that 144 teams in 144 days thing has us at #62! aaggh!!
7th place in the conference, NIT boundâŚ
as the crowds in Halton have chanted so many timesâŚ
BULLLSHHITT!!! BULLLSHHITT!!! BULLLLSHHHITTTâŚ
Well, there goes any credibility CHN had. You would think a website devoted to college hoops would be a little more informed. There is no way we are the 62nd best team in the country this year. It will be interesting (and probably funny) to see who they have ranked in front of us though.
Someone save that webpage and email it back to them when we are in the sweet 16 next march.
EDIT: At least we beat Saint Maryâs Gaels (#63). That could have been embarassing. :rolleyes: <_<
[i]Originally posted by Chisox17[/i]@Sep 15 2004, 12:24 PM [b] that 144 teams in 144 days thing has us at #62! aaggh!!
Easy Chisox,
How much credit do you want to give a guy who mentions Russ Snyder but fails to mention Eddie Basden? Or even Martin Iti?
That was written like it was compiled from random scrap notes on our team leaders and some recruiting website highlights. He obviously doesnât have a handle on our team at all.
In any case, hereâs your recourse (his email addy): jwelser_chn@ameritech.net
I wouldnât waste much energy getting mad at him. Based on his writeup, itâs doubtful he cares at all.
7th in the conf.??? Simple math hereâŚIf we any gaining more(player wise) that what we are losing and we finish tied for 1st, then how can we be 7th???
[i]Originally posted by NinerAdvocate[/i]@Sep 15 2004, 11:39 AM [b] That was written like it was compiled from random scrap notes on our team leaders and some recruiting website highlights. [/b]exactly what i was thinking. no real analysis at all
deplete the frountcourt???
Hello this is our best frountcourt since Cornbread.
Give me a break!! 
:wacko: somebody sleeping on the job
I think itâs hilarious. Tape that crap up in the locker room. 
Consider 1 âWhat were you thinking?!?!?â letter sent - requesting a retraction no less!
[i]Originally posted by Chisox17[/i]@Sep 15 2004, 11:24 AM [b] that 144 teams in 144 days thing has us at #62! aaggh!!
I guess they saw our CUSA Tourney game against UAB and later vs Texas Tech and think we canât possibly be any better this year.
Believe me. Iâd rather have no respect than extremely high expectations (Athlon). We have always done better when no one thinks weâll be good. I find it more fun. (like the year we kicked NCSUâs butt on their home floor.) SWEET!
Chisox,
Thatâs why I ignore most of this preseason stuffâŚitâs at best an intellectual masturbation. Not much to it.
Our guys will do much better than #62.
[i]Originally posted by NinerFan[/i]@Sep 15 2004, 12:28 PM [b] Chisox,Thatâs why I ignore most of this preseason stuffâŚitâs at best an intellectual masturbation. [/b]
If thatâs true, Card fans are probably âall over themselvesâ about now. :fastgun:
[i]Originally posted by NinerAdvocate[/i]@Sep 15 2004, 11:39 AM [b] How much credit do you want to give a guy who mentions Russ Snyder but fails to mention Eddie Basden? Or even Martin Iti?[/b]
He starts by saying weâll finish near the top of C-USA and ends with a 7th place predicted finish?!?!!? :wacko:
Somehow he knew Drayton had bulked up and said Goldwire will be a player. Including Russ in an assessment of the team says it all, though.
The Letter that I sent:
[b]The piece that you put together for the 144 Teams in 144 days is terrible. You show absolutely no true knowledge of this team! Going through your article, let me inform you of your inaccuracies. First off, Mitchell Baldwin (a 4th year Junior) was the back up point guard last year and led the team to a victory over a ranked Louisville team. In this game he played 40 minutes at the point position. Leemire Goldwire will challenge him for minutes, but we do have an experienced, albeit limited, point guard. Secondly, the front court has not been depleted. Martin Iti, a 7 foot tall Sophmore, will return along with the addition of Nance (which is very comparable in size to Clemmons). The backcourt is not a major concern for Charlotte. This team is known for their backcourt with one of the longest standing stretches of 3-point shots made in consecutive games. Brendan Plavich will be the leader at this position, however with a more prominent front court this year, the back court will be given more freedom. Watch for Chris Sager to excel in his senior year. Goldwire is said to have quite a long distance shot as well. He is known to stay after practice working on his shot by himself, shooting at least 300 during each of these personal sessions on a very regular basis. Not to mention that Charlotte has only lost 1 starter, 2 second string players, and a walk-on, and you left out the return of CUSA's Defensive player of the year, Eddie Basden. With this team gaining more talent than it lost, it is not feasible for this team to finish 7th place in Conference USA and to only receive an invitation to the NIT. Compare your article to that of the newly released Athlon pre-season rankings. Charlotte is projected to finish 2nd behind Louisville in CUSA and to make a Sweet 16 berth in the NCAA tournament. Your credibility is of great question after such an uneducated article. I would hope that your research team will look into this and offer a retraction due to poor analysis. [/b]
Their response:
[b]The point on the point guard is that Baldwin is no Mason. I'm interested to see what Baldwin can do game in and game out all year long. That could end up to be a big key to the season. I'll tell you what I told Brad, who I assume is a relative.The CUSA is pretty close, as I see it, from 3-7. Sometimes they are just
feel picks and teams like UAB and Marquette make it above Charlotte. Five
teams were tied for first last year, and just the way I have it set up, I
donât predict ties to happen.Also, the way the articles are set up with âwhos inâ and âwhos outâ it
doesnât always leave a spot for players like Iti and Basden to be mentioned.
