Ditto on playing App State in hoops. Another broken record moment, but the very first Niners game I attended was in the Mine Shaft vs an App squad coached by Press Maravich. Even though past the glory days at NC State and LSU, Pistol Peteās old man was still fiery as ever and got himself tossed that evening!
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Thats true - but if that happens it just puts more pressure on us to fix our crap.
We have played 3 times. They beat us handily once - just once. We made it a game at app in 19 and had a legit shot at winning and honestly that 2020 COVID game isnāt one that i think either fan base reflects on - but it was close as well.
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Also the first reg season game in Halton!
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Been saying for years that we should work closely with App and ECU.
Seems a lot of people on here disagree and think we are above them.
As a group we are much stronger together as the landscape continues to change moving forward.
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After Duke chickened out. Always remember that.
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The biggest problem with working with App besides their lack of basketball history is their financial commitment. It isnāt on the same level as ours or ECUs, and what they do have, they throw entirely at football.
If they want to change their financial commitment levels to be more like ours, they become more viable as an in state partner to counter the ACC/SEC death grip.
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They do - but if we are playing similar basketball schools we might as well play them.
And while their basketball history sucks - ours is so far in the past at this point it might as well too.
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Agree NA on the budget, but the general perception is that APP is a better athletic program than Charlotte. Football drives the bus.
I personally experience this feedback way to often.
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Not going to argue the point, but will split hairs a bit - it really depends on what kind of fan you run into. If they are basketball first fans (which we have plenty of in this state), we tend to get the nod, in my experience.
Our closest games have been losses by more than two touchdowns. Iām not really trying to argue with you, I think objectively, no one outside the program believes we have come close to competing with App so far. I also saw a game we had a chance to win, but the final doesnāt really reflect that.
Weāve been terrible at basketball for two decades. If we hadnāt, the perception might be different but no one thinks Charlotte has good athletics because we made the NCAA tourney 20 years ago. Thatās ancient history.
There is a difference between selling Charlotte to a current sophomore student being enticed by a bigger school but where at the end of the day undergrad education is probably pretty similar to ours and a coach or AD in the midst of their career and compensation and access. One is just a different college experience, the other is a defined pecking order of career growth and achievement, pay and possibilities and talent management. We are in a different world than the top schools.
You are right though there are tiers - a lot of that connected to conference affiliation and budgets. ECU/App/Us are all around the same. Losing talent or coaches to either of those schools would absolutely infuriate me because we are all on a similar tier. But the B10 and the SEC? Absolutely different tier and if one of our coaches get a chance to go there - I wont like it but I sure as hell canāt argue against it.
Iād also say if Indiana fans or Maryland fans are honest with themselves they know Ohio St and Michigan and now Oregon are a step above them. They might not want to admit it, but they know.
Iāll tell you the game at App in 19 - those fans walked out there knowing they barely got by. At the time the 20 game wasnt on the schedule and most of them said they were happy we werent playing again soon. The crowd there was nervous. Their crowd might not admit it publicly, but they know.
If we ran a better program we could easily be a tier above App. The American absolutely will have a team in the CFP at some point, probably soon. Not nearly as likely for the Sunbelt. We just donāt compete with our conference peers. Havenāt ever in football and havenāt in basketball for decades.
That may be the case. Iād be happy to concede that point, I donāt know, I wasnāt there. My point was, and remains about public perception of App versus Charlotte. And one single game being close at some point, doesnāt change that to a casual observer.
On a whole yeah we should be above App, but the way they basically put all their eggs in the football basket and the entire league does that - the sunbelt is going to stay close to the AAC in football, especially if the new TV deal post B12 departures comes down close to theirs.
Their budget is closer to ours than ours is to Memphis.
Being a fan on here means the same arguments every year.
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App is ahead of us in athletics. I donāt care how much money is in the athletic budget. They win in football and are a bigger national brand than the Niners. They also made the NCAA basketball tournament more recently than Charlotte.
I regularly hate watch App games but the truth is reality.
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Well we have only played three times and 1 was during covid. The perception they are way better than us has more to do with the fact that their program has achieved a lot and ours has achieved little than anything to do with head to head games. Even if we beat them next year at BOA that narrative wonāt change at all, unless we also beat Chapel Hill at home. Now go beat UGA in Athens? That is a Michigan like win that App and that becomes a game we shift the public perception on us.
Itās the same reason why even though we have beaten ECU twice in a row the perception is still we are behind them as a program because they just have won more.
Simple solution is just to win more and do it regularly. Having a coach will help with that LOL
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Chris Reynolds on one side of the ball and Alex Highsmith on the other!!
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