Now we all know every Niner fan faces east 5 times a day to praise Lebo, but tomorrow the Niners make the pilgrimage to Mecca Greenville to play the ECU Pirates (5 PM, MASN -oh noes!).  This will be the third contest for the Niners against the Pirates since the anointed one, Jeff Lebo, took over the program.  Lebo Almighty has “turned” the Pirates “around”, having guided them to a 15-16 record last season, including purchasing a post-season appearance for the Pirates (1-2 -non-DI games are pathetic and we don’t count them as wins) on Terry Holland’s credit card.  Now, although Lebo is Lord and Savior of the ECU basketball program, the Niners, in their worst season since “Wissel-ball”, managed to split with the Pirates 1-1 last year, including a one point loss.

Lebo looks to guide the Pirates into the afterlif... er, post-season. The Division II post-season.

This season, Lebo’s Apostles are led by Darrius Morrow, the bruising forward Lebo has tapped to spread his message on the basketball court.  Pope Morrow has averaged in double figures in scoring throughout his years and adds some modest rebounding with his 6’8″ 245 lbs frame.  This season Morrow has been hampered by foul troubles in games against real competition, fouling out in the loss against Campbell and picking up four fouls against Crappalachian State and Old Dominion.  Somewhat surprising is his rebounding, which has tailed off a bit this season compared to his first three campaigns, as he is averaging only 4.2 rpg.  One might expect better rebounding numbers for a player who’s seen 3 games already this season where the opponent is little more than a meat shield (Milligan, Coker and Chowan).  Of course mind you the average fan doesn’t realize how difficult it is for ECU to schedule now that they are an elite program and besides, Milligan is a highly-rated NAIA school!

Another focal point for East Carolina is Miguel Paul.  Paul originally played two seasons under Mike Anderson at Missouri before transferring to learn under the tutelage of Lebo Almighty.  That training has clearly paid off as Paul is averaging 16 ppg for the Pirates through 3 games.  What is most impressive is the 24.4% shooting from the field that Paul is putting up.  What equally impresses me is Paul’s ability to get Nash-ty with the ball, dribbling out the shot clock and shooting awful shots.  Just what every team needs in a point guard.  Watching ECU play ODU, we originally thought the other players on the court were just standing around disinterested as Paul essentially ignored them.  Wrong.  Paul was showing them the Gospel under Lebo and they were merely studying his every move.

What else does Lebo Almighty have to throw at the Niners on Saturday?  Well none other than Shamarr “Shamwow” (as he likes to be called) Bowden.  As Niner fans know, Bowden played 15 games for Charlotte in 2009-2010 before bailing on the team quicker than that helicopter pilot bailed on David Thompson when he flew 15 feet between the magnolia tree and the property line.  But he scored 19 points on Louisville!  Yeah, he also was streaky and played lousy defense as evidenced in ECU’s loss to ODU when he committed a turnover and subsequently let his man blow by him causing Darrius Morrow to get a critical fourth foul which sent him to the bench.  That’s the Shamwow we remember most, so no matter how hot he is or isn’t, he’ll always be the French Army on defense.  Hopefully Niner guards remember that and take advantage of it.

Delving into the numbers like Lebo delves into sermon each practice, it might become apparent that ECU is a better shooting team.  Not true.  Again I reference their three games against non-DI opponents (remember how the Niners beat Belmont-Abbey like a drum?).  When you consider only DI opposition, ECU is shooting less than 40% from the field (compared to 41.6% for the Niners), are roughly even in rebounding and commit more fouls than the opposition.  One important caveat though -this will be ECU’s first real game at home.

Bowden gets beat up on defense worse than this guy.

So what do the Niners do to win?  Obviously more than merely show up, since we’ve suffered two losses @ ECU over the years.  What they need to do is obviously take care of the ball, as turnovers particularly at the bookends of games, have been a problem.  Protecting Braswell in the paint will also be important as Darrius Morrow will want to impose his will inside to try to get Braswell in foul trouble.  Aside from that, expect a lot of three point attempts from Paul, Bowden and Paris Roberts-Campbell.  It will also be of critical importance for Derrio Green and Deuce Briscoe not to try to out hero Shamwow, who’s sure to be excited to play his former team.  Bowden could very well get hot but his inability to play any semblance of defense on the other end can be exploited -provided the Niner backcourt keeps its composure.

As you’re reading this you might be thinking “Gee that’s a lot of vitriol for a program that is as important as Our Lady of the Blind in college basketball.” and you’d be right.  ECU is irrelevant.  However, we just don’t like a few of their obnoxious fan(s), so what better than to go down to Greenville and make them walk their own plank.

