The Charlotte 49ers men’s basketball team is getting faster by the season.
When I first saw new point guard DiJuan Harris playing last summer, I felt the 49ers were going to get a burst of speed and energy they haven’t seen in a while.
Now, I get to say that all over again.
RaShad Coleman, a 6-foot-6, 195-pound junior shooting guard who played for the Heat Basketball Academy last season in Martinsville, Va., and signed to play at Charlotte beginning this season, made his debut in the Mecklenburg County Park & Recreation summer league on Monday at the Grady Cole Center.
To say he was impressive could be an understatement. To say he was fast definitely is. Coleman finished with 12 points, which included two NBA-range 3-pointers and three dunks, including one two-handed slam from an alley-oop pass and a second one-handed driving drunk from the baseline.
At the end of the night, the public-address announcer went to find Coleman even though he was on the losing team and said, “Son, we need to know your name.”
I have a feeling Charlotte fans will be saying it a lot this season. Coleman said he expects to playing at shooting guard and is excited about the upcoming season.
“I’m just working hard waiting to play for Charlotte,” he said. “I feel good. I felt at home playing out there with some of my teammates. It felt good.”
Coleman, from LaGrange, Ga., spent 1 1/2 years at NAIA school Brewton-Parker in Mount Vernon, Ga., before joining the Heat Academy to develop his skills after he grew more than five inches from high school.
“I was surprised at how much I grew since high school. I’ve become a much more explosive player since high school,” Coleman said. “I love to run the court.”
The next chance to catch Coleman in action will be 8:30 p.m. Thursday at the Grady Cole Center. Coleman plays on a team that features several 49ers, including freshman Shamarr Bowden, junior transfer Shamari Spears, sophomore An’Juan Wilderness and junior Phil Jones.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Coleman makes impression fast on court
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18 comments:
Harris & Dewhurst are also inperssing in the summer league, but Shamari Spears is a monster !
Its a shame he won't be availible until next season.
good stuff jim! I'm excited to see how coleman works into the mix. Sounds like the new guys are going to bring even more depth to an already deep team
Nice! Glad to hear we have a scoring machine comming in to play the two spot. I will be out there tonight to catch the action!
How can a team loaded with D1 talent be the "loosing" team in a summer rec league. Why can't the 9'ers get a decent player that did not come up throught the JuCo route, or the Heat Academy route? They are a bunch of 2 year nobodys. Why do people wonder why everybody around here follows the Heels or Pack? It should be obvious. And I am a UNCC alum.
Hey anonymous -
One of the players on that "loosing" summer rec team was ranked in the Top 15 in rebounds last year in the ACC.
Obviously, the acc is a hack conference.
Anonymous, I definitely wouldn't call Coleman a "nobody". He got pretty heavy interest from Kansas, NC State, UCONN, and OK State.. every heard of any of those teams? Fortunately, we got in early on him. He'll be a serious player at the D1 level.
And who was this wonderful player ranked in the top 15? My point is that UNCC has relegated themselves to chasing JuCo, etc. kids in the hopes of competing in a mediocre conference. Lutz and Company are nice guys they are just content to look for shortcuts instead of trying to get legit D1 qualifiers out of high school. That is not how you build a sustainable program for the long haul.
This is very good news. Summer Leagues are like All-Star Games with no defense, but it builds confidence. I am excitd to see what Coleman can do.
I still think Charles Dewhurst will be the most important player for new minutes next year.
Dew needs to be "Does" and spell An'Juan, Lamont and Ian anytime on the floor. He should play a ton and I think he makes the biggest impact.
Mark
Who are the top-level high school players who are craving to join the Atlantic 10? You can count them on one hand each season.
Shamari Spears (originally from Boston College) averaged 6.1 rebounds/game last year. Duke's best rebounders, for example, averaged less than 6.0 per game.
I believe Georgia Tech also offered Coleman a schollie. One of his Heat Academy teammates chose UConn over Maryland (and many others). Poor UConn fans.
Kenny Frease, Terrell Holloway, Mark Lyons, Brett Thompson, David Gibbs, Melquan Bolding, Jio Fontan ... all are Rivals Top 150 recruits for 2008 and all could have easily chosen a BCS school, instead. There are plenty more "legit D1 qualifiers" in the conference. The A10 can stake a claim to being among the Top 7 conferences in the nation ... just as Conference USA did.
Does your calender still read 2005, anonymous? It seems that the coaches don't chase jucos nearly as much as they used to. Have you paid attention to the HS players that have received offers / visited Charlotte lately? Karron Johnson, Mouptaou Tarou, and Dante Taylor are all better than a lot of the Heels/Pack commits IMHO.
"Karron Johnson, Mouptaou Tarou, and Dante Taylor are all better than a lot of the Heels/Pack commits IMHO."
Excuse me while I laugh my ass clean off.
1/3 of last years roster was either a transfer from another school or a JuCo kid. Spears = transfer. Coleman = Heat Acad. Chasing Duke Crews who got kicked out of Tennessee. Friends, if you get kicked out of Tennessee you got issues.
I bow down to your superior basketball knowledge.
Justin Watts, Julius Mays, and CJ Williams are basketball gods.
The Charlotte basketball coaches are ruining the program by recruiting Tennessee troublemakers and by signing no-talent jucos. Those foolish coaches need to listen to anonymous' advice and recruit HS players that are much better than the losers mentioned.
In the meantime, all graduates from the university should spend all their time on blogs encouraging fans to cheer rival universities.
Are you happy now?
annonymous 49er hater-
get a clue about the reality of college recruiting. Your thuoghts are so full of holes, I don't know where to start. Really.
with luck, you guys can travel back to Nebraska to play in the NIT. Boy that will be fun and keep the base excited.
It's like reading back issues of Hustler magazine and looking over every detail. You don't do it because you enjoy it. You do it so that you can write letters to Hustler magazine, explaining why the readers need to stop looking at that smut.
Porn is immoral and if I can make a difference with just one lost individual, I'll continue to keep up my good work.
What a competely ridiculous comparison. Try getting a life.
Just today - J.T. Terrell of Burlington Cummings high signed with Wake. His DAD played at UNCC. Sad. Just sad.
His dad also got kicked out.
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