Cougars Travel To Maryland For Season Opener On ESPNU
11/9/2010 6:14:00 AM | Men's Basketball
COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON (0-0, 0-0 SoCon) vs. MARYLAND (1-0, 0-0 ACC)
2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer
Game #1
November 10, 2010 • 7:00 p.m. (ET)
Comcast Center (17,950)
at College Park, Md.
Television: ESPNU
Radio: Cougar Sports Network (ESPN Radio 910 AM)
Series History: CofC Leads 1-0
Last Meeting: CofC defeated Maryland, 75-66, in NCAA Southeast Region First Round (3/13/1997)
Internet: Free Live Statistics at www.CofCSports.com
THE COACHES
College of Charleston: Bobby Cremins
Fifth Year at CofC: 87-49 (.640)
30th Year Overall: 541-356 (.603)
Maryland: Gary Williams
22nd Year at Maryland: 443-238 (.651)
33rd Year Overall: 650-366 (.639)
RADIO (Cougar Sports Network)
Play-By-Play: Jeff McCarragher
Color Analyst: None
Television (ESPNU)
Play-By-Play: Rob Stone
Color Analyst: Jay Williams
GAME PREVIEW
The College of Charleston men's basketball team (0-0, 0-0) will open its 101st overall season in undoubtedly one of the toughest home-court environments in all of college basketball at defending regular-season ACC co-champion Maryland (1-0, 0-0) in the 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer on Wednesday, Nov. 10, at the Comcast Center in College Park, Md. Tipoff between the Cougars and Terrapins is set for 7 p.m. (ET) and will be televised nationally on ESPNU. CofC is coming off an 86-75 exhibition victory over NCAA Division II Francis Marion on Nov. 5. Preseason Southern Conference Player of the Year Andrew Goudelock (pronounced GOWD-lock) registered a game-high tying 16 points in the team's preseason tune-up in preparation for the Terps. This will mark one of the most challenging openers against a major conference opponent in recent history for the Cougars since opening the year at Auburn of the SEC in 2003-04 and at Colorado of the Big 12 in the Preseason NIT in 2004-05. It also begins a stretch of three games in a span of six days with a Nov. 13 road tilt scheduled at Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., followed by CofC's home opener against Coastal Carolina on Nov. 16 at Carolina First Arena. The Cougars will continue tournament play versus Rhode Island, Illinois-Chicago and Toledo in the 2K Sports Classic Toledo Subregional to be held on Nov. 19-21 in Toledo, Ohio.
ON THE TUBE
The Cougars will appear on regional or national television 14 times during the 2010-11 season. Play-by-play announcer Rob Stone and color analyst and former Duke All-American and Naismith National Player of the Year Jay Williams will handle the call for ESPNU. Fans in the Charleston area can view ESPNU on Comcast Cable Channel 735, Home Telecom Channel 139, DirecTV Channel 609 and Dish Network Channel 148.
SCOUTING MARYLAND
Last season, Maryland claimed a share of the regular-season ACC title, after being picked to finish fifth in the league, and earned a No. 4 seed in the Big Dance. An early second-round exit to Michigan State (85-83) ended the Terrapins' season at 24-9 overall. They would go on to finish ranked No. 12 nationally in scoring offense (79.7) and ninth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.42). This year's team personnel includes preseason John R. Wooden Award candidate Jordan Williams, a sophomore forward, who averaged 9.6 points and a team-best 8.6 rebounds per game as a rookie. Additionally, the Terps are led on the perimeter by junior guard Sean Mosley who is a do-it-all player on the court, who is not only strong and physical, but can score, rebound and pass, according to the CofC coaching staff. They have added six newcomers into the fold after graduating consensus All-American Greivis Vasquez (19.6 ppg) who was selected 28th overall in the 2010 NBA Draft. UM opened 2K Sports Classic action with a 105-76 rout of Seattle University in its season opener on Nov. 8.
COUGARS IN SEASON OPENERS
CofC is 14-5 all-time in season openers (.737), including a 5-4 road mark, since its inaugural campaign as a Division I member in 1991-92. The Cougars are 2-2 under head coach Bobby Cremins and will have played four of their last five season-opening contests on the road including the Maryland game. Last year, CofC fell 70-59 to Postseason NIT participant Coastal Carolina at Kimbel Arena on Nov. 7, 2010, in Conway, S.C. The Cougars' last win in a road opener was a 72-66 victory at Georgia State in Coach Cremins' first season at The College in 2006-07.