The Niners have been here before, actually a few weeks ago.  It is time once again to face our in-state brethren.  No, not the mother ship, or even N.C. State, just one of the few in-state schools who will actually play us, East Carolina.  Since we last saw the Pirates, they have gone 3-0 with wins against USC-Upstate (for 7th place in Charleston), Lenoir-Rhyne (a Division II school), and UNC Greensboro (81-53).  So presumably, momentum is in their favor.  Also, Minges Coliseum has not been the kindest place to Niner fans in the past (my memory draws a blank when I try to think of January 29th, 2005…  Moussa who?).  Factor in the thought that Charlotte will once again be playing without Shamari Spears (suspension), Charles Dewhurst (injured), and K.J. Sherrill (injured), and this could be a potential trap for the Niners.  With Spears, the Niners dispatched ECU a few weeks ago by a count of 74-63 in a neutral setting, and now must do the same in hostile territory without the power forward, or his biting words from the “Twitterverse”.

Greenville's #1 Fan... (Space) Pirates... not so much

There will be a familiarity between these two and one is sure the Pirates’ will be out for revenge, have plenty of game tape to go off of, and home-court advantage (and hot distracting Co-Eds) to pull off the victory.  Despite all this, it is not going to happen.  At the end of the day, this is basketball, and we’re talking about ECU.  We cannot lose to them, largely because of family members who attended the university and the abundant text messages that will be received if they win, but also because Greenville is where basketball goes to die (along with just about every other organic body).

Predictions:

McFly: Niners 76, Pirates 70.  That isn’t scurvy, just two losses to the Niners for the Pirates in two weeks

C-Pip: Charlotte 65 East Carolina 60.  Their big man is an absolute scrub and slow, Braswell and Phil will do what needs to be done.

The Legendary HP49er: Cannons fired over ECU’s bow as the Niners take #2 from the Pirates,80-69.

NLP: Niners hit the jackpot in G-vegas, leave with a 73-67 win over the Pirates.

J Felt: Charlotte 71, ECU 59. Braswell continues this new “play with intensity” thing and dominates again, Phil Jones records 7 blocks.

2k: Charlotte 71, ECU 66. StillJonesing? Nope, StillLosing to Charlotte.

49ers

Charlotte travels to Greenville tomorrow for a trio of two’s, the 2nd true road game, the 2nd game versus the East Carolina Pirates, and the 2nd game into Senior Forward Shamari Spears’ indefinite suspension.  With the suspension of Spears and the return of East Carolina’s Senior Guard Brock Young to the starting line-up, this game is not expected to resemble the game in Charleston in many ways except, hopefully, for the Niners walking off the court victors.

In Charlotte’s 74-63 win, all 5 starters for Charlotte scored in double figures, with Phil Jones adding 8 more off the bench.  G-F Jamar Abrams had the duty of guarding Spears, who scored 15 points on 5-11shooting, while big man Darrius Morrow had the challenge of guarding Chris Braswell and Phil Jones with help from Chad Wynn and Darius Morales.  The Pirates 3 big men won the scoring battle 24-19, but lost the rebounding edge to our duo 18-15.  Reserves Wynn and Morales only saw 15 minutes of action and committed 2 fouls apiece and as a team, ECU recorded only 1 block , which came from Guard Corvonn Gaines.  With the way Braswell and Jones dominated inside against Radford(14-15 FG, 34 pts), expect the same strategy from the 49ers tomorrow night. The 49ers have a size and talent advantage inside, and could look to get Morrow, who had 4 fouls in 29 minutes the first game, int0 early foul trouble.  Another strategy Charlotte has available would be having Braswell and Jones on the floor together, which would exploit the severely undersized G-F Abrams, and  could also produce many trips to the free throw line.

Pirates

Nothing should be different in the match-up of guards this time, Deuce and Derrio efficiently combined for 26 points on 21 shots. Both starting guards could have some pressure relieved by the improvement of Gokhan Sirin, who saw 1 minute of playing time in the first game, but exploded for 14 points, shooting 4/7 3-pointers, in Saturdays win against Radford.  His defense and confidence was much improved in that game, although that could be a product of the opponent rather than Gokhan, so we can’t hold our breath for a similar performance in Greenville.  Javarris Barnett is good for 1 or 2 jumpers a game, and 5 or 6 quality rebounds, but shouldn’t have a lot of pressure on him while he is starting in place of Shamari.  An’Juan should be expected to be An’Juan again, scoring by driving to the hoop and off offensive rebounds along with his defensive skill set on the other end of the court.  It is an unknown if Charles Dewhurst will be available, but his presence would only help rest our overworked back court more efficiently than Colby Lewis could,  even though Colby has impressed(for a walk-on) by not “blowing it” on defense, Dewhurst would be a great improvement in the rotation.

Coach Lebo does have game tape of the 49ers and homecourt advantage on his side, but the tape he has is that with Shamari on the court, so its use to him could be limited, but still expect a close game at East Carolina.  Charlotte still has better talent, its up to the players to win it for The Niner Nation

Pirates fans watch the game come to a close.

