Davidson gets some tough competition

You are probably thinking that I am referring to the Davidson Wildcats having a chance to show they have what it takes as they represent the So-Con in the Wooden Classic on Dec. 8th, but no, I am not. Sure, Wildcats guard, Stephen Curry dropped a NCAA freshman record of trey's last season (122 three-pointers) and has a chance to show that he belongs on the short list of contenders, but I am talking about something serious here: Davidson continuing to have the ugliest mascot in College Sports. The Wildcats main contender is seen here (photo courtesy of Yahoo Sports) the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islander(s). What do you think? Do the Wildcats still have the ugliest mascot in college sports?

Welcome back students

For those of you new to the Maroon Nation, welcome-study hard and support your Cougars!

Cougar Prospect: Quasim Pugh

Here is the NY Daily News article regarding Quasim Pugh and his transfer to St. Thomas More to play for Coach Jerry Quinn his senior year of high school. At point-guard, Pugh prefers the fast-break offense (very nice) and is transferring to his third-high school in four years (started at Banneker and played two seasons at Worcester Academy in Massachusetts) to play with more athletic players and for more exposure. (Don’t worry kid; you made the CofC Sports Fan’s radar)

Pugh’s quote from the article regarding his future,

"Right now, College of Charleston is showing the
most interest, and I like them the most. I know coach (Bobby) Cremins is a
natural-born point guard coach.”

–It seems Mr. Pugh is also a smart kid; Cremins could develop this 5’10” point-guard into a sensation at the Pro-level and he probably would be an excellent fit in the College of Charleston/Bobby Cremins' "run-and-gun" style of play. We'll keep our eye on Quasim this next season and see how he grows physically and develops as a player now that he is on a team that is on more of a national level.

Cougars sign TCC stand-out!

Original post on April 1, 2007: Jamestown (Berkeley County) native and Tallahassee Community College standout, Dustin Scott signed with the College of Charleston as a Junior College transfer on Thursday at 3:30 pm. It has long been college basketball lore about Frank McGuire's pipeline to the Catholic School in New York City, but now it seems that the College of Charleston might have a similar pipeline to TCC, as Scott becomes the 3rd TCC player to don a Cougar uniform. Bernard Jackson who played for the Cougs from 2002-2005 and Marcus Johnson who played for the Cougs from 2003-2004, were both former TCC standouts. Look for Cremins to throw Scott into the mix as a starter this season as a forward.

As a freshman, Scott averaged 13.5-points and 8.5-boards per game, shooting 54% from the field. He continued his course of excellence in his sophomore year scoring 14-points and 8-boards per game, shooting 47% from the field. Scott leaves TCC with the all-time rebounding title, grabbing 534-rebounds in his 2-years playing for the Eagles.

Many of the bigs (i.e. Florida, Rocky Top and "Slick Rick" from Louisville) have courted Scott, but he decided after visiting the College that he wanted to play for the legendary Coach, Bobby Cremins. A very wise decision Mr. Scott.

Antwaine Wiggins signs with the College of Charleston

Original post on April 14, 2007
Antwaine Wiggins a three-star prospect as ranked by Scout.com signed with the College of Charleston Cougars on the 13th of April (Knoxville News). Wiggins averaged 26.3 points and 11 boards last season for Greeneville (Tenn) High and will be utilized as a shooting-forward-to hopefully fill the shoes of David Lawrence. And at 6-7, 180 lbs. Wiggins appears to be at least the right size (5 pounds lighter than D.L.) to fill those shoes. The hub-bub on George Street is that Wiggins will be a starter at small-forward as a true freshman this season. (Photo courtesy of Scouts.com)

Deal-Maker
What gave the College of Charleston the edge over App State as Wiggins choice to play basketball? Coach Cremins is your answer; said Antwaine, “He’s been through a lot and he’s like one of the greatest coaches ever and I thought it would be a privilege to play for someone with that prestige.” We've said a million-times, Coach Cremins is a recruiting-road-warrior.

