It's Official

Cougars Clip the Buccaneers 72-67

CSU has cavity problems

Final Score: College of Charleston 72, Charleston Southern 67
Top Performers: Andrew Lawrence 18 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists
                              Saah Nimley 20 points

This had all the elements of a trap game. The Cougars were playing an easy-to-overlook Charleston Southern team following a big victory over a ranked opponent. The CSU Buccaneers were playing inside their own "sandbox", with a raucous crowd behind them, to avenge several close losses they had endured at the hands of the Cougs over the past few years. The Bucs threw a number of different defensive looks at CofC in an attempt to rattle the team visiting the Dome. At times it worked well and at other times the Cougars showed enough versatility in their offense to take advantage.

First there was the trap at mid court. As long as the ball eventually found its way into the hands of Andrew "El Capitan" Lawrence this strategy was mostly ineffective. Advantage: Cougars. When Lawrence did cross half court the Bucs would decide whether to go man or zone. For most of the first half it was the 2-3 zone; keeping Baru pinned against the baseline and away from the basket and daring the Cougars to shoot. Not a bad strategy by CSU because so far the Cougars' offense has relied on extra attention being given to Adjehi down low. Two ways the Cougars were able to capitalize: finding Willis in the "cavity of the zone" (thanks Coach Kresse) and swinging the ball around the perimeter to get an open shot before CSU could catch up. When Baru did get the ball he did a really fantastic job of recognizing when to pass and when to attack the basket. He got fouled twice going to the rim but made 3 of 4 free throws. Let's see thats one, two and three things Wojcik said he wanted to see Adjehi improve upon this week. Another strong showing by our only true big man right now.

As the game moved on it became evident that this would be a game of runs and momentum shifting. Maybe it was the crowd and the adrenaline but the tempo of the first 15 minutes of play was insane. Haven't seen the Cougars go that speed since the UMass game last year. We were able to attack that zone though and shoot 53% for the half. Problem was we allowed the Bucs to shoot 58% in the same period.

Another example of Charleston Southern throwing something at the Cougars that we haven't seen yet was the offensive set they ran. They would spread out their players, which prevented us from double-teaming the ball handler, and then would have Nimley or Harper drive to the basket. It allowed CSU's guards to get man-to-man coverage and they were successful at getting to the basket before Baru could slide over to protect the rim. Advantage: Bucs...for the first half.

The Cougars led by as many as 10 in the first 20 minutes, the Bucs by as many as 2. We went into halftime tied at 41. In the second half, Coach Radebaugh and the Bucs played a lot more man (probably to stop getting gouged by three pointers). Right away the Cougars were able to run their own offense at a comfortable pace and went on an 11-1 run. The Cougars also locked up on defense (and maybe CSU went a little cold) to defend the perimeter better. They forced Nimley and Harper to either give the ball up or shoot a contested shot. In the second half the Bucs shooting percentage plummeted back to Earth; 26% on field goals attempts and 1-13 on three pointers.

Of course we should have known after last year's contest that CSU would not go down quietly. As Wojcik noted afterward, "well we were up 12 and in that situation you don't want to shoot too early in the shot clock." Well said coach, but the offense went a little stagnant in the final minutes. Throw in a few turnovers and CSU went on a furious last ditch comeback effort. They drove recklessly to the basket to get to the line and Harper nailed their one three of the half to get within striking distance. Yet again, Lawrence was able to ice the game at the free throw line and seal the Cougar victory.

It was the tightly contested inner-city (county) game we anticipated. Great in-game adjustments by the coaching staff and good to see every player contribute a little bit.

A few more notes:

• CSU is so aggressive going for the offensive rebounds. They're not big but their guards chase down their own shots and they got a lot of long rebounds (that happens when you miss a lot of threes)
• Willis Hall, not to be outdone, was also a beast on the offensive glass
• CSU was the 30th best rebounding team in the nation going into last nights game. The Cougars out rebounded them by 12
• There's a reason CSU's field goal average is low. Aside from their backcourt, the rest of the team attempted a lot of bad shots. Even when the team was hot they were shooting some shots that barely grazed the rim.
• Anthony Thomas had a rough game. Five of the teams 15 turnovers on his own, at least two of which were at critical times. On the plus side he played 39 minutes and his offense was solid.
• Stitt also had turnover issues but he went 6-7 from the field for 18 points before going out with a leg cramp in the second half. Out of those 7 attempts, maybe one was at the rim.
• Great play to end the 1st half. Baru with his go-to hook shot and sunk it just as time expired.
• Loved the decision to have Theo guard Nimley

SoCon/Big South Challenge: Cougars Take on CSU Bucs

Charleston Southern (1-4, 0-0)

College of Charleston (3-2, 0-0)

CSU Fieldhouse

Tipoff at 7:30 on ESPN3

As the ACC/Big Ten Challenge tips off on ESPN tonight, the Southern Conference finds themselves on the short end of a manhandling in the unofficial SoCon/Big South Challenge. The SoCon is a putrid 1-6 against Big South teams this year with the lone victory being Citadel's win over VMI to start the season. Two SoCon teams get a chance to reverse that trend tomorrow when the Cougars travel up the road to take on the Charleston Southern Buccaneers and Wofford faces off against Winthrop.

Last year the Cougars were caught with their pants down by a much more talented CSU team than any they were used to playing in the teams' annual showdown at North Charleston Coliseum. Luckily, Trent Wiedeman and Antwaine Wiggins were there in the closing seconds to prevent the Bucs from finishing off a ten point comeback in the 2nd half. This time around we won't have those two to bail us out.

Watch the above video. Look at how much different our defense looks compared to now. In that clip we're sagging off the shooters, not boxing out and not rotating at all. This was the first time I had watched a highlight video from last year because CSU is the first team we're playing that we have seen before. The Cougars look like an entire different team now defensively. 

Which brings us to why that game was so close last year. The Charleston Southern Bucs rebound at a very high level and shoot a lot of threes. I took the time to underline those because they're very important characteristics of the team. Last year the Cougars nearly lost this game at home because they gave up 16 offensive rebounds and allowed the Bucs to shoot 40% from deep. So far this season CSU has displayed many of the same tendencies.

Despite not being a particularly tall team (the front line is 6'5, 6'6 and 6'7), the Buccaneers are one of the best rebounding teams in the entire country. Even while going against the likes of Arizona and Alabama, CSU still averages 41.4 rebounds a game: good for 30th in the NCAA. Out of those 41 rebounds, 17 are on the offensive glass. The team also likes to shoot from outside. Last year they were a very solid three-point shooting squad but they haven't gotten hot this year. So far their 31.9% from deep is short of last seasons average and it is contributing to the very poor field goal percentage CSU is sporting on the season. In four games this year Charleston Southern is hitting 36.7% of their shots which is worse than all but 12 schools. 