One returning player is spotlighted in the âwho to watchâ section, but other
then that it is intended that the reader has some knowledge of the team.
Some readers want to know the differences from last year, and thatâs how it
is set up.Theyâre a good team but Iâm not too confident in them being better then
their 12-4 conference record of a year ago. Donât worryâŚI know who Iti
and Basden are. I know who Russ Snyder is too. Charlotte did get the short
end of the stick on the group of CUSA teams in that mix, but somebody had to
be 7th. The questions at the point led them to that spot.
I donât look at others predictions that much in order to rate mine. I donât
want to regurgitate ESPN or anything. Maybe theyâll get 2nd or maybe
theyâll get 7th.Joel Welser
[/b]
Ok, I laughed at the writeup before, and I probably should laugh at his comments now, but this %$# is ridiculous. It doesnât even make any sense:
[b]They're a good team but I'm not too confident in them being better then their 12-4 conference record of a year ago.[/b]
Umm⌠ok, I even agree with that. But exactly when in CUSAâs history has there been an fâing 12-4 SEVENTH PLACE CUSA team??? 12-4 is all but a lock for at least a 2nd place tie. His logic is broken. His statements completely contradict themselves.
And again:
[b]Charlotte did get the short end of the stick on the group of CUSA teams in that mix, but somebody had to be 7th.[/b]
If the top half of the conference is that fâing good, then how in the %$# does he get off ranking us #62?? If he was talking about the ACC being that loaded and apologizing for making one of those teams #7 in the conference, then heâd at least acknowledge the strength of the league by ranking that #7 team in the top 30. Put it this way, if it were, for instance, Maryland we were talking about, does anyone here doubt theyâd be top 30?
I call bull$%#@. Twice.
[b]Sometimes they are just feel picks and teams like UAB and Marquette make it above Charlotte[/b]
The UAB slam we deserve for choking against them twice last year, however after saying this about us:
[b]The questions at the point led them to that spot.[/b]
he conveniently overlooks the fact that Mo Finley is GONE from that UAB squad. He was the single best player on that team.
Moving on:
[b] The point on the point guard is that Baldwin is no Mason[/b]
Run that by me again WillisâŚ?!! Did he fâing forget Demonâs last name? And please tell me he doesnât mean Dameon Mason, a guy who doesnât even play PG at Marquette. :rolleyes:
And finally, if Marquette finishes above us, I will eat my fâing Niners hat. And Lutz needs to be fired. The talent level on these two teams is note ven close. Marquette has 3 quality players. We have at least 6.
The true testament of his crapola will come when he has all the âbig nameâ CUSA programs ranked in the top 30 and Marquette (apparently heâs in love with them) ranked in the top 40. Yep, not only are we the 7th best team in CUSA, but overall weâre that much owrse than the next best team.
As Bugs would say: âWhat a maroon!â
Itâs a preseason prediction feature people, this doensât mean we are destined to finish in the NIT and that we now have lost any shot at a CUSA title or NCAA bidâŚitâs one siteâs opinion, last time i checked they are allowed to have their own opinion. ourâs is obviously different, but who cares? if that site was forced to hand out invites to the NCAA tourny in September, then I might be worried about what they think, but nothing that happens before November 19th really matters. If we start out 11-0 and we still arenât receiving any votes for national top 25 polls, then ok, go ahead and get angry, but bashing somebodyâs credibility for an opinion two months before we play our first game just doesnât seem to be worth the effortâŚi expect, as do most of you, that we will have the last laugh about this down the line, no point in going into a frenzy over it now.
I havenât heard back yet. I actually gave him credit for the lack of experience at PG comment because it is a question mark. We lost a 4 year starter and Mitchell is untested. But I challenged the âdepletedâ front court comment. Thatâs a no brainer when you return all 3 starters (1st teamer, def player of the year, and all FR 7 footer) and add Drayton and Nance. Then of course saying theyâll finish near the top at #7 makes no sense.
I guess he was thinking Desmond Mason? Is that the Seattle guard that won the slam dunk contest one year?
I wrote him. Most of it banged out on a laptop at Salsaritaâs (good, and relatively cheap). For those thinking it, yes I need a life. 
