Moving on...UNC Charlotte

My high school football coach used to always say that we had one-half day to relish in a win or suffer through a loss, then we needed to put it behind us and move on (I'm pretty sure that someone more famous than him came up with that long ago).

I've already gotten enough critical feedback of my last post because it was too praising of Davidson's losing effort. While I won't go out and compare Davidson to a pesky mosquito that keeps annoying the big powers and refuses to be swatted, I don't mind giving the Wildcats credit for overcoming their poor play in the first half, the momentum shifts arbitrarily imposed by the referees and the overall excellent play of one of the nation's best teams. Davidson won the second half by five and I don't mind taking that to the bank. I'll let everyone else moan about how we want more than moral victories.

But here's the main issue that worries me in all of this. Many Davidson fans, especially students, left yesterday's game with the perception that this season was pretty much over until March. They were upset that their hours of camping out in front of Baker resulted in two high-profile close losses, and that's all she wrote.

But Davidson has arguably one of its biggest games of the season in three days down the highway at its arch-rival Charlotte. With the distractions of Duke/UNC, buses weren't arranged for this game. After all of the planning for tailgating and pregame parties for Saturday, everyone has forgotten that the Wildcats will need to bring just as substantial a crowd to Halton Arena to make their presence felt.

The 49ers beat Wake Forest in the Bobcats Arena last week, but the game that they circled back in August was DEC. 5 DAVIDSON. The Wildcats absolutely embarrassed Charlotte last year with a 79-51 drubbing in front of 5,536 fans at Belk Arena. Davidson's home gym was packed to the brim with fans clad in black, and the energy from the stands seamlessly translated into winning energy on the court. This year, Charlotte has planned a "greenout" to get all of Halton Arena looking like a sea of Charlotte green. Davidson fans will need to come and represent the school loudly.

This year's Charlotte team is led by senior guard Leemire Goldwire. Although the Wildcats held him to a 3-10 FG night last year, Goldwire went off from three-land two years ago when the 49ers pulled out a 2OT 85-81 win over Davidson. The 49ers also have a very capable leaping forward in 6-6 freshman Anjuan Wilderness. Wilderness scored 21 points on 9-13 shooting against Wake Forest, and is averaging 10.8 ppg this season.