That bodes well for the 2012-2013 Cougars because if there's two things we do well it's rebound and make our opponents shoot poorly. Last year the thorn in our side was the minuscule backcourt of  5 ft 8 inch Saah Nimley and 6'1 Arlon Harper. Those two killed the Cougars at the rim and especially in the final 10 minutes and they're both a year more experienced as sophomores. Stitt was coming off the bench the last time these teams played and he did a great job of limiting each of those guys, especially on the last play. 

The game is being played for the first time in years at the CSU Fieldhouse, which looks like it fits less people than CofC's pool. This is one of the biggest games the Bucs will host this year and the place will be a unique environment to be sure. Wojcik said the game's going to be a real fight so let's hope we can jump out to the lead early and hold onto it this year. Go Cougars!

Hall, Cougars Upend Baylor for First Road Victory

Willis, only giving up 7 inches of height advantage to Isaiah Austin 

Final Score: College of Charleston 63, Baylor 59

Top Performers: 

Willis Hall 12 points (8-10 FT), 6 rebounds

Adjehi Baru 8 points, 15 rebounds, 39 minutes

Andrew Lawrence 10 points, 7 assists

Wow, what a night. First off I'm just really excited for the players and for Coach Wojcik. Baylor hadn't lost a home game to a non-conference opponent since 2009 and this wasn't much of a fluke victory. Willis Hall was tasked with guarding a seven-footer and scored the final six points to break a tied game, Adjehi Baru played all but one minute of the game and hauled in 15 rebounds against a front line of future pros and Andrew Lawrence was masterful in his point guard duties. Credit Wojcik for making the necessary game plan tweaks with Trent being out and credit the Cougars for executing the plan. CofC crowded the paint to limit Baylor's inside scoring opportunities (while simultaneously taking advantage of Brady Heslip's absence), stayed out of foul trouble and hit shots when it mattered. 

Watching ESPN's highlights of the game one might think we won the upset by getting hot from deep. This would typically be the case in a Cremins team, but it is unfair to think that the game was decided by a surge of offense by the Cougars. This game came down to the core principles that Wojcik has been preaching all year: defense and rebounding. The Cougars did hit seven threes in the first half, one shy of their game high this year, but it was because the shots were wide open. Lawrence did a great job of facilitating and when Walton would back off, the captain took his own shot. Just as well the Cougars didn't get three-ball happy in the second half when Baylor made their run. The Bears were a lot better in the last 20 minutes about guarding the perimeter but the Cougars didn't force anything. CofC finished shooting 9 of 18 from deep for the game. 

The bread and butter of this upset was the defense and rebounding of the much smaller Cougars. Adjehi mentioned after the game that the plan was to keep Baylor's bigs off the block and not letting Austin and Jefferson score over them. Willis Hall did his typical blue-collar Charles Barkley impression by using his backside to block out Austin and hold him to just five rebounds. However the "Man of the Game" goes to Adjehi Baru for his effort on both sides of the court. With Trent out, Baru needed to be an offensive option in order to keep Baylor's defense honest. He went 3-for-3 in the first half, scoring over defenders and looking very polished. He also went 2-for-2 from the free throw line when it mattered. Just as importantly Adjehi kept himself out of foul trouble and was able to stay on the floor. 

Yet again the Cougars managed to out-rebound a larger team and kept their opponent's shooting percentage under 40% for the game. Charleston themselves shot 48.8% including that nice clip from deep. 

In the pregame post I mentioned how Stitt, Thomas and the bench players would be the x-factors. Luckily, the bench played fewer minutes than I imagined because Hall and Adjehi only rarely got caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Still, in limited time, Nori Johnson and Matt Sundberg both had strong showings. Nori hit 3-of-3 deep balls including one in transition and one to stop a Cougars' offensive quagmire. He also had a sweet block on Pierre Jackson's drive to the basket. Matt was the sub for Baru when he came out and played a total of 12 minutes. In that time he played solid defense and hit a big three. I said it last week and I'll say it again, letting Matt move around more is making him a more effective player. When he at least stops by under the basket the defense has to adjust, then he does a good job of getting open on the perimeter and finishing the play. Sunny D is starting to look more like a "stretch 4" and less like a spot-up shooter.

Anthony Thomas had a very quiet 35 minutes of playing time and even more easily overlooked 11 points. In the second half he had a scoring streak similar to the one against Boston College where he went to the now-patented running jump hook. He did end up having that mismatch against a guard. Stitt again was troubled by turnovers, this time over dribbling on occasion, but he also continues to play the best man defense against opposing guards.

The turnovers (17) and free throw shooting numbers (12-20) again reared their ugly heads but at least the Cougars proved they could win in spite of those issues. They've been addressed on this blog and hopefully by the coaching staff. 

That's about all I got. Great win for the Cougars and for the SoCon, who has a chance today to pick up some more good victories today. The wins in the Charleston Classic were hard to come by but the team is at least being consistent with Wojcik's preachings. Tonight was a testament to how successful this team could eventually be. 

Cougars Take on #21 Baylor in First Road Game

Baylor (4-1, 0-0)
College of Charleston (2-2, 0-0)
Ferrell Center
Tipoff at 9pm EST on ESPN3

Hope everyone had a fun Thanksgiving and a productive Black Friday. Now you all can spend the rest of your weekend sitting around in your sweatpants and watching college basketball (BCS standings are locked and the NFL is tomorrow people). Unfortunately I was unable to attend Thanksgiving dinner at the Wojcik's house with the rest of the team but I'm sure I was with them in spirit as they flew into Texas yesterday.

This blogger spent Thanksgiving cheering on another Baylor product, Robert Griffin III and my Redskins, but now I'm shedding the RGIII jersey and have clothed myself in unwashed College of Charleston maroon. I got a really good look at the Baylor Bears from my time at the Charleston Classic and if you follow my shamelessly plugged Twitter page you know that I put them in high regard. They just have SO many weapons on their team.

Pierre Jackson will go tit-for-tat with Andrew Lawrence in a battle of the SoCon and Big 12's best point guards. Brady Heslip is a lights out three point shooter that the Cougars can't afford to leave open as he dances around screen after screen. The reason Heslip is able to get so many wide open looks is because defenses tend to get sucked in while guarding the Bears' massive front court duo of 7-footer Isaiah Austin and 6-9 Cory Jefferson. This might be a game in which we miss Trent Wiedeman a little bit. Hell I kind of miss David Wishon.

And really that's where the Cougars will have to hope and pray they can survive. Having Trent at least gave us a puncher's chance. Without him, Willis and Adjehi will both be seriously overmatched in size under the basket. Theo and Matt coming off the bench doesn't provide any more matchup solutions. If our forward rotation can at least neutralize Austin and Jefferson, then our guard and bench play will have to outplay that of Baylor.

