Conference strikes gold with arrival of 49ers

Great Katz article on the Niners joining A10.

Article

Charlotte had no choice but to bolt Conference USA when five of its members left for the Big East and another headed to the Mountain West.

The 49ers couldn't have found a better home.

Charlotte should leap to the top of the Atlantic 10 in its first season and it's unlikely, especially with the recent commitment of the class of 2007's No. 2-rated player, power forward Michael Beasley (of Oak Hill Academy in Virginia), that the 49ers will slide down the standings anytime soon.

"The timing was right for Charlotte, even though we didn't start the snowball rolling," Charlotte coach Bobby Lutz said. "Once it started rolling, and since we don't have football, it was the right decision to go to the A-10."

It's a move that the league won't regret, although its current members must deal with a new power. This could limit their NCAA Tournament chances, or possibly enhance them, if the 49ers are good enough to be ranked and justify multiple bids for the league.

The 49ers have been to the NCAA Tournament seven of the last nine seasons in a top-heavy Conference USA. Charlotte finished tied for second last season with Cincinnati, two games behind Louisville. The 49ers lost to NC State in the first round of the NCAAs in a 7-10 matchup in which Charlotte was the higher seed.

Charlotte loses two starters in defensive specialist and versatile scorer Eddie Basden (15.2 points per game) and shooter Brendan Plavich (13.7 ppg), but returns five seniors, including Curtis Withers (18 points, 8.1 rebounds per game), who immediately could challenge La Salle's Steven Smith as the best player in the A-10.

Joining him in the lineup will likely be forward E.J. Drayton (8.7 ppg) and guards Mitchell Baldwin (7.5 ppg) and DeAngelo Alexander (a transfer from Oklahoma). Lutz said the word out of the adidas camp was that Alexander was playing at a "high level," and he should be ready to have an impact on the perimeter.

The other spot could be up for grabs, although the 49ers do have a potential gem in their recruiting class in 6-foot-9 JC transfer Courtney Williams, who averaged 12.1 boards a game last season.

"We think we'll be right there," Lutz said of the 49ers' first season in the A-10.

"The last nine years we've been so competitive in Conference USA, but not a lot of people, save those knowledgeable in the sport, have realized it. The average fan doesn't realize that Charlotte equates to success. We've been quietly competitive with higher-profile teams and that has prepared us for the A-10 move. We have a veteran team and that puts us in a good position."

Trust us, teams in the A-10 have noticed Charlotte.

"They immediately come in with the commitment that's second to none," said Saint Joseph's coach Phil Martelli, who compares the 49ers' arrival to Xavier's addition to the league in the mid-1990s. The Musketeers have been contenders for the league title ever since.

"I don't know how good they are for next season, but everybody knows how good Curtis Withers is," added Martelli, who could be coaching Withers on the U-21 U.S. national team in Argentina if Withers makes the squad.

"(Charlotte) is going to make the league that much more competitive and more difficult to win," said George Washington coach Karl Hobbs, whose Colonials were the league's lone NCAA Tournament representative last season after the league sent four teams to the NCAAs in 2004, including two (Saint Joseph's and Xavier) which made the Elite Eight.

GW figures to be a favorite to win the league again this season, but Charlotte and Xavier should be nipping at its heels.

"They've been consistently very, very good and they've got the best player coming into the league in Withers," Hobbs said.

Hobbs also knows how tough it will be to win at Charlotte.

"We played there and it's a tough place with a great crowd that loves their team," Hobbs said. "They've got a great record at home and it was tough for teams like Louisville and Cincinnati to win there."

Conversely, Martelli said the 49ers could struggle with the adjustment to the bandboxes at places like Hawk Hill, Fordham and St. Bonaventure.

"We've been able to win on the road in our league at UAB, at Cincinnati two years ago and teams in the A-10 won't fully understand how great our student crowd is," Lutz said. "Word will get around quickly. But I'm also realistic and know that there are tough venues, older buildings like at Fordham and Saint Joe's and that could be the equalizer for us."

The A-10 gets a lift with Charlotte's presence because of its NCAA Tournament profile in the past. But it also should know the 49ers under Lutz don't shy away from nonconference games that will raise the power rating. Charlotte hosts Indiana and Mississippi State and visits Wake Forest next season.

The assumption that Charlotte will come in and be a player right away was correct on the league's part. St. Louis, the other C-USA transplant, won't be a pushover, either, but the Billikens aren't an incoming force like the 49ers.

"St. Louis fits the profile of a team going into a new league, a team that had struggled a bit in its previous league and was looking for more of a comfortable fit and they should be with schools that are like them (catholic city schools) in Dayton and Xavier," Martelli said.

Xavier and Dayton play in big-time arenas. So, too, does St. Louis. The move to add SLU with Charlotte made sense for the A-10. For a league desperate to stand up amid the Big East and ACC along the Eastern seaboard, the A-10 couldn't have made better choices based on what was out there to add.

The coaches across the league will only regret Charlotte's addition because it means their chances of winning the conference got tougher.

– Andy Katz

 

Great to see this photo on the ESPN website.


Bobby Lutz and Charlotte are set to take the A-10 by storm.

Katz loves the 49ers, always has.

 

what number car does this little redneck drive? also, congrats on having katz say that you'll be at the top of the Anonymous-10....that is awesome! what a tough conference to win!

thought you guys hated katz? i've seen posts saying he is a tar heel fan....funny how things work out, huh?

 

Who has ever said that anyone hated Katz? He's always praised the Lutz and the 49ers. He wrote that the Alabama-Charlotte and Cincinnati-Charlotte games were two of the best he saw in person last season.

 

What the fuck are you talking about? Where is this post you're talking about. BTW, since you love to pick on the Niners, let us know what team you pull for.

 

i pull for any school that is happens to be playing UNC-C...not sure why, but probably b/c most of your fans talk all kinds of smack about how you would be a top tier acc team, and whine and cry about acc team not playing you....

then, when you actually get a favorable draw in the ncaa tourney, you friggin' blow it. but next season, when you are dominating the A10, i'll still read your crap about how you would also dominate the acc.

when you guys accept the fact that you are mid-major and quit trying to convince yourselves otherwise, you'll be much better off.

:229031_ha

 

You still didn't answer the damn question. That "any team playing UNC-C" crap is a bullshit copout.

 

Wow, what a whiney, jealous little bitch you are. That's pretty damn funny.
:bananalam

 

This guy only has a few posts and there all about the Niners. It's just another regular users alter ego. He won't tell his favorite team because that would give him away. Of course, now he'll probably just make up some bogus favorite team trying to be funny.

 

You are so cluelessly full of shit