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Atlantic 10 Opening Round Recap(11) Massachusetts 59, (6) Charlotte 56
The Big Picture: Going into the A-10 Tournament, Charlotte seemed as likely to be a participant in Saturday's championship game as the average McDonald's fry cook has a chance of winning Top Chef. That being said, the 49ers weren't necessarily expected to bow out of the A-10 postseason derby so meekly. Yet, they did. The Good: In our preview, we said UMass senior guard Ricky Harris was a special player. All the kid did was go off for 24 points in the Minutemen's upset, a game in which Harris was by far the best player on the floor. The Bad: Chucking away from three seems to be the most common affliction that college hoops teams suffer from in March. The 49ers fell prey to it on Tuesday night, throwing up 26 triples, but making only 5 of them. That's just not going to get it done.
The Ugly: The 49ers just didn't play well in front of their home crowd, such as it was. Less than 2,000 people were on hand for Charlotte's loss, making the 9,000-seat Halton Arena seem mostly empty. Why do we play these opening round games, again?
What’s Next If the rumor mill is to be believed, the next job for Charlotte is to find a new coach since it seems that Bobby Lutz is out. As for the Minutemen, they might seem to be little more than cannon fodder for the A-10's three-seed Richmond, but know this: UMass lost in OT (70-63) in its only meeting with Richmond this season.
By: Tim Coyne |