Anthony Stitt, Nori Johnson and Anthony Thomas may be the x-factors for this game. Sitt will likely be matched up against AJ Walton, who will pressure the sophomore guard when he shoots but can't keep up with him when he drives to the basket. Anthony Thomas (assuming he stays at the 3) will have physical advantages against whichever guard in Baylor's three-guard lineup he is faced with. Thomas stepped up big in the last half of the Boston College game and he needs to stay aggressive offensively because he might have the weakest defender on him. Nori is the first offensive option off the bench. If he finds himself against Baylor's second string he might be able to get some good looks from three.

Willis mentioned in the game preview that facing the tough schedule that the Cougars have to start the season will pay dividends in conference play. It teaches the team what they need to work on sooner than if the schedule was a bunch of cream puff teams early. This is going to be a real tough road game for the Cougars against a top-tier national program. Right now all we can hope for is development from the players and smart team play. Anything else is just gravy. Go Cougars!

What I Learned at the Charleston Classic

Writing the title to this post reminds me of all those vague and elaborate essays I wrote on the first day of school entitled "What I Did Over Summer Vacation". Except I guess this is kind of the opposite; I'm returning from school. Unlike those grade school essays I can assure you that I accomplished quite a bit at the 5th Annual Charleston Classic.

Even though the Cougars didn't perform up to expectations (what SoCon basketball team is?), the trip was well worth the high-level brand of basketball I was fortunate enough to watch. Colorado was your eventual champion, defeating Dayton, Baylor and Murray State along the way, but other All-Tournament performers like Isaiah Canaan and Pierre Jackson provided entertainment all weekend. There was a lot to take in so we're switching to power outline format:

• Trent Wiedeman will miss/be limited for an important stretch of OOC games
• When Trent pulled up suddenly while jogging down the court, there was a collective wince from the crowd at TD Arena. As if not having our other All-SoCon performer wasn't bad enough during that Auburn game, the fates decided to make things a bit tougher on the Cougars. We can all speculate as to how long "indefinite" means until we hear more from the the school, but an ankle injury to our best inside player will hurt in the short term. 
• There's just one conference game between now and January 5th. That out-of-conference stretch includes games at Baylor on Friday and against Louisville in Charleston two weeks from today. It's already evident that the offense moves through Trent and he's one half of our interior defense. If he misses significant time, the Cougars become very thin and small all of the sudden. Willis and Adjehi did a great job Sunday but Wojcik is going to have to do a lot of tinkering to get the most out of his lineup against the BIG Cards and Bears.
• Theo Johnson and Matt Sundberg can contribute in spurts
• Out of everything that went down this weekend, the most pleasant surprises (especially in light of Trent's injury) were the performances by our bench forwards. Theo especially, who looked lost in his first game against Towson, really came on and can contribute with his defense and occasional three-point shooting. Johnson amassed 8 blocks over the weekend and looked more comfortable at the free throw line. He's a great one-one-one defender and Wojcik's decision to substitute the freshman in for defensive plays down the stretch against BC proved to be a wise one.
• Sunny D will always have his liabilities on defense but he was a huge factor in the Auburn game. The craziest part was that it wasn't even his shooting that made the difference. Matt got a couple of big offensive rebounds, played around the basket and had a steal in just 10 minutes. Time will tell but I think the coaching change might actually be good for Matt. Offensively he's not being asked to exclusively spot-up on the arc which accounts for the rebounds. On defense, when the Cougars double-team, Matt can use his length on the perimeter and gets more help bodying up the post players. 
• Andrew Lawrence also makes a big difference
• Senior, leading-scorer, team captain. Hurts the team when he's not playing. I think him missing the middle game with a stomach virus was a reminder to fans and the team how important Andrew is to achieving our goals this season. 
• Adjehi Baru may have had his breakout game
• Adjehi puts a ton of pressure on himself. He works incredibly hard and he's really bought in to playing defense and rebounding at a superior level. Through three games, Baru was struggling offensively. Especially in the St Johns game where no one could make a shot, Adjehi was routinely missing shots from inside 6 feet. With Trent out against Boston College, our center played a complete game. He was on the floor for 38 minutes, played his usual excellent defense, made his shots and "did the dirty work to get Willis his 11 rebounds" (Wojcik's words not mine). On Thursday an NBA scout asked me why Baru wasn't shooting as much when he had such a nice stroke last year. My guess was it's a confidence thing, deferring to the scorers to finish a well-executed offensive possession. Whatever the reason, seeing him make shots and smile was encouraging heading into this tough stretch of games.
• The offense is struggling, rebounding and defense are great: Coach is well-aware of this
• Wojcik mentioned in this week's podcast (watch it here) that the offense is still too predictable and the guys need to do more than just swing the ball around the perimeter or dump it into the post. That includes more penetration, more inside-out ball movement and more motion by the guys. Coach is confident that these things will come. In the meantime the defense and the rebounding are vastly improved. The Cougars have outrebounded every team they have played so far and, with the exception of St Johns, they have held their opponents to a lower shooting percentage than themselves. Even the free throw shooting got better! My guess is it was the visit from Rick Barry. 
• So far the SoCon is performing at near record lows this season
• The Southern Conference is on track to rank 28th out 33 conferences in RPI this year. The middle-of-the-road teams are struggling against their peers (The SoCon as a whole is 5-28 against D1 opponents at the time I'm writing this), the good teams are faltering (Davidson lost to Milwaukee) and the teams can't close out games. Even the most avid conference realignment fans couldn't have called a start this dreadful.
• In order to defeat Baylor this week, the Cougars only need to stop Isaiah Austin, Pierre Jackson, Cory Jefferson, AJ Walton and Brady Heslip...

• Any one of those guys can star against an opponent. You've got the Big 12 Pre Season Player of the Year, a surefire NBA Draft lottery pick, a versatile forward, a lockdown defender and a sharpshooter. Jackson, Jefferson and Heslip each had a big day in the Charleston Classic and that's not even including the sort of game-breaking plays a three-point shooting 7-footer like Isaiah Austin can inflict 
• St Johns, Boston College and Auburn will be better this year. 
• Big East teams will have trouble with the wealth of athleticism and length on St Johns roster. Boston College's collection of five starting freshman from 2011 are a year more experienced and Ryan Anderson is a player. Auburn will upset a few SEC teams.
• Murray State won't have another magical year, but Isaiah Canaan will lead them to the top of the OVC again

