Today was a pretty nice day. I really didn’t wake up until 1:45. When I woke up, I was hungry so I gave Dan a call. We went to Liberty and chilled there along with Alex for a while. I was able to convince Dan to go to the game with me, but not Alex. We walked down George Street towards the student entrance and waited for Erin to show up and she was accompanied by Caroline. We watched warm ups from the second row of the student section and waited for Will to show up. He showed up a couple minutes into the game.
After watching last game, I was worried that beating Davidson was going to be tough, but we never looked back. Early on, CofC had an 18-6 lead and never looked back. Once again Jeremy Simmons was tough as nails. He was all over the place grabbing 10 rebounds and blocking 5 shots in 30 minutes of action.
Simmons and Donvon Monroe shared a team high 16 points. The only other player in double figures was Casaan Breeden who finished with 11 points to go along with 8 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 2 assists. The biggest concern I hold for this team down the road is related to their rebounding. The Cougars were out-rebounded 47 to 33 overall and 20 to 6 on the offensive boards. Second chance opportunities are big and if we don’t get them, we can’t expect to stay close in games against big teams like UNC later in the year. CofC now has a record of 3-3 and is 2-0 in the Southern Conference.
I wasn’t able to watch the Syracuse game, but I am pretty sure the box score speaks for itself. Syracuse beat Maine 101-55 at the Carrier Dome. Freshman Point Guard Brandon Triche led the Orange in scoring with 16 points. The Orange were able to play 13 players during the game which had 6 players in double figures. Big man Arnize Onuaku finished with 14 points, 7 rebounds, and three blocks. Not to disappoint, Wes Johnson, the Iowa State transfer put in another productive game as well scoring only 7 points, but bringing down 6 rebounds, and blocking 4 shots. Like many others, Wes Johnson played reduced minutes, because the Orange had such a lead. At halftime, the score was 60-12.
In 1984, the Portland Trailblazers selected Sam Bowie with the Second Overall pick in the Draft. For those of you who are not familiar with the 1984 NBA Draft, a young man named Michael Jordan was drafted with the third pick. Sam Bowie wasn’t a bad player, but he had terrible knees and never panned out. It seems as though the Trailblazers may have made a similar bad decision recently. In 2007, the Trailblazers held the first overall pick in the draft and they second pick was held by the Seattle SuperWonics (now the Oklahoma City Thunder). Despite things swirling around about Greg Oden’s health, the Trailblazers selected him with the first overall pick over Kevin Durant. After being drafted, the Trailblazers founded out that Greg Oden would need microfracture surgery on his knee which would force him to sit out his entire first season. Durant that season was named rookie of the year. The 2008-2009 season was considered Oden’s “rookie season” and in his first game, Oden left after a short while with a foot injury. After coming back, he played well until he broke his knee cap in February and missed three weeks. Then today, Oden fractured his left kneecap today and will likely miss the rest of the season. I hate to say it Trailblazers, but when will you learn from your mistakes?