[b][b]7.[/b] NCAA tournament trips by Charlotte as a Conference USA member. This is the last year for the 49ers before moving to the Atlantic 10. Senior forward Eddie Basden will leave as C-USA's player of the year and defensive player of the year. He'd also like to deliver the 49ers past the second round for the first time since 1977.[/b]
Also this from DeCourcy’s “Daily Dish”:
[b]Virginia will have no shortage of appealing candidates, including Notre Dame's Mike Brey and Marquette's Tom Crean. It might not be a breeze to win at Tennessee, but it's choice should be much simpler. UT can correct the mistake it made four years ago. [b]Charlotte hasn't gone away during those four seasons since the Vols whiffed on that hire. Neither has Lutz.[/b][/b]
not to thread jack, but since he was mentioned in the coaching gossip here, is it just me, or is Crean overrated? what did he do once Wade left? His team has looked awful w/o travis playing.
It’s true that Crean has certainly produced a couple of disappointing years following the Final Four run in 2003. The first thing that really hurt was the defection of Oldartey Blankson to UNLV.
He was first team All-Mountain West the past two seasons. If he had remained at Marquette, then the Crean & Co. would have been dancing in 2004.
As for this season, Diener’s problems plus the “disappearance” of Steve Novak took their toll. Crean’s got a pretty decent group of freshman coming in next year. I suspect they had better produce or it’s going to be a long inaugural season in the Big East for MU.