The hits keep on coming for this Charlotte 49ers basketball team. The Niners(10-14, 2-8 A10) gave up a 17-point lead in the 2nd-half before forcing overtime, and eventually losing to the Rhode Island Rams(16-9, 7-4 A10) on a buzzer beating tip-in by Jamal Wilson, his only field goal on the day.

The Niners started the game as hot as the Rams were cold. Chris Braswell scored seven points during a 14-2 run for Charlotte midway through the first that put the Niners in front 27-13 with 2:51 left. The run was capped off by Derrio Green fastbreak dunk fueled by a KJ Sherrill steal. The Rams answered with a 10-5 run of their own, closing Charlotte’s lead to 9 at the half, the score being 32-23. The Niners shot 50% during the first half, holding the Rams to under 33% and just 17% from behind the arc.

The 2nd-half looked like it too would go the Niners way as two Derrio Green 3-pointers were part of an 8-0 run that put the Niners up 40-23 with 18:28 to play. Then out of the shadows came our nemesis, the full court press. Over the next seven minutes, the Niners coughed the ball up five times, four of those by Sherrill and the fifth a questionable offensive foul on An’Juan Wilderness. At the end of that onslaught of turnovers, the Rams had cut the lead to one, trailing 44-43 with 10:35 on the clock.

The Rams continued to hold momentum, as baskets were traded back and fourth, Rhode Island found themselves out front, 61-57, going into the final media timout. Charlotte then fought to close regulation with a 7-3 run, sending the game into overtime tied at 64. Braswell, however, missed a free throw with 45 seconds remaining, that would have allowed the Niners to win in 40 minutes, barring something heartbreaking happening(like that ever happens to the Niners).

Braswell's 5th double-double wasn't enough for the Niners today.

Charlotte was seemingly in control of the overtime period, a Braswell layup gave Charlotte the early OT lead, but Jamar Briscoe and Braswell had too many fouls to finish the overtime period, fouling out two minutes apart. A KJ Sherill jumper gave the Niners their final lead, before Derrio Green’s free throws put the Niners up 70-67 with 34 seconds remaining. The Charlotte defense forced Rhode Island to burn 22 seconds off the clock before allowing a layup with 12 seconds remaining. However, trapped in the corner Green had the ball tied up, giving possession to the Rams with 7 seconds left. With 3 seconds left, Javarris Barnett swatted a Marquis Jones lay-up out of bounds with authority, but the Niners were not so lucky on the next inbounds play. Akeem Richmond put up a 3-pointer from a corner, while Jamal Wilson was waiting at the basket, and Derrio Green was not boxing out.

“Some teams might have crumbled. Some teams would have ended up with a 15-point loss,” Coach Major said, also adding, “Our guys came back and sent it into overtime and got the lead back.  We want that to be our culture – to have that fight. We outplayed a really good team on their home floor for 35 of 45 minutes. When we were good today, we were really good.  That’s something we want to capture.”

The Niners played their fifth overtime game, and tenth overtime period of the season, falling to 1-4 in those games, and 1-4-5 in those periods.

Braswell came off the bench to record another double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds, Derrio Green also reached 17 points on 5-16 shooting. KJ Sherrill, who started instead of Braswell, scored 14 points and pulled down 7 rebounds. Briscoe was 3-7 from long range on his way to 13 points. Dewhurst scored five points, including a 3-pointer from the corner as part of the Niners’ charge to end regulation. Phil Jones’ absence was once agin felt, with two players of the frontcourt fouling out, An’Juan Wilderness and Braswell.

Today, as sour as the taste the game left behind was, inspired confidence for this group of players. They are closer to being a good, possibly great, team than one would assume from first glance. Some, or just any, breathing room on the depth chart would make a huge difference in the five overtime games this season, along with the number of other close games the 49ers have found themselves in. The Niners will next take the court at 7pm Wednesday when they host the Dayton Flyers, who, by the way, have never won in Halton Arena and are 2-4 on the road in the Atlantic 10.

Charlotte49ers.com Recap
Box Score(.pdf)
AP Recap(Via ESPN)

Rhode Island Giraffes?