Keeping Tabs: Alex Garabedian drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers

As you know, we here at the CofC Sports Fan took most of the summer off. But we thought it would be good to catch everyone up with former College of Charleston catcher, Alex Garabedian who was selected in the eight round (266-overall) of this year's MLB Draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers. Currently, Alex is hitting Alex Garabedian.229 with 22-hits in 96 at-bats, scoring 13-runs, 4-doubles, 2-home-runs and 14-RBIs (.308 on-base-percentage and a .333 slugging percentage) with the Ogden Raptors as a rookie in the Dodgers' farm-system.

The Coll of Charleston gets a verbal commitment from Sundberg for 2008

Harrison High School standout, Matt Sundberg made a verbal commitment on July 30, 2007 to come to the College after his senior year of high school 2008. Sundberg is a 6-6, 175 pound small forward from Kennesaw, Georgia, who plays with the AAU Atlanta Celtics (White) and the Inter strength (black) traveling teams in Georgia Under-17 squads.

Press
Rivals.com evaluation of Matt: "The 6-foot-5 wing from Harrison High School can stroke it from the wing but his understanding of the game makes his team better and helps the offense flow. He'll be a name to follow throughout the July period."

Youth Prep Star evaluated Sundberg as a "talented shooter who runs the court well".

Sundberg cited his decision to come to Charleston as an "existing relationship with one of the assistant coaches"; he was also recruited by Georgia, Western Kentucky and the Univ. of South Carolina
(Photo credits: UGA.Rivals.com)

Donovan Monroe signs with the Cougars!

Original post on April 2, 2007
Fork Union point-guard, Donovan Monroe committed to the College of Charleston for next season (ESPN Briefing Room). The ex-Parkwood basketball player, Charlotte Royals (AAU Team) and Waxhaw, N.C. native was courted by Virginia Tech, St. John’s and UNC-Wilmington among others. More than likely, the offer from V-tech came after Fork Union’s basketball team defeated the Hokies in two straight games last November. Monroe first landed on my radar back in February, when Coach Cremins (see: “Coach Cremins is a recruiting road warrior”) made a morning trip to watch Fork Union play UNC’s Junior Varsity Squad, Donovan Monroe scored 17-points during the game handing the Tarheels JV-Squad their first loss of the season.

Scout.com lists (Monroe) the 6’2; 180-lb combo-guard as a "talented scorer and mid-range offensive weapon, with areas of improvement regarding his ball-handling skills and on the defensive-side of the ball, as well as consistency". (I always love it when they mention how key a player is and how dependable they are with dropping “big-game” buckets, but then note “consistency” as a weakness.) Especially because Monroe was the only consistent player (read: offensive-threat: hitting from the perimeter, dropping baskets with his left hand in the paint and driving to the basket against a 2-3 Zone) on the Fork Union squad. Assuming Monroe’s main improvements are needed on the defensive-side of the ball is quite fortuitous for Donovan because the Factory on George Street turns out defensive-machines every year. Welcome aboard Mr. Monroe!

Skripkauskas a cross-word puzzler's dream come true?

If you want to know more about Tauras, check out Jeff Bonato’s “EXTRA POINT Warren grad spins his own wheel of fortune on court” article about Tauras Skripkauskas in today’s Lake County News-Sun. Bonato discussed Tauras being the only Warren High grad to currently be playing NCAA Division 1 level basketball (until this winter when three former teammates will join him) and his rise from a 5-8 kid on the freshman “B” team to a 6-3 senior who’s high school career was cut short due to injuries from his sudden growth spurts. Although side-lined most of his senior year, “T-Triple S-Triple-K” had the opportunity to watch a great coach, Chuck Ramsey and a lot of basketball.

After high school in 2005, Tauras returned to Lithuania thinking his basketball dreams where left behind in Gurnee, Illinois, but he was spotted “holding court” on the playground, returned to the States, worked hard at a few camps and caught the eye of a college scout who sent him packing to Maine, (See Photo: Tauras in right corner for the block-Credits: Bangornews.com) where he averaged 11-points and 8-boards per game at Lee High Academy Prep-School. And Lee High is also where “T-Triple S-Triple-K” caught the eye of Coach Bobby Cremins.

