Answering Pre-Season Questions

A few days before the 2012-2013 season began I wrote a preview that appeared both here and as a part of Scanning the SoCon Previews over at MocsMania. In it we talked about expectations for Wojcik and the new players, looked ahead to the schedule and proposed three questions that would only be answered by the time the season was behind us. That day has come so let's take a look back and try to answer what were such burning questions in November.

Three Questions I Demand be Answered

How will players respond to Doug Wojcik’s system?

I get to cheat a little with this question because it encompasses a hundred more. Who will thrive? Who will struggle to grasp the new concepts? What will be the strengths and weaknesses of the ‘12-13 Cougars?

I was so naive. It's almost glaringly obvious what the Cougar's strengths and weaknesses were this year but that was the biggest question that needed answering with so many unknowns heading into the first year under Doug Wojcik. 

College of Charleston was amongst the best teams in the country in two statistical categories: rebounding (37.6 rpg) and three-point defense (.301). In comparison to other Southern Conference teams the Cougars also led the league in blocked shots and had the player with the most recorded double-doubles (Adjehi Baru). These rebounding and defensive numbers are all reflective of a Wojcik-coached team. Coach was brought in to improve the team in these two areas and without even looking at the stats you could see from the product on the court that the players were more dialed in on the defensive side of the game. Maybe more so than any time since the Kresse era. 

But the change did not come without some growing pains. One weakness that seemed to pop up at the most inopportune times was turnovers. Andrew Lawrence had run basically the same system his first three years in Charleston and had never really fed the post on a consistent basis until this year. Anthony Stitt was being asked to take over starting point guard duties after only a half-season of collegiate experience. Both backcourt players struggled early on with turnovers. The big men as well struggled often with the increased pressure put on them by double teams and turned the ball over at an alarming rate. In the second half of SoCon play the team started taking much better care of the ball but they never seemed to go an entire game without it being a problem.

Another weakness that is hard to quantify through statistics was the Cougars' inability to close out games. All to often the CofC offense would go long stretches without scoring. We saw it happen time and again against sub-par competition; Charleston would blow a late lead and have to fend off an epic comeback from their competitor. 

Amongst the weaknesses that corrected themselves over time was the team free throw shooting. Remember how dreadful it was early in the year? As the season went on the Cougs went from a 60% free throw shooting team to a Davidson wannabe with near perfect performances in the postseason. A lot of credit goes to guys like Baru, AT and Theo for massively improving their production at the line.

Who will thrive and who will struggle? I think the most obvious Cougar to blossom under the new coaching regime has got to be Adjehi Baru. He was so much more polished and decisive in his sophomore season. I could write a whole post on just his development (oh I already have) from last season to now and even from the start of the season to the end. Baru realized so much of his tantalizing potential this year as a rebounder, shot-blocker and banger in the paint. If he takes a leap as large as he did last off season again, he could be unstoppable against the CAA. 

Along with Adjehi I think everyone was very pleased with Willis Hall's return to the team. His blue-collar mentality, dirty work and hustle are all instrumental to the team executing Wojcik's mentality on the court and his time as a starter only proved his worth. We just touched on the guards' troubles with running a new set of plays so I guess you could say they struggled early on before tightening things up. To no fault of his own I think Trent also struggled to get back up to game speed following his injuries. But that had nothing to do with Wojcik being coach. Trent will still be a big-time cog in the team his senior year.

How will Willis Hall, Anthony Stitt and Trent Wiedeman perform coming off injury?

Willis Hall was a rock solid contributor for the Andrew Goudelock-led teams of his freshman and sophomore years. Last preseason he tore his ACL in practice and missed the entire year. Now he’s asked to take on a new role, coming off the bench, for a whole new team. Anthony Stitt was having a Freshman of the Year type season before breaking his hand and the team struggled mightily for the 12 games he missed. Stitt is now the starting point guard and won’t catch any teams by surprise.

Now this is all messed up. Willis only came off the bench for the first three games this season and played phenomenally as a starter most of the year. He showed no signs of lingering issues with his repaired knee and he had a near All-SoCon type season as an undersized power forward. Not only that but he was also a vocal and emotional leader all season: something the team lacked at times last year in his absence. Now Willis has to recover from a broken foot he suffered in what was the team's final practice. Go figure.

The reason Willis was an unexpected starter the entire season was because Trent suffered injuries to both his ankles in separate games this year. That's why I'm giving the answer to this question a big fat "Incomplete" for Mr. Wiedeman. Trent slowly recovered from his injuries coming off the bench for most of his games but he never got back to giving the type of minutes we expect from him. When healthy he's one of the best big men in the league. He did not get as much time sharing the court with Adjehi as we thought he would but if he's good to go for a whole season the Cougars will have a dominant frontcourt. 

As for Stitt, after he got the turnover junk out of his game, he built on the flashes of brilliance we saw his freshman year. There was of course that depressing shooting slump we all had to suffer through for three games but that's in the past. More often than not Anthony Stitt is the best shooter on the team. He can hit from three, he has the best mid-range jumper and he can take the ball to the hoop. At no time was this more apparent than in the final game of the season when Stitt led the Cougs with 21 points and a 5-7 mark from behind the arc. Our starting point guard is a major piece going forward and hopefully his last game this year is a sign of things to come. In short, his hand looked healthy. 

How many minutes will Andrew Lawrence log?

Lead the team in minutes last year, try-out for Great Britain national team, train, practice and compete in Olympics, return to Charleston and jump right back into collegiate ball. Sounds tiring doesn’t it? With a healthy Anthony Stitt, Lawrence may have more opportunities to sit and reserve his legs this year. He faded down the stretch last season and the Cougars are going to need one of their best players come Asheville.

It seems like so long ago doesn't it? The 2012 London Olympics? I remember this topic being a major area of discussion at the end of last season and the fall of 2012. Going into his senior campaign, the assumption from CofC fans was that Lawrence's league-leading 35.4 minutes per game would decrease with a healthy Anthony Stitt to run the point. The Captain's minutes did drop to 32 per game this year but when the team offense was struggling, Wojcik had to bring in his ringer (sometimes ahead of schedule) to get some points on the board. Thankfully I don't think Lawrence's legs ever gave out on him this year. Remember last year he was visibly hobbled by leg cramps that he would have to get treated on the bench. Lawrence remained a work horse for the Cougars, fighting through virus's and other ailments to will his team to victory and leading by example. 

