Friday, November 2, 2012

Charleston Preview: New Coach, Same Expectations

Each day from October 23-November 3, there will be a basketball blogger/fan previewing their team in this space. 

This time last year the Cougars faced big adjustments. Redshirt senior Antwaine Wiggins, the last remaining member of Coach Bobby Cremins’ first recruiting class, was asked to lead a team of young players who had only seen limited roles to that point.

Quickly the Cougars overachieved, winning nine of their first ten games including victories over Clemson and Tennessee. Things seemed to be going good but quickly turned sour once conference play began. The team looked ill-prepared on the court, star freshman Anthony Stitt broke his hand and things culminated with Bobby Cremins taking a medical leave of absence before eventually retiring.

Now the Cougars are lead by former Tulsa head coach Doug Wojcik and a brand new staff. The playing style of this team is still a big unknown but Wojcik has expressed defense, rebounding and post play as key components of the team’s system. How steep of a learning curve the players face is still up for debate; but one of the reasons Wojcik took this job was because this team is built to contend right now. There’s a new face at the end of the bench but expectations are still high for the College of Charleston.

Read the entire preview here

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