Charlotte 49ers Basketball Season Preview
The college hoops season is right around the corner, and Busting Brackets is here to whet your basketball-starved appetite. Over the next five weeks, we are publishing season previews team by team, conference by conference, to offer a glimpse into the upcoming season. Busting Brackets is giving you the lowdown on the biggest storylines, offseason changes and x-factors for each team and each league as we roll into the 2012-13 season. Our complete season preview archive can be accessed here. Buckle up, peeps.
Charlotte 49ers
| Last Season | 13-17 (5-11 A-10) Lost in opening round of A-10 tournament to Saint Joseph’s No postseason appearance |
| Key Returning Players: | Chris Braswell, F/C DeMario Mayfield, G/F Pierria Henry, G |
| Key Additions: | J.T. Thompson, F (Virginia Tech transfer) Willie Clayton, F (Thomasville HS) Darion Clark, F (Oak Hill Academy) Shawn Lester, G (Mooresville Senior HS) Denzel Ingram, G (Chapel Hill HS) Ivan Benkovic, G (Croatia / United Faith Christian Academy) |
| Key Losses: | Javarris Barnett, F Jamar Briscoe, G (Transferred to Mountain State) K.J. Sherrill, F (Transferred to Augusta State) |
| Top Non-Conference Games: | Dec. 5 @ Davidson Dec. 14 @ Miami Dec. 22 vs. Florida State (Charlotte Bobcats arena) Jan. 2 vs. UNC Asheville |
| Top Conference Games: | Jan. 9 vs. LaSalle Jan. 23 vs. Xavier Feb. 9 vs. VCU Feb. 24 vs. Temple Mar. 9 vs. Saint Joseph’s |
| Breakout Player: | Shawn Lester and Denzel Ingram. The incoming freshmen guards are better than most national recruiting analysts realize. Lester notched MVP honors during the 2012 East-West All-Star Game at Greensboro Coliseum, scoring 20 points and leading the West team to a 10-point win. Ingram, in the same game, led all scorers with 23 points and was the toughest defensive assignment on the floor. Two in-state products, Lester and Ingram (an all-state selection as a senior) were both 1500 point scorers in high school. Charlotte will count upon the freshman duo for instant offense off the bench in back of Pierria Henry and DeMario Mayfield. Don’t be surprised if they answer the bell sooner than expected. |
| X-Factor: | Health. In July, senior Chris Braswell broke the fifth metatarsal bone in his left foot, an injury that will likely force the star 49ers big man to sit out the school’s three-game exhibition slate in the Bahamas. Charlotte can only pray he doesn’t miss more time beyond that. A third-team All-Atlantic 10 selection, Braswell was the team’s leading scorer and rebounder last season. The 49ers need Braswell at no less than 100-percent and can ill-afford to be without him at all over a prolonged stretch. Virginia Tech transfer J.T. Thompson, meanwhile, has watched his career derailed by injuries. The sixth-year senior and VPI alum, who will attend one year of graduate school at Charlotte, has suffered two ACL tears, one on each knee, as well as an inguinal hernia over his career. In all, Thompson has missed two different seasons and the first ten games from another due to injuries. Braswell and Thompson will anchor a 49ers frontcourt expected to carry the team next season. But if the two embattled big men can’t stay on the floor, Charlotte’s season is in danger before it even begins. |
| est Case: | Braswell and Thompson stay healthy for the entire season. The duo is one of the better frontcourt tandems in the A-10. Lester and Ingram contribute immediately, providing a need offensive spark to a backcourt that floundered scoring the basketball at an efficient clip last season. The defense, which was unreliable a season ago, develops consistency and tightens up on the perimeter. The 49ers finish .500 in league play, and snatch a lower tier postseason berth at either the CBI or CIT. It’s hard to envision a best-case scenario for Charlotte better than that. |
| Worst Case: | The 49ers don’t avoid the injury bug. Braswell never fully recovers from his foot injury. Thompson, playing on two bum knees, is a shell of his former self, not the impact player Charlotte had hoped for. The prized freshmen prove they’re not yet ready for the limelight. The 49ers are buried in a deep conference, perhaps the deepest the A-10 has ever been. They finish the season in the bottom-quarter of the league, minus a signature win. |
| Projected Finish: | 14-16 (4-12 Atlantic-10) Lose in opening round of A-10 Tourney |