A lot of things can happen in a week. A bamboo stalk, for example, could’ve grown almost 700 centimeters taller. If only we could’ve grown Jamar Briscoe by 700 centimeters during this week off as well. The Niners are coming off a hard fought loss to the Colonials on Homecoming, and the long break was probably welcomed by coaching staff and players alike. Up next is Rhode Island (15-9, 6-4), a team that rivals Dayton in refusing adamantly to meet expectations. With Saint Joseph’s breathing down the Niners’ necks for 12th place and a playoff spot, winning this game would allow us some breathing room.

Rhode Island has struggled with inconsistency all season, especially in conference play. They started things off with a 28 point thrashing by Xavier (at home, no less), but then answered by scoring an impressive victory on the road at Richmond. The Rams also gave Dayton an outstanding beat-down in their last game. In summation, there’s a chance we could win this game. We have shown that we can beat the best in the conference (Xavier), and the worst (Fordham); we’re bound to get a victory versus a team in the middle at some point.

On paper, Charlotte and Rhode Island are almost equals in every major statistical category. In fact, Charlotte holds a slight edge in points, 3 pt. shooting percentage, and rebounds. You’re probably thinking, “Oh sweet, we’re going to beat the Rams today!” But don’t bet your house, yet. There’s one major category left, and Rhode Island holds a distinct advantage. Close your eyes, imagine the Jeopardy theme, and think about it.

Got it? I’m sure you do. Turnovers. We’re averaging about four more turnovers per game than Rhode Island, which isn’t surprising at all since we seem to be practicing socialism with our game management. Now say URI converts those four extra turnovers into four layups, and they hold an eight point advantage from the get-go. Oddly enough, that’s the spread for tonight.

Personnel wise, there’s two names you NEED to know, and a few you should, when it comes to Rhode Island. Forward Delroy James (17.9, 7.8) and guard Marquis Jones (11.3, 3.3) are doing what seniors are supposed to do for their team: lead. Not only do they serve as the emotional floor generals for the squad, they also lead the team in points and rebounds. If these two are doing well, the Rams stand a good chance to win today. Marquis Jones is especially a threat; he shoots almost 40% from the arc and dishes out 3.3 assists per game. We’ll need our guards to keep him, and back up Daniel West, bothered by pressure all night.

Other players we’ll need to look out for include the 7 footer Frease-wannabe Will Martell, former Niner-target Akeem Richmond, and the dangerous Serbian Nikola Malesivic. The Serbian is of extra interest, since he averages over 50% from the field, but when he’s put on the charity stripe he can only hit 53%. The lesson? Put him on the line. Well, that would be the strategy if we had enough bodies to employ the Hack-a-Serb game plan.

Since the game is on MASN today, Niner fans cannot be confident. To date, we have won only one game on that terrible

Green Mamba.

network, and even then it doesn’t really count, since it was Fordham. It’s as if our players look at the schedule, see “MASN” and immediately come down with some form basketball-specific disease that affects judgment. We do stand a chance to win, since Rhode Island is inconsistent, but it’ll take a big effort from all players involved.

We’ll need Javarris to step up, especially. Not only offensively, but defensively as well. He’s still not showing that lock-down mentality you would expect out of a player like him. With his size, he could be a legitimate threat on the defensive side of the ball. Hopefully we’ll see Major run some plays through the Green Mamba at the start of the game to get him going.

We’re also due for a big from Deuce, too. If he opens up offensively, and Derrio continues his scoring from the GW game, and Braswell puts forth a solid effort, we could win today. That’s a lot of things that need to happen though. Either way, it would be nice to have 3 conference wins rather than 2.

Green Tinted Glasses Presents: Atlantic 10 Schedule Breakdown Part II

If you’ve been paying attention, at this point of the Atlantic 10 season, Green Tinted Glasses expects a 4-4 record, if not please refer to Part I.  Now let us continue.

Quarter Three:

Saturday February 5th- vs. George Washington(7-6): After showing some promise last year, by making their first A10 tournament in three years,  the Colonials have taken a step back this season.  Their best game was something the Niners couldn’t do, which was a win at Oregon State.  The Niners loss at Corvallis was when we hit rock bottom, while, unfortunately for George Washington, their win was when they were at their best.  They have an embarrassing 35 point loss at UAB as well as a neutral court loss to Navy in the BB&T Classic.