SERIES NOTES
The Cougars and Terrapins have only met once in both program's history prior to Wednesday's contest. CofC leads the all-time series 1-0 as the owner of a 75-66 upset of No. 22-ranked Maryland in the first round of the NCAA Southeast Regional held at The Pyramid on March 13, 1997, in Memphis, Tenn. The 1996-97 Cinderella squad, which enjoyed the most successful season to date in school history with a 29-3 record, was led by the Big Four in Stacy Harris, Thaddeous Delaney, Rodney Conner and future NBA Draft pick Anthony Johnson. The clock would eventually strike midnight for the Cougars as they dropped a close 73-69 decision in the second round to eventual national champion Arizona.
PROJECTED COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON STARTERS (*2009-10 Statistics)
#1 Donavan Monroe, G, 6-3, 205, Sr. (12.3 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 2.0 apg, 32.4 min)
#3 Andrew Goudelock, G, 6-2, 200, Sr. (19.4 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 3.9 apg, 35.6 min)
#30 Antwaine Wiggins, F, 6-7, 185, RS-Jr. (DNP)
#53 Willis Hall, F, 6-6, 235, So. (5.5 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 51.3 FG%, 18.4 min)
#21 Jeremy Simmons, F, 6-8, 230, Sr. (11.9 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 59.7 FG%, 31.1 min)
PROJECTED MARYLAND STARTERS (*2009-10 Statistics)
#24 Cliff Tucker, G/F, 6-6, 205, Sr. (5.7 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 0.8 apg, 14.8 min)
#14 Sean Mosley, G, 6-4, 210, Jr. (10.1 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 2.6 apg, 27.7 min)
#1 Adrian Bowie, G, 6-2, 190, Sr. (4.8 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 1.5 apg, 15.7 min)
#33 Dino Gregory, F, 6-7, 230, Sr. (4.2 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 0.4 apg, 20.0 min)
#20 Jordan Williams, F, 6-10, 260, So. (9.6 ppg, 8.6 rpg, 0.2 apg, 24.8 min)
THE GOUDELOCK WATCH
Two-Time All-Southern Conference First Team selection and 2010 Preseason SoCon Player of the Year Andrew Goudelock is 442 points away from becoming the school's all-time leading scorer with 1,694 career points to date. He currently ranks fourth on the all-time list behind Ken Gustafson (2,135), Greg Mack (1,901) and Sam Meade (1,812), who all played prior to CofC's move to NCAA Division I status during the 1991-92 season. Goudelock is the College of Charleston's all-time D-I scoring leader and the team's top returning player having averaged 19.4 points as a junior. He is one of only three Cougars in school history to score 1,000 points in two seasons.
COFC ALL-TIME TOP 10 CAREER SCORING LIST
1. Ken Gustafson (1971-75) – 2,135
2. Greg Mack (1981-85) – 1,901
3. Sam Meade (1970-74) – 1,812
4. Andrew Goudelock (2007-Present) - 1,694
5. Thaddeous Delaney (1994-97) – 1,564
6. Dontaye Draper (2003-07) – 1,541
7. Jeff Bolton (1999-02) – 1,527
8. Marion Busby (1992-95) – 1,504
9. Steven Johnson (1984-88) – 1,456
10. Ron Theis (1972-76) – 1,414
COFC DIVISION I TOP 5 CAREER SCORING LIST
1. Andrew Goudelock (2007-Present) - 1,694
2. Thaddeous Delaney (1994-97) – 1,564
3. Dontaye Draper (2003-07) – 1,541
4. Jeff Bolton (1999-02) – 1,527
5. Marion Busby (1992-95) – 1,504
BIG MAN ON CAMPUS
Defending SoCon Defensive Co-Player of the Year and preseason all-conference honoree Jeremy Simmons swatted a league-best 1.9 blocks per game during the 2009-10 campaign. In addition, he grabbed a team-best 8.0 boards a game and currently ranks fifth all-time in the CofC Division I record books with 544 career rebounds to date. Simmons also made a team-leading 48 dunks last season including a career-high six against VCU in the CBI Quarterfinals on March 22, 2010. He also ranked second in the nation with a whopping 59.7 percent accuracy from the floor (148-of-248).
COFC DIVISION I TOP 5 CAREER REBOUND LIST
1. Thaddeous Delaney (1994-97) – 1,119
2. Jermaine Johnson (2006-09) – 949
3. Jody Lumpkin (1998-01) – 710
4. Sedric Webber (1996-99) – 694
5. Jeremy Simmons (2007-Present) – 544
COUGAR SIDEBARS
• Coach Cremins is 31-14 (.689) all-time versus Maryland in his 29-year coaching career including an even 10-10 road mark. His last win in College Park was an 83-71 Georgia Tech victory over the then No. 21-ranked Terps on Feb. 5, 1994, at old Cole Field House. Cremins has never coached a team at the new Comcast Center, but has done ACC color commentary for television at the venue.
• The Cougars will have a good amount of Maroon and White supporters in the stands with close to 150 family, friends, alumni and fans cheering behind the bench. Former CofC player Chris Jackson, who lives in the Washington, D.C., metro area and was a starting center for the Cougars in the early 90s under former head coach John Kresse, will be in attendance at the game.