Last season at six games in, we were 1-5. Now, at 5-1, as Phil Jones put it in his post game interview, “Well, it’s a lot better than last year.” There’s not a better way to put it than that, really. After downing ECU in easy, but frustrating, fashion, Charlotte is off to its best start in years, and boy does it feel great!

Oh, you want to read about the game? If there’s one worrisome trend that’s developing (other than lack of defense), it’s the lack of a “kick the opponent when he’s down” mentality. At one point early in the second half, we were within one field goal of a twenty point lead but never could make it happen. Instead, we let ECU get back within seven and had to utilize awesome free throw shooting to ice the game. This teams needs to learn how to step on the throat, twist the knife, steal the eye-patch, shave the eyebrow, etc.

The best part? Our best player, Shamari Spears had a terrible game, and we still won. Limited to only 12 pts and 5 rbds, Spears almost seemed to do more harm than good, giving up 5 of our 13 turnovers. However, his presence on the court leads to scoring from our other players as he draws double and triple teams. The turnovers came when he tried to force his offense, but when he learns how to pass out of the double team, our offense will be that much more deadly. Braswell also failed to follow up his great performance versus Yale, but that is to be expected from a freshman. Phil Jones was able to step it up, with 10 points (2 on dunks), 9 rebounds, and even had his own block party with 4 blocks. With those blocks, Jones has come into a tie for tenth place in the all-time blocks list, and we can expect him to climb up the charts through the season.

DiJuan Harris had a stellar game with 17 points, 6 assists and only 1 turnover. One highlight of the game for DiJuan was the wide open three pointer he hit in the flow of the offense. In order to be respected as a threat on offense, DiJuan needs to consistently hit that shot.

Now for bullet points:

Positives

• Phil Jones had a great first half, in fact, the whole team did
• Derrio doesn’t seem too bothered by his Planter Fascia during games
• RaShad Coleman had a great game, and definitely played within himself and didn’t try to do too much
• Shamarr hit two threes, but that 30 footer was a momentum killer
• An ECU player airballed a free throw, he is probably destroyed for the season
• The black out looked great
• ECU turned the ball over 13 times, is our defense improving?

Put on your Green Tinted Glasses

• Still took some stupid threes
• We had difficulty assisting Spears while he was being double-teamed
• We let a guy named Brock torch us for 24 points
• Nobody is stepping up to stop the dribble drive penetration, move your feet on defense!!!!

Either way, it’s wonderful to be 5-1, and now we look forward to finishing out CUSA Reunion Week at Louisville versus the Cardinals and Rick Pitino in Freedom Hall. Lutz has a good record in there, as well as some good memories – hopefully we’ll make one more!   – J Felt

49er Blackouts are known to cause this in opponents.

It feels like it’s been a month, but it’s finally gameday again! Even better, it’s a home game in Halton Arena! The Niners are set to take on the Pirates of East Carolina University, a school known as EZU and recognized more for its baseball and STDs than it’s basketball program. Any other time we take on ECU, it’s a “big deal” type of game, because traditionally, ECU sucks, bad. But there’s still a bad taste in our mouths from January ’05, when some guy named Mouse gave us our third loss and sent Niners fans home dejected and in an ice storm. Everything about the day sucked. Greenville sucked, Curtis Withers sucked, our team sucked, their crowd sucked, and losing sucked. The only way to help us forget that day is for the Niners to destroy ECU, just as they should’ve years ago.

Spears should dominate these guys, and it won’t be pretty. For many Niners, he’s the first consistent low-post scorer we’ve ever been able to see in person, and it’s a wonderful sight to see. But what if he gets in foul trouble? This is a question that needs to be solved as soon as possible if we’re going to be any good this year. We can’t expect Spears to dominate the other team’s big men from the bench, though it’s definitely a possibility versus ECU. Put on your Green Tinted Glasses people, FIVE AND ONE is basically here, it’s ECU, it’s Halton Arena, it’s Shamari Spears, and it’s ECU. Hell, even dogs on youtube hate the Pirates…

Predictions are below, add your own in the comments, and the winner will receive one free memory wipe of that ECU game and all of March ’05 as well.

J Felt – Charlotte 84, ECU 63. Niners run away in the second half as ECU can’t hang with Spears, Phil Jones has a block party while wearing an eye patch just for kicks.

HP – Pirates wash away in the rain storm as 49ers roll, 86-68.

D-Fo – The Pirates will leave Halton with a true peg-legged limp after Dijuan and Derrio finish breaking their ankles all night.  Spears goes for 25, Bowden gets hot again and goes off for 5 or 6 three-pointers.  At the end of the night, the Pirates walk the plank back to Greenville to the tune of an 89-75 loss.