Wednesday February 9th- Atlantic 10 Bye #2

Saturday February 12th- at Rhode Island(9-5): Normally at this point of the year Rhode Island has only one or two losses against a mediocre schedule with a couple of strong victories.  Then like clockwork the Rams would struggle in Atlantic 10 play, eliminating their NCAA chances and landing in the NIT.  This is not one of those Rhode Island teams, the Rams started the season by nearly knocking off the Pitt Panthers at home, and have actually tested themselves.  They have a questionable losses to Illinois-Chicago on a neutral court(a team that also won at Illinois), at Quinnipiac and a 25-point blowout at Florida(that will leave a sour taste in their mouth).  Wins against Top 100 teams like Drexel, Davidson and Boston College have challenged the Rams so that maybe this time they are prepared for the stretch run in the A10 instead of caught off guard by it.

Saint Louis Head Coach Rick Majerus

Wednesday February 16th- vs. Dayton(12-3): The Flyers did not handle being the Atlantic 10 favorite very will last season, but are doing okay in their underdog roll.  They’ve tallied a lot of wins, most against chumps in front of the GREATEST FANS IN COLLEGE BASKETBALL, with three strong wins, at Mississippi and Seton Hall plus a home win against George Mason.  Dayton got absolutely drilled at Cincinnati and followed that up by a home loss to East Tennessee State, so the jury is still out on the Flyers.  Since they host Temple days before coming to Halton, the 49ers will again have a vulnerable Dayton team to beat up on at home.

Saturday February 19th- at Saint Louis(5-8): Rick Majerus’ squad started the season by giving the boot to two of his most talented players for getting into trouble with the law.  Saint Louis opened the season with a disappointing loss at home to Austin Peay, and since then have lost the games they should have and won the games they should have.  No strong victories and no killer losses(unless by 37 to Duke counts).  The could have trouble getting wins in the A10 with the middle of the conference up combined with travel partners like Xavier and Dayton.  What was supposed to be the Billikens breakthrough year in the Atlantic 10 will become a struggle to finish .500.

First of all, George Washington is terrible, and deservedly so. They’ve lost 3 straight in Halton, and that streak should continue. Rhode Island will be a tough road get for our boys.  We will beat Dayton, because losing in Halton Arena is Dayton’s trademark.   This Saint Louis team is very vulnerable, the players they suspended were team players, just not great citizens. A rare Niner win at Saint Louis is within reach, but history(aka resident downer J Felt) has taught us to assume otherwise. 49erFanatics 3rd-quarter prediction: 2-2

Quarter Four:

George Washington Head Coach Karl Hobbs

Wednesday February 23rd-  at George Washington(7-6): The rematch with George Washington could well be amidst a horrendous losing streak as the Colonials will have just played road games at La Salle and Massachusetts after hosting Richmond and playing at Charlotte.  Luckily for the Colonials, Fordham and  Saint Joseph’s will give them a run for the money as to who sits out the Atlantic 10 Tournament.

Saturday February 26th- vs. Richmond(11-4): Our home game with the Spiders will be with a team that could be rolling by winning six out of seven(or more).  Charlotte will be three days removed from a trip to Washington D.C. while Richmond will have been resting for a week after hosting St. Bonaventure.  This Kevin Anderson led squad has a chance to be the first time EVER, other than the 49ers, to win four in a row at Halton Arena. George Washington is only other team to win three in a row in 2003, 2006 and 2007.  The 49ers will need to impose their will and force the tempo to take down the Spiders in this one.

Wednesday March 2nd- at Xavier(8-4): Considering that nobody other than Xavier wins in the Cintas Center, don’t count on the Niners coming back with a victory.  In Xavier’s 4 previous games they have easy wins at Saint Joseph’s then at home against Fordham and La Salle before traveling to Dayton.  The Flyers will push the Musketeers to the edge, with any luck Charlotte will be facing a tired AND demoralized Xavier team.

