Shawn will not be with us, we are fully supporting him and his family as he makes this transition," 49ers coach Alan Major said in a statement. "We thank him for his efforts, and he will be a Niner for life.”

Lester also averaged 4.2 rebounds in 31 games as Charlotte’s sixth man last season. He had 21 double-figure scoring games and was named to the all-tournament team at the Puerto Rico Tip-Off, an event the 49ers won.

"I would like to thank my teammates and coaches for their support,” Lester said.  “This was a very difficult decision for me and my family. After much consideration and talking with my family and coaches, I feel it is in my best interest to begin my professional career."

Lester would have competed for playing time in a crowded 49ers backcourt that includes returning starters Pierria Henry and Terrence Williams, Florida-transfer Braxton Ogbueze, freshmen Keyshawn Woods and Torin Dorn and sophomore Ivan Benkovic.

Lester is the third player from last season’s 49ers team to leave the program prematurely. Guard Denzel Ingram and forward Marcus Bryan both transferred to UNC Wilmington. Two other players, forwards E. Victor Nickerson and Darion Clark, transferred after the 2012-13 season.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

#cancer

Anonymous said...

Just wait till next year!!!!

Anonymous said...

Lester had to sit a year because of academics. He would have had a 4.0 if he'd gone to UNC-chapel hill.

Anonymous said...

Idiot. Future welfare receipient....thanks obama

Anonymous said...

Charlotte runs a clean program and this is the result.

Anonymous said...

just another player to leave majors program. not surprised. the common thread with all the player losses is major.

Unknown said...

Not a single reasonable comment on this thread. Coach Major seems to lose several players every year. Without more stability, the 49ers will never reach their level of play that they enjoyed through most of a 35 year period since Bill Foster was coaching.

Jeff said...

Just wait til Major gets his "own" recruits in here !!!
WTF

Anonymous said...

Garbage in, garbage out. And terrible garbage collector.

Anonymous said...

What was Major suppose to do? Let a guy play with bad academics. This is the best class that Charlotte has had in a while. Lets see how they do before we start criticizing the team. Charlotte has two four star transfers. One four star freshman. One of the best point guards in the country with Henry and several experienced players who have been with Major from the beginning. I'm not worried about someone who probably would not have gotten a chance to play.

Anonymous said...

Dear 11:55 AM, Lester was the SECOND LEADING SCORER. Wake up.

And "four star transfer" = major college reject

Anonymous said...

@10:08
If you need to know what garbage is, it's anonymously referring to human beings as "garbage"

@11:55
Scoring points in basketball is just fine and dandy. If you watched Lester play and had a brain, you'd realize that he, bless his heart, never got the concept that basketball is played by a TEAM. Would he have "got it" in time? We'll never know.

Anonymous said...

This guy really is dumb as a box of rocks. Where does he think he's going to play after 1 year of college ball as a sixth man? Hope things work out for you homie but maybe you should get to work holding your shovel.

Anonymous said...

Lester was enrolled and eligible this semester and would have had several high profile games to showcase his skills early in the OOC. He would have been alot better off flunking out the fall semester and leaving in January ala Phil Jones. The bottom line is HE COULDNT STAND PLAYING FOR ALAN MAJOR!
Trust me Shawn we as fans know how you feel. #FIREMAJOR

Anonymous said...

To Anon 1:17. I am woke but it appears that you are still in a daze. For starters, Lester was the second leading scorer on the team. There are people on the team now that can carry his weight. Not that it matters because he was in academic trouble to begin with so he can't play. As far as your "four star transfer=major college reject" comment is concerned, let me go ahead and blow your theory out of the water with two words "Wichita State." Please feel free to look at their win record last year with "so-called" college rejects and get back in contact with me.

Anonymous said...

See how they do before we criticize them?

Name one thing in 4.5 years that Major has accomplished? Aside losing 54% of what he recruited.

We fired an alum with 300 wins for doing much better.

Anyone still a Major fan is 100% related to the AD. It's like 3 of you left. #family

Anonymous said...

Its all his baby momma fault. Hope she getting the attention she wants

Anonymous said...

To Anon 8:27. You mean besides open a pipeline to basketball players that according to everyone else would not be possible to get. You mean besides recruiting one of the best point guard in the country that you guys said was a loser. You mean besides bringing in four star basketball recruits that you guys dismissed and was proven wrong by every basketball expert goal. I went through this with you before with Buzz Peterson. The guy you thought was better than Major but wasn't. I think it time you "critic" stop criticizing Major and start supporting the team. This is a good team this year and can make some progress. And no I am not a family member, but I am somebody who have supported the team for years and have heard from you critics for years proven wrong as usual.

Anonymous said...

Please tell me how AM is supposed to be a great recruiter but we only have one preseason all conference player in a lousey CUSA???

Anonymous said...

The fact that Alan Major had no head coaching experience before coming to UNCC reflects the reality that the school did not have the resources to bring in a high profile coach and still pay off Lutz's contract. They have gotten what they paid for. Mercifully, the school left the A-10 where they were never competitive.

The school has now put the emphasis on football, where they are showing some promise. It will take considerable time for the team to be competitive in FBS. App. State is a realistic. opponent. Kentucky will blow away the 49ers.

Anonymous said...

The #UNCC isa #RACIST!!! Tha everbody want 2 #FIRE #Alan n #fotball coch tall the only UNCC #BLACK COACHES!!! An everbody dar stel LOVE luts n tha bassball coch! #HATERS!!!! Alan n Tall do tha best day can but don git help from da scool!!
#HATERS #RACIST#UNCC

Anonymous said...

To Anon 8:02 am-As I recall nobody wanted that Preseason all conference player to begin with and stated that he was a reject. But to answer your question, you have a 4 star freshman recruit and 2 four star transfer. The fact that these guys gave Charlotte a chance is promising. Not to mentions that he has several players who are not only ranked in their conference but in the nation as well. With the addition of football a lot of players from Charlotte would have gone someplace else. Yeah, I would like for Charlotte to win more games but I know that it will take a while for them to build up the team.

Fact checker said...

SI predicted us this week to finish 161 rpi. Finishing 6th in cusa. That's our current roster and the computer simulated 10,000 seasons. Raw data

Ken Pom is much more optimistic. He says we finish rpi 95. Yippee.

Both models consider recruits. Our average player has 2.2 stars. Facts suck