2008 Men's and Women's SoCon Tournament Pairings
Men
Friday, March 7
Wofford vs. Western Carolina, 3 p.m. (Seeding TBD)
No. 7 Elon vs. No. 10 Furman, 5:15 p.m.
No. 6 College of Charleston vs. No. 11 The Citadel, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 8
No. 1 Davidson vs. Wofford/WCU winner, 2 p.m.
No. 4 App State vs. No. 5 UNC Greensboro, 4:15 p.m.
No. 2 Chattanooga vs. Elon/Furman winner, 7 p.m.
No. 3 Ga. Southern vs. Charleston/Citadel winner, 9:15 p.m.
Sunday, March 9
Semifinals, 6 and 8:30 p.m.
Monday, March 10
Championship game, 9 p.m.
Women Thursday, March 6 Friday, March 7 Saturday, March 8 Sunday, March 9 Monday, March 10
No. 7 Furman vs. No. 10 Wofford, 3 p.m.
No. 8 App. State vs. No. 9 UNCG (30 minutes later)
Furman/Wofford winner vs. No. 2 Western Carolina, 10 a.m.
App State/UNCG winner vs. No. 1 Chattanooga
No. 4 Georgia Southern vs. No. 5 College of Charleston, 9 a.m.
No. 3 Davidson vs. Elon, (30 min later)
Semifinals, noon, 2:30 p.m.
Championship Game , 5 p.m.
Someday you can tell your grandchildren you saw the College of Charleston play basketball in the "old" Kresse Arena.
Hopefully they will look at you with some sense of awe and appreciation.
If you live long enough you'll see venues like this old gymnasium on George Street relegated to the pages of history. Some of us remember the old "Blue Heaven" at North Carolina where the Tar Heels played, Reynolds Coliseum where the Wolfpack prowled and the Old Field House at South Carolina where Frank McGuire sparked his magical run with the Gamecocks.
The same can now be said of John Kresse Arena at the College of Charleston,
home court for the Cougars from the winter of 1982 until Saturday night when they played their last game here against Furman, winning 77-59.
It's only right that they closed this place with a victory because that's the way the Cougar faithful will remember it. All told, over all those years, the College logged a total of 342 wins with only 44 losses.
The credit for this legacy goes to John Kresse, a living legend in this town, for his remarkable run of 560-143, much of it accomplished in a building that Sports Illustrated magazine once described by saying it "looked like a high school gymnasium and smelled like a Chinese restaurant."
New York accent
Not only will this old gym be razed soon to make way for the "new" Kresse Arena on an adjacent property, but the oriental take-out joint next door is disappearing as well.
Cougar alumni who knew the College way back when can only marvel at how far the school and its fledgling basketball program have come in their lifetimes.
It seems like only a couple of decades ago that a young, energetic John Kresse came to this Southern city with his New York accent and bag of basketball tricks. Within a few years he took the Cougars all the way to an NAIA national title in the same year they opened play here in the F. Mitchell Johnson Physical Education Center.
Since then the program transitioned into Division I status and earned the reputation as a giant slayer during several appearances in the NCAA Tournament.
Some say Cougar basketball peaked in the late 1990s and suffered a setback when Kresse, the undisputed king of this homecourt, unexpectedly announced his retirement in 2001.
Since then the program has struggled to regain its dominant position in the Southern Conference and find a place on the national stage.
Few doubt, however, that former Georgia Tech coach Bobby Cremins can find a way to bring the College back as it prepares to move into its new 5,000-seat arena next season.
Jittery genius
Regardless of what the future holds, there will never be a feeling at this school like there was on those cold winter nights when this little hothouse was rocking.
With Kresse, the jittery genius on the sidelines, this was the toughest ticket in town.
With students breathing down the referee's necks and a loyal, basketball-savvy home crowd, the Cougars turned this rather pedestrian place into a place of pain for opponents.
While it's doubtful this year's team (14-16, 9-11 in the SoCon) will capture America's imagination the way Kresse's teams did a decade ago, the future of Cougar basketball remains bright.
As today's players built a 20-point lead over the Paladins in the second half, they were celebrated by longtime fans and former players who came to give this special building a proper sendoff.
After the victory, the court was ringed by more than 120 former players dating back to the 1940s. In a special ceremony, they passed a basketball through the ages, ending with a handoff from Cremins to Kresse, who made the last layup to close the building for the ages.
Nice touch.
Nice shot.
(Photo courtesy of CofC Sports.com)Western Carolina 65, Charleston 57
The College of Charleston's up- and-down basketball season took another downward turn Saturday at John Kresse Arena.
The Cougars shot 35.3 percent from the field and committed 21 turnovers in a 65-57 Southern Conference loss to Western Carolina.
"It's not as bad as it could be, but it was a bad loss," said guard Andrew Goudelock, who led the Cougars with 15 points. "We could have won this game, should have won this game. Down the stretch we didn't make plays. We have no one to blame but ourselves."