Saturday March 5th- vs. Saint Joseph’s(5-8): Due to slight changes in Atlantic 10 opponents, we get to host a pitiful Saint Joseph’s team at home two years in a row.  Since starting conference play in 2009 at 7-1, Phil Martelli’s Hawks have suffered a Niner-esque 3-7 collapse followed by an 11-20 season and a not-so-hot start to this season.  Saint Joseph’s will struggle to gain any momentum throughout conference play(as in absolutely NONE), and will be coming to Halton Arena after hosting Richmond.  The Hawks may have already turned their TV’s on to watch the Atlantic 10 Tournament from home before taking the flight down from Philly, while the Niners will be looking for a impressive showing leading up to the A10 Tourney where, of course, they will go 4-0 on their way to the NCAA’s.

Once again, George Washington is terrible, and their home court won’t help them. Richmond, at home, before traveling to Xavier will be a test for the Niners, although this could be the year Charlotte’s defense can shut down Kevin Anderson but the Cintas Center is never an easy place to play.  Remember how when the ground was falling out from underneath the Lutz era and we still beat Saint Joeseph’s by 37 points? 49erFanatics 4th-quarter prediction: 3-1

Here’s the best part, you don’t have to know math to figure out Green Tinted Glasses’(very biased)  A10 Prediction for the 49ers, it’s 9-7.  After extensively going over the rest of the Atlantic 10 calender, here are a predicted order of finish along with predicted record, overall in parenthesis only counting D-I games.

Green Tinted Glasses Atlantic 10 Projection:

Coach Major has a chance to make some noise in his 1st A10 Season1. Temple 14-2(23-4)

1. Temple 14-2(24-6)
2. Richmond 13-3(24-7)
3. Xavier 12-4(20-10)
4. Rhode Island 11-5(20-10)
5. Dayton 10-6(22-9)
6. Charlotte 9-7(17-13)
7. St. Bonaventure 8-8(15-14)
8.  Massachusetts 8-8(15-13)
9. Duquesne 6-10(13-15)
10. Saint Louis 6-10(11-18)
11. La Salle 5-11(13-18)
12. George Washington 4-12(11-18)
13. Fordham 3-13(9-19)
13. Saint Joseph’s 3-13(8-22)

As conference play draws near, GTG took the opportunity to briefly review the other 13 A10 teams, in no particular order.  Seriously.  I used random.org to generate the order by which I reviewed each team.   First group today, next group tomorrow morning.  I like to spread out the e-meth to keep you guys coming back.

Temple Owls (7-2)

Despite the loss of three starters; Dionte Christmas, Sergio Olmos, and Semaj Inge, the Temple Owls look like a team in the early mix to contend for an A10 title.  Lavoy Allen has been solid on both ends of the court averaging 12.0 ppg. And 9.4 rpg.  Stepping up to replace the loss of scoring with the graduation of Christmas are Sr. Ryan Brooks (13.7 ppg) and So. Juan Fernandez (10.6 ppg).  The Owls have performed well against a pretty tough schedule, battling Georgetown to the wire before losing by 1 and a 7 point loss to St John’s at the Palestra.  Temple’s managed solid road wins @ Miami(OH) and Western Michigan, and got a very tasty BCS scalp whipping VT 61-50.

Despite being a not-so-stellar team shooting the ball, Temple is outstanding on defense, forcing opponents into shooting just 37% from the field, and limiting possessions by excelling at taking care of the basketball.  At this early juncture it’s hard to gauge how strong a contender Temple might be for the A10 crown, but upcoming contests against Villanova, Seton Hall, and Kansas will us plenty about the Owls and their post-season chances.

Fordham Rams (2-5)

You know a season is off to a rough start when just weeks after ending the university’s administration sent a letter of support for its basketball programs. Despite managing to hold-off the transfer of Jio Fontan, the Rams began the season with a listless 1-5 start including losses to powerhouse programs Maine and Hartford.  That auspicious start (your sarcasm meter should be exploding) prompted Fontan to leave the program a second time, finally securing his release from the Fordham administration.  The next day zombie-in-training Dereck Whittenburg was finally canned by the AD, ending 7 years of frustration.  Although Whittenburg had some nice moments (2005-2006 season where he lead an inexperienced team to a winning season) the mood has steadily deteriorated.  Despite the firing of Whittenburg, one has to wonder how committed the university’s administration is to its sports programs, particularly basketball.  One look at Fordham’s lack of success and its stagnant facilities are all one needs to question if the A10 is really the right league for Fordham.