• Ed Daniel and Dexter Fields also impressed me this weekend but for my money Canaan is the best point guard in the country.
• Dayton fans travel better than any other mid-major program I know of
• The Flyer faithful replace the George Mason Patriots as the largest fanbase to follow their team to Charleston. They filled the arena for all three Dayton games and had enough leftovers to help supplement some solid crowds at the other games. I've heard for a long time that Dayton is one of the premier basketball towns in the country and this tournament proved that their fans are mad outside the month of March. Murray State gets an honorable mention
• The strength of next year's Charleston Classic will largely depend on who the final two teams are
• ESPN has already announced six of the eight teams in the 2013 Charleston Classic: Clemson, Georgia, Nevada, Alabama-Birmingham, New Mexico and Temple. That's a solid, if not a bit underwhelming field for next year. One of the teams will likely be out of the host Southern Conference and who knows who the other could be. Cremins and the rest of the Classic board talked about the credibility of bringing in a Top 25 team like Baylor for this year's tournament. Hopefully the organizers can bring in another. 
• The King Kresse Charleston Classic Superlatives
• Best Trash Talker - Baylor's AJ Walton who continually chirped stuff like ALL BY YO SELF to whoever he was guarding. I think TD Arena eventually caught on because they would go silent whenever Walton was on defense
• Grittiest Performance - Frankie Sullivan's injury on Thursday is still fresh in my head. He hit the scorers table SO hard that a lot of us in the audience were expecting the medic team to trot onto the court with the stretcher. Luckily (I guess), Sullivan broke the tumble with his elbow first. A gash that nearly caused Coach Barbee to lose his dinner and 25 stitches later, Sullivan torched us for 20 points...in just the 2nd half.
• Worst way to close out a game and still win - Against Baylor; Colorado shot 4-18 from the free throw line, missed their final six shots, gave up a pinpoint, full court, Grant to Laettner football pass that landed in the hands of the person it was destined for, who got the shot off...and the Buffs still won. 
• Best Hair - Murray State's Ed Daniel - the refs couldn't miss an afro that big drop to the floor. Daniel got a lot of positive calls thrown his direction when him and his hair were on defense
• Best Name - St John's Sir'Dominic Pointer is... THE RUNNER UP because his twin sister is named Miz'Unique Pointer. 
• Best dunk that didn't count - Andre Roberson had a filthy slam over the defender in the championship game that would've have been a SportsCenter and #POSTERIZED highlight had it not been called an offensive foul. Blake Griffin knows how that goes. 

Cougars Fall to Auburn, Drop to 0-2 in Charleston Classic

Final Score: Auburn 55, College of Charleston 51
Top Performers: Frankie Sullivan 24 pts, 5 rebs
                             Matt Sundberg 8 pts, 3 rebs (10 minutes)

Last night CofC dropped their second home game in as many days as the Tigers of Auburn held a comfortable enough cushion to outlast the poor-shooting and turnover plagued Charleston Cougars. Without Andrew Lawrence (who was too sick to attend the game) the Cougars were left with just one primary ball-handler in Anthony Stitt, who uncharacteristically had six turnovers with zero assists. The team also struggled from the free throw line yet again with 55.6% shooting from the stripe for the night.

The Tigers were led by 5th year senior Frankie Sullivan. In the night cap of Thursday's slate of games, Sullivan dove head first for a loose ball into the boards with a crash that could probably be heard on campus. He laid on the ground for some time, punching the court in pain, before being carried off and receiving 25 stitches on his elbow. It shows a lot of heart by the Auburn captain to come back on the court less than 24 hours later and put up 24 very gritty points.

Once again the Cougars were unable to knock down shots. Auburn's defense, outside of maybe in transition, was nothing worse than what St John's threw at us and the Cougs still couldn't convert good looks into points. Maybe it's the optimist talking but I can't see how this could be a regular trend over the course of the season. We know guys like Trent Wiedeman and Anthony Stitt can make the shots they're taking: we saw it last year. Anthony Thomas is more of an unknown commodity but from the exhibition games up until now he has not shown that he's the type of player to take contested shots or volume shoot. Those three combined shot 9-30 for the game.

The sky isn't falling despite the frustrations of the fans, players and coaching staff. This tournament is the first real test of how player's perform in the new Wojcik system: defensively and offensively. The Cougars actually held Auburn to a lower shooting percentage (35.8%) from the field than they themselves shot (38.3%). Adjehi Baru and the Cougars also out-rebounded Auburn 42-26 including 6 more offensive boards. Normally these stats are indicators of a victory, but the Cougars' most glaring weaknesses were the free throw shooting (10-18), zero fast break points and especially the 19 turnovers (nearly double what Auburn had).

Fortunately, the Cougars are improving in one area that I thought would be an issue after the first few games: production off the bench. Nori Johnson has been the Cougar's best scoring option this tournament. He was the leading scorer off the bench in Thursday's game and in starting for Lawrence in last nights game he had 7 points, 4 rebounds and two assists. Theo Johnson has looked leaps and bounds better in consecutive games after he struggled against Towson. He once again played major minutes for the Cougars with Willis in foul trouble and Trent getting injured. Despite their similarities in athletic skills, Theo already looks like a more polished version of James Carlton who can give good production in limited time (6 points, 5 rebounds and 3 blocks in 26 mins last night).

Finally, what more can you say about Matt Sundberg? I was admittedly worried when he entered the game in the first half. The team needed points but Matt's liabilities on defense didn't seem like the antidote to stop the bleeding. Sunny D immediately went to work, getting two big offensive rebound putbacks, a steal and a made three to get the Cougars right back in the game. He was the definition of what you want from your bench players; he did the little things to help the team, didn't hurt us on defense and got the crowd and the team fired up. A lot of us thought Matt was in the doghouse with the new coach in town, but Wojcik said afterward that the concussion suffered by Sundberg in the preseason had the team cautious about bringing him on too quickly.

Right now the Cougars need to use this day of rest to regroup and refocus. It's been a trying two days and the team is real beat up. I'm keeping especially close tabs on Trent's injury. After the game, David Wishon and Canyon Barry were essentially carrying Trent through the hallways underneath TD Arena as the rest of the team huddled up after the game. That would obviously be a huge blow to morale if Trent were to miss significant time and if he needs to take off Sunday in order to avoid another painful season than so be it. Boston College and CofC play for the super-consolation game tomorrow and one team will exit the Charleston Classic with an 0-3 finish. Hopefully it's not the host team.

CofC Falls in Opener, Other Notes from Charleston Classic

Final Score: St John's 64, College of Charleston 53
Top Performers: D'Angelo Harrison 21 pts, 4 rebs
                              Nori Johnson 11 pts, 5 rebs

Oof. What a day. 12 straight hours of college basketball at TD Arena including a loss by the Cougars to the Johnnies. This was a tough one to swallow but the Big East, from top to bottom, is just a different brand of basketball. St John's going to win a lot of games this year but they were certainly beatable with the game here in Charleston. Now the Cougars are 0-1 in the Charleston Classic and it is impossible for them to win the whole tournament.