 

Cougar's Season Ends on Last-Second Tip-In

Final Score: George Mason 78, College of Charleston 77
Top Performers:
Anthony Stitt 21 points, (5-7 3pt)
Sherrod Wright 22 points, 2 steals
Adjehi Baru 16 points, 7 rebounds

That's all she wrote folks. The 2012-2013 men's basketball season is officially in the books as the College of Charleston Cougars lost a home heartbreaker to future CAA foe George Mason. The Cougars surrendered 44 points in the first half to the Patriots, came back from a double-digit deficit and held the lead until there were 0.6 seconds remaining in the game.

Up 77-76 with a 7 second shot clock and game clock differential, Anthony Stitt shook his man and pulled up for a shot from the elbow. The shot hit the front of the rim, tipped off the fingers of Anthony Thomas who had a chance at an offensive rebound and fell to Sherrod Wright. Wright went the length of the court, charged into Matt Sundberg (outside the restricted area) and missed a layup. Erik Copes tipped it in for the go-ahead game-winner.

It's tough to say exactly where the Cougars lost this one. You can point to the first half defense by CofC that allowed Mason to shoot 70% from the field, you can point to the refs for calling ticky-tack fouls all night and potentially missing a charge and basket interference in the final second, you can blame the coaches. None of that really matters though because the game, and the season, is over.

Had things gone differently in the final seconds this would have been a very different recap (for my full descent into madness, be sure to check out my Twitter). The Cougars made an epic second-half comeback behind Anthony Stitt's 19 second period points and outstanding free throw shooting. The College as a team was 20-22 from the charity stripe tonight. Adjehi Baru dominated the Patriots all night. Matt Sundberg was stellar in his final collegiate game.

But without Willis Hall the Cougars did not win the rebounding battle. All too often there were not enough box-outs on the offensive and defensive ends to secure the boards. First half turnovers (mostly against full court pressure) also dug the Cougars into that early hole. The Patriots scored 17 points off the Cougs' nine turnovers in the first period.

When the Copes tip-in went in, I sat stunned for a good thirty minutes. Then I kicked some things. Then I got a call from my roommate who is a Mason alumni and expressed my emotions through words not fit to print on a semi family-friendly blog. After sitting with my mouth agape some more, I pulled it together.

That was one of the suckiest ways to end a season. But it should not be the way we remember this year.  The team was nowhere near short of expectations and we're just one year into the Wojcik era with plenty of upside. The two best players on the court tonight are just sophomores. Next year the team adds a 7-footer and the son of an NBA Hall-of-Famer. I know it hurts now but our beloved Cougars are in a good spot.

In the coming days I'll have lots of end of the year recap-y type stuff for CofC fans to chew on and hopefully it helps get us all out of the funk we're in right now. Most importantly, Go Cougars.

Cougars to Take On George Mason in CBI Tuesday

    

*I never run out of excuses to show this video

College of Charleston (24-10, 14-4)

George Mason (18-14, 10-8)

TD Arena

Tipoff at 7 pm on AXS TV?

The 2012-2013 basketball season will carry on for the Cougars as they accept a bid from the other, other postseason tournament: the College Basketball Invitational. In a first round match-up set for Tuesday night at TD Arena, CofC will face future CAA rival George Mason. 

It's not glamorous or necessarily fan pleasing, but if you have an opportunity to play in the postseason, most of the time you should take it. In CofC's case, Stitt could use the extra reps at point guard before he takes over full-time next season, Wiedeman can continue to get healthier on both ankles and guys like Adjehi, Anthony Thomas and Nori can all get more games in before their roles increase next season. A pretty good example Coach Wojcik used as a team that used the CBI to their advantage was VCU. The Rams accepted a bid, won the tournament and used the experience as a jumping off point to their Final Four appearance the next year.

Because of the high number of automatic bids in this year's NIT and the overall parity of college basketball this year, the 2013 CBI field is actually pretty solid. Think of it this way, if the Cougars played in a pre-season tournament with these teams I don't think anyone would complain about the strength of the field. You can view the entire bracket here. 

Texas, who the Cougars could meet in the second round, had a disappointing season but they will have sophomore guard Myck Kabongo, who was suspended the first 23 games of the season. Another team that was unable to live up to high expectations is on the other side of the bracket. Lehigh, with CJ McCollum, is a Top 25 team. Without their NBA-bound point guard the Mountain Hawks struggled throughout the Patriot League season. McCollum was a maybe for the conference tournament but did not play, it's still unclear if he'll suit up for the CBI. Rounding out the bracket there's a team the Cougars already beat this year (Vermont), perennially strong teams in Richmond and Purdue, and maybe the juiciest matchup of all- the possibility of Coach Wojcik versus Tulsa in the Championship Game.

It's a quick turnaround for the Cougars and unfortunately they have to play this game at home (I kid...kind of). Being from northern Virginia I'd love to give the Mason Nation something else to whine about this season and give them an early preview of what's to come next year. In order to win the Cougars are going to need to slow down Sherrod Wright. Mason's offense depends on Wright getting his points so stopping him is critical. Unfortunately, at 6-4 and 196 lbs, he's going to be a tougher matchup for Stitt and Thomas than most wing players in the SoCon.

Last year the Patriots put a whooping on the Cougars inside TD Arena. It was the first loss to the Patriots in CofC's history. Time to get some revenge. Go Cougars. 

Davidson Drops CofC for NCAA Bid

Davidson 74, College of Charleston 55
Top Performers:
De'Mon Brooks 24 points, 8 rebounds
Andrew Lawrence 19 points, 4 rebounds

Things didn't turn out the way the Cougars would have liked in their final Southern Conference game. As much as it pains CofC fans to admit, the better league representative won last night. We all knew it was going to take an exceptional game from the Cougs to pull the upset and the shots just didn't fall. The Cougars attempted more field goals than the Wildcats, but they hit less than 30% (including a 1-10 mark from three) and never got within striking distance. Others will argue the opposite but this game didn't come down to a lack of effort, it came down to lack of execution. The Cougars outrebounded Davidson on the offensive end 12-5. Despite the Wildcats hitting 54% of their shots, the Cougars only lost the rebounding margin 34-30. One thing that plagued us all year, turnovers, were also essentially a non-issue. Charleston had just 6 to the Wildcats 7.

It was a night where the Cougars had to be firing on all cylinders and they sputtered on one very important facet of the game. Davidson played great defense, but the Cougs got open looks from three and from under the basket that, had they converted, could have kept them within a possession or two. You know it's bad when Matt Sundberg is electing to drive the ball to the hoop because his threes aren't falling. Whether these misses were due to tired legs, nerves, or the voodoo curse placed on CofC by SoCon commissioner John Iamarino...we'll never be quite sure.