In more positive news, interim head coach Jared Grasso lead the Rams to a suprising 93-77 victory over a respectable Stony Brook team.  Word has it Grasso intends to play at a quicker tempo than his recently deceased, I mean departed, predecessor, something that worked well for Ron Everhart in his first year at Duquesne.  Despite the departure of highly regarded Fontan, the cupboard isn’t completely bare at Fordham.  Chris Gaston is a terrific young forward, averaging 17.3 ppg, 11.6 rpg, and 2.7 bpg in his freshman season.  Sr. guard Brenton Butler is also scoring the ball well (13.3 ppg) , however, this is coming with a stagnant 31.8% from the field.  Fordham has a roster loaded with youth, however it’s a bit early to weigh in on their performance, particularly with a recent coaching change.  With upcoming games against Saint John’s and Villanova coming up, things do not get any easier for the Rams; however, there are a few winnable road games to close out the non-conference slate against Hampton and Kennesaw State.

Saint Louis Billikens (5-3)

Not so svelte coach Rick Majerus has a roster full of young talent in Saint Louis, though the prize of the class is yet to play for the Billikens.  In a move reminiscent of several 49er signings past, the NCAA has yet to clear Cody Ellis to play this season.  Across the first eight games, the Billikens have performed as you’d expect  many young teams; winning at home and losing the road/neutral contests.  Saint Louis is led by a pair of sophomores in Willie Reed and Kwamain Mitchell.  Reed has been excellent in his second season averaging 14 ppg and 10.6 rpg.  His best performance came against pre-season All-American Luke Harangody with a 20 point, 15 rebound performance in a loss.  Another forward, Brian Conklin, has also posted quality performances in the early season with strong games against Nebraska and Iowa State.

The task to compete in the A10 will be tough for Saint Louis relying on such an inexperienced roster (the only upperclassman is out for the season).   Things though are looking up for Saint Louis and I would not be surprised for them to play spoiler for an A10 team looking to get a conference tournament bye or NCAA tournament bid.  The Billikens are  young, dangerous, and likely on the rise, especially if Cody Ellis gets eligible sooner than later.  That’s if Majerus can focus on coaching and not complaining about the geography of the A10 conference.

Saint Bonaventure Bonnies (4-3)

Saint Bonaventure gets a lot of flack on Ninernation.net, and I don’t think it’s all deserved (I like to pick on them, but that’s mostly because of Olean, NY… dreadful town).  The Bonnies are a respected program that’s given the Niners more trouble than we’d like to admit, and has done a good job of rebuilding from the ashes of Weldergate under the direction of Mark Schmidt.  In early season action, St. Bonaventure has posted a 5-3 record with losses against Saint John’s, Illinois State, and Mississippi State.  The only surprise thus far was the magnitude of the loss in Starkville, a 52 point thrashing at the hands of the Bulldogs.  The Bonnies return to action against DII Le Moyne tonight, a game they should easily win.  As a side-bar, the A10 should not be permitting regular season games against DII schools, particularly when the mascot is not indigenous to the region.

The Bonnies are led by a pair of transfer seniors, Chris Matthews (12.1 ppg and a crowd-pleasing 48% from behind the arc) and Jonathan Hall (12.1 ppg, 2.9 apg) and a very talented So. big man Andrew Nicholson.  Nicholson has improved both his scoring (14.6 ppg) and rebounding (8 rpg) without sacrificing his shooting (still above 60%).  Pretty impressive for a Canuck (had to get a dig in on J Felt).  Top reserve Michael Davenport has also played well averaging just over 9 ppg on 54.9% shooting.  Overall the Bonnies are one of the best shooting teams in the country thusfar (field goal percentage-wise) and have rebounded the ball quite well.  This though has come against somewhat weak competition and after tonight’s game the non-conference slate gets tougher with games against Syracuse and Niagara.  They also need to do a much better job defending the perimeter.  Regardless, the Bonnies continue to improve under Schmidt and could be a middle-of-the-pack A10 team once conference play begins.  Oh, and check this out.

