Appalachian State (8-10, 4-4)
College of Charleston (13-6, 6-1)
Carolina First Arena
Tipoff at 4pm
Preview by CofCSports
Prior to last year, I had never been to an "away" game. I grew up a huge Redskins and Maryland hoops fan and also went to dozens of Wizards and Orioles games growing up. But I had always attended these games in the safety and comfort of our team's home turf. Sure, at Redskins games you would have the occasional drunk and belligerent Eagles fan or redneck Steelers fan, but the crowd was always in favor of the home team by a large margin.
My passion for sports carried on to the College were I was once again consumed by the mob mentality and would routinely take part in lambasting the visiting basketball team. I'd be the first to pull out my keys and wish the opponents a safe trip home following a defeat at the hands/paws of the Cougars. If there was a star on the other team, my friends and I were the first to create a barrage of personalized insults. You call it unsportsmanlike, I called it school spirit.
That all changed when I went to the Socon Championship Tournament in Charlotte last year. After the Cougars rolled over the Mocs, it was time to take on the App State meth dealers (or mountain men, whatever their crazy bearded mascot is). While the Time Warner Cable Arena was not App State's home court, the alumni had a strong presence in Charlotte and fans made the short trip from Boone, NC to watch their team.
The game was like many Cougar losses. The offense never got in rhythm, jump shots weren't falling and the defense started giving up easy shots. As the game went on it seemed like more and more App State fans were showing up. Our little section of Cougar faithful was quickly drowned out by swarms of black and yellow clad mountain people. They booed whenever Goudelock got the ball, they screamed at us to go back to Charleston and worst of all they insulted Coach Cremins' magnificent hair.
It was terrible. Never before had I been on the other side of the insults. I wanted to crawl under my seat and not come out until it was all over. But there was good that came out of it. Since that day I have a whole new perspective on how to host our basketball rivals at the CFA. I still scream my lungs out in favor of the Cougs, but I've drastically toned down the offensive behavior.
Anyways, despite the good that came out of that experience, I'll never forget how those Appalachian State fans treated me and the other Cougar fans that night. I hope it's still in the minds of the players too.
Donald Sims (the one pictured above on the left) is still one of the top scorers in the country, behind Andrew Goudelock. He's also like 25 but whatever. Wiggins will probably be guarding him, but Sims will get his points. Goudelock will get his. The true challenge will be who plays better inside. Whatever front court scores, rebounds and stays out of foul trouble will come out on top. This could be a huge game for Trent Wiedeman. Sorry for the short summary, off to the game! Go Cougars!
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