Green Tinted Glasses » Charlotte 49ers

In 2013, we’ll need more contributors

J Felt — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 02:35:06 +0000

It’s official. The Charlotte 49ers will play football in 2013. Gov Bev signed the bill today that gave the go ahead on the student debt fee for the football stadium.

Read that again. The Charlotte 49ers. Football. 2013.

What started with a group of students and alumni in Charlotte grew to this reality today. Fantasy dollars? Not anymore.

Football is coming to the University City, and not just intramurals. Full fledged football, pads and everything.

I’ll be there, I’ve got my FSLs half paid for. Will you? Sign up today.

GTG.net presents – “Why We Hate…” – Fordham

J Felt — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:17:57 +0000

Beginning today, a day you’ll never remember, GreenTintedGlasses.net is launching our brand new all important “off season” series…

“Why We Hate…”

Every Wednesday (or Thursday if we’re lazy) we’ll be bringing you another chapter in the series, starting with the teams of the A14. And since we tend to hate the best teams more (fancy that), we’ll be going in the order they finished conference play in the 2009-2010 season. In all honesty we could be kicking off with “Why We Hate Memories from the 2009-2010 Season”, but who wants to re-live the pain and anguish from the season that ended with six men on the floor? Not us, that’s for sure. That would be like forcing everyone to watch Titanic but deleting out the Propeller Guy scene, and we’re not that evil. With that said, let’s get things started with the team that everyone loves to… be ambivalent about…

“Why We Hate…the Fordham Rams”

School: Fordham University
Mascot: Rams
Founded: 1841
Location: New York City, NY
Colors: Maroon and White
2009-2010 record: 2-26 (0-16 conference)

J Felt: Ah yes, the Rams of Fordham. Look at that record, you read it right, they only won 2 games last season, none of them in conference. As such, I’m finding it hard to hate on them. How can you put down that fan base when they only had two games to celebrate last year? That’s like losing your virginity at age 28, have a dry spell until 34, and then never sealing the deal again, I can only feel sympathy.

You know you suck when your banner is larger than your crowd.

According to Wiki, their motto is Sapientia et Doctrina, which can only mean “be terrible at basketball”. Their gym is so old it originally had actual peach baskets and predates true Canadian independence. Their student section is asked not to jump for fear of game delays due to falling roof debris. I know, I know, it’s a historic place to play, but when your locker rooms likely resemble those from Hoosiers it’s time for an update.

As for the moment in Charlotte vs. Fordham history that could spark the most hatred… it would have to be last season for sure. When their crappy program with one good player almost beat us. And then their coach tried to get in a fight with Shamari Spears. Doesn’t he realize that Spears is made from 90% BadAss and is basically impossible to beat up? (The other 10% is mostly cheeseburgers and pizza, from what I understand)

On the 49erFanatics.com HateMeter, I’m giving them a 3 out of 10. While I tend to dislike almost all basketball programs but our own, I have too much sympathy for their fanbase to hate them anymore.

NLP: I can hate anything. For instance, I hate J Felt for referencing Canadia. Who does that? Only a Canadian.

But on to Fordham. I hate them because they were the game that showed the wheels were starting to come off the Niners season last year. Chris Gaston absolutely destroyed us inside and out, and be it not for the heroics of Derrio Green we would have been their lone victory of conference play.

They’re also a crappy program playing in a crappy gym. Their administration is also craptastic and worthy of my glorious hatred, investing absolutely no resources into their program for decades. You know you’re loathsome when you have to send an open letter to your fan base purporting to still have a pulse and denying the transfer of one of your players (Jio Fontan). I also have plenty of hatred for their attitude towards us when joining the A10 over concerns about the university’s academics. Sorry Rams, the only anvil in the A10(14) are you. Go join the Patriot League and get whooped on by Lehigh instead of pulling the rest of us down. Oh, and EAD.

So on to the 49erfanatics.com HateMeter: 4 These guys suck and I hate them, but we’re talking a daxified level of hatred. They annoy the shiitake mushrooms out of me, but not enough to really bring on the hatred. Like J Felt said, it’s more apathy and a hatred of their failure.

GreenTintedGlasses.net Hate Meter Score: 3.5

Put your votes in the poll and in the comments!

Coaching Update – Pat Kelsey, come on down!

J Felt — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 17:09:00 +0000

Our next head coach?

Jeff Goodman is the man. He was up all on the Charlotte 49ers coaching scoop at the Final Four. Here’s his twitter feed in case you want to follow him: @goodmanonfox

Some highlights about what we know (a.k.a. rumors that could be true):

Our main target was probably Mike Hopkins of Syracuse, but he has withdrawn his name and never interviewed with the Chancellor. There’s a good chance ‘Cuse made his deal a little sweeter about being the next head coach
Pat Kelsey is now reportedly in the driver’s seat and it is his decision to make, there was a rumor that he was visiting campus yesterday, but who knows how reliable comments in Utter’s blog are
Still in the mix: Alan Major of Ohio State, Joe Dooley of Kansas, and Russell Springmann of Texas

Most of us at GTG are hoping for Kelsey at this point. He knows the A14 and he knows this state. It’s a good match.

