Video Compilation

Here's a nice little video Sports Marketing put together showing the best highlights from the 2010-2011 College of Charleston basketball season.

Cougars to Compete in Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament

According to ESPN and other sources, CofC will be spending Thanksgiving in the Bahamas as part of the inaugural Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament. It's a pretty good slate of teams, including 2011 National Champion UConn.

Trent Wiedeman Named to Mid-Major Freshman All-America Team

This according to CollegeInsider.com's awards section. It may not be as noteworthy as the AP All-Freshman Team, but I'm glad Wheaties is getting the recognition he deserves. He joins two other Socon players on the list; Davidson's De'mon Brooks and Western Carolina's Trey Sumler. 

#1 Drew Claims All-Time Scoring Mark

There you have it, my number 1 moment from the 2010-2011 College of Charleston basketball season.

We all knew Drew could ball and it's been a real privilege getting to watch him in person for the last 4 years. But to watch him really step his game up year after year and emerge as one of college basketball's best players? Definitely a moment that stood out above every other storyline from the year.

The record was just the icing on the cake. It was the culmination of all the hard work Andrew has put in this year to help this team succeed and prepare himself for the next level. It was him cementing his place in the Cougar Hall of Fame.

Now retire his jersey already!

#2 Goudelock Gets 39 in Last Home Game

No narrative or long-winded explanation for this one. Just one player, one game and one incredible performance. 

The NIT was a disappointing consolation prize for the Cougars, but it did give us one more home game to see Drew and the boys. Sports marketing did a great job of putting up a bid for the NIT committee and securing the Carolina First Arena as a first round location. The effort paid off, as the game gave viewers one of the greatest individual performances they had ever seen.

Let's break down the 39 points. First off, it was a career-high for the greatest scorer in Cougar history. It was also the greatest scoring load ever displayed by a Cougar, surpassing the 38 points that former CofC great Dontaye Draper poured into one of his last games in 2008. Finally, what may be most impressive is that Drew got to nearly 40 points after going 0-5 to start the game.

Once Andrew got hot, the Cougars pulled away for a 94-84 victory. Goudelock finished shooting 11-24 including 8-15 from 3. Said Dayton's Chris Wright, "He is probably one of the best scorers I've played against in my life. There were times where we defended him well and put a hand in his face, but he did a good job of staying poised and he can pretty much score from anywhere on the floor."

I remember watching that game with one of my buddies from George Mason. He's a big basketball fan as well and I had always talked up Goudelock to him. Remember that Drew didn't have a great game when we played at Mason last year. Even my friend was blown away with some of the shots Drew was not only getting off, but making. The fadeaways into the bench, the stutter step straight in front of the basket, the high-arcing shot with the hand in his face and the MJ-esque smile and shrug as he jogged back on defense. It was all there that night.

#3 Cougars Steal Baru From BCS Schools

Adjehi Baru. It's a name that you may not be able to pronounce now, but if he lives up to his billing, this young kid could go down as one of the greatest players in CofC basketball history. Next year the Cougs will only be losing their all time career points leader, one of the leagues best centers, and a 4-year glue player who is one of the most well-rounded Cougars to ever play. What's there to worry about? But if there's anyone from the incoming recruiting class who seems poised to fill those very large shoes, it's 6-9 center Adjehi Baru.

This kid wasn't even on the radar of Cougars fans until earlier this fall. Over the summer of 2010, he had emerged as one of Virginia's best players and a unanimous top 50 recruit. His huge frame and wingspan is enough to put any comparable player onto the national recruiting scene. But what makes Baru different is his polished skills and non-stop motor. He runs the floor like a guard, has great form on his jump shot and a legitimate low post game.

These are the tantalizing characteristics that make ACC, SEC and Big East coaches lick their chops. A post player with a combination of size, skill and energy is rare these days. That's why it came as no surprise when Adjehi released his list of schools he was looking to play at. UNC, Maryland, Virginia Tech, Kentucky blah blah blah. But buried in that list was the College of Charleston. The same school that hadn't been to the tournament or even dominated their league for about 10 years.

#4 Cougars Defeat Vols in Knoxvegas

Let me set the scene for you again in case you don't remember this one. New Year's Eve. ESPN2. The Cougars are coming off what would be their lone home loss of the season to Clemson. Meanwhile, the Vols are coming off an embarrassing 2-5 stretch that saw their national ranking disappear (still don't think they deserved a 9 seed in the tourney). Bruce Pearl was still trying to hide all his NCAA violations by glorifying the team's improving graduation rate during his tenure.  

In front of a national audience, against a team that has two probable NBA draft picks (Tobias Harris and Scotty Hopson) the Cougars thoroughly dominated. The stats don't even paint the whole picture. The fact that CofC shot 14-25 from behind the arc makes it look like we got hot and rode the 3 to an upset victory. Not the case. The Cougars dominated on offense inside and out. Simmons handled the freshman Harris with ease and the Vols (specifically Pearl) had to throw the kitchen sink to try and beat us.

On one particular no-call against Simmons, Pearl got so heated that he was ejected from the game. This was the last trick Bruce had up his sleeve, but things didn't go to plan and no one rallied around their coach's departure. 

# 5: Trent Wiedeman Dunks on Zeller

I don't know how much flack I'm going to get for this, but I'll say it anyway. Tyler Zeller is not a good basketball player. In fact, I'll go as far as to say that Zeller's teammate John Henson is not either. For the same reasons.

 Allow me to explain. Please tell me what basketball-related skill Tyler Zeller has... that is NOT related to his height. Got one? You can't do it. Ok maybe you say he can hit a 16-ft jumper every once in a while, I'll give you that one. But this is a kid who was the number one, highest-rated high school player in the country his senior year solely because he hit the genetic jackpot and grew to be 7-foot tall 18 year old beanpole.

He can rebound because his  wingspan covers 38.47 feet. And yes, I just used the area of a circle formula to find out that fact (check my math). He can score in the paint because he can palm the basketball, lift his arm above his head and has about 2 more inches that he needs to jump in order to dunk. Have you ever gone to the basketball hoop in your driveway and lowered it down all the way? Just so you can pretend you're in the NBA and attempt dunks in front of your little sister? It's real freaking easy.

I could go on and on about Zeller, but this isn't a hatefest on the bones-made-of-glass Tar Heel. This is about Trent "Hulk" Wiedeman gettin' it DONE against UNC as a freshman, IN THEIR HOUSE!

Please take a moment to enjoy my hastily made bootleg copy of the dunk, taken from the "Bobby Cremins Show". Now, I've seen our boy Wheaties perform some pretty sweet dunks in pregame warmups. But to come into the Dean Dome, as a kid, and put a reverse-poster dunk on Zeller like that is just absurd.

This was one my favorite plays of the entire year because it was such a ferocious statement by Trent and the Cougars. Everyone remembers what the Cougars did to the Tar Heels in Charleston last year, and this play just proved that we were still a team to be reckoned with. Definitely deserves a spot in the Top Five.