I don't want this post to be all doom and gloom though because that would be unfair. There were several positives to take from this game. Freshman forward Theo Johnson looked much more composed in his second collegiate game. He played 17 minutes at the power forward position with Adjehi and Willis struggling, played good defense, went 2-4 from the field including a three and tallied 5 rebounds and two blocks. Nori Johnson was another bench player who contributed a lot of what the Cougars needed. He was our only real scoring threat throughout the game and led the team with 11 points on 4-9 shooting.

The offense wasn't as bad as it looked for the Cougars on the box score. We were getting open looks, but no matter how good the shot was we just couldn't find the bottom of the net. This was made especially disheartening by the number of shot clock beaters the Red Storm had. There were at least 5-6 instances where the Cougars played spectacular defense, running the clock down under 5 seconds and St John's would get a shot off and drain it. That alone can account for a lot of mental fatigue.

St Johns had a very specific plan on defense to not let Trent and Adjehi beat them inside. When the basis of your offense is "inside out" things will get out of sync. What was given to the Cougars was the opportunity to drive the ball inside. However, Coach Wojcik regretfully noted in the postgame press conference that his guys were hesitant to take the ball inside after watching the Johnnies set record breaking numbers for blocked shots in their first game.

The zone sent our way was also pretty effective. Coach mentioned that the guys prepared for it a lot in practice but it's impossible to replicate the speed and length of St John's with the guys on the Cougar's roster.

It was a bit of a stretch to expect the Cougars to go undefeated in the Classic even if it was at our home arena. A loss early is tough but now the Cougs go against an Auburn team that was utterly annihilated in the first round by Murray State. That game is at 7:30 tonight.

Other notes from the Charleston Classic

• Most impressive players of the day were Iasaih Canaan from Murray State and Ryan Anderson of Boston College
• Most impressive shot was the half court buzzer beater by Boston College in Game 2
• I made it onto television before two of the games. I'm sitting behind Jay Williams' head, making immature gestures and embarrassing my parents. 
• The Charleston Classic might as well add Isaiah Austin to the list of NBA players who were featured in the tournament. He's 7 feet tall with a guard's skill set and will be a top pick in this year's draft
• Holy Ohio. Dayton fans showed UP to this tournament. The only team that sold more tickets was College of Charleston. In fact, there were so many Flyers fans in attendance that they even outnumbered any of the fans in Game 2 between Baylor and Boston College.
• Murray State also had a ton of fans here as well. They travel well.
• Everyone here is still hoping for the Baylor-Murray State matchup. A lot of talent on both teams
• Some of the last people in the arena watching the snoozefest between Auburn and Murray State were the CofC coaching staff, Willis, Nori, Matt, Trent and Adjehi. 

Charleston Classic Preview

King Kresse road trip! So good to be back down here in Charleston for the 5th Annual Charleston Classic at our very own TD Arena. Today we'll take a quick look at what each team has to offer. The field is pretty loaded this year and right now the only guaranteed game for the Cougars is against St. Johns. This is the first coverage of the tournament that will continue all the way through Monday so keep checking back here and especially on Twitter for the most up-to-date information.

Baylor
The most complete team in the tournament and the highest ranked opponent the Cougars could face in Charleston (and will face next week in Waco). Freshman Isaiah Austin came to Baylor as a highly ranked player and he still managed to blow the national media away with his play in the Bears' 99-77  win over Lehigh on opening day. The 7-foot-1 Austin dominated to the tune of 22 points on 12 shot attempts (he was 2-4 on threes) in just 17 minutes of play before rolling his ankle. The injury caused Austin to miss Baylor's second game against Jackson State but he's on track to play in the Classic. Also up front the Bears have junior forward Cory Jefferson who is averaging 20 points and 10 rebounds over the first two games. Baylor has more size and length than anybody else in the tournament and once they get their three point shot going (25% on the year), they'll be an offensive juggernaut.

Murray State
The Racers, who finished last year 31-1 and ranked 10th in the USA Today Coaches Poll, have the best player in the Charleston Classic in senior point guard and All-American Isaiah Canaan. Murray State will have only played one game before the Classic begins (they blew out Brescia) and will face an athletic Auburn team in the first round. Despite Canaan's brilliance last year, the team will lean even harder on him this year. The Racers graduated three significant players from last year's team and are depending on a supporting cast of mostly unproven and untested freshman. A lot of people predict Murray State will win their side of the bracket but there are a lot of question marks.

College of Charleston
The hometown boys. From what I've heard from the marketing and ticket offices, TD Arena should see it's largest crowd in Charleston Classic history Thursday afternoon despite the 5pm game time against St Johns. The Cougars couldn't ask for a better state to be in heading into the weekend. They've played well and are adhering to Wojcik's system, they're 100% healthy and the tournament they're playing in is on their home court. Trent Wiedeman and Andrew Lawrence are living up to preseason expectations but, as I mentioned after the Towson game, the Cougars are going to need more than just those two guys to step up if we're going to make a run. Postseason tournament fatigue has been the undoing of this team the last few years and Wojcik is the type of coach who accounts for this by playing that deep rotation. Anthony Stitt was the Cougar's MVP in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament last year so you can expect to see big things from him. We'll also need that forward rotation of Wiedeman, Baru, Hall, Theo Johnson and Sundberg to hold steady and stay out of foul trouble as we go against the BCS teams.

St Johns
As I sit here and write this I'm watching St Johns take on Detroit as part of the 24 Hour Tip-Off Marathon. It's St Johns' first game of the season; the Red Storm will face a quick turnaround as they will leave NYC tomorrow morning and take on CofC Thursday afternoon. St Johns is a very quick and athletic team. They use this to their advantage mostly on defense, getting blocks and steals with frequency. However, from what I've seen in this game, they're a bit lackluster on offense. For stretches they settled for contested jump shots and gave up too many offensive rebounds before tightening up in the second half and making a game out of this one (they just won). This bodes well for the Cougars if we can continue to limit them offensively like Detroit is and get our own high percentage shots. D'Angelo Harrison is the team's returning leading scorer and he's been coming off the bench this season to help "control his emotions". Also look out for shot blocker Chris Obekpa and Sir'Dominic Pointer, who has the best name in NCAA basketball.

Colorado
The 2012 Pac-12 Champion Colorado Golden Buffaloes were an NCAA Tournament team last year, upsetting UNLV in the first round before losing to fellow Charleston Classic participant Baylor in the second round. Colorado has already crushed one SoCon team in Wofford and they have the potential to get that rematch against Baylor. The offense is run by PG Spencer Dinwiddie and he's really the only option as a pure point. That's not necessarily a bad thing as he was already solid and is making huge strides in his development as a floor general. In just under 30 minutes of playing time against Wofford, Dinwiddie had 13 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and no turnovers. The Buffs best all-around player might be Andre Roberson, one of the best forwards in the conference last year. He's a rebounding machine but his offensive production isn't very flashy. If he is scoring the Buffs can be very tough to beat, if not Roberson will make sure they're still tough to beat.