• Coach Cremins and Coach Williams both played and coached in the ACC. Cremins played for legendary head coach Frank McGuire at South Carolina from 1966-70 and coached at Georgia Tech from 1980-2000, while Williams played at Maryland from 1964-67 and has coached at his alma mater since 1989. Both are members of the Coaches vs. Cancer Council with Williams' serving as chair.
• Coaches vs. Cancer is a nationwide collaboration between the American Cancer Society and the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) that empowers basketball coaches, their teams, and local communities to make a difference in the fight against cancer. It has raised nearly $50 million since its inception.
MARYLAND TIES
College of Charleston Director of Athletics Joe Hull served as senior associate athletics director at Maryland for 10 years prior to his appointment at The College in 2007. He served as the project manager for the Comcast Center which was ranked as the seventh toughest venue to play in by EA Sports. His duties relevant to the arena process included designing and managing a capital campaign to help fund arena construction, and working with the architects, construction manager and Maryland Stadium Authority, to design and build the arena. Hull was the lead person during the identification, cultivation, solicitation and closing of the $25 million arena naming sponsorship with Comcast.
ACC GIANT KILLERS?
Arguably, the biggest wins in school history have come against ACC programs including the Cougars' NCAA First Round victory over Maryland in 1997. Last year, CofC upset No. 9-ranked North Carolina, 82-79, on Jan. 4, 2010, at Carolina First Arena in Charleston. They previously upset the unbeaten and third-ranked Tar Heels, 66-64, on Dec. 6, 1998, and 66-60, on Dec. 21, 2001. CofC also knocked off the No. 8 Cremins-coached Georgia Tech squad, 84-67, on Jan. 16, 1993.
WHAT'S BACK
The College of Charleston returns 10 letterwinners who accounted for 73 percent of the team's scoring and 65 percent of the team's rebounding in 2009-10. CofC also has three of its starting five back in super senior trio Andrew Goudelock, Donavan Monroe and Jeremy Simmons, who combined for 56 percent of the team's offensive production a year ago. Goudelock, Monroe, Simmons and junior redshirt Antwaine Wiggins (who sat out the 2009-10 season recovering from an ACL injury) are Coach Cremins' first four-year recruiting class and have made two CBI appearances and are hungry to dance in March. Over the last three years, they have compiled a 65-38 (.631) overall record and a 38-20 (.655) mark in SoCon play.
NO STRANGER TO THE ACC
Aside from Coach Cremins, two members of the CofC coaching staff has ties to the ACC and are very familiar with Maryland's style of play. Associate head coach Mark Byington served as director of basketball operations at Virginia during the 2004-05 season and also played at Cole Field House as a junior starter for his alma mater UNC Wilmington. Meanwhile, assistant coach Andrew Wilson was a starting guard at Florida State from 2000-06 and has played at Comcast Center.
NICE KITTY DEBUTS
The tagline, “Nice Kitty” is a newly-adopted CofC Athletics marketing campaign directed toward students at The College in support of the program similar to Maryland's “Fear the Turtle” campaign which has become iconic in the college basketball world. Posters and T-Shirts with the menacing Cougar have been very popular around campus since its debut last month at Maroon Madness.
COUGARS PICKED SECOND IN SOCON SOUTH DIVISION
CofC was picked to finish second in the Southern Conference South Division by the league's head coaches and media in preseason voting. The Cougars recorded their third 20-win season in four years under Coach Cremins with a 22-12 overall record in 2009-10. They received several first-place votes behind defending SoCon champion Wofford.
“There's more balance in our conference this year and everyone can beat everyone. When people were talking about expansion to 96 teams, I thought it would help our conference get two teams into the NCAA Tournament. But, it was expanded to 68. Can it happen? Yes, it can. Our conference is very underrated and there are no easy games. We have to be really good to take that next step. We have done great things here in Charleston, but obviously, we haven't won a championship and that will always be our goal.” – Coach Cremins on the strength of the SoCon
FROM DOWNTOWN CHARLESTON
Last season, CofC was on fire from downtown and finished third nationally and tops in the SoCon in three-point field goals made averaging 9.6 per game. In fact, the Cougars made six-or-more threes in 33-of-34 games of the season with 12 contests in double digits including a school single-game record 19 threes at Western Carolina on Jan. 25. CofC ended the season with 326 which was the most in a single season in program history. Andrew Goudelock, the school's all-time leader in the category with 265 treys, knocked down a team-high 97 in 2009-10, followed by graduating senior Tony White, Jr. (78), senior Donavan Monroe (44), former senior forward Casaan Breeden (43), sophomore Andrew Lawrence (36) and junior Matt Sundberg (20).
