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Charlotte
Road to the Final Four.............................................................................................
Charlotte was poised in November to return to the NCAA Tournament, but needed to win the Conference USA in March to get its bid. Too many ups and downs to be assured of a at-large bid, the 49ers went out and won three straight in the CUSA tournament -- the final one over Cincinnati. Now that the 49ers are here, they arrive as hot as anyone in the country with nine wins in their final 10 games, including a victory over Cincinnati in the CUSA title game. This is Charlotte's first trip to the NCAAs without "UNC" attached to its name, but the 49ers have reached the NCAAs in three of the past four seasons.Player to Watch The 49ers boast one of the best freshmen in the nation in forward Rodney White, who may not stick around after the dance, but will take the 49ers as far as they go this season. White, ESPN.com's Freshman of the Year, averaged 19.4 points a game and 6.5 rebounds. At 6-9, White presents a matchup problem for teams who must decide whether to put a smaller player on him outside, where he's a 39 percent 3-point shooter and can takes his defender off the dribble, or put a bigger man on him to prevent him from posting up. With the Ball Five players average at least nine points and a sixth who gets eight points and eight boards a game in Cam Stephens. As a result, Charlotte was by far the highest scoring team in CUSA at 79.1 ppg. The offense goes through White, but Jobey Thomas (14.2 ppg), Demon Brown (11.8 ppg), James Zimmerman and Diego Guevara all get their share of shots and crash the boards for seconds and thirds.Defending the Ball Charlotte isn't going to put the clamps on anyone, but their rebounding will keep teams to one shot most trips down the court. The 49ers were also third in the conference in steals at 7.2 per game. Expect the 49ers to get in a shootout or two this week.Seed Analysis Exceeding the Seed None. Playing to Expectations Falling Short BRACKETOLOGY SCORE: .833 (1,000 is playing exactly to a team's historical seeding) Bracketology Report 1985-2000: Cornbread Maxwell's alma mater is dancing again for the fourth time in five years. The question is: Can Charlotte get past the second round for the first time since Maxwell led the 49ers to the 1977 Final Four? More likely is that the school formerly known as UNCC will make a first weekend exit. That has been Charlotte's history in every NCAA appearance other than 1977. Roster
 NCAA Basketball Championship Week It's March, which means the madness has started and invitations are being reserved throughout Championship Week.  Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories |  |
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