Dayton
Colorado's opponent in the first game is Dayton out of the A-10. Cougar fans are a little familiar with this team after defeating the Flyers at TD Arena in the first round of the NIT a few years ago but the team is much different. They are led by two fifth-year seniors: Kevin Dillard and Josh Benson. Dillard is a talented point guard (the matchup against Dinwiddie in the first round is one of the more anticipated matchups of the tournament) who is good at finding his big men and getting the ball to his playmakers in the right position. If need be he is also capable of scoring in bunches. Josh Benson is a long and athletic forward who gets out in transition to score (now there's the Dayton I remember). Dayton is not at the same level as Baylor or Murray State but, like Colorado, they're a solid, solid team to have in this year's Classic.

Auburn
With the football program struggling the way it is, maybe Auburn basketball will take center stage. Ha who am I kidding? I remember this program being historically bad a few seasons ago but they've turned things around in recent years. Maybe it's the location of the Charleston Classic, but SEC teams always seem to play above their talent level in this tournament. I remember LSU looking like a legitimate conference threat in last years tournament. Auburn is competing with Dayton for the most athletic team in the Classic. Not only athletic in terms of speed but also physicality. You have to build your team that way if you're going to compete in SEC basketball. Auburn is still a young team though, I wouldn't be surprised if they went 0-3 and I wouldn't be surprised if they completely zoned in on Canaan and were victorious in Round 1.

Boston College
Poor Eagle basketball. They were the bottom of the barrel in the ACC last year and were picked in the preseason to finish in the same spot. So then surely they'll be granted mercy in the first round of the Charleston Classic right? Let them get a win to start the season...Baylor in the first round? Lord have mercy. They started five freshman last year so the only direction to go is up, but with that comes a steep uphill battle.

Scanning the SoCon-Week 2

Now that we've gotten the team previews out of the way, Scanning the SoCon is back to the format we'll see for most of this season. In this week's edition, myself along with representatives from App State, Chattanooga, UNC Greensboro, Furman and Wofford answered a couple questions. You can read the entire column here over at Mocs Mania. Be sure to check back every week for the best Southern Conference basketball coverage on the Web. 

Well-Rounded Cougars Blow Out Towson

Final Score: College of Charleston 75, Towson 58
Top Performers: Andrew Lawrence 16 pts, 7 rebs, 5 assts
                              Trent Wiedeman 17 pts, 6 rebs

The Doug Wojcik era at the College of Charleston got off to a blazing start last night as the Cougars defeated the Towson Tigers 75-58. That final score is little indication of how sharp the team looked in the first half, holding Towson to just 14 points and putting up 40 offensively. That lead grew to as much as 49-16 in the second half until the Cougars seemed to pack it in and started getting a little sloppy. Trent and Andrew both had big games but there were still some things to be desired from the rest of the Cougars. There was some really good, some not so good and some things that still need work.

The Good

• Just about everything in the first half- Could not have asked for a better start to the game and the season. TD Arena was rocking, the players pinned their ears back and got after it on defense and the offense was efficient. Towson committed a lot of unforced turnovers trying to go one-on-one against guys like Trent and Anthony Stitt and then traveling or double dribbling. On offense, the Cougars were moving the ball and getting wide open looks around the rim. Towson finished the half shooting 23.1% from the field and committing 12 turnovers. 
• Wiedeman having a bounce back game offensively- Trent was pretty down on himself after the exhibition game so it was good to see him dominate against a pretty talented Towson front line. He ended up with his game-high 17 points on 8-13 shooting and looks to have really mastered some go-to moves in the paint. He also worked that dump pass from a few steps out to get some easy dunks.
• Anthony Stitt as the starting point guard- In 30 minutes of playing time, Stitt racked up 12 points on 4-7 shooting (including 3 of the team's 4 made threes), 3 assists, no turnovers and some great defense. Even with the sophomore running the offense, Lawrence was still able to facilitate and hit shots. I can't restate Stitt's defense enough, he might be the best on the team one-on-one.

The So-So

• Mental mistakes and sloppiness- I was hoping these would be some of the most easily correctable mistakes to fix after the exhibition. For the first half it looked to be the case but when the lead was pushed past 30 the starters really stopped being aggressive. Lazy passes, backcourt violations, giving up offensive rebounds off free throws, those are all things that shouldn't occur at this level of competition. I get that it's hard to keep your head in the game when the result is already known but these are things we fans don't want to worry about against opponents like Baylor and Louisville.
• Baru's defense on the perimeter- Adjehi quietly had a near double-double. On defense he was matched up a couple times against Jerrelle Benimon (the Georgetown transfer who looks like he'll be Towson's best player this year). Benimon drifted out toward the perimeter a few times. Adjehi did a great job of denying shots out at the arc but he also got caught with his feet flat after going for the block or steal. This caused opponents to fly right by him.
• The transition offense- It's only one game but when the defense is that good you'll have a lot of long rebounds, steals and opportunities to get out on the break. Wojcik mentioned before the exhibition game that this would be a major part of our offense we didn't see much of it. There were maybe a half dozen times where we were running the floor with a man advantage and pulled back to set up the offense. One time in particular was when Stitt was running a three on one and the Cougars turned it over. I'm not sure exactly what the issue is. We'll see in the next few games.
• Trent and Adjehi as facilitators- The Cougars only attempted nine three-pointers last night, hitting four of them. That's got to be a record low going back before Cremins got here. After the game Coach Wojcik wanted to reinforce that he's not against the three point shot and we should expect to see more attempts as the season goes on. When you establish the paint early, like Trent and Adjehi were able to do, you'll start to draw defenders from the perimeter to double-team. That's when Wiedeman and Baru need to act as facilitators and pass the ball out of the post to the shooters. Wojcik continued that Lawrence, Stitt and Sundberg are all more than capable shooters and he wants the big men to find them more. The Cougar's starting forwards had 3 assists combined. 

The Bad

• The bench- Willis Hall was the leading scorer off the pine with 6 points but he also fouled out in 17 minutes of play. After that the next leading scorer off the bench was walk-on Harrison Bowne, who played the final 60 seconds and made a layup as time expired. Nori played some great defense but was held scoreless on one field goal attempt. Theo Johnson and Matt Sundberg both were liabilities, Matt on defense and Theo from the free-throw line. All four of those guys are going to have to do better in the Charleston Classic next week, where our depth is really going to be tested. 
• Turnovers- Remember when I talked about how many turnovers the Cougar defense forced out of Towson? Well, the Cougars themselves had two more for a total of 17 for the game. I'm sure coach would like to see about half that number.

Overall though there's little to complain about when you dominate a team like the Cougars did last night. Towson was not much more competitive than exhibition opponent USC Aiken. The next test begins Thursday as the Cougars begin the Charleston Classic against St Johns. I'll be attending all the Classic games so stay tuned for some world-class reporting. Go Cougars!