Plus, he actually wears a tie that matches the color of his team. I swear Bobby was campaigning for that UT gig even into his last season.

Either way, an announcement could be made this week, let’s hope for the best!

100th Post – Full of good news!

J Felt — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 02:57:33 +0000

This is our 100th post. What a momentous occasion. There’s an after party shortly after publication. It’ll be in my living room, call me if you can make it. I hear Traci might show up.

Three big news bits to celebrate this great moment in GTG.net history…

1. Dayton beat Chapel Hill tonight, thank Flying Spaghetti Monster. The last thing we needed in this world was those Tarholes beating the A14′s Winner of the “Most Disappointing 2010 Season” Award in the NIT Finals. How much vomit can the world handle? It would’ve never been able to contain the amount generated by the phrase “National Champions in both the NIT and NCAA!” However, it was the NIT, so most of us don’t care. But, A14 represent! We won one tournament! We’re #66! We’re #66!

2. The rumor mill that was buzzing so much about Mr. Peterson is done. Buzz Peterson (do you know who he roomed with in college?!?!) is NOT going to be our head coach next season. Thank you to Jim Utter, http://gmine.blogspot.com, for this wonderful, wonderful update.

3. We’ve launched our facebook fan page, because social media is the key to any successful business model. Here’s the thing, if we get 400 fans by April 30th, we will send a GTG.net delegate out to interview a GoldDuster. Here’s the link.

Thanks for reading all 100 posts!

Dave Odom, Dave Odom….DAVE ODOM?!

J Felt — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 23:37:51 +0000

Dave Odom, circa 2010.

What are we doing? This was Worry #1 going into this whole ordeal. We would pick up some has been coach that will only cement our place in peoples’ minds as a “second rate program”. The Observer is reporting that Dave Odom is a candidate for the position. Let’s take South Carolina and Wake’s cast off. Please.

Judy, I am going to go ahead and say this just one of your funny jokes. Or maybe it isn’t. But it is, right? Right?

Odom did fairly well in the late 90s, but his time at USC is less than stellar. But you can’t say he doesn’t win in the post season, he has two NIT championships!

Utter says he’ll have more tomorrow. Let’s hope it’s a name that will get us excited.

Coaching Buzz

J Felt — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 16:01:18 +0000

3/4ths of Niner Nation just puked. The rest died.

GreenTintedGlasses.net doesn’t have any “insiders”, in fact, we’re mostly in the dark. It’s fitting, because that’s how our women prefer to spend time with us.

But, that means we have to rely mostly on heresay and other people who are in fact connected on the inside. That being said, here’s what we’ve been hearing/seeing/reading on message boards (if Utter can do it, we can too!)…

Buzz Peterson, current App coach and former UTenn coach, has surfaced as a top contender for the position. Not because he’s a young and energetic guy that can bring life into our program, but because the big money guys in town, possibly J. Harris, are pushing for him. So, he’s got the “Good Ol’ Boys” pushing for him. This would be an incredibly polarizing decision. Yes, it has the potential to bring some big money folks into Halton, but we’d be making a lateral move in terms of coaching, Buzz has only been to one NCAA as a coach, and he’s coached 400 programs in the past 12 months.

A group of our more elder alumni are pushing for Coach K 2.0, a.k.a. Wojorooski (yes, that’s what I’d call him if he came, it’s easier to spell). Not a bad choice if he could be as good as Coach K at actual coaching. Plus, the last Duke guy we brought in was fairly good at injecting life into the program. You might remember him, his name was Mullins. Either way, we can’t confirm that he’s even interested in the job. Actually we can’t confirm anything.

Another rumor is that Brad Brownell of Wright State and UNCG experience, has expressed in the position. Personally, I think this is full of win. He’s done a good job at Wright State and Charlotte is a step up, giving him more resources to really succeed. But rumor has it that Auburn’s going after him. I doubt we can compete with BCS money.

Other rumors? Well, we’ve heard that there is greater interest in the position than one would expect. Lots of viable candidates. Dalonte is out. So is Moxley.

If you want to become our “unnamed source” just send us an email at greentintedglassesblog@gmail.com. For real, we’ll leave you unnamed.

Post-shock Discussion – Lutz, the future, and NLP as John Mayer

J Felt — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 03:08:59 +0000

After Lutz was released on Monday form his position as Head Coach of our beloved Charlotte 49ers, the contributors of GreenTintedGlasses.net was too shocked to share our thoughts. In all honesty, we knew Judy and Phil weren’t happy about the way the season ended, but 19 wins is an improvement over 11, and it looked like our team was set up for a good ’10-’11 season. Plus, word was the program was strapped for cash and couldn’t afford to pay the final 4 years of Lutz’ contract in addition to a new coach’s salary.

