Charlotte 49ers NCAA Basketball News

Shamarr Bowden scored 21 points and Charlotte's coach Bobby Lutz won his 200th career game in a 86-70 victory over North Carolina-Asheville in the teams' season opener Friday night.

Charlotte starting power forward Shamari Spears has been suspended for the season opener for breaking team rules.

Charlotte forward An'Juan Wilderness will miss two to four weeks with a strained left calf, while freshman guard Gokhan Sirin will serve a one-game suspension in Friday's season opener.

Final record: 21-9 Entering his 12th year as 49ers head coach, Bobby Lutz and the 49ers are looking to rebound off what was possibly the worst season of Lutz's career.

After a down season and only 11 victories, Coach Bobby Lutz will have a lot of new faces at UNC Charlotte.

They didn't know each other growing up in Cameroon. They became high school teammates in Little Rock, and teamed up for a Class 3A Arkansas championship.

Same old feeling about men's basketball in the Pacific West Conference. The consensus during yesterday's media day was that it's going to be another tough season ... starting at the top, where defending champion Brigham Young-Hawaii was the unanimous choice to repeat.

PHOENIX, Sept. 23 -- Tennessee Technological University issued the following news release: Former Tennessee Tech basketball standout Milone Clark is one of six players selected to participate in a rookie tryout camp for the legendary Harlem Globetrotters.

SCOUTING THE NEWCOMERS: Several newcomers could provide instant impact, starting in the frontcourt with Boston College transfer Shamari Spears, who averaged 9.6 points and 6.1 rebounds at Boston College .

Former Angelina College basketball All-American Lamont Mack has signed a contract to play professionally in Greece for AEK Athens, recognized as one of the elite teams in European basketball.

We continue our 1-347 countdown. Today, it's teams ranked 101st through 150th. We'll rank teams in groups of 50 until we get to the teams in the top 50, which will get full-fledged breakdowns.

Six of Duquesne 's eight scheduled televised men's basketball games this season will be against Atlantic 10 Conference opponents, the league announced today.

Former Charlotte 49er standout forward Lamont Mack has signed with AEK Athens in Greece.

Fans of UNC Charlotte athletics, rejoice. The football team is coming soon after a 60-plus year wait, and, better yet, the non-conference schedule has finally been released on Charlotte49ers.com after months of anticipation.

THE GOOD NEWS: Nearly everyone returns in 2008-09, including injured sophomores An'Juan Wilderness and Charles Dewhurst.

FINAL RECORD: 11-20, 5-11, 12th in the Atlantic 10. WHAT WENT RIGHT: Point guard DiJuan Harris exploded onto the scene in the A-10 and quickly became one of the best ball distributors in the conference -- and the nation.

Charlotte 's opening-round loss to St. Joe's in the Atlantic 10 tournament essentially summed up its season.

Charlotte 's opening-round loss to St. Joe's in the Atlantic 10 tournament essentially summed up its season.

Boston College transfer Shamari Spears was the Observer Piedmont Player of the Year as a sophomore at Salisbury High.

Jim Utter breaks down the Charlotte 49ers in our midsummer look-ahead to college basketball.