One thing that gave the Cougars fits all night long was the inside play of De'Mon Brooks and Jake Cohen. Every team in Asheville so far has elected to play Davidson differently. Georgia Southern packed the paint with bodies and made Davidson beat them from outside. App State doubled whoever got the ball inside and used their team's speed and athleticism to pester the rest of the Wildcats. App State has the personnel for such a strategy, CofC does not.

The Cougars chose for the most part to play Brooks and Cohen one-on-one and take their chances. Remember that in both meetings with Davidson this year, Brooks has gotten himself into foul trouble and not been much of a factor. He made up for it last night. I don't disagree with Wojcik's decision to play those two straight up. Anybody on Davidson's roster can hurt you and Cohen especially proved himself in the App game when he stopped trying to pass out of the double team and instead went straight at the basket before his defenders got there. CofC has the unique SoCon advantage of a three-big man rotation that is at least capable of bothering Brooks-Cohen. It backfired last night when Baru, Hall and Wiedeman all picked up fouls trying to stop the Wildcats from getting easy baskets inside.

Once the refs neutered each of those three, the Cougars had to go for broke. The final minutes saw a huge bloom in the Davidson lead as the Cougars tried to do what they could to gut out a comeback-all of which came up short.

Andrew Lawrence was the one bright spot offensively for the Cougars as he fought tooth-and-nail to pull out a win in his last chance at the Big Dance. Our two x-factors: Hall and Thomas, both couldn't make it three straight stellar games. Hall was the first Cougar to the bench with foul trouble. Thomas didn't have the same shot from three he had had in Asheville prior and with Cohen and Brooks inside he couldn't slash all the way to the basket; settling for fadeaways instead. But it was an offensive struggle for everyone. Stitt, Wiedeman and Baru were all missing shots you can normally count on them to hit.

Even though the NCAA and NIT tournaments are out of the picture, word on the streets of Asheville is that the Cougars would accept an invitation to a lesser tournament like the CBI. It's by no means glamorous, but it would give the guys some valuable playing time. Trent could use more reps on his ankles and Stitt needs as much game experience as possible before taking over for Lawrence next year. It's the end of SoCon basketball for CofC but hopefully not the end of the season.

Elon Never Leads, Cougars Headed to SoCon Championship

College of Charleston 68, Elon 60

Top Performers: 

Willis Hall 16 points, 10 rebounds, 2-3 3FG

Lucas Troutman 23 points, 3 rebounds

The Cougars have reached the mountain top. All that stands between them and the NCAA Tournament is a third and final showdown with SoCon rival Davidson for league supremacy. It's the matchup we all wanted and it's going to be a battle on ESPN2 tonight. The Cougars have been playing their best basketball in Asheville and will look to finally punch that elusive ticket to the Big Dance. Davidson is looking to complete the season sweep of the Cougars and take their rightful spot as the SoCon's best representative in the madness. It's all on the line after both teams won yesterday.

Because of the SoCon's still mostly bs division format, the Phoenix of Elon came into last night's game as the higher seed despite CofC having the better conference and regular season record. Elon had just survived UNCG and the Cougars had dispatched the WCU Catamounts. The Cougars were wearing their black uniforms.

Just like in their first game, CofC came right out of the gates firing. They started the semi-finals on an 11-0 run and forced Elon into a turnover prone, bagel-for-eight attempts from the field. The matchup to watch was inside. "Stretch fours" Willis Hall and Riley Beaumont are very similar players and Lucas Troutman and Adjehi Baru are the best SoCon centers this side of Davidson. Adjehi was the story early as he played stellar one-on-one defense against Troutman. Baru was quick on his feet and careful with his hands to force Troutman away from the basket and contest his shots without fouling. 

Just as Wojcik said after the Western Carolina game, starting on such a hot offensive run is impossible to maintain. After cooling off from the field, Elon was able to chip away at the lead with Troutman hitting mid-range J's and senior guard Josh Bonney having a career night. After an Andrew Lawrence jumper the Cougs went into the locker room with a six point lead.

In the second half it was all about Lawrence and Willis Hall. Had it not been for an ACL tear last preseason, this could have been Willis Hall's final game at CofC; that's how he's been playing in Asheville. Or maybe it's just playing Elon that gets Willis fired up. He was the best player on the court when the two teams met in early December. 

Hall won the matchup with Beaumont to the tune of a double-double, including a game-changing assist to Anthony Thomas for a three and a pair of his own long balls. Not to be outdone, Andrew Lawrence finally found his stroke after three halves in Asheville and torched the Phoenix for 17 points in the second half alone including 7-9 free throws to keep CofC's cushion. 

The Phoenix would give it their best in the final minutes, cutting the lead to one possession at times, but never taking the upper had. Bonney drove to the basket 3-4 times in the final minute and was able to convert with the Cougars unwilling to foul. As has been the case all weekend, the Cougars were just about lights out from the charity stripe again and it helped them preserve a win.

A few more observations:

• The Cougars survived some really inconsistent SoCon refs last night. We were on the lucky end of a few calls but the two "over the backs" on Trent and the inexcusable Elon pump fake, get fouled, fall to the ground, launch an underhanded shot with your back to the basket that went 12 inches into the air...should not have resulted in three shots. 
• Speaking of Trent, to no one but the ref's fault, was limited for the second straight game. This to me is a big story line heading into tonight. Trent should be well-rested and highly motivated going into his matchup against the Davidson bigs. Again, the fact that the Cougars are winning without even an average performance from Wiedeman is a good sign. Whenever he turns it on (got to be tonight) the Cougars have another weapon
• The fact that the Cougars have been playing well without one of their best players is a testament to how well-rounded the team is. Adjehi Baru, Willis Hall, Anthony Thomas and Andrew Lawrence all look like All-SoCon Tournament performers. Most inspiring of all is the stellar play of Thomas and Hall. Both those guys are x-factors, when they're on the Cougars normally win. If we can get those two to keep up their amazing offensive prowess AND get solid performances from our low-post guys and shooters....oh the possibilities....
• We haven't even talked about the Cougar defense and rebounding. Why should we? Doug Wojcik is our coach! The Cougars held one of the league's best three-point shooting teams to just 11 attempts (the Phoenix hit just 3) and sharp-shooter Jack Isenbarger was held to zero points. Thanks in large part to their early defensive stand, the Cougars also held Elon to under 40% shooting from the floor for the entire game.
• CofC didn't do a great job of crashing the offensive glass, normally a strength of theirs, and the rebounding margin ended up being tied 28 all at the end of the night. Troutman however, the 1st Team All-SoCon forward, had just 3 rebounds

SoCon Tournament Preview: An All-Chalk Final Four

It's never happened in the history of the Southern Conference Tournament and it won't happen this year either. All four top seeds, meaning all teams with a first-round bye, advanced yesterday to assure us that no team playing four games in four days will win the SoCon Tournament crown. For tonights games we're headed to prime time and we'll know at the end of the night who will battle for the Championship Monday night on ESPN2. Here's a preview of the semi-finals

Game 9: #1 Davidson vs #4 Appalachian State

The Mountaineers have had the easiest path to the SoCon Final Four of any team. They didn't have to play Friday and yesterday they got to beat up on 12th seeded Furman 74-60. I hope they got enough reps and rest the last few days because their cream puff schedule hits a brick wall against Davidson at 6pm tonight. 