Richmond Spiders (7-1)

I hate Richmond.  A lot of us hate Richmond.  They seem to have had our number since joining the A10.  It’d be easy to blame style and the Princeton, er, Richmond offense but the Spiders are more than a frustrating offense.  They’ve got players and one heck of a young coach.  So far this season, they’ve played in my opinion the best basketball in the league, particularly over the last three games.  Following an early season hiccup against William & Mary, the Spiders have turned it up, with wins against Mississippi State, Missouri (very impressed by that one), and upcoming Niner opponent Old Dominion. Perhaps most impressively for the Richmond Spiders has been their defense.  According to statsheet.com the 36% opponents FG percentage ranks in the top 10 in the country.

Richmond is led by a terrific backcourt pairing Kevin Anderson and David Gonzalvez.  Anderson is leading the Spiders in scoring with 17.1 ppg and Gonzalvez second with 12.6 ppg.  Despite Anderson’s ability to fill the basket, he’s still a bit of a liability behind the arc, again shooting below 30% from 3 point land.  But where Anderson struggles, Gonzalvez thrives, again hitting more than 40% of his long distance attempts.  What’s really scary about Richmond is they’re playing well despite Dan Geriot’s sluggish return from injury last season.  The post player with the normally deft shooting touch has seen his scoring drop below double figures (8.5 ppg versus 14.3) and his shooting has dropped nearly 10% (38.7% versus 47.3%).  Should Geriot start rounding into form, Richmond could go from scary good to downright terrifying, and in my opinion thus far is the team to beat in the A10.

Rhode Island Rams (6-1)

What’s with the A10 and horned animals?  Anyway, Rhode Island… yeah, these guys aren’t too bad.  Despite the loss of a large chunk of their scoring from last season (Jimmy Baron and Kahiem Seawright) URI has managed a 6-1 start with a nice win over Providence and a defeat of the champions of moral victories, Davidson.  The lone loss comes to a stout Virginia Commonwealth team by 2 points on the road.  The schedule to date hasn’t been particularly difficult, but some tests are ahead including a road game at Boston College (who lost to Harvard again) and against Travis Ford’s OSU Cowboys at the Mohegan Sun.

The roster is a nice blend of returning players who are stepping up and some new pieces that could be very good contributors down the road.  Delroy James (12.4 ppg ) and Keith Cothran (16.7 ppg) are a nice inside-outside pair that lead the Rams in scoring, though both would well served to improve their rebounding and assist-giving respectively.  Lamonte Ulmer has seen nice gradual improvement throught his time at URI and provides another option for the Rams in the low post.  New addition Akeem Richmond is a familar name for Niner fans as a former recruiting target and has played well thusfar for URI, averaging 8 ppg in just 15 minutes/game of action.  Rhode Island is a fairly deep team (9 players getting more than 10 minutes/game), which serves them well given their usual up-tempo style.  Though the Rams are still a bit unproven this season, they could definitely make noise in A10 play.  Picked to finish 8th overall, it would not be too big of a stretch to see them compete for a conference tournament bye, though I think they are more likely to finish somewhere between 5th and 8th.

George Washington Colonials (6-2)

Following a dismal 10-18 season (4-12 in league play) that was their second losing season in a row, Karl Hobbs has perhaps started to turn things around in Foggy Bottom, and in turn cooling off the hot seat a bit.  Ironically the improved play comes with a tougher non-conference schedule than GW has been accustomed to under Hobbs, and may be a prognosticator of a better performance once league play begins.  The key for the Colonials so far this season has been strong defense, in particular, dominating rebounding (almost +10 versus their opponents).  Upcoming road games at Fat Pat’s Towson Tigers, ECU, and Harvard should give a clear indication of whether the quick GW start is for real or a fluke.

The Colonials are led by Sr. forward Damian Hollis (14.6 ppg, 5 rpg) and impressive Fr. guard Lasan Kromah, who in his first season is putting up 14.5 ppg. on 53% shooting from the field and 47.6% from beyond the 3 point arc.  In just 23 minutes per game.  Not bad at all.  Aaron Ware, Tony Taylor, and Tim Johnson are a trio of guards that also see significant playing time for George Washington with Joseph Katuka getting the starting nod at center, despite playing just 11 minutes per game.

Click HERE for Part 2.