The Game We All Had Circled

Davidson (12-4, 6-0)

College of Charleston (12-5, 4-2)

Belk Arena

Tipoff at 7pm on ESPN3

I was watching NBA TV the other day and Shaq, Reggie Miller, Charles Barkley etc were having a roundtable discussion about rivalries. Some of the retired pros referred to their biggest "rival" as the guy who really got under their skin during a game. Talked trash, played dirty and still got their shots to fall. Others talked about admiration for their rivals. Reggie in particular mentioned how his biggest rivals were those with skills that pushed him to refine his own. They were rivals because they were hogging the spotlight where Reggie wanted to be.

Now based on what camp you're in, CofC's rivalry with Davidson over the past couple years can be seen either way. You may think that McKillop's motion offense results in too many uncalled moving picks and over-the-backs. Or you may admire McKillop's style of play and envy Davidson's NCAA Tournament success. Personally I fall into both categories. From 7 to 9pm tomorrow night I'll be yelling at the screen as I watch the game, but outside that time frame I have nothing but respect for the Davidson program. In the past decade they have been where CofC wants to be again and they remain one of the classiest organizations in the country. To be at the top of this league, one has to once again go through Davidson. 

Going into this season, the Wildcats were correctly picked by many to finish at the top of the conference this year. A lot of Cougar fans saw us as a capable but probably underwhelming team that might make some noise. It wasn't until the Cougars got off to a fast start that many people started looking at this game as a real statement win that would prove we belong at the top of the Socon this year. Well, the momentum has slowed down a bit but this game is still a big one. A win at Belk Arena would make some noise around the conference and draw the gap between the Cougars and Wildcats a bit closer.

There is going to be a lot to analyze after tomorrow night, but here are 5 things I'll be looking for:

1) Keeping Jake Cohen off the arc: at 6'10, Cohen is going to be a handful for Wiedeman, Baru or Sundberg. This is one of the first times our big are going to have to chase their man out to the perimeter and prevent a guy like Cohen from burning them. 

2) Fouls and Free Throws: The Cougars average only about 15 personal fouls per game while the Wildcats average about 21. This does not bode well for the Cougs and their lousy free throw shooting. Also, the Wildcats would be wise to try and foul out our more physical players (Wiedeman, Baru, Lawrence). Our bigs are gonna have to stay planted and Nori and Andrew are gonna have to watch the hand checks because any of those four sitting on the bench will only hurt us.

3) Pace: The Wildcats are scoring a very impressive 79.6 points per game (18th in the country). Our defense is good not great so chances are the Wildcats will get close to that mark. I want to see what the tempo looks like tomorrow. We can outrun teams like UMass (who beat Davidson) or we can slow it down and play in the halfcourt like we did against Elon. Whether or not our threes are falling is probably going to have a bigger effect on the pace we play versus any other metric.

4) Big Game 'Twaine: Against George Mason, Tennessee and Louisville, Mr. Wiggins played at a whole different level. He seems to always get hyped for big games but is sometimes invisible in conference matchups. So which Antwaine are we gonna see? The slashing, stealing and dunking 'Twaine? Or the deferring, poor shot selecting, this-is-just-another-game 'Twaine?

5) What's your point?: I said this after the Elon game. I really don't like the idea of Nori or Antwaine bringing the ball up court with Lawrence on the bench. Turnovers will play a big part in this one and we'll need to limit ours to have a shot.

This has all the makings of a great Socon showdown. Go Cougars!