Charlotte 49ers

Date/Time: Saturday December 4th @ 2:00 PM ET at the Dale F. Halton Arena in Charlotte, NC. The arena seats 9,105 people and opened almost exactly 25 years ago (12/2/96). It is named after a former President/CEO of the Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company in Charlotte.

TV: ESPN+
Preseason Ranks: 201st (KenPom), 153rd (Bart Torvik), 193rd (CBS), 136th (SI)
2020-21 Record: 9-16, 5-11 (5th in C-USA East)
2021-22 Projected Record: 16-14, 10-8 (T-2nd in C-USA East) The C-USA moved to divisions last season, so this translates to a 5th-7th place projected team in the conference.

Coach: Ron Sanchez, 33-50 in three seasons at Charlotte. The 49ers showed promise in year 2 under Sanchez, finishing 10-8 in conference and fourth in the C-USA. Unfortunately, the team regressed last season and Charlotte returned to the bottom of the league but COVID may have played a role in that. I don't necessarily think that Charlotte is going to fire Sanchez this season, but his seat may start warming up if Charlotte fails to win 10 games for the third time in the past four seasons. Sanchez is a disciple of the Bennett coaching tree having served under UVA head coach Tony Bennett as an assistant from 2009-2018 and Tony's dad Dick Bennett at Washington State from 2003-2009. His first gig as an assistant coach was at Indiana, where he spent three seasons. A native of the Dominican Republic, Sanchez played collegiately at SUNY Oneonta.

Head-to-Head: 16-12, with the 49ers coming out on top in last season's matchup (game 1 of the home-and-home series). Like many games last season in OOC play, the game ended in a heartbreaker and we fell in a close one 66-65. If I remember correctly, Sanchez did not even coach that game due to COVID complications so we effectively lost to Charlotte's assistant coach who took over for the game. Would you be surprised if I told you that we were outscored by seven after halftime? We had several scoring droughts in the second half, but Charlotte failed to pull away, only leading by 3 with 3 minutes to play. Back-to-back threes from Bishop and Battle gave us back the lead but Moyer unfortunately fouled a Charlotte player on a three. Jamison would convert on another three but Charlotte put up four points in the final minute to win it. I am getting PTSD looking back on the very last play but I remember James getting double-teamed after the ball was inbounded. When he was finally able to adjust and find Hunter I believe Dean was too far away from the hoop to take the shot. There was no man on Moyer but he failed to cut to the hoop to get himself open so Hunter ended up throwing a bullet pass to Sloan who ultimately failed to secure the pass. Charlotte would steal the ball and that would end the game, a gut-punch after the previous game against William & Mary where the game ended on an air ball. Bishop (20 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists), Battle (19 points, 3 rebounds, 5 made threes), and Moyer (12 points, 9 rebounds) all finished the game in double figures.

Offensive Efficiency: 237th (KenPom), 163rd (Bart Torvik)
Defensive Efficiency: 166th (KenPom), 149th (Bart Torvik)
Pace: 350th (KenPom), 356th (Bart Torvik) This figures to be a game where the victor is the team that successfully forces their style on the other team. If this is a rock fight, I don't think we'll win it. Sanchez follows the UVA playbook, so we should see pack-line principles on defense. Hope the threes fall.
Returning Minutes: 52.8% (232nd in country) I guess on the bright side, we are finally not playing a team with a ton of continuity. Maybe the ball movement between the two teams will be more even today?

Key Returning Players:
Jahmir Young (Sophomore; Upper Marlboro, MD) 18 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 2.5 APG, 1 SPG; 42% FG, 34% 3-PT, 83% FT
Brice Williams (Sophomore; Huntersville, NC) 9.7 PPG, 4 RPG, 1 APG; 47% FG, 43% 3-PT, 70% FT

Key Losses:
Jordan Shepherd (Transferred to California; Asheville, NC) 11.9 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 2.9 APG, 1.4 SPG; 46% FG, 29% 3-PT, 74% FT
Jhery Matos (Graduated; Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) 7.6 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 2.3 APG, 1 SPG; 39% FG, 30% 3-PT, 70% FT 
Miloš Šupica (Graduated; Belgrade, Serbia) 6.3 PPG, 5.5 RPG; 58% FG, 75% FT

Comments:
After a 4th place finish in 2020 (and 9 spot jump from year 1 under Ron Sanchez), Charlotte quickly got the respect of their peers in the C-USA. They were picked 6th in last year's preseason poll, and for a good part of the season (really through January) the 49ers certainly looked the part of an above average team in the league.

Despite Sanchez missing some games OOC and Charlotte canceling five games during the year due to COVID (two got rescheduled) the 49ers held a 9-7 (5-3 in C-USA) record through January, splitting against Western Kentucky, UAB, and FAU while sweeping a series against Florida International (though the Panthers were real bad last year, not sure that means much). COVID played a role, but outside of the UAB series the other games were really close. Charlotte played four overtime games in the month of January, and perhaps the loss to Belmont Abbey (D2 - a really good team, but still) was an early sign that the wheels were starting to fall off.

The rest of the season was a nightmare for Charlotte as they did not win a single game the rest of the way. That included two canceled games against UTSA but that pause alone did not explain Charlotte's struggles (they did end up meeting UTSA in the conference tournament anyways and lost in the first round). The 49ers got swept by a really bad MTSU team, and over the final stretch of the year the 49ers went from winning close games to losing close games to losing in blowouts. Charlotte's final six games of the year were decided by more than two possessions and they lost by double figures four times.