That said, NLP and I managed to come together through the magical power of GMail and share our thoughts, so here it goes…

NLP: We’re gonna have a new coach. How do you feel about it? Personally while I wish it would have worked out for Bobby,

gonna miss that 'stache

it’s pretty obvious I was ready for a change. That doesn’t mean I don’t like Bobby -it’s certainly not personal, but the formula was broken. Mostly I’m surprised Judy and Phil had the stones to pull the trigger after the passive-aggressive episode that went down after the Wabash Experiment.

J Felt: I really wanted Bobby to be able to stay here and build our program to be something special. Kind of like Beamer at Virginia Tech, it took him awhile, but now they’re nationally relevant every season. Unfortunately, the landscape of college basketball is different and things had really gone stale in the past half decade. I’m still torn about this decision, because I’m partially on the side of “college athletics is out of control” people. Bobby’s teams were usually competitive, finishing above .500, the players loved him, he graduated a great percentage of them, and for the most part we stayed out of trouble as a program. It all came down to winning in the end, despite popular culture stipulating that “it’s not about winning, it’s about how you play the game.” But even if that’s the case, playing the game with 6 guys on the floor is not going to save your career.

N: True, but Bobby did want the UT job. Very much so. It’s a two-way street in that regard. Hopefully people can look past the 6 guys play and say “He went out 19-12, that’s not bad.” I don’t want to be bitter. I’m actually past that now. I can focus on the good times and let go of the rough times. I mean, he is one of us. Always was, always will be.

Here’s something that’s gonna bother people but I want to know how you feel: If our next coach gets us back to the tournament, he’s more likely or not gonna move on to a Big 6 conference. How do you fell about knowing our next coach anticipates using use as a ‘stepping stone’ to bigger and (in theory) better?

J: Nothing is wrong with being a stepping stone. Not at all. Xavier has been a stepping stone, and they’re quite fine. If a coach wants to use our program as a stepping stone, he’ll have to come in and WIN some games, something we all want. Very few schools are safe from losing top coaches, even Kansas lost Roy Williams when Chapel Hill called for help. While it would stink to have our awesome new coach (who he ends up being) leave after a deep run in the NCAAs, would we really be pissed? He did get us back to the tournament.

...better than tofu

What we should fear is a coach that continues the current trend of our stale bread program, one that does “just enough” to prevent being fired but not get major interest from Big 6 programs. Then we’re left with the awkward decision to fire a coach that once again, isn’t doing a TERRIBLE job, but just isn’t excelling. It’s like being forced to eat grilled chicken prepared the same way every night, it’s not bad, you could be having tofu cakes, but what if you could get prime rib instead?

N: Good analogy. It’s just too bad there’s not a Fran Dunphy out there locally so we can just call up a school and say “I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE.” That’d be fun to do to a Gardner-Webb.

I really don’t want to guess names of potential HCs but are there any particular attributes that scream either “DO WANT!” or “DO NOT WANT!” ? For me, I want to avoid re-treads. I do want youth and ambition. I want the coach that wants to take us deep and move on unless suddenly the money turns fabulous.

I can’t help though to notice what Tom Penders has done at Houston. Full turnaround. Definitely lived up this his billing as Turnaround Tom. But with the re-treads the risk is like you described earlier. Year-after-year of grilled chicken.

J: I mean, not that there’s anything wrong with grilled chicken. It’s a good staple to any man’s diet, but it doesn’t make for a good coach. As for the list of coaches that has been speculated on? I don’t want anyone that has been unceremoniously fired and or involved with a scandal. We don’t need to become “that” program. The one name really splitting the ranks is Dalonte Hill, of Michael Beasley fame. He’s apparently interested in the position, and now everyone is really torn up about it. Do we hire the guy that basically led to the Carlos Williams season?

N: No, because of the manner in which he burned his bridge (the voice mail resignation). I just don’t see how Judy and Phil can let that slide. Plus he’s got a pair of DUIs. I’m not saying he’s a bad person, but it’s probably enough to keep him from THIS particular position. Beyond that, I don’t even know if he’s qualified from a coaching standpoint. All I’ve ever known him as is a recruiter. He is the Associate HC at KSU, but that was more a ceremoniously title given to retain him after Huggins left, but I just don’t know how much he’s developed as a coach.

Really I’m not too worried about the process. It’s Judy Rose’s job to keep up on the potential candidates and to hire one, not mine. She’s done a good job with hires historically, whether people want to admit it or not.

