Game 1: Towson at College of Charleston

Luke Murray, son of actor and Charlestonian Bill Murray, is an assistant basketball coach at Towson

College of Charleston (0-0, 0-0)
Towson (0-0, 0-0)
TD Arena 
Tipoff at 7pm on CofCSports.com

College basketball season is so close you can feel it. The talking heads on ESPNU are already previewing this weekend's season tipoff games and soon dreams of Big East upsets and conference championships will dance in our heads. It's a magical time of year and for CofC Cougar fans it all begins Friday at TD Arena against the Towson Tigers.

Everything you need to know about Towson's abysmal 1-31 team last season can be found in this spectacularly depressing Grantland article entitled "A Visit With the Worst College Basketball Team in America". The Tigers struggled in all facets of the game last season under first-year head coach Pat Skerry but it's unfair to expect a similar result in 2012-2013. That's because the Tigers return just three players from last year's team. In order to build some sort of respectable and competitive program right now, Skerry has padded the starting lineup with three transfers from the Big East:

• Junior shooting guard Mike Burwell from South Florida
• Junior power forward Jerrelle Benimon from Georgetown 
• 5th year senior center Bilal Dixon from Providence

Throw in small forward Marcus Damas, who led the team in scoring with 12.5 points per game last season, and you have a core of guys who should provide a few more wins this year. They're still not expected to contend in the CAA, but a 10-12 win season to build on is not outside the realm of expectation. 

The rest of the rotation will be filled by a strong recruiting class that was ranked as the best in the conference and one of the best in the mid-majors this past summer. In the Tigers' exhibition win over Bloomsburg, all five starters scored in double figures and the offense shot 56% for the game.

The Cougars meanwhile face their own questions. The players are mostly the same but they are marching to the beat of a different drum. The commitment to defense was obvious in last week's exhibition win, but will the effort and intensity remain consistent? The offense didn't blow anyone away and still remains a work in progress as Wojcik finds the rotations that will best maximize each player's strengths. There are a few things I mentioned in the postgame that need improving: finishing plays on defense and hitting free throws. If the Cougars play exactly the same as they did against USC-Aiken, and improve in those areas it should be a good way to kick off the season.

Towson has nothing to lose and everything to gain after the terrible season they endured, so the Cougars should not overlook the new Tigers. The CofC men are 4-0 in home openers at TD Arena and that streak really should not be in jeopardy. If we win it could be the first of many victories against CAA opponents. So pray to the free throw gods and clear your schedule through March because college basketball season is here! Go Cougars!