Despite the horrid end to the season, Charlotte was picked 7th in the C-USA in this year's preseason poll, partly due to an influx of transfers (more on them later). Sanchez lost some key pieces this offseason, but returns leading scorer Jahmir Young, a DeMatha product. Young will see as many minutes as he can handle and is just a complete player. He is a true scorer from all over the court, is an above-average rebounder for his size (he was second on the team at 6'1"!) and plays the point guard role really well when the situation presents itself. With Shepherd and Matos departing this offseason, it will be interesting to see whether he has to take on a bigger burden as a facilitator. Young is a great finisher and one thing to watch out for is how often he gets to the line. He averaged north of 6 attempts per game so we need to stay in front of him and not let him get deep into the paint (where our bigs will likely hack him). I believe Young is friends with Brayon, so that should be a nice fun matchup to keep tabs on during in the game.

Brice Williams is the other notable returner, a multi-positional wing that was Charlotte's best shooter last season. Williams made 43% of his tries and also paced the 49ers in made threes. His ability to guard multiple positions and rebound the ball is a major boost to the team.

Beyond Young and Williams, it's hard to say that anyone really distanced themselves enough to believe they are surefire contributors this year. Freshman Jared Garcia (a former three star recruit) filled a need down low as a respectable offensive threat but will be looking to shore up his defense this year like the rest of the frontcourt that lacked the foot speed to keep up with the opposition. Much like our team, Charlotte doesn't rely too much on their frontcourt for scoring so Garcia projects to resume his role as a complementary piece. Jackson Threadgill will likely see more run as a spot-up threat assuming he improves his efficiency this season. Former JUCO Marvin Cannon has just simply not been the same player he was his freshman year at Washington State. Cannon has been a poor shooter for a couple seasons now and could be passed over by others on the depth chart. He does bring experience at the very least. Serbian Luka Vasić and Virginia native Isaiah Folkes will also vie for more playing time. Vasić only appeared in one game last season and probably remains a deeper depth piece at best. Folkes could definitely earn an opportunity to handle more of the ball handling duties but will be competing with the incoming transfers for playing time. Beyond Garcia and Threadgill, the most impactful returner might be Aly Khalifa, a 6-11 big that redshirted last year. Given the size issues down low, I don't see a scenario where Khalifa doesn't get more run this year.

Sanchez was very active in the transfer portal in the offseason, nabbing Clyde Trapp Jr. (Clemson), Austin Butler (Holy Cross), Robert Braswell (Syracuse), Musa Jallow (Ohio State), and Perry Francois (Texas A&M-CC). The key here is outside of Braswell, the other four guys are all seniors which is big for a team that would have otherwise been very inexperienced. Trapp made the trip from South to North Carolina, and should be one of the go-to players on the team after being a key rotation piece for the Tigers the past two years. Trapp is a decent shooter, crashes the glass, and likely becomes Charlotte's best defender along the perimeter. Sanchez likes playing multiple playmakers at the same time so Trapp seems like the perfect piece to support Young in the backcourt. Butler is nearly a clone of Trapp in terms of measurables but obviously is an up-transfer instead of a down-transfer. He is a very strong three point shooter but is off to a slow start this season. Expect him to also compete on the glass and play the role of secondary playmaker on the team. Braswell's game is more like Williams as a hybrid wing type. He has been an absolute flamethrower from the field to start the year and has strong fundamentals defensively coming from Syracuse. Jallow is a terror getting to the rim but has struggled with injuries and is yet to play this season. Francois has also been sidelined so far this year but will provide a boost in the frontcourt when healthy having averaged 8 ppg with the Islanders last season.

Charlotte is only 15 spots or so ahead of us in KenPom so theoretically this is a winnable game. There isn't much of a reason to expect a win currently, but the 49ers are coming off a 17 point loss to Davidson, a team the 49ers beat last season. Let's follow suit and get revenge today.

Projected Score: Charlotte 69, GW 60. 18% chance to win (Bart Torvik). ESPN gives us a 45.1% chance (a near toss-up) so maybe there is a chance (if only the game wasn't on the road). Charlotte opens up as a 6 point home favorite.
 

Worth noting, on our second possession Bishop chucked a bad shot - a pull up 20 foot two - and JC subbed him out at the next stoppage (for Brayon who immediately got a steal and a three point play).

Some accountability for shot selection is very welcome to see.

Turned off the Baylor-Ok State FB game to watch this. Let’s see how disappointed or pleasantly surprised I am by that decision!

They either need to turn the color guy's mic up or off.  Very distracting.

Noel Brown with stone hands.  Seems incapable of receiving passes at the moment.

Last edited by GW0509 (12/04/2021 2:18 pm)

jf wrote:

He doesn't have the greatest hands. But if carefully fed and coached up,Noel can contribute,particularly on badly needed defense.

I agree.  I wish he could be so much more than he is right now!

Brayon Freeman is so good.   Steals, able to break down the defense and find the open man.   Earlier he drove and kicked to Adams, who didn’t shoot, and Freeman was demonstrably upset that Adams didn’t take the shot. 

Then, just now he drove and kicked to Adams for back to back threes.

Charlotte really sloppy with the ball.

Amir Harris actually playing with some aggression (scored and got fouled, though it could have been a charge), and went hard after a rebound.  Good to see. 

Jahmir Young just missed a reverse layup so they called a foul on Lindo, even though he never touched the guy. 

And then we give up a 4 point play.  Ugh. 

We are doing some good things today, but then mix it with bad plays.

Why didn't t Dean turn around and take 3 footer?