A Less Than Stellar Season Outlook

49ers Basketball Forum 🏀
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I’m just going to start off by saying, please do not take this post to heart. As an alumni from 2010, I can came into a time where Charlotte was still fairly fresh from recent NCAA tourney bids and looking forward to seeing how we’d transistion into the A10 conference. Every year since then I have been an eternal optimist for Charlotte to return to relevance only to end up in mediocrity. So in looking at this year’s team here is my less than enthusiastic look at this year’s roster.

-Darion Clark (FR) – Big guy, big rebounder (Please don’t remind my of Shamari Spears)

-E Victor Nickerson (SO) – Overall well rounded player but isn’t much for big plays. (Sounds like another Wilderness)

-Denzel Ingram (FR) – Little guy, big scorer…

DeMario Mayfield (JR) – Another transfer Guard, another mediocre player

Mike Thorne (RFR) – Another project center (Phil Jones ring a bell?)

Terrence Williams (SO) – Good sized guard with an outside threat (Green’s replacement?)

Pierria Henry (SO) – Good hands, good vision. We’ll see about scoring. (His name is pronounced like Perrier, hopefully he’s just as refreshing)

Colby Lewis (SR) – I PLAY ACADEMICS! YAY!

Willie Clayton (FR) – Good sized forward and an inside guy (so now we have 2 Wildernesses?)

JT Thompson (SR) – VTech transfer after 2 ACL surgeries in 2 years… awesome we needed a token injury player to replace Dewherst

Chris Braswell (SR) – Charlotte’s best player but keeps forgetting what the word consistent means

Ilija Ivankovic (SR) – Another “why did we sign a tall ass eastern European center to take up room on our bench?” How well did Gokhan Sirin project turn out again?

Ivan Benkovic (FR) – Apparently we sign small eastern European guys now as well (Both from Croatia)

Lamar Bradbury (SR) – Described as a “teammate”… Jeezus Effin Christ where do they find these kids?

So it looks like another tough year for Coach Major but I do see a couple positives to take away for Charlotte’s future. 1 – This freshman class by Alan Major was a top 10 in non-BCS classes (I guess that’s good) and 2 – Its back to Conference USA after this year.
Best case scenario, we have a .500 record or better and we beat up on a few top A10 teams to show some presence when Charlotte goes back to Conference USA.
Worst case scenario, Charlotte continues to struggle to be consistant in offense and defense and this extremely young team has difficulties coming together.

OK I’m done. Please feel free to begin hating.

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k.

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The floor is now chisox’s

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No offense, but I get the sense that you don’t really know what you’re talking about.

Mayfield is mediocre? He’s not a superstar, but he’s pretty good.

Terrence Williams an outside threat? uhhh, no. He was terrible at shooting the three last year. Absolutely terrible. Williams is a slasher type player.

Mike Thorne is definitely a project center, but I’m not sure I’d compare him to Jones. Jones was a top 100 player his senior year before ending up at prep school. His last two years here were pretty good. If Thorne is like Phil, I’ll take that.

Clayton’s game in HS was nothing like Wilderness’s. Clayton is an inside scorer, Wilderness was a wing. That’s almost like comparing Kobe to Shaq.

Braswell is inconsistent? Braswell had five games last year where he didn’t score in the double digits, the same as Andrew Nicholson, who was arguably the best A10 big man and drafted in the first round of the NBA this year.

Lamar Bradbury is a walk-on, so not sure why you’re upset that he’s described as “teammate.”

JT Thompson is a legit player when he’s healthy. If he stays healthy, he helps us out. If he gets hurt, then he offers exactly the same thing that leaving that scholarship empty would have offered us; nothing. There was no downside to taking JT Thompson for a year.

I don’t disagree that we will probably be mediocre this year, but your assessment of the players is pretty far off.

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I’d just like to point out Niner National is neither Shout Box Gang nor Green Tinted Asses.

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[quote=“Niner National, post:4, topic:26948”]No offense, but I get the sense that you don’t really know what you’re talking about.

Mayfield is mediocre? He’s not a superstar, but he’s pretty good.

Terrence Williams an outside threat? uhhh, no. He was terrible at shooting the three last year. Absolutely terrible. Williams is a slasher type player.

Mike Thorne is definitely a project center, but I’m not sure I’d compare him to Jones. Jones was a top 100 player his senior year before ending up at prep school. His last two years here were pretty good. If Thorne is like Phil, I’ll take that.

Clayton’s game in HS was nothing like Wilderness’s. Clayton is an inside scorer, Wilderness was a wing. That’s almost like comparing Kobe to Shaq.

Braswell is inconsistent? Braswell had five games last year where he didn’t score in the double digits, the same as Andrew Nicholson, who was arguably the best A10 big man and drafted in the first round of the NBA this year.

Lamar Bradbury is a walk-on, so not sure why you’re upset that he’s described as “teammate.”

JT Thompson is a legit player when he’s healthy. If he stays healthy, he helps us out. If he gets hurt, then he offers exactly the same thing that leaving that scholarship empty would have offered us; nothing. There was no downside to taking JT Thompson for a year.