Although, “T-Triple S-Triple-K” didn’t get much play last season, he can hang his hat on the 5-points he scored in the hallowed halls of Rupp Arena against the U.K. Wildcats and now at 6-6, almost a foot taller than he was as a high school freshman, he can look forward to putting those (pardon the stereo-type) "Eastern-bloc" shooting skills to use on the court.

The only thing we at the CofC Sports Fan disagreed with Bonato about in his article was his thoughts regarding, “Skripkauskas” as a cross-word puzzler’s dream come true. Are you kidding us? We’re keeping “Skripkauskas” in our back pocket for the World's Scrabble Championship. What else are you going to do with a P, 3-S’s, 3-K’s, 2-A’s, and two other vowels?

Apprehension on posting the College of Charleston Basketball Recruits

I know the Maroon Nation has been dying to know who we have to fill the shoes of the four seniors who left this past season and I had eight posts from this past spring to put up on the board, but it was brought to my attention by fellow CofC Sports Fan Jamie Mellen, that in the game of recruitment, it is sometimes not the best thing to "tip your hand" so other teams know your strategy. And then I had a call from Rob Going who noted from a lawyer's stand-point that nothing is set in stone. To which I replied, everything is set in stone once you sign on the dotted-line; to which my buddy, third-year-law-student and fellow CofC Sports Fan Rob Going told me, "Not necessarily, you can post it, but you will look like an idiot when the kids don't show."

I hung-up with the conversation thinking Rob doesn't known anything, blast these law students, blah-blah-blah, then I picked up the paper to read that a young man named Tim Sexton, who had signed with the College to play baseball, decided last week to go ahead and play for the Los Angeles Dodgers instead, where of course, he will join former Coll of Charleston catcher, Alex Garabedian.

Dilemma? Yes, but I didn't spend 4-years at the College tripping over the bricks on our campus side-walks to have this be the first time I look like an idiot (for more idiot evidence see: Photo of Jed Trabert and Jamie Mellen before the So-Con Tourney). I am going back in and publishing the recruits and I will copy those posts over the next couple of days. After of course, I double-check to make sure none of these guys backed out.

Cougs sign Jeremy Simmons from Tucker High School (Tucker, Ga.)

Original post on April 9, 2007: The College of Charleston Cougars basketball team added depth to the roster in the power-forward position with the addition of Jeremy Simmons from Tucker High School (Tucker, Georgia). Simmons (6-7, 225) is ranked 17th among recruits in the state of Georgia and he was a major reason (especially his nasty dunk in the 4th quarter) the Tucker Tigers were able to defeat their Dekalb County rivals, Columbia High School for the Class 4A Championship in the state of Georgia. Simmons was also being recruited by Providence, Tulane, Ball State and even Vandy was looking at this young man. (Photo credits: Rivals.com)

The experience young Jeremy had in high school, coming from a team that had lost eight-seniors and four-starters last year and lost to Columbia twice during the regular season, to winning the state championship in their division (last March) as well as ending the Columbia Eagles 51-game-win-streak is of David and Goliath proportions. I just hope he can continue his development and carry this moxie onto the court for the Cougars.

Keeping Tabs: Josh Jackson enrolls at South Carolina State University

As the CofC Sports Fan mentioned back on May 15th, Josh Jackson will not return to the College of Charleston. The Orangeburg Times and Democrat announced today that Josh has enrolled at South Carolina State University and should play his final year of eligibility the 2008-2009 season. (Photo credits: The T & D)

We at the CofC Sports Fan were quite disappointed in Josh. Jackson was an All-State center from South Aiken High School who showed us he could really add depth to the team, as a sophomore, averaging 12.5 points and 5.8 boards a game while shooting over 50% from the field. But then his junior year (2006-2007) Josh showed the Maroon Nation that he didn't have the work-ethic to become a dominant force in the Southern Conference. As we watched Jermaine Johnson develop (both physically and mentally) and mature on and off the court, becoming a leader for the Cougars, Josh continued to struggle. but we will keep things on a certain level of comity and wish Josh well for doing his part and hope that he uses this year off to get in shape and grow as a player and a person.