One thing I will say though which I’m kind of disappointed in is the statement regarding transfers. I don’t think it’s right to compel a player to complete a season with the new coach before transferring. That might be to stem inquiries from other programs (it’s not allowed, but you know it happens) or keep the player from bolting before even meeting the new coach. I hope it is. I just don’t want to see us go down the road Fordham did with Jio Fontan. It’s simply wrong, especially given there wasn’t even a coaching change in his case.

NLP's future if J Felt doesn't intervene

J: Don’t fret too much about the no transfer clause. It is probably in place to prevent a mass exodus of players before they even meet their new coach. Think about it this way. Your wife leaves you because you spend too much time on a stupid message board and seem to be more emotionally invested in college basketball than your relationship. Your first instinct, of course, is to call up some past fling or floozy and try and mend your sorry excuse for a broken heart.

Enter J Felt. I let you know that I’m going to find you a girl, but you have to sit still and wait it out first. While you’ll probably feel like I’m preventing you from your true destiny as John Mayer 2.0, I’m making sure stupid decisions aren’t made. Chances are, I’ll bring you AlphaDuster and you’ll be glad you stuck around.

In basketball terms, this is just preventing the team from running towards the coaches they almost committed to. I’d be willing to bet that if a player wants to leave after we get a new coach, the new coach will encourage the AD to let him go. We’re not Fordham, and I really don’t think we’re going to be.

(NLP paused here to recollect his thoughts after being called John Mayer 2.0, he continues…)

N: Any thoughts on if we’ll ultimately lose any players to transfer once SEKRET NEW COACH is selected? And how awesome is it that people want to put something together for Lutz at Wild Wing Cafe? We have some amazing fellow fans.

J: I do think we’ll lose one but manage to retain the two major young talents: Braswell and Green. I worry about Sirin and K.J., but I wouldn’t be surprised if the new coach loves their work ethic and they end up being major players, and they show lots and lots of potential. Spears will be back by default (already lost a year to transfer), but it will be really interesting to see if the new coach continues to use him as the focal point and how he’ll be utilized. Either way, I’m starting to get excited about this.

I will be attending the Lutz send-off at Wild Wing, so we’ll get some high quality Green Tinted Glasses coverage. I wonder if Lutz will be open enough to share some inside information. Chances are we don’t want to know half the stuff anyway. I will really miss Lutz and his passion for the program is a big reason I’m as much of a fan as I am. He could also have been announced as the head coach at ECU by that point, so things could be really interesting.

NLP, bring us home. We have no coach and our program has been sliding for awhile. In 3 years from now, where do we stand? Are we competing for an At-Large? Is our program relavant? Be realistic, but we won’t be mad about green tinted predictions.

N: Judy has her detractors. I’m not one of them. She has a unique ability to find quality coaches and get them in place. In the case of women’s basketball, she’s found 3 excellent ones consecutively since Ed Baldwin was replaced.

That means I’m settings us up for being a tournament team again. It could be as soon as next year so long as we retain key players. I’m also worried about Briscoe but mostly because I don’t know how the NCAA treats walk-ons who have transferred. Technically he hasn’t played for us, hasn’t been on scholarship, so since he’s a walk-on, is he effectively free to go where he pleases after this year? I just don’t know. If any of our astute readers care to clear it up, please do so in the

Us Niners can relate to Jesse Spano right now

comments.

But three years is enough time for the new coach to have established players in place that fit his vision for the team. He even gets to come in immediately with three open scholarships to fill with players. That comes in handy, especially since there will be other coaching changes and the associated de-commitments, not to mention transfers.

I’m excited. I’ll miss Lutz as a person and I’ll admire his legacy, but this is the right time for change.

We secretly replaced this post game with an Gmail exchange. Let’s see if anyone notices.

NLP — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 05:38:47 +0000

Yeah so J Felt and I were too depressed to post game. Writing about the team you love losing is painful. We leave it to the people who get paid by the period to do the post mortem some times so we can spend a few hours days in the fetal position. So today we started exchanging emails while I was repairing the grammar on my surgical fellow’s abstract and voila!

Here goes nothing.

NLP says: Alright J Felt, I’m going to need to be talked down from the ledge. Team US lost on a heart-breaking goal in OT by frigging Frenchy-wannabe Sidney Crosby and more importantly, the Niners were completely beat up by George Washington -this time with no last minute heroics by the back court.

We’ve started conference play 8-1 and now there’s strong reason to believe we could finish 1-6. WTF?

J Felt gets italics today.

In my high school band geek days we referred to “WTF” as “What To Fix” and I think that is especially appropriate here. We have a lot of things that need fixing, especially since it seems that all the coaches in the A14 are sharing notes on how to beat us, Martelli just ignored the email. Its almost painful to watch, the entire squad is playing extremely tight and over thinking everything. This is also known as “choking”, and it’s easy to see on their faces. The guys are so concerned about not making mistakes that they’re making a ton of mistakes. I don’t buy the excuse that ”we can’t beat physical ball teams”, we should be compensating for it and figuring out how to win. We’re not. Who do we blame? Can we blame anyone?