Charleston (12-14, 7-9 SoCon) was coming off a 79-73 victory over Chattanooga Thursday night, while the Catamounts (8-17, 4-11 SoCon) were coming off a 57-51 loss to The Citadel, previously winless in the conference.
"We really made a commitment to fight for the whole 40 minutes this game and to respond after our poor showing on Thursday," said Catamounts' forward Jake Robinson. "We had two rough days thinking about that loss."
The Catamounts didn't exactly come out with guns blazing, shooting 39.3 percent from the field, but they got 25 points from guard Brandon Giles and seemingly made every big play down the stretch.
The Cougars play at Elon at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
3-Point Goals — Western Carolina 5-16 (Gore 0-1, Giles 2-7, Waginger 0-2, Robinson 3-6); C of C 6-15 (Scott 0-3, Wiggins 1-3, Goudelock 3-3, White 2-4, Monroe 0-1, Hammond 0-1). Steals — W. Carolina 10 (Giles 4); C of C 5 (Scott, Johnson 2). Blocks — W. Carolina 3 (Gordon, Giles, Wilson); C of C 5 (Scott 3). Turnovers — W. Carolina 8 (Wilson 3); C of C 21 (Scott, Johnson, White 4). Technicals — W. Carolina 1 (Waginger). A — 3,104.
Click here for the entire article by Charles Bennett.
The College of Charleston is plodding along with a 7-8 record in the Southern Conference, and today's 6 p.m. game at John Kresse Arena with Western Carolina may not seem so important in the grand scheme of things. (Photo of Andrew Goudelock and Tony White Jr dancing courtesy of Alan Hawes w/ the Post & Courier)
But it is to Cougars' coach Bobby Cremins, who would like his team to play well enough down the stretch to earn a first-round bye in the Southern Conference Tournament.
"The most important thing for us is we're still fighting for a bye, so every game is crucial," Cremins said. "We're still in this thing. We have a shot."
The top five teams in the 11-team Southern Conference earn first-round byes in the tournament, to be held March 7-10 at North Charleston Coliseum.
Davidson (16-0) has already clinched the No. 1 seed, and Appalachian State (11-5), Georgia Southern (11-5) and Chattanooga (10-6) are likely to occupy the next three spots, leaving one more bye up for grabs.
In addition to Charleston, the main contenders for the fifth seed are Elon (8-9), Wofford (7-9) and UNC Greensboro (7-7).
After today, the Cougars have road games at Elon and UNC Greensboro before finishing the regular season at home against Georgia Southern and Furman.
The Cougars are 1-3 against those four teams this season, so Charleston would do well to take care of business today against Western Carolina (7-17, 3-11 SoCon).
The Catamounts are winless on the road this season, and have lost nine consecutive games to Charleston.
However, Western Carolina gave the Cougars all they could handle earlier this season when Charleston escaped with an 86-84 victory at Cullowhee, N.C., on Dec. 1.
"Western is a very dangerous team," Cremins said. "We can't take them lightly, for sure. We've just got to come out here Saturday night and play some basketball."
--Cougars' small forward Antwaine Wiggins, who suffered an ankle sprain in Charleston's victory over Chattanooga Thursday night, is listed as probable. Cremins said the Cougars will move guard Marcus Hammond into Wiggins' spot if Wiggins is unable to go.
Reach Charles Bennett at cbennett@postandcourier.com.
More isn't always better, and Chattanooga proved it Thursday night against the College of Charleston. (Photo of Antwaine Wiggins laughing at Kevin Bridgewater selling the foul courtesy of Alan Hawes/Post & Courier)
Chattanooga took 82 shots — but missed 54 of them — and the Cougars escaped with a 79-73 Southern Conference victory at John Kresse Arena.
"I've never played a team that shot 82 times," said Charleston junior forward Jermaine Johnson. "That's a lot of shots. That just lets you know that they're a run and gun team, and it also lets you know that we played some defense."
Charleston (12-13, 7-8 SoCon) held the Mocs (15-11, 10-6 SoCon) to 34.1 percent shooting from the field, but still had to battle to get the victory.
The Cougars made 11 of 14 free throws in the final three minutes.
"Things got a little hairy there at the end," said Cougars coach Bobby Cremins. "We had to make some clutch free throws. We're a young team, and you never know what's going to happen, but it was a gutty performance and a great win."
The Cougars lost 86-70 at Chattanooga on Dec. 18 after hurling up a school- record 39 3-pointers, making 10.
Charleston took a more balanced approach Thursday night, making 24 of 54 shots from the field, including 10 of 26 from 3-point range.
Guard Andrew Goudelock scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half. Backcourt mate Tony White Jr. also finished with 17 points and was 8-of-8 from the free throw line.
Jermaine Johnson finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
"I kind of refocused at halftime," said Goudelock. "I got some good open looks, and fortunately, I made them."
Despite poor shooting, Chattanooga kept things close by forcing 20 turnovers and getting to the offensive boards 19 times.
"They're probably the best rebounding team in our conference," Johnson said.