Game 1: Towson at College of Charleston

Luke Murray, son of actor and Charlestonian Bill Murray, is an assistant basketball coach at Towson

College of Charleston (0-0, 0-0)
Towson (0-0, 0-0)
TD Arena 
Tipoff at 7pm on CofCSports.com

College basketball season is so close you can feel it. The talking heads on ESPNU are already previewing this weekend's season tipoff games and soon dreams of Big East upsets and conference championships will dance in our heads. It's a magical time of year and for CofC Cougar fans it all begins Friday at TD Arena against the Towson Tigers.

Everything you need to know about Towson's abysmal 1-31 team last season can be found in this spectacularly depressing Grantland article entitled "A Visit With the Worst College Basketball Team in America". The Tigers struggled in all facets of the game last season under first-year head coach Pat Skerry but it's unfair to expect a similar result in 2012-2013. That's because the Tigers return just three players from last year's team. In order to build some sort of respectable and competitive program right now, Skerry has padded the starting lineup with three transfers from the Big East:

• Junior shooting guard Mike Burwell from South Florida
• Junior power forward Jerrelle Benimon from Georgetown 
• 5th year senior center Bilal Dixon from Providence

Throw in small forward Marcus Damas, who led the team in scoring with 12.5 points per game last season, and you have a core of guys who should provide a few more wins this year. They're still not expected to contend in the CAA, but a 10-12 win season to build on is not outside the realm of expectation. 

The rest of the rotation will be filled by a strong recruiting class that was ranked as the best in the conference and one of the best in the mid-majors this past summer. In the Tigers' exhibition win over Bloomsburg, all five starters scored in double figures and the offense shot 56% for the game.

The Cougars meanwhile face their own questions. The players are mostly the same but they are marching to the beat of a different drum. The commitment to defense was obvious in last week's exhibition win, but will the effort and intensity remain consistent? The offense didn't blow anyone away and still remains a work in progress as Wojcik finds the rotations that will best maximize each player's strengths. There are a few things I mentioned in the postgame that need improving: finishing plays on defense and hitting free throws. If the Cougars play exactly the same as they did against USC-Aiken, and improve in those areas it should be a good way to kick off the season.

Towson has nothing to lose and everything to gain after the terrible season they endured, so the Cougars should not overlook the new Tigers. The CofC men are 4-0 in home openers at TD Arena and that streak really should not be in jeopardy. If we win it could be the first of many victories against CAA opponents. So pray to the free throw gods and clear your schedule through March because college basketball season is here! Go Cougars!

Aiken for Some Offense: Cougars D Shuts Down Pacers

Final Score: College of Charleston 68, USC-A 52

Top Performers: Andrew 14 pts (3-4 3pt), 3 assists

                              Trent Wiedeman 5 pts, 12 rebs (22 mins)

For all of you who stopped watching this game after the first half and are concerned about the low margin of victory, please note that the last quarter of the game featured Cougar players who will likely never see the floor this year. This game was firmly in CofC's hands and could have been a 25 point victory. Below are some notes I took from last night's contest.

• Right away you could see the change in philosophy was evident by the product on the court. CofC was putting pressure on the Aiken ballhandlers, rotating effectively on defense and contesting every shot. For those of us who griped about losing leads and not getting stops last year, this was a welcome sign.
• Unfortunately when you do get a big stop and force the other team to take a bad shot, you still have to box out and get the ball back. The Cougars were outrebounded on the offensive glass 14-9 last night. Many of those instances were situations in which Aiken would take a really bad shot and the Cougars would be whooping and hollering from the bench while the ball would bounce out to a Pacer guard. Praising defensive stops = good. Praising defensive stops and immediately giving the opponent another chance = not so good. Seal the deal.
• Willis Hall didn't look like he had been away from basketball for a year. Jeff and Everett talked about how well he performed in the closed scrimmage against East Carolina and he was a huge factor in this game. He was hitting open shots, scrapping for rebounds and leading the on court huddles. That's the toughness and leadership Lawrence and Wiedeman were talking about missing last season.
• Trent looked solid last night. His defense was better (probably a result of the quickness he's gotten back) but the free throw shooting left a lot to be desired (more on that later). He was 1-4 from the charity stripe last night. That needs to improve quickly because he's going to spend a lot of time there this season. On the plus side he had 12 rebounds in just 22 minutes.
• Baru was getting after it on the offensive boards but he still looked a little rushed and sloppy when he got the ball on offense. This is something he did during the first exhibition game last year. Being nervous for your first collegiate game is one thing but now he knows what he's up against and has to stay composed and decisive.
• I think USC-Aiken's ball pressure surprised our guys. They went full court press all night and routinely doubled the ball handler. Lawrence and Stitt played it ok but with neither of them on the floor things got sloppy. At least this issue can be addressed now before the regular season. 
• 19 of 35 on free throws. A lot of them were taken by big men and freshman but you can't screw yourself out of free points. There were games last year where this was an issue. Not acceptable. 

Overall a very solid performance even with the little issues. The players already have a better grasp of Wojcik's playbook than I would have expected this early. Now they just need to fix the little issues. 

Exhibit A: Exhibition Game Vs USC-Aiken

Despite beating the NCAA World Champions later that season, the 2009 Cougars had trouble putting away DII USC-Aiken in the first exhibition game of the year

College of Charleston (0-0, 0-0)
USC-Aiken (0-0, 0-0)
TD Arena
Tipoff Saturday at 7pm on CofCSports.com

We made it! We finally get (sort of) real basketball again at the College of Charleston! Five-on-five! With scoreboards, and referees! Sure it doesn't count toward our win-loss record and of course it's not against a Division 1 opponent...but it is something to hold us over until the Towson game.

USC-Aiken may be of a lower division but they're not the typical sort of scrub team a home squad brings in to kick around and put up 100 points against. The Aiken Pacers are a regular contender in the NCAA Division II Tournament and return most of their core of players who led them to a 21-8 regular season record. The last time the Pacers played the Cougars was in an exhibition game in 2009. They came into the Carolina First Arena unfazed and unintimidated and played blow-for-blow with Drew Goudelock and company before losing by two points in overtime. That's right, a DII team almost took down the best Cougars team of the last five years. They're certainly not a program to take lightly. Especially when Doug Wojcik and the Cougars are implementing a whole new system.

A player to watch on USC-Aiken is Re'Mon Nelson. He nearly had a triple double the last time these two met and was the Pacer's leading scorer last season. He's a senior now and will be trying to lead his team to an early season upset over the Cougs.