I don’t disagree that we will probably be mediocre this year, but your assessment of the players is pretty far off.[/quote]

The assessments are probably off base technically, but I sympathize with the whole sentiment of our team. As somebody from the same class, there were relative expectations that I had of our basketball program that were simply not met. We are tired of having hyped up classes and recruits who are then immediately disappointing on the floor. Maybe this trend will change once all the Lutz regime players have graduated.

Personally, it felt like every season I was at school, we would have glowing points, then completely fall off the map the next day. The constant irrelevance is frustrating to a certain degree, and straight up disheartening.

Here is to hoping something good happens within the next few seasons, especially when football starts rolling. But, honestly, I have no real expectations anymore of this program, just hope we stay competitive.

Assessment Notes:

Wilderness played the wing, but from what I remember he made a vast majority of his points from the paint (except for the FT line ;D )

Didn’t T.Will have good numbers from outside the arc in H.S?

I fell the consistency complaint of Braswell wasn’t about scoring, because, he some nights was our ONLY scoring, but rather factors such as leadership, smart shots, fitness etc.

I think that will improve, however, as he has become the only true senior in our squad, and will hopefully be the guy who will rally the troops. Henry should also continue to embrace this type role.

Mayfield was quite mediocre at the beginning of the season, especially with his FT%. But, in the second half, his game caught up. Hopefully that trend continues.

Don’t know enough about the other players. But, I guess that is what this site is for :slight_smile: .

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I know I’m off in some areas but for the most part my critiques came from what came off of Charlotte’s webiste on each players bio’s. (especially the newer guys)
But I never remembered Wilderness having much of a shot that wasn’t in the paint. I do know he had a knack for getting to the ball and stout defense.
Phil Jones was good, when he wanted to be. The man had bricks for hands and somehow pull off big jumpers. The biggest thing that ticked me off about him was that he became ineligible his senior year because of academics. That’s just being lazy. So forgive me when I see we have another center that is going to take awhile to mold.
Braswell has shown signs of brilliance and forgive me for being down on him but it always seems he takes two steps forward and one step back. Obivoulsy this season rides on his leadership and performance.
All in all this was supposed to be a pessimistic view of the team with a bit of satire. I didn’t want to sound like me complaining or whining about our team but to also poke fun at some areas. Swing and a miss I guess…

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Welcome to he board.

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[quote=“ColeysDunkSquad, post:7, topic:26948”]I know I’m off in some areas but for the most part my critiques came from what came off of Charlotte’s webiste on each players bio’s. (especially the newer guys)
But I never remembered Wilderness having much of a shot that wasn’t in the paint. I do know he had a knack for getting to the ball and stout defense.
Phil Jones was good, when he wanted to be. The man had bricks for hands and somehow pull off big jumpers. The biggest thing that ticked me off about him was that he became ineligible his senior year because of academics. That’s just being lazy. So forgive me when I see we have another center that is going to take awhile to mold.
Braswell has shown signs of brilliance and forgive me for being down on him but it always seems he takes two steps forward and one step back. Obivoulsy this season rides on his leadership and performance.
All in all this was supposed to be a pessimistic view of the team with a bit of satire. I didn’t want to sound like me complaining or whining about our team but to also poke fun at some areas. Swing and a miss I guess…[/quote]I can certainly sympathize and this is the first year that I haven’t really cared much about basketball.

I graduated in 09, so I came in right after our last NCAA appearance.

I had high expectations every year that we never lived up to.

I feel like the new guys coming in were probably good signs, but I’ve tempered my enthusiasm unlike I did for many of the previous years.

I’m tired of being disappointed.

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Sadly this is just about where I am.

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Wilderness played the wing, but from what I remember he made a vast majority of his points from the paint (except for the FT line ;D )

I see what you did there… F’ing Clemson.

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I’m too busy banging my head against the wall after reading about how T-Will is an outside threat, Clayton is a wing, and Bradbury is supposed to be the equivalent of a scholly recruit despite the fact that he’s a walkon.

Thank you National for saying pretty much exactly what I was thinking.

Having said that… welcome to the board man. The more the merrier.

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I’m too busy banging my head against the wall after reading about how T-Will is an outside threat, Clayton is a wing, and Bradbury is supposed to be the equivalent of a scholly recruit despite the fact that he’s a walkon.

Thank you National for saying pretty much exactly what I was thinking.

Having said that… welcome to the board man. The more the merrier.[/quote]

Hey, Harris was a walk on!

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Play Colby and get him some shots. Whaaaaat (are you lookin’ at)?!

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I hate that we are putting the (Leader) tag on a player that has the worst On-Court
demeanor. This thread is depressing. I can’t even muster up a positive point
to argue.

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For years, September was only two more months to basketball! Now, September is only two more months until basketball, sigh…

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I think we’re going to be better. I look for about 17-19 wins, granted our schedule isn’t that difficult

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[quote=“ColeysDunkSquad, post:1, topic:26948”]JT Thompson (SR) – VTech transfer after 2 ACL surgeries in 2 years… awesome we needed a token injury player to replace Dewherst[/quote]Well, at least this was funny. :stuck_out_tongue:

And it is Dewhurst.

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This is what I am thinking. I just finished predicting the season and I’m hoping for .500 in conference and 11-3 out of conference. That would put us at 19 wins. Through in a couple wtf losses and 17-19 wins is a good range I think.