As for the hockey, you seem to forget that I’m a dual citizen and I am therefore legally allowed to change my rooting interests on a whim. However, I was rooting for the USA all the way, especially since they were playing the style of hockey I love to watch. Fast paced and out-hustling their opponents. Canada should send a “Thank You” card to the US for that 5-3 beatdown earlier on, because it really turned Team Canada around, made them realize they can’t just phone it in and expect to win. The USA played 100% the entire time, and got better as the Olympics went on, which was great as well, Canada was just too good in the end.

That being said, I hate Sidney Crosby, I wouldn’t have been upset if Eric Staal had scored the winning goal, but Crosby? That’s worse than Celine Dion covering Nickelback.

Wow, you made the impossible possible. You made Nickelback even worse. That’s suffering, folks.
Best commercial of the Olympics. Much better than that awful GE Healthcare one that played over and over.

NLP says: I kind of figure I could count on you for some Crosby hating since you aren’t a Quebecois. I know this because I haven’t stabbed you in the back repeatedly yet. I guess I’ll have to shelve the “54 40 or fight” rhetoric and just focus my rage on Quebec. Je me souviens? Yeah you’ll remember when I’m going Jeff Gillooly on your knee, Sidney.

Otherwise it was a good Olympics.

But it wasn’t such a good performance Saturday by the basketball team. That final score was no indication of how much a whooping it was. 39 trips to the foul line by GW. That’s jaw-dropping for me when all season long we were a team that made more FTs than our opponents even attempted.

The biggest problem incidently wasn’t turnovers or the GW defense as much as it was on the defensive end. Our interior players got abused early on and the infection of futility spread to the back court. Probably the biggest difference in the game was Shamari and Braswell going to the bench early, and practically everyone being in foul trouble by early in the 2nd half. As bad as I thought out defense was, it was obviously worse when you consider we had to play a little looser to keep from fouling. That means layup drill and offensive rebounds galore for GW.

The larger question, which you alluded to, is how we did we get to that point?

Unfortunately our problems start in the backcourt with DiJuan and Derrio. Though DiJuan is doing a decent job, he’s struggling with traps mightily. Derrio is also turning the ball over in really painful situations, like between the circles and on fast breaks. He’s really good with the ball in the halfcourt once we’re set, and he’s good when he sees the defense, but he seems to loose too many balls when there’s a defender around him. I guess it’s the court awareness and transition to DI where you have to account for everyone, not JUCO where the defense gives up once you start the break.

I’m really getting worried about Wednesday. Despite losing to X, I see Richmond drilling us. Mooney is no fool and he’s gonna know the scouting report. They probably feel like they owe us a beating. We HAVE to solve our problems dealing with physical teams NOW.

J Felt says: It was a good Olympics, and I pretty much just hate Crosby because he looks like a bitch but he’s still pretty good, and he plays for the Penguins. After the thrashing they laid down on the Canes in the playoffs I have some serious disdain.

No more MASN!!!

As for the game, I don’t even remember most of the 2nd half. 10 minutes into the game I asked our waitress for another pitcher of Yuengling. Already then I knew the MASN curse was kicking in. I really hate that channel, and I probably let you know that. Its as if our team notices that we’re on MASN and forgets how to play basketball. I know I said we broke the curse with the Fordham game, but does a single digit win over Fordham really count as a WIN? That’s like taking home your grandmother’s bingo partner, you’re actually losing.

“Judy Rose’s office, how can I help you?.” … “Oh, it’s MASN? One moment please.” (call immediately transferred to angry chair-slamming guy who sits in 217)

NLP says:

I also heard they were douches to Matt and cut his feed off. Something to that effect. I would tell you first-hand but with his speech rate the words still haven’t hit my ears. He’s got good announciation though and that goes a long way.

Yeah I’m going to have to agree. We need a self-imposed ban from MASN before someone gets hurt. And I’m talking a lot more than the bruised egos the Niners and us fans are currently sporting.

Remember when everyone agreed that Shamarr leaving the team was a good thing for us. Do you still feel that way? I’m not going to tip my hand on how I feel, so ha ha! You’re on your own.

J Felt says: No, it’s never a good thing when someone leaves the team, whatever reason it is. While I wasn’t suprised in the least to see him go, I still think we could have been better with him here. Derrio did blossom for a few games after Shamarr left, but he’s fallen off as late. You can blame that on being tired, but there’s another aspect that is going unnoticed. Competition. No offense to Ian, but he is never going to contend with Derrio for that two guard spot, and maybe this long slump is because of complatency. He’d never admit it of course, he probably does work his ass off in practice, but there’s no one trying to take his starting job.

