From The Desk Of Joe Hull: Let The Good Times Roll

The college basketball season starts up this week as our men's and women's basketball teams get things rolling. Our men will host The Citadel on November 11 and our women will host Charlotte on November 13 at TD Arena.

On the men's side, our crosstown rivalry should be a fun and interesting way to begin what we believe will be a terrific season! CofC will also play in two tournaments in Charleston – the ESPN Gildan Charleston Classic held at TD Arena and the CAA Men's Basketball Championship held at the North Charleston Coliseum. We invite you to join us! You can call (843) 953-COFC or visit www.CofCSports.com/tickets to purchase season tickets, individual game tickets or tournament tickets.

The Cougars return all five starters (Cameron Johnson, Payton Hulsey, Nick Harris, Marquise Pointer and Jarrell Brantley) from last season, plus two dynamic guards (Joe Chealey and Grant Riller), who missed all of last season due to injury and two experienced subs (Evan Bailey and Terrance O'Donohue). A strong group of new freshmen (Chevez Goodwin, Jaylen McManus, Osi Smart and Brevin Galloway) are also ready to make their mark. It is an extremely talented roster.
Head Coach Earl Grant and his staff should be congratulated for attracting these exceptional young men to CofC. This team is athletic, skilled, talented and deep.
Coach Grant's team begins with defense and rebounding. Last year's squad put up exceptional defensive results, and with all starters returning, should defend very well again. But, this year's team has more offensive firepower. In our recent exhibition game, Riller (22 points) and Chealey (17 points) returned from their injuries to lead the team in scoring, while freshmen Goodwin and McManus also scored in double figures in their collegiate debuts.

Several key initiatives have been established to put our men's basketball program in position to win the CAA Championship and win NCAA Tournament games. The goals for this plan are: (1) win the CAA regular season and secure NIT AQ; (2) win the CAA Tournament and secure NCAA AQ; (3) earn a strong RPI to be in genuine contention for an NCAA at-large bid; and (4) earn a strong RPI to get a high enough seed to have a realistic chance to win NCAA Tournament games.