Davidson has not been challenged yet either so they are just as well-rested. The Wildcats absolutely took Georgia Southern to school yesterday. Like many teams who have played Davidson this year, the Eagles thought they had a strategy for defeating the Wildcats: packing their defense inside and forcing the Davidson guards to beat them. The plan unsurprisingly backfired as Davidson drained 13 three pointers before calling it a day. 

The Mountaineers and Wildcats met twice this year, with Davidson easily winning both contests. There's two things going against App State whenever they play Davy. One, they don't have the bodies or the height to out rebound the Wildcats. In games Davidson has lost this year they have also lost the rebounding margin. Second, the Mountaineers can't guard everyone on Bob McKillop's roster. Nathan Healey is about as good as it gets in this league and he won this year's Defensive Player of the Year. But even he can't check Cohen, Brooks, Kuhlman and Cochran. 

As the Cougars, and everyone else in the SoCon has learned, beating Davidson is not as easy as taking away their best player. That strategy only works against UNCG, Western Carolina, Wofford, Citadel and App State. Control the boards, don't let Davidson get to the free throw line and bonus points for getting Cohen/Brooks in foul trouble and defending transition baskets: that's how you beat Davidson.

Most Important Player: Nathan Healy. He is App State's best player and he needs to play his best, with help from his teammates, to pull the upset. The forward matchups are going to be fun to watch in this one. Brooks and Cohen vs Healy and Canty. 

Entertainment Value: 8 This is going to be pretty one-sided, but at least there's a lot of bad blood between these two.

The Pick: Davidson. It doesn't matter who else is on their side of the bracket. My pick is Davidson.

Game 10: #2 Elon vs #3 College of Charleston

Now this should be a good game. The Phoenix and Cougars only met once this season waaaay back in the first conference game December 1st. That game was played at Alumni Gym and the Cougars won 56-54. In a battle of two of the league's best inside players, Baru and Lucas Troutman seemed to neutralize each other and Willis Hall and Ryley Beaumont were the unlikely top performers.  A lot has changed since then. The Phoenix went on to win 13 of their next 17 SoCon games and finish 1st in the North behind the stellar play of Troutman and guard Jack Isenbarger. The Cougars would go on to get blown out at home by both Louisville and Anderson University the next to games. After driving CofC  fans mad, the Cougars slowly but surely rose from the ashes (much like a certain conference mascot) to become the second best team in the SoCon. Those are Darren Goldwater's words, not mine. Well, mine too. 

Despite what the final score indicated I still think the Cougars played one of their best games of the year last night. While CofC looked calm and in control most of the game, the Phoenix did not have their best outing against UNCG to advance. The Spartans held the rebounding edge, especially on offensive boards (14-4) and Elon's guards struggled. Jack Isenbarger took a big hit that seemed to take him out of his game. Tanner Samson ended up having to take over a lot of Jack's minutes and the Phoenix were lucky their defense was good enough to hang on for a win. 

If Isenbarger is not 100% or the Phoenix are gassed from the victory, the Cougars need to capitalize. The real fun is going to be inside. The SoCon play-by-play guys hypothesized that Baru's strong game yesterday may have been because of his snub for 1st or 2nd All-Conference (Troutman made 1st Team). I can only dream the lack of recognition is a motivating factor for the grown man in the paint. He and Troutman are going to go at it. Also remember that Trent Wiedeman missed the first game between these two schools. If he can bring energy, scoring and rebounding off the bench in relief of Adjehi the Cougars have a strong counter to Troutman and Beaumont. 

Most Important Player: Adjehi Baru. Having Baru be a legitimate inside force on offense last night allows Wojcik to go inside-out. More than just a an overly simplified description for the Cougar offense, Adjehi producing inside opens it up for Stitt, Lawrence and Nori Johnson to hit from three. Keeping his hot streak from the free throw line would also be huge. 

Entertainment Value: 8 This is going to be a great game. The only thing keeping it from a 10 is that both teams are stingy defensively so we won't have the run-outs and wide open looks of the UNCG-Chattanooga game. It's going to be a muddy, grind it out game and I love it. 

The Pick: Cougars. They looked better in their first game than Elon did. Yesterday the x-factors: Anthony Thomas, Nori Johnson and free throw shooting all came up deuces. Tonight I think it's on Trent, Willis and Lawrence to step up. If they do, we're looking at the Championship game everyone wanted. 

CofC Beats Western Carolina, Advances to Final Four

College of Charleston 78, Western Carolina 70
Top Performers:
Adjehi Baru 14 points, 13 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks
Anthony Thomas 18 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals
Trey Sumler 25 points (10-21 FG)

Facing a seven day layoff between games, a very pro-Catamounts Civic Center crowd and the hot shooting Trey Sumler, the Cougars put together one of their most complete games of the year at just the right time. CofC scored 78 points, had four starters in double figures and hit 29 of 35 free throws to outpace Western Carolina. The Wojcik numbers: 40-35 rebounding advantage and a Cougar defense that only allowed 38% shooting from the field.

Aside from the outstanding free throw shooting, the story of this game was the play of Adjehi Baru and Anthony Thomas. It says a lot when your leading scorer is 2 of 11 from the field and you still find yourself up 15 late and putting the subs in. Normally we praise the defense of Baru and Thomas but last night in their second and first, respectively, career SoCon Tournament games both guys were forces offensively. Anthony Thomas was aggressive every time he went to the rim, whether for his own shot or for offensive putbacks. Baru took serious advantage of his matchup with King inside and also navigated his way around Western's 1-3-1 defense for a few authoritative dunks.

The rest of the Cougars also found ways to contribute. Lawrence, whose shot wasn't falling, remained a threat to the Catamounts by driving to the basket and picking up 12 of his 16 points at the line. Anthony Stitt gave us flashbacks to his freshman days when he drove right at Tawaski King, absorbed a big hit in the air and finished the basket for a three point play. Even the guys who didn't score in double figures had an impact.