"They really get to the glass. We just came out and did what we had to do."
Charleston led by as many as 14 points in the second half, but saw the lead dwindle to three with 1:22 to play.
But the Cougars clamped down defensively from there and put the game away at the free throw line.
"I had no idea they took 82 shots," Goudelock said. "Good thing they were missing them. Usually the team that takes the most shots wins."
Charleston led 35-30 at the half after outshooting the Mocs 46.4 percent to 33.3 percent.
The Cougars waxed hot and cold in the first half, and helped keep it close with 12 turnovers.
Charleston started the game on a 9-0 run, only to be outscored 15-2 over a four-minute span.
The Cougars managed to regain the lead and push the margin back to nine with 1:36 to play, but the Mocs scored the last two baskets of the half to close the gap to five.
"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."
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)
BOONE, N.C. — The College of Charleston has had its share of heartbreaking losses this season, so perhaps it was only fitting that the Cougars would earn a heartwarming basketball win.
Trailing by five points, Charleston outscored Appalachian State 10-0 over the final 2:12 of the game to beat the Mountaineers 68-63 Thursday night at the Holmes Center.
"This is the biggest win of the season for us by far," said Charleston coach Bobby Cremins. "It looked like we were going to lose another close one, and finally the breaks went our way. I'm really excited."
Charleston (11-12, 6-7 SoCon) had lost at home to Appalachian State (14-8,
9-4) 70-66 in Charleston on Jan. 3, a victory that jumpstarted the Mountaineers to nine victories in their last 10 games. Meanwhile, the Cougars struggled and went 4-5 over the same span.
But on Thursday night, Charleston made all the plays down the stretch against the Mountaineers.
Andrew Goudelock, who led the Cougars with 19 points, made a jumper with 25 seconds to play to put Charleston ahead 64-63.
After a Mountaineers' turnover, Charleston guard Tony White Jr., an 82 percent free throw shooter who missed the front end of a one-and-one in the closing seconds of the Cougars' 67-66 loss at Wofford on Jan. 28, made two free throws with 14.5 seconds to play for a 66-63 Charleston lead.
Charleston forward Jeremy Simmons, a 56 percent free throw shooter, made two free throws with 6.6 seconds to play for the coup de grace.
"I can't say enough about our team," Cremins said. "I'm just really excited abut this victory. This is what we needed. We needed something good to happen. Finally, when it looked like we were going down for another defeat, the breaks went our way. We got a tremendous win. Now we've got something to build on."
The Cougars missed 12 of their first 13 3-pointers, but made their next two to lead 30-27 at the half.
The game started out close and stayed that way in the first half , with neither team leading by more than three points.
An 8-0 run to start the second half put the Cougars ahead 38-27 with 18:33 to play, but the Mountaineers rallied to get back in the game.
Recon: App State’s guard Kellen Brand was wheeled off the court in a stretcher late in their game last Saturday against Western Carolina, Brand is noted as having received a “slight” concussion, and although concussed, Brand is expected to play in tonight’s game. Forward eremy Clayton has been hot recently, blocking six shots and pulling down a career-high 17 rebounds against Elon on January 28th, on his way for a double-double with 12 points. Forward Donte Minter was out with the flu against Elon, but was back in the following game against Western Carolina scoring 13 points (team high) for the Mountaineers. Finally, ASU guard Donald Sims really started to make an impact for the Mountaineers in January with 34 assists and 12 turnovers for the month, giving him a 3 to 1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Although, the App State has seven games which were decided by five points or less this season, ASU is 5-2, and a major threat in the SoCon, combined with a two-game win streak, the College of Charleston needs to play tight defense (especially in the paint) if we want to come home with a win on the road and continue our one-game win streak.
(Photo courtesy of pizzaz.net)
Tony White Jr. scored 17 points, Andrew Goudelock added 12 points and Jermaine Johnson and Jeremy Simmons each added 10 rebounds and six points to lead the College of Charleston to a 63-48 win over The Citadel last night. The Cougs’ other big man, senior Konimba Diarra also had six points and three boards in the much needed win. Translation: the Cougs are becoming a little more balanced, but are still focused on their perimeter shooting.
From the Den:
When I saw the stat, “Charleston had 38 rebounds, nine more than The Citadel” on CBS Sportsline, I was quite surprised. If you went to the game, I am sure you heard various members of the Maroon Nation lament, “Get the rebound!” throughout the game. In fact, it was the lack of tenacity on the boards in the second half that let the Bulldogs back into the game! Come on Cougs, the SoCon Tourney is less than a month away and both defensive and offensive boards pay-off huge dividends when it comes to the final score. Remember, the play is not over after the ball leaves the shooters hand and the ball is still alive until it drops through the netting. If you are at half-court (what some people call overly anxious transition defense) while the ball is still in the air, your chance of getting a rebound and second chance “put-in” is naught.
Shooting Percentages
The Cougars shot 49 percent (25-of-51) from the field, compared to 32.7 percent (18-of-55) for the Bulldogs.