I think people forget how important practice is. If there’s no one near your calibre challenging you in practice, you’ll never improve. Just look at Phil Jones’ improvement ever since he’s had to battle K.J., Shamari, and Braswell at practice. If Green is only having to play against Ian in practice, no wonder he’s struggling in games. And yes, we’re talking about PRACTICE.

Maybe Ian is the new Butter when it comes to killing it in practice?
One of the most memorable interviews I've ever seen.

NLP says:

Not a game? Not a game? But Practice? Practice?

I’d take AI right now on this team, even with the neck tattoos (always popular since the Curtis Nash experiment) and broken down body too.

I agree I wouldn’t want to take Shamarr back, but the question was whether we’re still a better team without him, not would we take him back. You did answer that though by saying you thought we could be better with him here. I agree there too. Not only is it addtional competition, but it’s also additional options. Obviously we have a collection of streaky shooters. That’s a challenge, but less of one with more options. Of course there’s a caveat with more options, and that’s less playing time to go around, and as this season showed we fell victim to its consequences -Shamarr leaving. Pity, he could have really fit in well if he bought into the team concept.

Derrio kind of reminds me of Neo on his first visit to the Oracle in The Matrix.

And I have to go on an aside here. The Matrix was the only one they should have made. Reloaded and Revolutions were awful, especially the latter. If you’re the machines, how can you accept that deal? Yeah Smith is wreaking havoc inside the build, but the deal with the humans is untenable. It cuts off their sole form of energy, since the sun is out of the picture. Unless they have some sort of cold fusion energy production scheme worked out, I don’t know how it works.

Anyway, in the visit the Oracle tells Neo he’s waiting on something, and that no one call tell you you’re The One, it’s something you realize. I kind of think that about Derrio and when I recall Utter writing about him talking with his father about his game, it kind of reinforces that. I think Derrio has it in him to be a Me-guard (credit to Powerbait for introducing me to that) unlike any that Lutz has had, unlike any the program has had since H Will. Sorry Jobey fans, I just see Derrio being a more dynamic triple threat (dribble, pass, shoot) threat than Jobey even though Thomas’ mid-range game was awesome by the time he graduated.

That said, I hope Derrio’s confidence isn’t waning. He’s got to believe in himself. I think the fans absolutely do, we’ve seen him do just jaw-dropping things (like the comeback against Fordham). I think his teammates do too, otherwise they wouldn’t look for him on offense. I also think defenses would fear him too if he could get the turnovers under control. How do you guard a kid who’s athletic enough to either blow by you or hit his shot no matter how closely he’s guarded?

Hang in there Derrio. I seriously believe in you. I think we’re an absolute long-shot to win the A10 tournament (which in my opinion is our only way now), but if we were it’d be on your back.

The Phil Jones does remain a good example of competition improving a player, despite my differing view on the source of Derrio’s struggles. Unfortunately he’s the most polarizing guy on the team. People either love what he brings off the bench or he’s labelled as soft and unaggresive. Personally I think he’s physically limited in his explosiveness, but has the size to make up for it; however, deep down I see him as a SF in a C’s body.

J Felt says: Here’s the thing about The Matrix: it’s a double decker matrix. See, the people in Zion are in the deeper layer of the Matrix, how else would Neo have power in the “real” world? He’s obviously been removed from the Matrix but has only ended up in the 2nd Matrix. Following me? So everyone in Zion thinks they are “free” but they are, in fact, still just batteries. A little depressing. They should have stopped after the first film, we can agree on that

You gotta check your mirrors, just the side of your eye.

I can’t believe you segwayed from The Matrix and Neo into Derrio becoming a star. Did you pull out a white board and brain storm possible movie choices that could be used to describe Derrio? What movie do you think appropriately symbolizes our season?

NLP says: Oooh. Good point. I forgot about Neo’s real world powers too. I’ve ranted about those too. Your theory is plausible. That’d solve the machine energy conundrum.

What movie summarizes our season? Unfortunately Groundhog Day. We’re at the point where Phil Connors keeps getting turned down by Rita every way imaginable. It’s like all the creative ways we can blow a season. PLEASE LET IT END. WHAT RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS AND CHARITY MUST I PERFORM? WHAT CATHARTIC MOMENT MUST I EXPERIENCE? I’m going go step in front of a truck/electrocute myself/jump off a building/drive off a cliff with a groundhog at the wheel.

Weekly Discussion #1 – Saint Joseph’s, Next Year, and Golddusters

J Felt — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:32:56 +0000

So we’re trying this new thing. Adding a new dimension to our blog.

Pictures of hot chicks.

Not really, we’re just adding a weekly conversation about the state of Niner basketball between J Felt (me) and NLP. We’re both completely untalented and unfunny by ourselves, but together we form a mildly humorous duo capable of making you smirk once or twice. This one was started right after the Saint Joseph’s game. Read on…

J Felt (I’m in italics because I’m artsy): Well, who saw that coming? With the way we’ve been struggling, the thought of us beating a team down like that, in conference play no less, was far fetched. Saint Joe’s looked like us last year: bad at everything. They walked into a buzzsaw, and after 5 minutes into the game it was never in doubt. The Hawks forgot how to play basketball on the same day our team remembered. What does this victory tell you about our team heading into the last few games of the season?

