Post game thought from Charlotte's lopsided loss at Xavier:
This Charlotte 49ers team, more than others in the past, clearly has difficulty putting 40 minutes together of good defense. Charlotte coach Bobby Lutz likes to utilize changing defenses throughout a game and this year's team is having a hard time adjusting to that. Some games they are better than others. Clearly they can do it at times (look at performance against Saint Joseph's, Massachusetts and George Washington), but sustaining it for the long haul is the 49ers' biggest problem right now.
Part of the 49ers' difficulty this year is because of their reliance on freshmen and junior college transfers. Both have little time to learn the system in the brief preseason. Where transfers from other Division I schools sit out a year (and get a year of practice with the team before they play and a year to get in shape), freshman and jucos are basically thrown into the fire.
The difficult decision a coach is left with is whether giving those players court time, despite their problems, is better for the long haul. Game experience, particularly on defense, is invaluable. So, do you sit them every time they make mistakes or play them for the experience? It's a fine line and Charlotte has been lucky in the past to come out on the plus side more often than not.
Sunday, February 4, 2007
Freshmen, jucos the problem on defense?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
8 comments:
A lot of people have talked about how JuCo's have not been our answer of recent. I'm tending to agree more and more. I llok forward to all of our 4 year guys we have coming in next year and hope Lutz can continue that. Maybe then we will see some defense show up
Defense? What's Defense? I'm a niner fan.
Lutz has never had a good defensive team. He has occasionally had a good defensive player (i.e. Basden), but he has never been able to put together a solid defensive team.
Jim, do you think Lutz is wearing out his welcome in Charlotte?
Lutz has always compensated for lack of overall talent by shooting the three and switching defenses. When you can't hit the three and the player's don't comprehend complex defenses, you end up 9-12.
Jim, care to comment on the future of Lutz and the program?
My 2 cents on Lutz' future is that he deserves some pressure on his job. Sure, changing conferences impacts your team. I would argue that Lutz has not welcomed the change. Given what I see on the bench for next year, I do believe there is reason to expect 3 losing seasons within a 6 year period.
I've been a season ticket holder for several years and I expect to be one next year. I sure hope I get more for my money next year. This year has been nearly as bad as the pre-Jeff Mullins era.
I think Lutz can thank fan interest in the ACC to keep him under the radar. If Charlotte was not an ACC city, Lutz would've already had to defend himself publicly.
Well said ^^^
Post a Comment