Nori Johnson was a perfect 3-3 from the field in his 15 minutes off the bench (8 points). Willis nailed a three to give CofC the lead back after a WCU run and had one of the highlights of the game when he stole an inbounds pass late in the contest and flushed it. Wiedeman picked up a few fouls and was limited to just 20 minutes but he was active around the basket all night.

Again, the fact that Lawrence and Wiedeman both had bad shooting nights and we were still able to cruise to a victory without a super-human effort from Stitt is a very, very good sign.

It was a bit puzzling that Larry Hunter decided not to go 2-3 zone more often. It's pretty apparent that we struggle against it. Maybe it was because the Cougars were lethal from three all night. Take out Lawrence's uncharacteristic 0-6 night and the rest of the team was 5 for 7 from outside. The Catamounts did however switch up their defensive looks a couple times. They switched from man to 1-3-1 during the 1st half and suddenly the Cougar offense (which started the game on a 13-4 run) came to a screeching halt. Stitt and Lawrence couldn't get the offense set up the way they wanted and the Catamounts chipped away at the lead.

These types of lapses have been common this year but there was one play in particular that I really liked. After Western once again switched their defense (after Wojcik had already called a play from the bench) Anthony Stitt had the ball at the top of the key with the rest of the team out of sync. Rather than force the ball to wherever it was supposed to go, or take his man one-on-one, Stitt backed it out again and reset. The Cougars ran a play and Wiedeman got an easy basket with the shot clock running out. That type of maturity is a welcome sight in postseason play.

Trey Sumler had yet another ridiculous shooting performance. Last time these two teams met he had 14 points in the final minute of play. Last night he had a similar hot streak. He nailed an off-balance jumper as the first half buzzer sounded and he also hit a long three as the final horn buzzed. Sumler finished the game with 25 points but he did take 21 shots. For much of the second half Stitt did a great job defensing him. Even if after some of those shots all you can do is raise your arms and shrug.

If there was one thing about this game to nitpick it would be the 17 turnovers. A lot of them were careless; Baru not taking his time with the outlet pass, balls going between guys legs, Lawrence's flashy transition attempted bounce pass to Baru etc. Thomas credited the sloppiness to the long time period between last night and the last game for the Cougars over a week ago. Again though, we had 17 turnovers and still scored 78 points. That's a good thing.

Just a really solid team win. If this is a sign of peaking at the right time than I am very excited about the next game. Elon had a tough time yesterday against UNCG. The Cougar-Phoenix semi-final is the game to watch Sunday and it won't disappoint. Go Cougars!

Day 1 Wrap Up

Georgia Southern 60,  Wofford 44

Top Performer- GSU guard Tre Bussey led the Eagles with 9 rebounds and went 2-3 from behind the arc en route to 12 points for the winning team.

What started as a punch-for-punch, slow paced contest quickly turned into a romp after Georgia Southern ended the first half on a decisive 14-0 run. The Wofford Terriers were held without a field goal for the final 7:13 of the first half and never looked to be in sync offensively. A team that already struggles to put the ball in the basket, Wofford was thrown off their game by the numerous defensive switches the Eagles threw at them. Man-to-man, 2-3 and 1-2-2  zones were all applied to Indiana Faithful and his teammates and they forced shot after shot.

I mentioned that how Karl Cochran goes, so does the Wofford offense. He ended up with just 4 points on 2-10 shooting (0-5 from behind the arc). The Eagles also held a 38-26 rebounding advantage over the under-sized Wofford front line. Next the Eagles will get their shot at knocking off Davidson again in the quarter-finals tomorrow.

Furman 55, Samford 51

Top Performer- Sixth year senior guard Bobby Austin led the Paladins with 17 points and came down with the go-ahead rebound to secure Furman's upset.

This was a game I expected Samford to walk away with despite their youth at key positions. What I didn't anticipate was Furman fielding a healthy rotation and taking the whole "we're 0-0 right now" mentality all the way to the bank. The Paladins were able to stay in the first half despite never leading because of the rebounding of the Brothers Reddick and their timely three-point shooting. Tim Williams of Samford sat with foul trouble the final 6 minutes of the 1st which contributed to the Bulldogs' rebounding and offensive woes.

At the half Bennie Seltzer said it was his priority to get his guys to crash the boards. Maybe the best way to decrease the rebounding margin may have been to take and make better shots. My "Most Important Player" Raijon Kelly struggled mightily, going 1-13 from the field (1-7 from behind three). Both teams missed a number of easy looks at the rim late but Samford's offense never looked efficient unless Seltzer had the team huddle during timeouts. Down one with 28 seconds to play, the Bulldogs' Tyler Hood turned the ball over after over dribbling. Then with another chance, down 2 with 13 seconds to go, the best thing Samford could muster was a contested layup by Raijon Kelly against two Paladin defenders.

It was a shocking loss for the Bulldogs who have to be at least slightly guilty of overlooking their opponent. Furman snaps a 10-game losing streak, beats Samford in the 1st round for the third straight year and will face App State tomorrow.

UNC Greensboro 87, Chattanooga 81

Top Performer- Derrell Armstrong spearheaded the Spartan's second half comeback by drilling 4 of 5 three point attempts and finishing with a game high 25 points.

Has there ever been a game that more encapsulated UNC Greensboro basketball? The Mocs started the game by opening a can on Wes Miller's defense-optional team and put UNCG in an early double-digit hole. Trevis Simpson and friends were taking one-on-five three pointers, attempting alley-oops and attempting way too many tough shots at the rim. On the other end of the court they weren't rotating on defense and allowed the Z Men and Rico White to have whatever shots they desired.

Then in the second half the Spartans started to hit some of their ridiculous shots and suddenly we had a game on our hands. Once UNCG had erased their deficit, the shift in effort was obvious. Simpson started driving recklessly to the basket and made up for his own poor shooting by converting at the line (6-7 on FT's). Even when the league's leading scorer went to the bench the Spartans stayed aggressive. At the end of 40 minutes it was the Mocs who were left stunned. UNCG meets up with Elon next. Dangerous matchup for the Phoenix.

Western Carolina 76, Citadel 61

Top Performer- Trey Sumler exploded for 27 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Hopefully he got all that scoring out of his system before the Catamounts meet the Cougars.

Can't say I'm very surprised by this outcome. I was more surprised that Citadel stayed in it as long as they did (approximately 7 minutes). Then the Bulldogs came back down to Earth and proceeded to foul and take bad shots. The Catamount crowd grew louder, Trey Sumler heated up and Mike Groselle's career came to an end.

All night long the Bulldogs were two steps too slow for the Bulldogs. Like I predicted in my preview, Citadel had no one capable of keeping up with Sumler: and it showed. Tawaski King also kept Groselle off the boards and off the score sheet for much of the first half. Next up the Catamounts take on the Cougars. It's a tough draw for sure but CofC has to feel good about how well Stitt defended Sumler in their first (only) meeting this year.