NEW FACES
CofC welcomes four newcomers to the squad including freshmen James Carlton (Winterville, N.C.), Nori Johnson (Duncan, S.C.), Jordan Scott (Darlington, S.C.) and Trent Wiedeman (Suwanee, Ga.). Wiedeman was rated the No. 63 center in the country in the Class of 2010 by ESPN basketball recruiting services, while Carlton was tabbed preseason SoCon Newcomer of the Year by Lindy's College Basketball Annual.
THE CREMINS FILE
Coach Cremins, a legend in his own right, enters his 30th overall season in the Division I coaching ranks and fifth year at the College of Charleston. He is 13 wins shy of recording his 100th career victory with the Cougars with an 87-49 record to date. Cremins has compiled an impressive 541-356 career record (.603) at Appalachian State, Georgia Tech and CofC combined. Should he reach 100 wins, he would become one of only 11 all-time coaches to lead three different Division I schools to 100-or-more wins including retired legends in Bobby Knight (Army, Indiana, Texas Tech) and Jerry Tarkanian (Long Beach State, UNLV, Fresno State). Cremins currently ranks among the top 20 all-time Division I coaches in career victories (541).
THE GOING GETS TOUGH
The Cougars will embark on one of their most challenging non-conference slates in school history as nine opponents reached postseason play a year ago including road dates with three giants of college basketball in 2010 NCAA participant Maryland on Nov. 10, NCAA Elite Eight participant and preseason No. 23-ranked Tennessee on Dec. 31 and Postseason NIT runner-up and No. 8-ranked North Carolina on Nov. 28. This year's non-conference schedule is the toughest assembled since the Cougars faced Arizona State, No. 21 Stanford, No. 8 Kentucky and Oklahoma State during the 1996-97 campaign under Coach Kresse. Seven teams on the schedule, including CofC, finished in the top 100 of the NCAA RPI last season.
“Ever since I got back into coaching, I said, 'we will play anyone, anytime, anywhere.' I think it's healthy to play teams from the power conferences. You are going to get beat up sometimes, but you just hope, you don't get beat up a lot. It's also good for our players, good for recruiting and good for RPI ratings.” – Coach Cremins on scheduling
EXHIBITION RECAP
CofC 86, Francis Marion 75
• Five players scored in double figures including a game-high tying 16 points by Andrew Goudelock. Donavan Monroe, Andrew Lawrence and Willis Hall each chipped in 11.
• The Cougars are now 3-1 all-time in exhibition games played during the Bobby Cremins Era (2007-present). All were previously decided in single digits prior to the 11-point victory over the Patriots.
• CofC freshmen Trent Wiedeman, James Carlton, Jordan Scott and Nori Johnson made their unofficial collegiate debuts versus Francis Marion. They combined for 24 of the team's 86 points on the night. Wiedeman had a near double-double performance with 10 points and a game-high nine rebounds.
COUGAR SOUND BITES
“Opening at Maryland is going to be a tough assignment for our players. We need our freshmen to come on and contribute early. I love playing a touch schedule. I consider Gary Williams a very good friend and we compete hard against each other. Maryland has some of the best backers of any college basketball program in America. There will be 20,000+ fans at the Comcast Center on Wednesday night, but our veterans are used to playing in that type of atmosphere. I expect our newcomers to be nervous. I'm going to play them and hopefully, they will play smart. I know Gary will come after us and his team will use a lot of pressure defenses. It will be the first game for Donavan Monroe to play the point and the first game back for Antwaine Wiggins. It should be interesting. I just hope we respond well.” – CofC head coach Bobby Cremins on the team's season opener at Maryland
“We are not a one-man team, but Andrew is a terrific scorer of the ball and has a real knack for the game. He led our team in assists last year and we want him to continue that this year. When he gets it going, he is really fun to watch. He's a lot more mature this year, but he's a marked man in our conference for sure.” – Coach Cremins on Preseason SoCon Player of the Year Andrew Goudelock
“We are really excited to start the season. Our guys are anxious to play someone else other than their teammates in a game that counts. One of our biggest challenges will be dealing with the environment. Maryland gets great fan support and it's going to be close to a sellout crowd. It's tough to throw your freshmen into a situation like that in their very first game, but the good news is we have veteran guards and a veteran center in Jeremy Simmons who have played in environments like this before. They have seen it all at this point of their careers. Maryland is well coached and Gary Williams does a great job of running a flex offense. Obviously, that has been a big point of emphasis in our preparation this week. Maryland does a great job in pressure defenses with multiple different presses.” – CofC associate head coach Mark Byington on scouting Maryland
“We are going to prepare like it's any game for us. We are going to focus on our opponents, but at the same time, the most important focus is on ourselves. What we are looking to do is improve our team defense and rebounding this year and play our game.” – Senior Andrew Goudelock on preparing for the opener at Maryland