Ian Andersen is fired up!!!

NLP (in regular, because he’s a straightfoward guy): It tells me that we need to play the Hawks more often. I don’t know how much of it was execution on our part or ineptitude on their part, but I’ll take the result either way. Take Ian and Gokhan for instance: 30 points between them. Basically they were hitting the shots they’ve been missing as both have been able to get open looks during their respective scoring droughts (Ian’s lasting all season up until last night). Really how often do you have someone as a Sr. who isn’t injured burst for 19 points when he’s been below the double-digit line all season? Rare.

We’ll find out if we’re back this weekend when we take on the Foggy Bottom Colonials. The team that lost three straight will lose that game by double digits. The team we saw last night would win by double digits. I don’t think we’ll see anything in between. It’s going to be either one extreme or the other.

J: That GW game has worried me all season. They really are starting to develop as a rival, and Lutz even mentioned in the postgame, “they REALLY don’t like us.” So you know the Colonials will be fired up for the game, and it’s on MASN. We never win on that channel, unless you count barely beating Fordham as a win…

Speaking of Ian Andersen, where does his layup on the break rank amongst your “Most Awkward Fast Breaks” list? To me, it’s got to go pretty high, right up there with E.J. Drayton getting called for a palming violation against Miss St. a few years ago. I wonder what was going through Ian’s head, if his first intention was to bring down a tomahawk slam but got distracted by thinking about whether or not he should blow a kiss to his wife after a slam dunk.

N: I’m on Orbitz right now looking for flight and hotel packages (I’d take the bus up but NQH has never seen DC and we might head up tomorrow night and come back Sunday. Point? I’m trying to guarantee a loss. Although we’re undefeated at the Smith Center with me in attendence… granted my last appearance was in 2002 when we still had Jobey, Cam, Eddie, and the Curtis Nash experiment hadn’t yet begun.

Ian’s layup? I think he achieved the minimum elevation possible while still leaving the ground… maybe 1 or 2 micrometers, which is funny because he can actually dunk fairly easily. In warmups. Important distinction. Yesterday’s game is proof that the basketball gods are willing to relent at least for one game. Bask in the glory Ian, there’s no knowing how long it will last!

Free the Golddusters!

J: Back to the really important issues. Which Goldduster is #1? Short haired brunette, or GingerDuster? There are serious arguments being made on both sides, but I think some people are neglecting the blondes. I would be worried about asking this question because it might offend some women, but we already know women don’t read our blog.

N: Look, they’re both gahgeous. It just comes down to preference. Most people will probably gravitate towards Ginger for the novelty factor and you can’t fault that.
Personally? Short-haired brunette wins the NLP Goldduster award. Both can feel free to schedule a competition with GTG as judges to determine the ultimate winner.

J: Its too bad our athletic department doesn’t have a page dedicated to them where we can bios and Judy Rose-approved headshots. They’d probably all list UNC-CH as their favorite college basketball team anyway. However, Short-Haired Brunetter Duster is probably leading the vote right now, You’re right, the only way to settle it is a GreenTintedGlasses.net Goldduster competition, which I’m sure Judy Rose would be more than happy to allow.

Back to basketball. There was a noticeable difference in the demeanor of our team last night. They were smiling and enjoying basketball. Even during the 7 game win streak, our team didn’t exactly look excited to be playing basketball until the end of the games, but last night they were a different team before tip off. I guess winning does that to you. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out for the rest of the season. Do guys like Gokhan and Ian see more of a role? Will Derrio come out of his “slump”?

N: Do we really have to go back to basketball? I guess I don’t want Judy Rose sticking a shank in my neck at the Richmond game.

Yeah the team looked like it had fun out there, which is the big idea. Win and enjoy doing it. We absolutely need more of that. As for roles, I’m scared Bobby might overuse Ian after his ‘breakout’. He’s still awful on defense and just doesn’t have the speed and overall athleticism to do anything more than come off screens. If he’s on though, give it a whirl but watch that +/-.

I do want more Sirin, I’ll admit it, I’m enamored with his game but he’s still a work in progress and needs to be more aware on defense, work on his dribbling as you mentioned when we were gtalking it up, and get stronger. Most of those things will come in the off-season. The SF position will be interesting. Dewhurst just doesn’t provide much on offense, but he’s a great glue guy who can get offensive rebounds and tends to get fouled if and when he shoots. But I really like the way Wilderness is playing. It’s just unfortunate he’s never really developed that consistent jumper that teams have to respect. Still, he’s amazing around the rim. Easily our best finisher. The question is whether teams will let him get there.