SoCon Tournament Preview: Day 1

This year the Cougars won themselves a bye in the first round of SoCon Tournament action on Friday. By the time the Cougars take the floor Saturday night, seven of the twelve participating teams will have already been eliminated. But that shouldn't stop Cougar fans from checking in on all the action leading up to Game 8. There are some good first round matchups on Friday, let's preview them. 

Game 1: #8 Wofford vs #9 Georgia Southern

The 8/9 matchup is always a good one and the Asheville action kicks off this year with a great dichotomy in playing styles. Wofford is slow-paced, methodical on defense and deliberate on offense. Mike Young led his Terriers to back-to-back SoCon Championships because of his teams' ability to defend and rebound the ball. The make up of this year's young team is much more inconsistent on both ends of the court. The Terriers can still defend in the half court, but they don't have the size to rebound against top-tier SoCon teams or the offensive diversity to keep pace with the smaller SoCon teams.

Georgia Southern wants to be an up-tempo, run-and-gun team. They have a starting five of track athletes, quick guards on the perimeter and one of the leagues best wing players in Eric Ferguson. The ideal pace for the Eagles is just the opposite of what Wofford prefers; Charlton Young likes his teams to get up and down the floor. Defensively, GSU's length and speed can cause problems for opposing teams. In January, the Eagles were able to knock off the two best teams in the conference (Davidson and CofC) by forcing turnovers. But when the same defensive pressure is applied to the Eagles, they often panic and take rushed shots. A lot of times GSU is guilty into falling into whatever playing style their opponent dictates, but their halfcourt offense cannot keep them in games on it's own. 

Most Important Player: Karl Cochran. As the high-volume sophomore shooting guard goes, so do the Terriers. He attempts nearly half the teams shots and he's probably worth 75% of their offense. Here's why Cochran is so important: as long as Mike Young is on the bench, Wofford's defense is stingy enough to keep teams in the 50's. Unfortunately, Wofford has so few weapons offensively that they all too often cannot score enough points to win games. Cochran is capable of pouring in 30 point games when he's dialed in. If his shots are falling in Asheville the Terriers win this one.

Entertainment Value: 7- Georgia Southern is a very entertaining group when opponents let them get out in transition. Even with Wofford's defense I think the Eagles are still good for some "wow" plays under the Civic Center lights. There's also Karl Cochran who is the mini Mini Mamba. Definitely one of the more exciting first round games.

The Pick: Wofford. The Terriers swept the Eagles in two meetings this year. Fundamentally strong defensive teams are kryptonite to Georgia Southern. I think the Terriers slow GSU down out of their comfort zone and Cochran does enough with weak defensive pressure from GSU's guards to carry the Terriers offense. It's tough to beat a team three times but I'm sticking with Wofford.

Game 2: #5 Samford vs #12 Furman

Samford, I was counting on you to lock up that bye. They have all the pieces to be a contender in the SoCon for years: great coach, a multi-faceted guard in Raijon Kelly, the leagues best freshman in forward Tim Williams. The Bulldogs were my favorite to get that final bye spot but a pair of overtime losses to the other two teams in contention, App State and Western Carolina, was the nail in the four day coffin for Coach Seltzer and company. Luckily their consolation prize is the opportunity to bully one of the worst teams in Division 1 basketball. 

If momentum is the biggest advantage going into tournament play then the Paladins are in for a short stay in Asheville. Furman is riding a 10 game losing streak heading into the postseason and not looking any better than their numbers on the surface. They can't rebound and their offense is all out of whack. The one thing they do have going for them is senior big man Colin Reddick. He is capable of chipping Williams off his spots and possibly disrupting the two man pick-and-roll game of Samford.

Most Important Player: Raijon Kelly. Fresh off an All-Conference selection, Kelly will be put to the test in postseason play. The pick-and-roll and pick-and-pop chemistry he and Williams have is the basis for Samford's offense. If Williams is struggling in his first SoCon Tournament it will be up to the versatile Kelly to create his own offense or become more of a drive-and-kick point guard. 

Entertainment Value: 3- Neither of these teams are flashy. From a pure basketball nerd perspective, watching Coach Seltzer's team operate is kind of "fun" but keep in mind the level of competition. Game 1 should end around 1:30, this would be a great time to grab lunch or a local brew. 

The Pick: Samford. The Paladins are the Walking Dead right now. They're only dressing like seven players, they're inexperienced and coming in with all that reverse momentum. A SoCon Tournament run does not look to be in the cards for them. Samford is probably under-seeded and should take Game 2 in convincing fashion. 

Game 3: #7 Chattanooga vs #10 UNCG

Two very dangerous teams get to go at each other in Game 3. Both capable of lighting up the scoreboard, both averse to playing defense and SoCon stars on both sides. Trevis Simpson and Derell Armstrong lead the high-scoring but severely under-achieving UNCG Spartans. Greensboro was the preseason pick to win the North Division but their lackadaisical approach to defense and inefficient offense have led to their 12 conference losses and 10th seeded status. Like Georgia Southern the Spartans would prefer a faster pace where they can jack up lots of shots and attempt to outscore their opponents. 

The Mocs can be a tough matchup for just about any SoCon team-top to bottom. The Z Men (Drazen Zlovaric and Z Mason) make up one of the best rebounding tandems in the league. Outside the arc the Mocs have a talented guard rotation led by underclassmen Gee McGhee and Rico White. Chattanooga's deeeeep bench rotation is ideal for the 4 games in 4 days format; but the real thing to watch in this game is UTC's full court pressure. Because of their depth, the Mocs can afford to full court press the entire game: and they often do. It can present problems for offensively challenged teams but such a distinction does not apply to the Spartans. Greensboro could easily break the press and get the run out dunks and three pointers they love so much or could fold under the pressure and give up a ton of turnovers. Those two possibilities make for an enticing game.

Most Important Player: Chattanooga's bench. Having the bodies to roll 12 deep is a big advantage, but sometimes the Mocs offense suffers from the hodgepodge lineups. Shulman has a habit of putting lineups on the floor that don't matchup well against opponents and he pulls players so often that there's no time for his second or third lines to gel. The lack of a pure point guard hurts the Spartans chances against the press but I think they break it most of the time and put up a bunch of points. It will be up to the guys not yet mentioned on Chattanooga's roster to score when they're on the court. 

Entertainment Value: 9! Hope everyone in attendance got their tourist commitments out of the way because this one promises more dunks and unguarded three pointers than an NBA All-Star game. Far and away the most entertainment potential of any first round game.

