Atlantic 10 Conference Basketball Fans

Temple vs Charlotte Basketball Recap

Charlotte 74, Temple 64

After half a decade in the college basketball wilderness, the Charlotte 49ers just might be ready to re-emerge in a place called Bracketville. One win won't solve all of a program's problems, but on Wednesday night, a delighted home crowd might have seen the resurrection of a school's hardwood reputation.

Quietly yet unmistakably, Charlotte head coach Bobby Lutz has been one of the longer-serving bench bosses in the United States. Since 1998 - occasionally in the spotlight but recently immersed in obscurity - Lutz has been the only coach for the same school that reached the 1977 Final Four in Atlanta. While Charlotte hasn't sniffed that level of on-court excellence, the school did make the NCAAs more often than not in the first portion of Lutz's tenure. When the 49ers dwelt in Conference USA, they made four NCAA Tournament appearances in a five-season span from 2001 through 2005. Lutz was the maestro for athletic, high-energy teams that broke down opponents in the backcourt and on the wings.  

Then came the move to the Atlantic 10 in the fall of 2005, and suddenly, the cheering stopped in the Carolinas.

Ever since the transition from C-USA to the more Northeast-based A-10, Charlotte - perhaps because of the travel, and perhaps because of recruiting considerations (it's likely a complicated mix of those and numerous other factors) - hasn't been able to bottle up the magic it made in its old conference. Two NIT appearances are all the 49ers have to show for their cross-regional shift, and as this season began, there was little reason to suggest that Lutz's lineup would be able to lift Charlotte to a newly prominent place in the A-10 pecking order.

Wednesday's 10-point waxing of league-leading Temple will go a long way toward changing that.

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While Rhode Island is making a push for an at-large NCAA bid in the A-10, Charlotte is now a factor in the conference after ousting Coach Fran Dunphy's Owls at Dale F. Halton Arena. This transformative triumph for the 49ers was primarily the result of a wise-beyond-his-years and well-above-his-pay-grade performance by sophomore guard Derrio Green. The product of Panama City, Fla., entered this game averaging just 12.1 points per contest, but against the Owls - a terrific defensive opponent, it should be said - Green went wild. He threw down a game-high 26 points, but even more important was the fact that he rang up huge numbers while being efficient and sound.

Green hit 9 of 15 shots from the field, a 60 percent clip. He went a strong 4 of 9 from 3-point range, grading out to 44 percent, a terrific rate for long-distance shooting. He hit 4 of 5 foul shots and, best of all, committed just two turnovers against five assists. Scoring-minded guards (think Allen Iverson) will often register big numbers in the box score, but at the expense of many shots and hence, many possessions. Green didn't disrupt or distort Charlotte's offensive flow, and that's why the 49ers were able to outwork the Owls, a reality manifested in the difference in free throws. While Temple attempted only 11 foul shots and made seven of them, Charlotte made 31 trips to the charity stripe and nailed 24 free throws. A plus-17 differential in a game decided by 10 points would stand to be very decisive.

It was, and as a result, the Bobby Lutz Show, otherwise known as Charlotte basketball, is suddenly a factor again in the Atlantic 10.

By: Matt Zemek
A10-fans.com Staff Writer