Cougars' loss is basketball fans' gain

From my neighbor Tommy Braswell @ the Post & Courier

Posted 03:58 p.m., January 30, 2009

The College of Charleston is having a hard time getting over last week's 72-63 loss at The Citadel, which ended the Cougars' 13-game winning streak against its cross-town rival.

That was evidenced by recent comments from Charleston forward Jermaine Johnson, who said he'd rather not score a point, get a rebound or play a single minute if it meant the Cougars had to lose to The Citadel or that he would have to listen to Bulldogs' forward Demetrius Nelson's mouth.

A Cougar fan recently expressed sentiment that he wished Johnson hadn't said such things. (For the record: that was not yours truly) Imagine that. After several years of smug, condescension when it comes to the Bulldogs' basketball program, there are actually Cougars' fans out there who don't want to risk offending The Citadel.
It's the best thing that has happened to basketball in Charleston for some time.
A dormant rivalry is once again relevant.

Admittedly, it's still Davidson and everyone else as far as the Southern Conference is concerned.
But for the city of Charleston, it means hot times are ahead when the teams meet Feb. 14 at the Cougars' Carolina First Arena.

As of Friday afternoon, fewer than 400 tickets remain. (Photo credits: Jed Trabert)

From The Post and Courier: Davidson 81, College of Charleston 56

League-leading Wildcats once led Cougs by 34
By Charles Bennett
DAVIDSON, N.C. — With time waning in a blowout victory over Charleston, Davidson coach Bob McKillop sent in his subs, including his seldom-used son Brendan. McKillop could have played his grandmother, had she been available. Davidson showed once again why it is the best team in the Southern Conference, handing the Cougars an 81-56 loss at Belk Arena, their worst league loss in history and the worst overall since a 92-65 loss to eighth-ranked Kentucky in 1996.

"They're like Duke when I was in the ACC," said Charleston coach Bobby Cremins.
"Duke could just beat the hell out of anybody. They're the Duke of the Southern
Conference."

For more of Charles Bennett’s article click here for the link.

From the Den: After beating Appalachian State, 68-63, on Thursday night, College of Charleston (11-13, 6-8 SoCon) there was a modest amount of anticipation for the game against Davidson (17-6, 15-0 SoCon) but as Coach Cremins said, “They’re the Duke of the So-Con” and the Wildcats have that same “Dukeness” (i.e. excellent perimeter shooting, solid fundamentals: passing, shooting and ball movement) basically good from the top-down.

I watched the game late on CSS Sports and the Cougars played well, and the only advice that I could give our young Cougars is that “they just need to take the easy shot; our starting five are trying way too hard and are trying to force it. College basketball is not that difficult: play-hard, pass-efficiently, and be patient for the open (and easy) shot. And before you lace up those shoes, know that you are a College of Charleston Cougar and you should play like one, think like a winner and the wins will come. Don’t be scared of teams like Davidson with their ugly mascot, pre-pube point-guard and Capt Hair-do of a coach because no matter what the chatter says about our disappointments this season, at least we didn’t lose because we quit. Keep clawing your way up Cougs, Keep clawing your way up.
(Photo courtesy of Rotorob.com)

Fwd: Cougs vs. The Citadel

The Cougs face off against their cross-town rivals on Monday night at McAlister Field House. The Cougars are coming off a six-point loss to Georgia Southern in overtime and finish their road trip at the Citadel tonight tip-off is at 7:05 pm. If you can't make it to McAlister the game will air on CSS (Comcast Sports South) and the Sirius Satellite Channel 181.

Despite the College of Charleston's recent dominance over the Bulldogs, It's always an interesting match-up between our two schools and other than last season, McAlister Field House is always a rowdy place (hostile environment) to catch a game. An interesting point for the Bulldogs is that they're the only team in the country starting five freshmen. This just happens to be the same number of wins "El Cid" has to their credit this season. (See random) And the Bulldogs are currently on a 4-game stretch of losses.

Random: The only team even close to the Citadel's youthful mark is Purdue, who start four freshmen.

See you at the game! Go Cougs!

Run with the Cougars!

