Barry Goes Under the Knife, Cougars Go Under .500

Final Score (Thursday):

William & Mary 63, College of Charleston 61 (Cam Johnson 19 pts, 6-12 FG, 6 rebs, 4 asts)

Final Score (Saturday): 

Elon 65, College of Charleston 64 (Jarrell Brantley 15 pts, 6-13 FG, 7 rebs, 3 asts, 1 blk)

Shortly before Thursday's game against Elon, rumors began circulating on the interwebs that Canyon Barry, the Colonial Athletic Association's leading scorer and oldest starter for the Cougars, was electing to have season-ending surgery on his separated shoulder. The loss of Barry (who had already missed 2.5 games) would give the Cougars just eight scholarship players for the foreseeable future; nine when senior forward James Bourne returns from surgery of his own.

Indeed, the rumors were confirmed and the already-shorthanded Cougars were dealt another blow to their net experience level and depth. Canyon's emergence as one of the country's best scorers was a big reason why the Cougars were overachieving this year. 

We've talked about the team's injuries a lot on this blog, so hopefully this is the last of it. Joe Chealey was the projected starting point guard for this team and was expected to shoulder much of the scoring and distributing work. He was lost in the preseason. Grant Riller, who led the Cougars with 20 points in their not-so-secret exhibition game against Clemson, was competing for the starting 2 spot and may have beat out sophomore Cam Johnson. He has joined Chealey in street clothes all season. Bourne is the team's lone senior and capable of scoring and defending in one-on-one situations. He has not played a CAA game yet, but may be back next week.

With these four contributors out, the young guys have been forced to step up - and they have done an outstanding job. The team is now starting three freshman, one sophomore and one junior with extremely limited depth behind them. As Coach Grant said after the Elon game - guys who were expected to be the 4th or 5th option are now expected to lead and produce each game. The team will benefit in the long run (man the future is bright right now), but Charleston will have to deal with the mistakes of a freshman or sophomore playing 37 minutes per game the rest of the year.

With the said, the difference between wins and losses in a conference as flat as the CAA is paper thin. The Cougars lost two games at home this week by a combined 3 points. 

Against William & Mary, the Cougs found themselves in familiar territory. Just like the first time these teams met, Charleston struggled against the Tribe zone and fell into a 20-point hole. Yet again, they put together an honorable effort behind the shooting of Cam Johnson and Evan Bailey to take a slim lead in the final minutes. Unfortunately, a Cam Johnson go-ahead basket in the waning seconds was waived off as a charge. Cougars drop to 2-3 in the CAA.

Hosting Elon two days later, the Cougars found themselves as the team being chased in the second half. The Phoenix got hot from outside late, and one play would prove to be the difference yet again. With 14 seconds left, Elon corralled an offensive board off a missed free throw and kicked it out for a three to take the lead. Johnson's potential game winner was just long. Cougars drop to 2-4 in the CAA.

Those two plays were the difference between 2-4 and 4-2. With just one of the injured players above on the floor - maybe things turn out differently. Such is life. Such is college basketball.

Next year is oozing with potential for CofC. Everyone but Bourne returns, plus three potential starters and a lauded freshman big man. But this team is good now and deserves your attention and support through March. The underclassmen are talented enough to all land on the league's All-Rookie Team. They have learned on the fly and give it their all for 40 minutes every game. They can erase big deficits and beat teams in a variety of ways. 

We'll live with the bad because there have been, and will be, some very good moments. So enjoy the ride and know that the future is looking real nice.