Recruiting – Recruiting talented student-athletes is fundamental to success in basketball. Recruiting effectively is influenced by many factors – an attractive university/community, a terrific facility, a strong league, a challenging schedule, visibility, competitive scholarships, a caring team atmosphere and an outstanding head coach. CofC provides each element. Parents and prospects understand their recruiting choices since most prospects have played travel ball in regional and national tournaments for years. For example, at least seven Cougars would not be at CofC, if we were still in our previous conference. Another example is cost of attendance.
Scholarship + Cost of Attendance (COA) – All Power 5 conferences provide a traditional full scholarship plus COA. Most significant conferences outside the Power 5 also provide COA to men's basketball. Within the CAA, only College of Charleston initially provided COA. UNCW, JMU and Towson plan to provide some COA beginning 2016-17 or later. A mid-major like CofC cannot consistently rank within the Top 50-75 in RPI without providing COA. At CofC, I designed a system by which men's basketball can award one of the highest COA allowances in the NCAA, which is good for student-athlete (SA) welfare and creates a significant recruiting advantage. The details are that men's basketball is provided $52,000 ($4,000 x 13 scholarships) to provide COA to the out-of-state student-athletes. COA for each in-state SA is paid from the savings from the difference between an out-of-state and in-state scholarship (a difference of about $19,000 per year). If Coach Grant's roster includes 3 in-state SAs, the $52,000 allotted for COA is split between the 10 out-of-state SAs. This means each out-of-state SA receives about $5,200 in COA. Each in-state SA receives the maximum allowed for an in-state SA which is about $3,900. Since initiating our COA plan, the number of in-state scholarship SAs on the men's basketball team has grown from one to four. This plan allows CofC to max out in COA in the most cost effective manner possible. COA is critical in the initial recruiting process, and later when SAs are considering the possibility of transferring in or out.
Hosting CAA Tournament – March Madness comes to Charleston. The CAA Men's Basketball Championship will be in North Charleston for 2017, 2018 and 2019. Hosting the tournament locally is convenient for CofC fans, allows The Cougar Club to include tournament seating as a benefit, gives CofC a hometown advantage for this event which determines which team wins the CAA automatic NCAA bid (AQ), and heightens the excitement about basketball in our area. The CAA ADs voted to move the CAA Tournament to the Charleston area based on a plan I developed with local officials.
Exempt Tournaments – Playing high-quality opponents on a neutral court enhances CofC's schedule. Former Head Coach Bobby Cremins and I worked with ESPN to create the Charleston Classic. Per NCAA rule, a team can play in a specific exempt event only once in four years. We leveraged relationships and the Charleston Classic to invite CofC to other exempt events hosted by ESPN in Puerto Rico, Orlando, Anaheim and Honolulu. As a result CofC, has one of the best exempt tourney situations of any mid-major in the NCAA. Playing terrific competition in attractive places helps recruiting and elevates one's RPI for NCAA Tournament seeding or a possible at-large bid to the NCAA or NIT.
CAA Membership – A strong league can elevate every program. The CAA is a good enough men's basketball league that one can get an at-large NCAA bid or enhanced NCAA Tournament seeding or both. Two at-large CAA teams have reached the NCAA Final Four in the past 10 years. In 2015-16, the CAA was ranked as the No. 9-best conference in the NCAA. Conferences ranked 1-8 all received multiple bids, as did conference No. 11. With a strong non-conference schedule, an at-large bid and/or a high enough seeding to win NCAA games are both within reach in the CAA.
Scheduling Power 5 Opponents – Playing and beating high-quality opponents at home and away is fundamental to success in men's basketball. Prior to my arrival, CofC had never hosted a Power 5 game at home. Over the past eight years, CofC has hosted UNC, South Carolina, Clemson, Louisville, Tennessee, Miami, LSU, Auburn and Boston College. No other SoCon or CAA team, and few mid-majors nationally, have been able to get these types of home games consistently. Early on, Coach Cremins spearheaded getting these types of opponents to play at CofC based on his great relationships and the package we created. We have been able to continue attracting those types of teams to CofC.
RPI/BPI – RPI is the primary objective tool used by the NCAA Selection Committee to determine NCAA Tournament seeding and NCAA at-large selections. Fundamentally, RPI measures how difficult a schedule one played and how well one performed against that schedule. For most mid and low major teams, RPI makes it very difficult to earn an NCAA at-large or strong seeding because the conference regular-season games often hurt the RPI and getting high-quality non-conference games at a home or neutral site is very difficult. Being a member of a Top 10 conference based on RPI rankings enhances one's RPI (CAA was ranked No. 9 in RPI in 2015-16). When CofC combines a Top 10 conference with a strong non-conference schedule featuring high level home and neutral site games, it has a fighting chance to earn the needed RPI ranking for NCAA consideration. Realistically, it takes an RPI of 40-or-better to gain an NCAA at-large bid, and an RPI of 50-or-better to be seeded at No. 12-or-better.
TV Self-Production – Being visible is crucial. Five years ago, I and two others, initiated CofC's self-production of men's basketball games for broadcast TV and digital TV in HD. To accomplish this, CofC Athletics built its own TV production truck that was the first of its kind and cost only a small fraction of what traditional TV production studios cost. This initiative has allowed CofC to televise many more games than most mid-majors. We have averaged about 18 televised games per season since we began self-production. In a technology era in which people watch games via traditional TV, via computer, via mobile device, etc., self-production of games is critical for mid-majors like CofC to be seen – and being seen is critical in attracting top recruits.
TD Arena – TD Arena is a wonderful home court. TD Arena is nice enough to host an ESPN exempt event and provide an excellent home court for CofC and our fans. On a daily basis, our players have everything they need to succeed in immediate proximity. Our game court, our practice court, locker room, weight room, sports medicine/treatment, academic support, media relations and coaches offices are all within a few steps of each other. This is a tremendous convenience for our student-athletes and staff. In addition, campus classrooms and player housing are both a short walk away – all located in the center of a beautiful city. It is a terrific arrangement.
Earl Grant – Coach Grant is special. Having a head coach that can recruit, relate and coach at an exceptional level is crucial. Earl Grant is terrific in each area. Coach Grant, his staff and players are positioned to be the best team in a very good league for years to come. Winning the CAA Championship and playing in the NCAA Tournament is great! Winning NCAA tournament games as a mid-major is magical. Twice in the past 10 years, an NCAA at-large selection from the CAA has played in the Final Four. With the plan outlined above, CofC can do it.

Cougar fans who follow our team closely are very excited about this season, next season and beyond. Join us for a great time. Let the good times roll!

Go Cougars!
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Joe Hull
Director of Athletics

Schedule

Players Mentioned

Evan Bailey

Jarrell Brantley

Joe Chealey

Brevin Galloway

Chevez Goodwin

Nick Harris

Payton Hulsey

Cameron Johnson

Jaylen McManus

Terrance O'Donohue

Marquise Pointer

Grant Riller

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