Here it is:
Mr Welser,
Let me first start off by saying that Iâm not a big fan of the âangry
slighted fanâ type of letter. However, what I do get annoyed by is sloppy, minimal effort journalism passed off as informed opinion. And if a writer has an unspoken agenda, then whatever they produce is complete and utter rubbish. If you donât have the balls to say what youâre really thinking, then donât waste everyoneâs time by trying to be cute. Donât be the journalistic equivalent of Digger Phelps, who exists only to promote the power conferences for career and business reasons (ad revenues and sponsors, including the damned shoe companies).
I will switch gears here and say that Iâve been enjoying reading CHNâs
"144 teams in 144 days" season preview. There is a lot of good, well
researched information in there. Thatâs why I was so surprised to see
the doubly poor inclusion of the Niners in your rankings. Assigning a
preseason ranking of #62 is most certainly going to put you well away
from even the fringe of other publications and sources, which is fine
if thatâs your goal, but I have to to call you to task for not backing
up your ranking at all. You replied to a fellow fan (contrary to what
you seemed to infer, there are quite a few of us in a very active
internet community) with what I found to be completely ridiculous
reasoning. Iâm going to quote my reply to that verbatim, because I
want you to read it:
=========
(text of my previous post)
=========
Curtis Withers was an integral piece of the U20 national team that
brought home Olympic gold this summer. He is, quite simply, one of the
top players in college basketball.
Eddie Basden was once again named the top defender in the talent rich
CUSA. But he doesnât stop there. To quote Athlon:
âBasden had 27 points against [ECU]. He had 15 rebounds against UAB.
He had seven assists against Marquette. For the second straight
season, he had 60 plus steals⌠âŚcompleting his ascension into
Charlotteâs essential all-around playerâ
The guy is like friggin caulk - if there are holes in your team, he
will plug them, and when heâs in there, nothing gets by.
Brendan Plavich, out of shape and nursing a bad back, twice hit more
than 10 threes in a game, including the 96-92 defeat of the defending
national champions ON THE ROAD to begin the season. In case you missed
the significance of that, consider that Charlotte had a school record
10 road wins last year, including two over top 10 teams. All in all,
Plavich managed 97 treys, while sharing the back court with a guy who
also demanded shots: Demon Brown, who hit 137 of them the year before,
2nd best in the country. Brown is gone now, and Plavich has dropped the fat.
Preston Greene (Charlotteâs strength & conditioning coach) has done a great job with him and our other players.
EJ Drayton is a near clone of Withers, although he prefers the
perimeter a bit more. And the two know each other well. They were on
the Charlotte Aces AAU team together along with Rashad McCants &
former Niner Vincent Grier. Back then, many people claimed that EJ was
the 2nd best player on that teamâŚ
Mitchell Baldwin, though he is no Dameon Mason (???), only managed to
lead us to a home victory over top 10 Louisville, playing all 40
minutes and committing zero turnovers. Is he a great point guard?
Probably not. But this team doesnât need one. Mitchell is one of the
fastest players in Div 1 basketball, and a good defender (ask golden
boy Travis Diener, whoâs pocket he picked so often that Tom Crean
started using 6â10 Scott Merritt to screen him off Diener as Travis brought
the ball up court). And if Mitchell cant get it done, Florida 5A Player
of the Year Leemire Goldwire or Brooklyn based Jerrell Lewis are
waiting for their shot.
Martin Iti has received more hype than he has so far deserved, but you
simply cannot teach a 7â6 wingspan. And he runs the floor like few
other big men in the country. He has work to do to get better, but
there is a reason that the NBA scouts are drooling over him. He just
needs time to develop into a player. But no other CUSA team has a
center prospect like him, and there arenât many in the country.
I could go on about our other players, but those 6, plus the two
freshmen guards are enough. Guys like Nance, Pigford & Sager are there
to provide excellent depth. The team is at least two deep at every
position. The starters are all prep top 100 caliber, even Baldwin. The
schedule is easy, aside from the big tilt conference games and a home
date against Alabama. Coach Lutz is one of the best in the business,
and this team has only failed to make the NCAA tournament twice in the
past 8 years. Both times, they had far less talent than they do now,
and a tougher schedule.
That is the type of research you should have done. I might continue to
read CHN, but I wonât ever think as highly of them as I did before.
<----- An exclusive photo of Joel Welser can be seen in my avatar. :lol:
just sent an email, here it isâŚ
Iâm sure you have already recieved many other emails from other 49er fans, so I will keep this very civil and very short. First of all, I think the 144 teams in 144 days idea is awesome. I have enjoyed checking up on it from day to day. But obviously I am also writing to let you know that there are more fans out there reading up on teams like the unheralded and unhyped 49ers than you would think, so more effort should go into the âanalysisâ of those teams. When the 49ers have cracked the top 25 in both polls this year, Im sure you will recieve more emails from us, and when we make it to the sweet sixteen or even the elite eight, you will get more then. Until then, thanks for doing these writeups during the offseason, but please, be informed before you sit down to type it all out.