Coming off a loss to their rivals (more on this later) Davidson, the College of Charleston 10-7, 3-2 (SoCon) Cougars won in McAlister Field House against the 5-11, 2-3 (SoCon) last night, 74 to 62.

Trailing by as much as 10-points in the first half, the Bulldogs fought the Cougs in the paint to tie the game at 29 all at the half. Demetrius Nelson put up 16-points on 8 of 16 attempts for the Bulldogs, but the powerful offensive display by the Cougars silenced the Dog-Pound and the McAlister Maniacs.

The Cougars opened the 2nd half with a fireworks display by Draper's 3 consecutive (unanswered) 3-pointers, starting a 13-2 run to give the Cougs a 42-31 lead. The Citadel staged a comeback putting 8-points on the board and making things respectable, but the Cougs went on another run, 10-3, making the score 52-42.

The Cougs hit 11 of 24 from behind the arc, compared to the Bulldog's paltry display of 4 of 16 from 3-point land. Charleston scored 45-points in the second half compared to the 33-points produced by the Bulldogs.

From the Den:

Dontaye Draper led the Cougs with 25-points and 8 assists, followed by Marcus Hammond's (7-13) 21-points. David Lawrence scored 15-points in his 35-minutes of play, Josh Jackson had but 4-points in the paint. Tony White Jr. made a couple of turnovers, but put 6 on the board for the Cougs. The College's big man, Jermaine Johnson went 0 for 3 from the field, missing his usual lay-up attempts, but he did put one on the board from the charity stripe. The Citadel had a chance to make the scoreboard look respectable when Coach Cremins played the "human-victory cigar" David Baller and the sophomore Javon Purris for the final minute of the game.Did I make Craig watch the paltry excuse for a basketball team, as heart-breaking as it was until the bitter end of the game? You are damn right I did-he was pulling for Florida Monday night.

I am not hating, I am just stating-Davidson has the worst looking mascot in the SoCon!

...Need I say more?

(Photo compliments of the Davidson basketball blog)

Cougs face-off against the Citadel Bulldogs tonight at 7:05 PM

The (9-7, 2-2 SoCon) College of Charleston Cougars face their cross-town rival, the Citadel Bulldogs (5-10, 2-2 SoCon) tonight at McAlister Field House (7:05 PM on ESPN Radio). This will be the 79th meeting between the two schools on the hardwood, a rivalry that the College of Charleston leads 41-37 (All-time) and 14-2 (since both schools entered the SoCon). The Cougars have a current 8-game win streak against the Bulldogs with their last win at McAlister Field House on February 16, 2006 (CofC 72, The Citadel 52) a game which Dontaye Draper scored 24-points and Josh Jackson scored 21-points. (Photo compliments of J.Trabert/the Bushido)

Both schools brought in new coaches this year, and this is the first time Citadel Coach Ed Conroy and CofC Coach Bobby Cremins will face off. Coach Cremins is 11-1 vs the Citadel (All-time) his only loss to the Bulldogs was January 14, 1980 while he was coaching at Appalachian State (App. St., 53---El Cid, 54).

Good luck to the Cougars tonight as they face the Bulldogs. Go COUGS!

Gamecocks Win!

And it did come down to the kicking game. The Ol' Ball Coach and the Gamecocks hang-on to win 31 to 28 and tie the South Carolina Rivalry 1-1 (during Spurrier's tenure).

Clemson vs Carolina

I know that Coach Spurrier had all of the beat Clemson signs taken down around Williams-Brice and he mentioned in the Post & Courier (11/22/2006) that this game is just like any other game, and (that) "we should try to win them all". But Bobby Bowden anticipates a different story for the "most exciting 2-minutes of football" (when the Tigers take the field) as he said, "That's not his M.O. (to wait until Clemson takes the field) he might be on buses behind us."

Either way, Coach Spurrier lost a close game to Clemson last year, and this year will probably be just as close.

Coach Spurrier is a competitor and being 0-1 against a Bowden is not (to steal line from Coach Bowden) his M.O. Coach Spurrier might just think this is another game, but I think that is just what he tells the Press. Spurrier is ready for his first (of many) win against Clemson. It will be close, but without a kicking game, Clemson will probably come up short against Carolina. Go Cocks!