Following an ugly 67-48 loss to Nebraska in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), Charlotte (20-14 final record in 2007-08) officially begins life without Leemire Goldwire.

It won't be easy. Goldwire, a tough-as-nails guard with deep range on his jumper, will be sorely missed. He finished his brilliant career with 1,677 points and was the unquestioned leader of this year's Niners. Goldwire showed those leadership skills one last time in Charlotte's locker room minutes after the blowout loss to Cornhuskers.

Goldwire called his teammates together and said: "I told (them) that even though my career ended tonight, their offseason had just begun. I told them that they had to start working now, whether it's on strength or ball-handling. I told them that they had to get better."

While Goldwire, a guy with anywhere-in-the-area-code range on his jump shot, was the unquestioned leader of the 49ers, a pair of 6-7 JUCO imports -- Lamont Mack (12.8 ppg) and Charlie Coley (8.7 ppg) -- filled gaping holes on Charlotte's roster in 2007-08 and will be the foundation of next year's squad.

Unlike this season when the Niners often stood around and waited for Goldwire to work his magic, next year's squad has a chance to be a much more balanced attack. That's because in addition to Mack and Coley, Charlotte coach Bobby Lutz welcomes back wing An'Juan Wilderness (8.1 ppg), who has three years of eligibility left, and both of the team's primary point guards (Michael Gerrity and Dijuan Harris).

And there are promising newcomers in 6-7 Javarris Barnett, who redshirted in 2007-08 to bulk up his frame (he's up to 230 pounds), and 6-3 shooting guard Shamarr Bowden, a 6-3 shooting guard from The Miller Academy, a prep school in Charlottesville, Va., who originally committed to Virginia Tech but will be a Niner instead.

Lutz also has a couple scholarships left to give during this spring's late-signing period. He'll likely use one of them on a junior-college guard to give him two options -- Bowden and a JUCO gem -- to replace Goldwire's lost perimeter pop.

If Lutz does that, then Charlotte should remain a first-division Atlantic 10 team -- just like this past season.

Copyright (C) 2008 The Sports Xchange. All Rights Reserved.