The Pick: UNCG. I'm going all chalk in the first round so it's time for an upset. This one is the closest to call so I will be only slightly humiliated if I'm wrong. The Spartans handled the Mocs in both meetings this year. Both teams seemed to have peaked weeks ago rather than carrying good play into the postseason. I think UNCG is a tough matchup for Chatt's full court pressure and the Spartans win this game.

Game 4: #6 Western Carolina vs #11 Citadel

The preview most of you immediately scrolled to because the winner of this game plays the Cougars on  Saturday. The Bulldogs and Catamounts were opponents in last year's Round 1 in Asheville in which the Cats were victorious en route to their championship game run. The key players are still the same: namely Mike Groselle and Trey Sumler, but the gap in talent isn't as large. The Citadel is playing better as of late as Coach Driesell's players continue to improve. These two teams played their only regular season meeting way back on January 5th with WCU winning by 18.

The biggest problem Citadel had in that game, and most likely in this game, was that they have no one who can guard Sumler. Trey Sumler is one of the SoCon's best scorers and falls into the category of "we need him to be effective to win" shooting guards in the SoCon. In many of the games the Catamounts have lost, Sumler has forced shots. The Bulldogs were unable to take Sumler out of his comfort zone and he torched them. Not only that but WCU's Tawaski King was tough on Mike Groselle. Without Groselle's points and no one to disrupt the Catamount offense, Citadel fell.

Most Important Player: The Western Carolina fans. Asheville is just an hour drive from the Cullowhee campus and there is a sizable Catamount alumni population in and around the SoCon Tournament's host city. Last year they were large enough and loud enough to carry WCU to their improbable four game run. The Catamounts have a distinct advantage in Asheville and they'll ride it as far as it, and Trey Sumler, will take them. 

Entertainment Value: 6 Again this one takes a hit to the entertainment index because of the ineptitude of one of the participants. Citadel, winners of 6 Division 1 games this year, does not muster much in the realm of spectator value. Because of the location and time however, this game will have a good crowd on hand. 

The Pick: Western Carolina. I know the game is not played on paper but WCU was the much better team this season. The game is instead played in front of hundreds of Western Carolina fans in which case...WCU is still a clear favorite. As much as I would love for our Charleston brethren to knock off the defending runner-ups and meet us on Saturday, I think the Catamounts win this game. 

SoCon Regular Season Awards: How I Voted

With the regular season complete, the collective blogosphere that partakes in Scanning the SoCon every week got together to vote on our very own conference awards. You can find the complete tabulation of all our choices here at Mocs Mania. What John Moc has put together is the total votes from all us bloggers (the official regular season awards will be out soon) for each distinction. For some added insight, here's my ballot complete with a few reasons why I chose the players I did. Enjoy.

AWARDS:

 

1st Team All SoCon

1) Andrew Lawrence

2) Trey Sumler

3) Nathan Healy

4) Jake Cohen

5) Lucas Troutman

*When I filled out my ballot, the only locks I put in for the first team were Jake Cohen and Andrew Lawrence. Cohen is my (and apparently everyone else's) POY but Lawrence was a solid second in my mind. There's a severe lack of well-rounded point guards in the SoCon. Most of the guards to show up on everyone's ballots are volume-shooting wings like Simpson, Sumler and Cochran. While I love high-scoring guards as much as the next guy, Lawrence's ability to score, distribute, rebound and close games made him an obvious choice in what I found to be a very position-based First Team. He's the best point guard in the league. 

**Healey was a name that at first was on my second team but after looking at his outlandish knack for appearing near the top of every major statistical category and the fact that most of his numbers jumped in conference play, he eventually found his way into my First Team and POY race.

 

2nd Team All SoCon

1) Raijon Kelly

2) Trevis Simpson

3) De'Mon Brooks

4) Z Mason
5) Adjehi Baru

*Fun fact: I almost completely left Brooks off my All-SoCon Teams. Looking over his season, the reigning Player of the Year did not dominate competition like I anticipated he would (underachieving was a theme in the SoCon this year). I thought I had strong cases for guys like Z Mason, Baru and Troutman to appear above him. But I think Brooks' numbers take a hit because of the talent that surrounds him. That consideration was not one I was making in my mid-season All-Conference awards (sorry for the huge demotion Groselle), but if he was on another team Brooks' numbers would be much higher. His talent is undeniable. 

**People will think I'm overvaluing CofC players again when I put Baru on my second team (he ended up on the Scanning the SoCon 3rd Team). Someone who leads the league in rebounding should automatically be an All-SoCon lock. Adjehi is also the best rim protecter and one-on-one post defender in the league. His stats don't show it but his length and intimidation led to a lot of altered shots. Also remember that he saw double-teams every possession since game two of the season. 

 

3rd Team All SoCon

1) Karl Cochran

2) CJ Reed

3) Eric Ferguson

4) Mike Groselle

5) Tim Williams

 

*I have Groselle on the 3rd Team while he ended up on Scanning the SoCon's First Team. Groselle's statistics alone are probably worthy enough for some to put him that high (I did too early in the year). But the fact that Citadel didn't win games really hurts his case for me at the end of the year. Notice how there are exactly zero Furman Paladins representatives on the list. 

**CJ Reed is underrated in my opinion. He's one of those more well-rounded point guards I said there was a lack of in this conference. Tim Williams is the only freshman to be All-SoCon because he doesn't play like one. 

Freshman All SoCon Team

1) Gee McGhee

2) Spencer Collins

3) Matt Van Scyoc

4) Kayel Locke
5) Tim Williams

*Where was all the Kayel Locke love?! Did no one watch his game against Wake Forest?! He's rough around the edges but from what I've seen of him I think Locke is going to be a stud in the SoCon for a while with the polish he already has offensively. The All-Freshman Team was the hardest category to fill this year but I thought for sure that the trio of Williams, McGhee and Locke would be unanimous. Guess not.

**Glad not everyone had to watch Van Scyoc torch CofC to recognize that he deserved consideration on this list. 

 

Player of the Year:

1) Jake Cohen

2) Andrew Lawrence
3) Nathan Healy

*Cohen: best player on the best team but also the reason why Davidson is as good as they are. Andrew Lawrence to me is the most valuable player to his team (just look at how the Cougars struggled against Auburn and Anderson without him on the floor). Healey was my third choice because of the aforementioned stat stuffing and increased play in conference.

Freshman of the Year:

1) Tim Williams

2) Gee McGhee
3) Kayel Locke

*Despite the late push by McGhee, Williams is the just the man and he should win this award from the SoCon and the press. 

