WH: Observations on the Niners

WH posted this on the A-10 board in a thread about the Charlotte-Hofstra game…

A few observations on Charlotte:

Phil Jones has nice size and athleticism, but he lacks explosiveness or polish down low. He needs to work hard with an athletic trainer. If he lost a bit of weight and added more strength, he’d be much more explosive. At the same time, he has to work on post moves. He likes to back his man down and spin to the baseline, but never makes a fake and gets more shots than he should blocked.

Goldwire is (still) a classic shoot-em-in or shoot-em-out type of guard. Being a senior, I’d expect more shot discipline out of him. This is Lutz’s fault. He always seems to have one or two shooters without a conscience. The coach has to play Wizard of Oz and give his guys a conscience. Sit them down after a terrible shot (or pass).

Ian Andersen is a good shooter, but he’s quickly learning bad habits. It really is not a crime to get your feet set or to pass up your first chance at a shot when it’s early in the shot clock. His defense isn’t terrible, but it’s not good, either.

Charlie Coley is not particularly skilled on offense. He takes some wild looking shots close to the basket. Surprisingly, more than you would expect go in.

Lamont Mack is not a super athlete and he likes to hang around outside. Not sure he should be behind the 3-point line as much as he is.

Charles Dewhurst should avoid treys for now and focus on everything else.

An’Juan Wilderness is a good player, but his offense needs plenty of work. He’s not exactly suited to a slower game and lacks the size to be a scoring force down low. Garbage baskets on offensive boards is one of his meal tickets.

Frosh bigman Gabe Ngoundjo treats the ball like a leper when he’s in the post. He doesn’t even look at the basket. If it were up to me, I would have redshirted this kid. He’s athletic and has good defensive potential, he could have used a year to work on his game and improve his conditioning. Given Lutz’s situation, however, I guess he feels like he needs all the help he can get this year.

Mike Gerrity has the weirdest hairdo in the A-10. Looks like he just rolled out of bed. He’s a crafty dribbler, however, and can get into the paint, which is exactly what Charlotte needs. So far, however, he’s not in sync with his teammates. There’s too many clearouts for him and not as many kickouts as I’d like to see. He’ll need time to find his role and get used to his teammates.

Dijuan Harris has done a great job early on, but he is not good enough to be a topline starter in the A-10. He’s quick, handles the ball pretty well and plays good D. His passing is not as crisp as I would like and he doesn’t pose a big threat offensively. You’d figure a guy with his quickness would be a better penetrator.

Overall, what I see is a team with noticeable shortcomings on offense. That’s why Charlotte really needs to sharpen its defense. It’s the key to winning this season, just as it was before the latest road trip.

Link to thread: Charlotte @ Hofstra

I had just read that over there. WH always does a good job.

WH posted this on the A-10 board in a thread about the Charlotte-Hofstra game...

were these observations made after just watching only 1 game?

Some are dead on…others not so much.

I’ve read so much from WH, but who is he? Does he just scout out the A-10?

where has An’juan been on offense lately? We need to run a few more iso’s for him or maybe post him up inside if a smaller guy is on him. He needs some more touches.

[QUOTE=casstommy;278096]were these observations made after just watching only 1 game?

Some are dead on…others not so much.[/QUOTE]
I believe he has only seen two games this year… Hofstra and Tulsa. Not the best examples, but certainly a crucial problem in our season. I agree that some of his comments are a little off.

[QUOTE=Charlotte2002;278099]I’ve read so much from WH, but who is he? Does he just scout out the A-10?[/QUOTE]
He has followed the A-10 for some time and offers a lot of previews, post views and analysis’ of all 14 teams. He is usually pretty darn good at it too. He is on the A10 board mainly.

[QUOTE=moss2k;278100]where has An’juan been on offense lately? We need to run a few more iso’s for him or maybe post him up inside if a smaller guy is on him. He needs some more touches.[/QUOTE]
We made great use of him with Wake, and Davidson and he has completely disappeared offensively the last two games. Who thinks our guys will take out their losses on G-W this weekend?

Some more on WH from a previous post he made to NNN…

It's true, I used to write about the league and run a (now defunct) A-10 newsletter, and I am a writer by trade, though I cover business and politics, not sports.

BTW, he 's a UMass grad who “bleeds” Minuteman maroon and currently resides and works in the Washington, D.C. area.

for one or two games i’d say he pegged us pretty good. it doesn’t sound like he expects much out us in the near future.

were these observations made after just watching only 1 game?

Some are dead on…others not so much.

That’s pretty much how I felt, yeah.

Some accurate stuff there, but nothing we haven’t discussed here before. Some of the comments make it pretty obvious he hasn’t watched many of our games. For example…

Charles Dewhurst should avoid treys for now and focus on everything else.

Dewhurst only has 1 three point attempt this season.

Mike Gerrity has the weirdest hairdo in the A-10.

^ Right on the money with that one.

I think the accusation that he’s only watched one or two of our games has some merit.

I think he’s all over it.

Coley may be a little better than he thinks. All over Goldwire- shoot you in or shoot you out 2G.

I don’t think he has a lot of respect for Lutz.

Hah! I must have seen the one 3-pointer Dewhurst attempted, and it looked awful.

I have only seen two games, Hofstra and Tulsa, so some of my observations are obviously the result of limited viewing. The Niners are not as bad the two-game road swing demonstrated.

That said, Charlotte evidently is as not as good as it showed during the recent homestand, which some Niner fans might like to think.

I happen to think this is a pretty good team, but it’s young and inexperienced. You really see that on the road. But I still expect a winning record for the year. If Gerrity comes along quickly, perhaps the NIT.

As for Lutz, I am not crazy about the team’s occasional lack of defense or its free-wheeling offense. Thing is, I think I have seen some Lutz teams, particularly a few less talented ones in the old C-USA, play with more patience and deliberation.

Jury is still out, though. I try not to get too high or too low after any one game or even a short stretch of games. It’s a long season. Too early to talk of re-signing Lutz, and too early to lay the groundwork for his firing. Let’s just see what he can do with this team after a full year.