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.

The Wildcats are gonna come out energized and ready to go hard. They dominated this rivalry the past few years and for the Davidson fans, this game is equivalent to any big out of conference game for us. This is their North Carolina, Tennessee and Clemson all rolled into one. I expect to see a sellout crowd of rabid students and Curry-hangover fans.

You can bet that McKillop has a game plan too. It will probably mimic what Clemson (and more recently GSU) did to take away Goudelock. Guard the high screen that Willis and Simmons set at the three to get Drew open, and clog the lane so Lawrence and Donovan cant kick out to him. If this technique is employed we might see a game like we did against Tennessee. Lots of threes by Wiggins, and hopefully some nice pick and roll action or isolation with Simmons in the paint.

Brendan McKillop (coach's son) is a decent player, but he really doesn't have a shot at guarding Goudelock or even Monroe. He's just not quick enough or big enough. Jake Cohen is their biggest threat offensively, he leads the team in scoring in rebounding. He might be able to put some numbers up against Willis, but I think Jeremy and Trent will be physical with him.

What hurt us most from Davidson when we played them at home was their shooting. Knowing that the bulk of their points would come inside, Cremins ran a zone D and dared the Wildcats to shoot from outside. Surprisingly, Davidson actually shot the long-ball well. The Davidson bigs shot WAY above average from three in the first half. However, in the second things cooled off and the Wildcats were forced to go inside more. With the guards shooting bricks and the bigs getting shoved around under the basket, Davidson eventually lost in Charleston.

It was one of the most fundamentally sound games the Cougars have played this season. It was also the first Socon game, which made me excited for what was to come. So let's start the second half of the season like we did the first! Go Cougars!