Bust – Charlotte 84, EZU 71. Niners take the week off of gold mining as the pirates bring the treasure to them.  Pirates walk the plank (with one pirate scoring his personal best)

NLP – Charlotte 73 EZU 68. Shiver me timbers.  All hope abandon, ye who enters Halton Arena!

letsgoNINERS11 – EZU steps into the black hole that will be Halton Arena and Shamari feasts for 30.  Sharpshooter Shamarr Bowden is gonna go Navy Seals on the Pirates from long distance for 18 and Chris Braswell chips in 15-10.  81 – 65 Niners FTW.

JRitchie – Ian Andersen single handedly defeats that Pirates after they black out… Niners win 93-68

No amount of bleach to the eyes could erase this horrible game from my mind.

The last time the Charlotte 49ers faced the EZU Pirates, it was the Niners who were forced to walk the plank, losing 54-51.  That game featured an ice storm that kept many faithful from making the drive to Greenville and a dominating performance by Moussa Badiane (16 points, 9 rebounds, 3  blocks, and a key charge drawn) and a dreadful shooting night by the Niners (18-56 from the field).  Though the faces on the court have changed in the years since the last game, revenge will be on the minds of fans as Halton Arena welcomes the scourge of the Carolinas with a blackout Wednesday night.

EZU enters the game 2-4 (sorry, the win against Clinch Valley College doesn’t count) with their most recent contest a win Saturday at fellow slave-name institution, UNC Greensboro.  Despite the poor record, the Pirates should not be taken lightly by the Niners (really, no argggggguing with me).  EZU shoots a very high percentage from the field (47.0%) and gets to the line regularly (nearly as many makes as their opponents attempt).  The Pirates are also adept rebounders, enjoying a more than 5 rpg. advantage over their opponents.  Where EZU struggles is maintaining possession.  Turnovers have been the key stumbling block in the early season, with the Pirates averaging nearly 20/game.

A surprising source of frustration has been the play of Jr. PG Brock Young, who last year was second in the NCAA with 7.57 assists/game and a healthy 2.44 assist:turnover ratio.  Despite leading the team in scoring this season (14.4 ppg.) he’s actually committed more turnovers than assists, possibly out of a desire to create more for the team and be the focal point of the offense.  The Niners must head caution to his ability to make things happen for the Pirates and not take his turnover problem for granted tomorrow night as he looks to create for a very potent frontline for EZU.  Terrific young forward Darrius Morrow has emerged as a rising star in his sophomore season, averaging 13.6 ppg. on 63.6% shooting and 7.0 rpg.  Morrow is joined in the paint by Jr. C Chad Wynn, who is chipping in just over 9 ppg. On 59.2% shooting and 5.3 rpg.  Rounding out the perimeter for EZU are wings Jontae Sherrod (12.6 ppg., 35.5% from 3) and Jamar Abrams (7.4 ppg, 4.4 rpg.).  For the Pirates Wednesday night, the focus should be clear:  limit turnovers and use strong interior play to get quality looks and draw fouls.  On the defensive end, force the Niners into tough shots and use the rebounding advantage to limit second-chance scoring opportunities.

The Niners will counter with standout forward Shamari Spears.  Through 4 games Spears has asserted himself in the early mix as an A10 POY candidate averaging 24.3 ppg. on a scorching 62.3% shooting from the field.  Another bright spot in the revamped Niner front court has been the play of frosh forward Chris Braswell.  Last week against Hofstra, Braswell notched the second double-double of his young career with a 15 point, 11 rebound performance in the victory.  Where concern rises is the scoring beyond Spears.  Despite having 7 other players reach double-figures in scoring already this season, no consistent second and third options have emerged.  DiJuan Harris. Derrio Green, and Shamarr Bowden are each averaging between 8.0 and 9.2 ppg.; however, neither are shooting better than 40% from the field.  In fact, it’s not until 6^th leading scorer Phil Jones (6.6 ppg.) do the Niners have a player shooting better than 40% from the field (and that being a low figure for a post player).  Bowden is the quintessential case of inconsistency, having not reached double-figures in scoring since his 21 point eruption against Asheville in the season opener.   Help should be on the way shortly, with the return of An’juan Wilderness to the lineup, but not until Saturday against Louisville.  Until then, the Niners will have to continue to search for consistent scoring.  Hopefully deliverance will come in the form of better shooting, with signs that Derrio Green is emerging from his early shooting slumber.   – NLP

The EZU mascot needs updating.

Keys to the game for EZU:

• limit turnovers (absolute must for the Pirates)
• maintain a rebounding advantage
• dominate the Niner interior (really no one has done this yet)

Keys to the game for Charlotte:

• shoot the ball better (>45% will be a feat)
• get offensive rebounds
• force Brock Young to try to do too much himself