Cougars will Host Vermont in Bracketbuster game

This is according to the Bracketbuster announcements on ESPN a few hours ago. I'm pretty disappointed in this matchup. It will do nothing to help our RPI, won't draw many fans and will probably be a pretty boring game.

How You Start Isn't Always How You Finish

Final Score: CofC 64, Davidson 75

Top Performers: Nik Cochran 21 pts, 7 rebs, 4 assts

                              Jeremy Simmons 11 pts (5-7 FG), 5 rebs, 4 blks

With their second straight poor performance, the Cougars were unable to readjust their game plan enough to defeat a struggling Davidson team. It was another case of CofC playing to the level of the competition. Except this time there was no covering up the mental mistakes that could have cost us a victory at Georgia Southern.

The first half began predictably enough. Davidson came out running a slooooow, borderline lethargic offensive pace. Each play they set was well rehearsed and precise. The Cougars responded accordingly, playing solid man on man defense and boxing out the Wildcats after a shot. On the offensive end the Cougars remained calm, mimicking the Davidson style of play, running the shot clock down until they found an open shot. If something wasn't open on the perimeter, Donovan or Drew got the ball to Simmons. Jeremy was able to get good looks with some aggressive isolation moves under the basket. Things were going well and the Cougars maintained a comfortable double digit cushion. 

The second half was a whole different story. Davidson knew they had to change their style of play to have a shot at defeating Cremins' team. 

I've watched enough sports in my day to know the perfect recipe for a team to give up a lead and get "home cooked". The recipe is simple: get too comfortable with the way you're playing, allow the opponent to get some highlight worthy plays (think steals and fast break dunks), and the crowd will be inspired enough to make the game 5x more difficult to play in. This is exactly what happened on Saturday afternoon.

For whatever reason the Cougars stopped playing inside-out basketball with Jeremy. They instead went back to depending on long balls or contested jumpers. We also continued to turn the ball over at an alarmingly high rate. Again, continuing the sloppy trend that started in Statesboro. 

Because 4 CofC players were hovering around the perimeter and Donovan and Drew were handing them the ball, Davidson got what seemed like twice as many possessions as they had in the first half. Couple that with the crowd getting back into it and you see where this is going. After shooting 0-10 from 3 in the first half, the Wildcats shot with confidence in the 2nd and connected on 9 of 14. They gradually crawled back from an 11 point deficit and stuck it to the Cougars for our second conference loss of the season.

Cougars Go Flat in 2nd Half, Lose to Davidson

I stopped watching at halftime to enjoy the beautiful Charleston weather. Gonna watch the replay on ESPN3 to see what exactly went wrong. More tomorrow.

College of Charleston at Davidson

"Stephen. Stop smiling and listen. If you leave, this entire program goes down the crapper"

College of Charleston (15-6, 8-1)
Davidson (8-12, 2-7)
Belk Arena
Tipoff at 2pm on SportSouth and ESPN3.com
Preview by CofCSports

If the Cougars would have annihilated the Eagles in Statesboro like they should have, I would've considered this game against the Wildcats to be the trap game of all trap games. If we would have cruised past GSU and traveled up to suburban Charlotte high on confidence, it would not surprise me in the slightest if we fell to 8-2 at Belk Arena. McKillop can really coach. He's a strategist like Phil Jackson, who carefully studies player tendencies and can take a team of weak athletes and have them execute the perfect offensive attack. Against a "let them play" system like that of CofC, this is usually a bad omen.

But the Cougars did not perform up to our expectations against Georgia Southern. They struggled. Because of that performance, it will surprise me if the Cougars lay an egg against Davidson. The assistant coaches should have run practice this past week like the team lost their last game, because they almost handed it away on several occasions.

I think that despite the X's and O's coaching on the other bench, the Cougars should still put away the Wildcats in Davidson. Davidson is a team of role players, they all do what they're supposed to do very well. But ever since Curry left, they lack a real game changer. Someone who can put the team on his back and do what needs to be done in order to will his team to victory. Think about what Goudelock did against GA Southern. He almost single handily ensured a victory for the Cougars.

Bracketbuster Games Katz Wants to See

Nothing is confirmed yet, but a Goudelock/Jenkins matchup would be fun to watch. It would also get a lot of attention from ESPN and could boost us to a primetime game. The article is also great free publicity for the Cougars.

Read it here

Cougars Slip Past GSU Eagles

Willis Hall's rebound and kick out to Drew at the end of regulation secured a Cougar victory

Final Score: CofC 65, Georgia Southern 61
Top Performers: Andrew Goudelock 27 points (22 in the 2nd half), 7-12 FG, 3-3 3PFG, 10-11 FT
                             Georgia Southern's defensive pressure

That was a close one. I was shocked too when I saw that final score. Like I said, not able to catch the game but here is what I've picked up from what I've read:

• The only reason why we even had a shot at winning this game was because of Drew. Look at the stats above. That's insane. The next best performer on the Cougars was Simmons with 10 points and 8 boards. If Goudelock had not gotten hot in the second half we would be reading about how the Eagles shocked the conference-leading Cougars in their first Socon victory. 
• 19 turnovers and 9 assists for the game by the Cougs. I have no idea where that came from. We average only 11 TO's per game. From what I've heard the GSU defense was playing a tough zone. But an assist turnover ratio of .47 is just straight ugly
• GSU actually had several opportunities to put the game away but failed. We turned the ball over 3 times in the last few minutes of regulation, resulting in a GSU run that cut the lead from nine to two with less than a minute to play. After the Cougs ran the shot clock down, Goudelock missed his shot. Willis was fortunately able to grab the rebound and pass it to Drew, who was quickly fouled. Had Willis not gotten the rebound, the Eagles could run down the floor and possibly win the game with a 3. 
• Let's hope the coaching staff is all over the players for a performance like that. A few tough practices should be in order before the team travels to Davidson. 

CofC (14-6, 7-1) at GSU (4-17, 0-8)

College of Charleston (14-6, 7-1)

Georgia Southern University (4-17, 0-8)

Hanner Fieldhouse, Statesboro GA

Tipoff at 7pm

Preview by CofCSports

Please oh please sacred basketball shooting gods, don't let the Cougars hand the Eagles their first conference victory! 

Tonight is the second and final matchup between Charlton Young's Eagles and Bobby Cremin's Cougars. In their first meeting (the Cougars' second conference game) we came out swinging and put the young Eagles in an early 18-2 hole. Eventually we let our foot off the gas a little and some sloppy play led to the silencing of our home crowd and a run by the athletically-gifted GSU team. Monroe led the team with a career-high 30 points. This was the game where time and again he drove hard to the basket for easy layups. 

Even though the game is in Statesboro, this should be an easy win for CofC. Georgia Southern has a team of dunkers, but few basketball players. They're young and haven't developed much of a basketball IQ. They could be a real threat in the Socon in a few years, but for now, they rely on their ability to run in transition to put points on the board. 

Then again, a cold shooting night can always doom the Cougars. If that does occur, I want Cremins and crew to demand the ball be put dumped into the post to Simmons and Wiedeman. Remember, last time these two teams met Simmons and Wiggins did not play. Wiedeman and Lawrence played very well in their starting roles. I won't be able to watch this one so the postgame summary will be based on what I can pull from highlights and the boxscore. Go Cougars!