On the other side of the ball I'll be looking at every CofC player but specifically Trent Wiedeman and Andrew Lawrence. I mentioned in my season preview how both these guys are going to be critical to the team's success this year. They're both playing in a system they are not accustomed to, for a coach that didn't recruit them and being asked to be the best players on the floor. I think Trent is going to have the ball in his hands a lot more under Wojcik's coaching. More plays are going to be run through the post and Trent will have a lot more decision making to do. Lawrence might be playing off the ball a bit more with Anthony Stitt assisting him in the backcourt this year. He's got the scoring ability to still thrive in that role and we saw last season how unpredictable this team can be for opponents when there are two point guards on the floor.

We should also get a good look at this depth we're all so excited about. Not saying this game won't be close, but exhibitions are a time for fiddling around with different lineups and trying out different sets. We could see guys like Willis and Nori playing major minutes and giving the Cougs some more options offensively.

This game is just the next step in preparing our guys for regular season play. They've practiced, scrimmaged and this exhibition contest should give them a chance to figure out what to work on during the week before Towson comes to TD Arena. I'm just happy college basketball has returned to my life. Go Cougars!

Team Preview: New Coach, Same Expectations

*Here's the team preview that will also be appearing on Mocs Mania as part of the Scanning the SoCon Team Previews. First exhibition game on Saturday. Let's get it. 

This time last year the Cougars faced big adjustments. Redshirt senior Antwaine Wiggins, the last remaining member of Coach Bobby Cremins’ first recruiting class, was asked to lead a team of young players who had only seen limited roles to that point.

Quickly the Cougars overachieved, winning nine of their first ten games including victories over Clemson and Tennessee. Things seemed to be going good but quickly turned sour once conference play began. The team looked ill-prepared on the court, star freshman Anthony Stitt broke his hand and things culminated with Bobby Cremins taking a medical leave of absence before eventually retiring.

Now the Cougars are lead by former Tulsa head coach Doug Wojcik and a brand new staff. The playing style of this team is still a big unknown but Wojcik has expressed defense, rebounding and post play as key components of the team’s system. How steep of a learning curve the players face is still up for debate; but one of the reasons Wojcik took this job was because this team is built to contend right now. There’s a new face at the end of the bench but expectations are still high for the College of Charleston.

Returning Players

Andrew Lawrence is the unquestioned leader of this team. The senior guard was an iron man for the Cougars last year, playing 35.4 minutes a game and leading the team in assists and steals. Playing for his native Britain at the London Olympics this past summer gave Lawrence invaluable experience. Nothing should intimidate him after going against the best players in the world, but the number of minutes logged is something concerning to look for this season.

Trent Wiedeman is a player many fans expect to thrive in Wojcik’s system. He’s the Cougars’ best offensive post player, rebounder and a preseason All-Conference selection. A nagging ankle injury limited Trent last year but he had surgery this past spring and appears to be fully healthy again.

Adjehi Baru will be Trent’s foil in the front court this season. After being the Cougars biggest recruiting addition ever last year, we’re expecting a big sophomore leap for the big man from the Ivory Coast. Baru is still a raw product but he is receiving a lot more tutelage in Wojcik’s system compared to the more hands-off approach Cremins would take.

New Faces

The biggest new face this year is the head coach. Even during our most frustrated moments as CofC fans it was hard to blame Bobby Cremins and his genial sensibilities. Now there’s a new man in charge. Doug Wojcik is a disciple of the Tom Izzo style of basketball; assisting at Michigan State and later North Carolina before taking the job at Tulsa. While in charge Tulsa was one of the best defensive teams in the country and was very successful during the regular season, but struggled to win the conference tournament (sounds like a team I know). In Charleston he’s got talent to work with, but the biggest challenge will be getting the players to buy into a defense-first mentality that Wojcik believes will get the team past Davidson.

Anthony Thomas is another new name to be familiar with. Unless you’re an Appalachian State fan. Thomas spent his freshman year at ASU before transferring to Hutchinson Community College in Kansas. Now he’s back in the SoCon and being asked to step right into the shoes vacated by longtime Cougar small forward Antwaine Wiggins. Thomas brings versatility and defense to the wing position but that’s about all we Cougar fans know about him.

There’s also the freshmen. Theo Johnson is an uber-athletic forward from Sacramento, CA who could see some minutes this year. Canyon Barry (son of NBA Hall of Famer Rick Barry) is redshirting this year so fans will have to wait to watch him shoot underhand free throws. Finally there is 7’2 (yes seven foot two inch) sophomore David Wishon. He has to redshirt a year after following Wojcik here from Tulsa.

Schedule

CofC’s sports marketing department will be the first to tell you that this is the best home schedule the Cougars have ever assembled. Thanks in large part to our former head coach, they may have a case. After four years, the Cougars get to again compete in the Charleston Classic Tournament that is hosted in our home arena. Teams include Baylor (who the Cougars already play six days after the tournament), Murray State, Colorado, Dayton, Boston College, Auburn and our first round opponent: St Johns. TD Arena will also host preseason #2 Louisville. The Cardinals are a favorite to reach the Final Four again this year and are likely better than the 2010 UNC team that the Cougars defeated in Charleston. The rest of the home schedule includes ODU, Coastal Carolina and a Bracketbuster. There’s also a home contest against a <cough> non-D1 team <cough cough> Anderson University… moving on!

Three Questions I Demand be Answered

How will players respond to Doug Wojcik’s system?

I get to cheat a little with this question because it encompasses a hundred more. Who will thrive? Who will struggle to grasp the new concepts? What will be the strengths and weaknesses of the ‘12-13 Cougars?

How will Willis Hall, Anthony Stitt and Trent Wiedeman perform coming off injury?

Willis Hall was a rock solid contributor for the Andrew Goudelock-led teams of his freshman and sophomore years. Last preseason he tore his ACL in practice and missed the entire year. Now he’s asked to take on a new role, coming off the bench, for a whole new team. Anthony Stitt was having a Freshman of the Year type season before breaking his hand and the team struggled mightily for the 12 games he missed. Stitt is now the starting point guard and won’t catch any teams by surprise.

How many minutes will Andrew Lawrence log?

Lead the team in minutes last year, try-out for Great Britain national team, train, practice and compete in Olympics, return to Charleston and jump right back into collegiate ball. Sounds tiring doesn’t it? With a healthy Anthony Stitt, Lawrence may have more opportunities to sit and reserve his legs this year. He faded down the stretch last season and the Cougars are going to need one of their best players come Asheville.

Final Analysis

If you read any publication that previewed the Southern Conference, you know that Charleston is firmly placed right below Davidson as the #2 team in the south division. That’s a fair ranking. I think if everything goes according to plan (players take to Wojcik, defense improves etc) we just barely hold an edge over UNCG as the team with the best chance of overtaking the Wildcats. But as all Charleston fans know, rarely do things go according to plan with this team. Injuries happen, you lose games you expect to win and nothing is guaranteed. I’m just anxious to get started already and see what these guys are all about.