Hope we do. Iām not rooting against us.
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I hope they surprise us and work well together as a team but yeah itās a little underwhelming. I will give them a chance and support them but I really hoped we could capitalize on a good season. Especially since we actually have a collective now. Itās sad that recruiting honestly seemed to regress a little after the best season weāve had in years and with us paying players for the first time.
We have a solid collective but need to up it in that department. We need to get to themillion dollar area, imo to getbthe guys we really want. Id give this class a c+, possibly a b-
Honestly I donāt even know why some of yāall waste your time coming here. Yāall seem totally burned out, understandably, and continually come here and repetitively tell us youāve checked out. Yet youāre still here. Masochistic much?
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Itās not college basketball anymore. Itās a pro league with no rules.
I have been supporting Charlotte basketball since 1986 and football since inception. Providing support for scholarships and such is one thing, outright paying a player is not what I signed up for nor want.
I am hoping this mess of NIL and portal will change soon. If it does not I will be out as well.
Itās like the Hornets going out to me as a season ticket holder and asking for money to supplement. Kennelly āIām always hurtā Ballās pay.
No thanks
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Unlike NWA, I actually do care. I just think we have a leader that is either inept or malicious in Mike Hill. I care deeply about the niners, basketball especially, thatās why I come here. I donāt have any faith in our leadership. The guy named an interim coach to keep together a team that had accomplished nothing significant in an era when players turnover yearly.
Iām giving Fearne a fair chance. He made good in game adjustments, Iām just not sure if he can recruit well enough to win the American.
As for support. While I donāt believe in Mike Hill, we are in the NIL era and I made a significant donation to the collective. I wonāt delude myself into thinking that most players dating back to the 80s were ever anything other than hired guns.
Itās habit and routine to come here. Many of us have been coming here for nearly 20 years. Itās the only thing that really still keeps me connected to the program. If this site didnāt exist, I would have checked out on the niners years ago because I wouldnāt have anyone to talk Niners with. Too shameful of a program to bring up to anyone outside of Niner fandom.
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Yeah I deal with people from all across the U. S. for work. Try explaining to them that you are a Charlotte fan and just watch the bewilderment grow and grow. Despite all our supposed potential, we arent even small potatoes nationally, we are a tater tot. We have zero national brand presence.
Iāve basically given up on trying to explain it to new people I meet.
You clearly havenāt talked to Jarvis or Diego and Byron or Jobey or Tremaine or plenty of other former basketball players or just various athletes that have worn green and gold. They came here for a free education but they graduated as Niners and bleed green. They were and are one of us. And they were grateful for the support. In the current environment they may be mercenaries - but they werent then.
These guys arent one of us. School literally doesnt matter to them - they are one semester rentals that will take a dump on us if given the chance. If all you ever wanted was to win this new model doesnt bother you I guess. If you supported the school and program and sports for more than that then it just hits different and ethically I have a huge issue with our students paying for all of this. It isnāt right. I have never been a win at all costs person though.
Iāll keep sending in money - but it wonāt be going to any sport where the players can make enough money to pay for their own education. I wont root against us and I may buy single games here and there - but even if we win, it isnt us winning. It is just some random collection of one year players who dont care about our school likely arent going to class and who just happen to be wearing a charlotte jersey for a semester winning. And IF they win - they are most likely out the door.
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No offense NWA but youāre fooling yourself into thinking they were here because of love of the game or university.
Riddle me this. Do you really believe if NIL was around then any of the guys you mentioned woulda been 4 year guys here? I certainly donāt
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Thats why I said in the current environment they may be mercenaries. Jarvis would have gotten absolutely paid after his freshman year.
That isnāt what they played under though. They were here because they loved to play, they like our staff and they got a free education. The point is the rules made it so that they were one of us. They went to class. I was in class with Jarvis and Rodney Odom. Recruiting included what the school had to offer academically. Most importantly there wasnāt NIL or a portal for them to just jump out and that meant they graduated as niners and today they bleed green and love this program.
The changes have absolutely destroyed that. Ultimately now these players dont care about donors, student or the school. I just cant invest myself emotionally into something that cares so little about why they are here and what they represent while absolutely fleecing out students.
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I agree with most of what you are saying. I knew guys in school too but those days are gone. I get if you choose not to have the same level of interest, hell neither do I.
And I get weāre in different times now. However I donāt think the all time guys we had were here because they fell in love with Charlotte and the Niner way. They may have developed great feelings for the green when they were here but truth be told most all of them were here because they didnāt get offers from the big boys.
But, Iām old and cynicalā¦.
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Oh I absolutely agree. Iām under no delusion why they were here. The point is they were here, they chose us over other schools that offered and then they played here, stayed here and graduated from here. As Niners. Like me.
These players now. I have as much in common with them as Panther players. What we have now is a one way street of love. Im just not interested in continuing this abusive relationship where I pay money and give emotion to players whose goal now is to shit on us. I had girlfriends I kicked to the curb for less. The winning might be like great sex. Makes you forget how you are being treated. Itās up to each person to decide whats thatās worth.
clt says this is an interesting discussion
what would Cornbread, rodney white, el tamir, basden do if the NIL rules were as currently set?
Cornbread absolutely would have been gone. Eddie leaves after a year or two, Rodney probably still plays his one year here and hits NBA. Jarvis and Henry are gone.
I think players like Diego and Jobey would have been gone too as reliable shooters in this age of basketball. Plavich never sets foot here. Curtis doesnt stay here. Braswell doesnt stay. Our program would look very different and we likely have zero retired numbers and far fewer fans.
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Those guys would have probably never wore the Green & Gold !
Perhaps - harder to find those guys these days than it was. They were all either overlooked (Cornbread) or had grade issues (Rodney).
Should we just go D3 then guys?
Make it all about the student athlete experience and forget all this bogus crap we are dealing with?
And Iām asking that seriously.
Iām gonna be at every game football and basketball whatever our level.
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I mean unfortunately if you listen to our administration, they constantly parrot about the student athlete experience. Except this isnāt D3. We are charging regulqr students, many of whom go into debt for this, $1,000 a year. Then they ask alumni to donate and buy tickets. We have a budget in the tens of millions and canāt get it together in revenue sports. But hey, weāve got a good student athlete experience, and How Bout That Softball Team!
We thought getting rid of Judy would stop the Mayberry experience, but Mike Hill runs this thing with the exact same mentality.
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