 

Coach of the Year:

1) Matt Matheny

2) Bennie Seltzer

3) Bob McKillop

*We only got to vote for one Coach of the Year but if it came to a ranking this would be mine. Seltzer is very close to Matheny in my humble opinion. Remember in the preseason how terrible we all thought Samford was going to be? Seltzer has completely turned them around and is proving that having a young team is no excuse for not putting a competitive product on the court. Had Samford one the final bye spot I may have pushed Seltzer ahead of Matheny. 

Cougars Explode in Second Half; Primed for SoCon Tournament

Final Score: College of Charleston 74, Furman 50

Top Performers:

Willis Hall 9 points, 15 rebounds

Anthony Stitt 15 points, 5 assists

*Disclaimer: I was unable to make it a perfect regular season sweep of watching CofC basketball games this year. I missed watching this one live due to other Saturday afternoon obligations but I promise to make it up to y'all with an enormous amount of regular season wrap-up and SoCon preview posts.

So for this one we're going back to bullet point format

• So much for any lingering effects on Stitt's knee injury. Anthony finished the game having played 28 minutes and leading the Cougars in points and assists
• In order to come back from an 11-point first half deficit and eventually win by 24, something had to have gone very right along the way
• The Cougars shot 68% from the field and 54% from three in the second half. That could have something to do with it
• With an offensive explosion like that in the final half of regular season play, this Cougar fan has to assume we'll have momentum heading into next weekend...? Eh? How about some hot outside shooting for us in Asheville Cougs?
• From what I've heard over at CofC fans the Cougars had a solid outing last night against the zone. Willis was capitalizing on the open jumper in the cavity and there was enough effective outside shooting to put the Paladins into man. At which point CofC was really able to pull away.
• Anthony Stitt had one of my favorite quotes of the year after the game "they only scored 10 legitimate points in the second half" Colin Reddick has illegitimate points with a young woman in Monks Corner. It's something I frown upon. 
• Adjehi had another rough game but I already told you guys Reddick was going to give him trouble. Baru has been having a down stretch lately but (spoiler alert) it has not had much impact on my All-SoCon voting
• Trent had a very nice game. 13 and 9 in just 20 minutes coming off the bench. Why is there no SoCon Sixth Man of the Year award? 

Closing Out the Regular Season with a Trip to Furple

Furman University (6-22, 3-14)
College of Charleston (21-9, 13-4)
Free Concessions Arena
Tipoff at 4pm 

The Cougars drew a pretty nice opponent to close out the regular season. Furman has the worst record of any team in the SoCon and the Cougars get to play them on the road. You know, where we've been winning! Even though CofC is looking to sweep another upstate rival this season, the game against this Paladin team at TD Arena was about as close to a loss as the Cardiac Cougars have had. Had it not been for some clutch threes by Willis Hall and Andrew Lawrence the Cougs would have had an early season SoCon hole to climb out of.

That's why the should have a chip on their shoulder for this one. Losing to Citadel the other day, Furman assured themselves that they would finish the regular season as the worst team in the league. Yet they match up pretty favorably against CofC. Furman is going to run zone all afternoon so the Cougars have to do a better job of executing offense against it.

Six-foot-nine senior forward Colin Reddick has the size to bully Adjehi one-on-one like he did in the first matchup. It's Reddick's senior night and he'll be one motivated Paladin after the season Furman has had.

Fortunately for the Cougars the Paladins also have a number of weaknesses that have gotten them to this esteemed position in the first place. They turn the ball over a lot, they are not a strong rebounding team and they struggle to score points. You don't get to last place in one of the country's worst D1 conferences by chance. The fact that this game is on the road and against this team should equal positive momentum for the Cougars heading into Asheville.

If the Cougars do not drive away from Greenville tonight with rested starters and increased confidence matching up against the zone; something went very wrong.

Cougars Sweep Wofford in Final Home Game

College of Charleston 55, Wofford 50

Top Performers:

Andrew Lawrence 10 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists

Karl Cochran 23 points, 2 steals

Senior night could not have gone much better for Bart Benton. The walk-on, who's career high of three points came in his freshman season, got his first career start last night. Minutes into the game he swished a three, the TD Arena crowd erupted and he reveled in the spotlight on the night in which he and teammates Andrew Lawrence and Matt Sundberg were recognized.

Even though Bart's start was honorary, the team needed his bucket. Minutes before the game Anthony Stitt was scratched with a minor knee injury he had suffered against Gardner Webb. Stitt is still listed as day-to-day and despite telling doctors he was good to go he was held out for precautionary purposes. This could have been trouble for two reasons. One, the Cougar offense and outside shooting flows much better with Stitt on the court. Two, Anthony was largely responsible for defending Karl Cochran the last time around. As Cochran goes so do the Terriers and the responsibility would fall to Nori Johnson.

What was disconcerting though was the zero minutes registered by Trevonte Dixon with Stitt out. The sophomore guard hasn't seen much time this season with Lawrence and Stitt being so productive, but just two weeks ago we were talking about his potential role in three-guard lineups. One would think he would be first off the bench with Stitt out but alas Wojcik went with different choices.

For one stretch in the first half Coach went with a no point guard lineup that had Anthony Thomas facilitating the offense. The results were pretty disastrous. The Cougars committed a number of their 16 turnovers in that period (Baru had 7 on the night). Wojcik quickly got Andrew Lawrence back into the game and the team recovered. So really strange scenario that few would expect.

The zone once again gave the Cougars some trouble, but I think we looked better against the 2-3 than we did against Garder Webb. Hall and Lawrence made some buckets from the elbow cavity and Trent was able to neutralize some of the inside pressure by converting on some strong moves to the basket. In the pregame post I mentioned how I wanted the team to get more experience against this defensive set and Mike Young obliged.

Still a lot of positive in this win however. The Cougars absolutely dominated the rebounding margin 44-27. That was a big factor in sticking in the game early despite the missed threes and multiple turnovers. Nori Johnson also stepped up big in limiting Cochran. Nori got caught up in a few two-man screens and Cochran finished with 23 points- but he shot 10 for 27. Attempting nearly half your teams shots and hitting 37%? Johnson, Wojcik and any other team will take that all day.

Three years ago, when these two teams were atop the conference, I would have expected this type of boxscore. But if you told me one team had a shooting guard attempt 27 shots and the other out-rebounded them by 17 I would assume the teams on last nights score sheet were switched.

In the second half things opened up for the Cougs offensively. CofC shot 4-8 from three and 58% from the floor to cruise to one final home victory this season. Only Willis Hall and Andrew Lawrence finished in double figures but the bench contributed 29 points and even Bart Benton got on the score sheet. That should make your day right there.