As for Derrio, he’ll be fine. He just needs to re-iterate that shooters mentality and have the short memory whenever he makes a mistake. That doesn’t mean force up shots, that just means always believe a good shot will go in.

J: You know Judy has all that hair for a reason. She keeps a collection of weapons in there for people like you.

Sirin has an amazing shot, and fairly good basketball IQ, but call me when he can play defense, adds some muscle, and can dribble the ball out of double teams. If he can do at least one of those things, I say give him plenty more playing time, but in the meantime I like his “Sean Phaler + Skill” role right now. And Wilderness, man, what a beast. In my mind I’m picturing a Basden-esque senior year for Wilderness. Remember how much more dangerous Eddie was when he sort of developed a jumper? If Wilderness can do that and stay healthy, watch out, we could be really good next year.

I hate saying that with so much of the season left, but that’s really the biggest thing I’m getting from this season: we could be REALLY good next year. I’m already excited and this one’s not even over yet.

Obligatory

N: We’re the kings of next year. For once, I’d like to be the king of this year. This team could do it -the ability is there, but can they seize it? That I don’t know. I’m personally of the belief that unless we run the remaining 3 regular season games, we have to win the A10 title to make the NCAA tournament. In the event we do run the table, I think we still have to make the A10 finals, or at least beat an RPI top 40 team like Dayton who had to play their way to AC by winning a first round game.

I’m excited too, but unlike the Pointer Sisters I’m still kind of hiding it.

J: I refuse to mention anything about the big post season event that happens following the conference tourney. No point getting our hopes up, because I hate to be disappointed. I will say this, we still have a chance because there are a TON of bubble teams that could easily drop off and let us in. We still have work to do.

Last topic for your discussion (I sense our reader is bored), what do you think matters the most heading into these last three games?

N: Our reader? We have just one now? :’(

Going into the last three games the difference is going to be defense. We need to get better at it and play the kind of defense we did against Richmond. We’ve been good at getting open shots this season, but they don’t always fall. We’ve been good at getting Shamari the ball down low, but he doesn’t always get the call when he’s fouled. But none of that should impact how hard we go at it on defense. There’s no better way to keep a game close when shots aren’t falling than going all out on defense.

After that, it’s taking care of the ball. We’re still turnover prone between the circles, and that’s the worst play to turn it over. It’s an almost guaranteed layup/dunk/foul because of the numbers.

Saint Joseph’s assume position, ask for another

J Felt — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:54:32 +0000

The Hawks put up the white flag with 10 minutes left in the 1st

It’s nice to see someone else in conference pull a Kevin Bacon. Last night the Niners obliterated the Hawks to the tune of 95-58. That’s 37 points, in case you’re an English major. Protip: if Ian Andersen is in the game, it be would be wise to guard him, he’s out there to shoot the ball, that’s it.

Lutz stated in the postgame that the team was starting to get down on itself and wasn’t having any fun, so the assistant coaches put together a highlight reel of the season to get them in a good mood again. Whether or not said video included videos of the best GoldDuster moments, it worked. The team came out tonight and dominated every aspect of the game, including rebounding (43 to 35) and defense (8 steals). Hell, we even dominated in the rare statistic of “white guy makes awkward layup”, a stat we almost always lose. You could see the proverbial weight being lifted off our shoulders when the game got off to a good start, and we never took our foot off the throttle. Saint Joe’s? They stopped fighting with 30 minutes left in the game.

Other than Ian Andersen, the biggest surprise of the night was An’Juan Wilderness. Doing his best Eddie Basden impersonation, Wilderness ended with 10 points, 4 rebounds and 3 steals, including two high flying dunks. It’s nice to see him coming back to form, and if he can continue to hit a jumper once or twice a game and stay healthy, he could be a big key component heading down the stretch.

Of course, we should note the play of DiJuan Harris. He stopped being Mitchell Baldwin and went back to being the warrior we’ve come to respect so much, driving the lane and making plays happen. If anyone can change the face of this team in a hurry, it’s him. We go as DiJuan goes, and hopefully he wants to continue to win.

All in all last night was a fantastic effort all around, time for some short observations. Look for the first ever edition of “Post Game Mine-Side Chats with NLP and J Felt” shortly. We’re still working on a name…

Chris Braswell seems to have come out of his funk and is playing well, just wait until ALL those layups go in next year
K.J. Sherrill is going to be awesome for us
Derrio Green still drew heavy defensive pressure despite only scoring 5 points
Gokhan Sirin, or “Goky” to some, is really good, every shot looks PERFECT
Trevin Parks needs more PT opportunities, he reminds me of DiJuan
Shamari Spears is a work horse, and the team hitting shots made his job 10X easier
Phil Jones hit his trademark jumper again, defensives are going to have to respect him more
Dewhurst, SHOOT THE BALL, we know you can