So, a good start to the season for the Chants.  This has become routine as Coastal has now won seven straight openers.

Two things happened in this game that had not happened during our three game losing streak.  One was Raffa played 30 minutes.  He had not played for 30 minutes during any game of the losing streak.  He did play 27 minutes twice, but only played 16 minutes in the loss to Campbell. The other is that Coastal was able to make their free throws, going 11-14 in the game.  Coastal had been terrible from the line during the losing streak, going 8-17 against Campbell, 8-16 against High Point, and 10-18 against Winthrop.  We scored more from the line against UNC-A than we did in any of the previous three despite shooting fewer foul shoots.

Down the stretch, Coastal must continue the momentum that was gained with this huge win.  The keys seem to be making foul shots and keeping Raffa on the floor.  Coastal only has two Big South games left and it must give the same effort it gave last night in defeating the UNC-A if they are to have a shot at breaking the 19 year NCAA tournament drought. GO CHANTS!

Now, that lead is hanging by a thread following tonight’s 70-65 loss to High Point.  This is only the second time this season Coastal has lost back to back games (December 19th and 22nd – losses to East Carolina and College of Charleston).

Tonight’s loss was a bad loss.  The other three conference losses came against top Big South teams UNC-Asheville and Campbell.  High Point came into this game 5-9 in the Big South and 9-15 overall.  The loss leaves Coastal only one game above Campbell and Charleston Southern with UNC-Asheville (13-1 in the Big South) still coming up on Valentine’s Day.  Before that, we have to get by Winthrop in Rock Hill.

If Coastal has another slip like they did tonight against High Point, I can see them being a 4 seed in the Big South Conference tournament.  If they play up to their potential these last two weeks, they should go into the Big South Tournament as a 2 seed.  Either way – at this point, the only way to the postseason for Coastal is to win the conference tourney.  Being a #1 seed hasn’t helped us in recent history, so maybe being the lower seed for once will lead the Chanticleers back to the NCAA tournament for the first time in nearly 20 years.

Coastal defeated Presbyterian on 52-49 Thursday night.  Raffa led the team in Points (19), Rebounds (8) and assists (4) for the game.  He also passed the 1,000 career points mark during this game. However, it was a close contest with Presbyterian making a late run to cut the lead to one with 21 seconds on the clock.   Raffa knocked down two big foul shots, increasing CCU’s lead to 3. The Blue Hose then missed what would’ve been a game tying three as time expired.  So – not only did Raffa lead the team in three categories and reach 1,000 points, he also nailed two key free throws down the stretch to give Coastal its margin of victory.

Tuesday was a different game, but had the same result – another Coastal victory.  The Chants defeated Gardner-Webb 70-56 in Boiling Springs, NC.  Coastal’s defense clamped down on the Bulldogs, allowing only one FG in the final 6:51.   Anthony Raffa (who else?) led the team with a career high 32 points along with 3 steals.  McLaurin had 10 Rebounds and 3 blocks – also, Greenwood had 10 assists.

Coastal Carolina is continuing their roll I mentioned in my previous post. The Chants have now won six of seven and show no signs of slowing down.  They do, however, have a week off before facing Charleston Southern and Campbell at home.  If Coastal can win those two games against the third and fourth place teams in the conference, it will solidify their hold on second place.  Those wins would also put them in position to regain first place with a win over UNC-Asheville on Valentine’s Day.  Don’t forget to bring a date to Kimbel Arena for that one!

The Basketball team is on a roll. The 4-1 stretch started with a three game win streak over Charleston Southern, Gardner Webb and Presbyterian.  Then, CCU suffered a loss on the road to the team voted pre-season #1 in the Big South, UNC-Asheville (88-81 final score).  Finally, Coastal demolished Radford 82-62 Saturday.

Coastal has lost two Big South games this season.  Both of those games were on the road to the teams now #1 and #2 in the Big South Standings.  Coastal will have a chance to make up for these setbacks when UNC-Asheville and Campbell visit Kimbel Arena later this season.

The great thing about this team is that it does not rely on one star player to get the job done every night – it has been a total team effort this season.  Raffa and Gradnigo led the team in scoring with 16.8 and 15.8 points per game respectively.  McLaurin and Pack are leading Coastal in rebounding, with McLaurin pulling down 8.1 boards per game and Pack not far behind with 6.5.  Both players also average 1.3 blocks per game. 

Now for the men who set up the scoring with great passing: Greenwood has 4.3 assist per game and Nieman comes in behind him with 2.7 assists.  Players not mentioned that also play significant minutes for Coastal are Brandon Crawford, Dexter Moore and Warren Gillis.  All three of these players average more than 10 minutes a game, with Gillis leading the way playing 16.9 minutes per game off the bench.

Coastal hopes to use this total team effort to continue the roll against Presbyterian on the road Thursday night.  PC is currently 2-6 in the Big South and 8-10 overall this season.  I believe this should be another win for the Chants.  Here’s hoping they can keep rolling right into March!

On top of that, Brandon Crawford has been ruled academically ineligible for this season.  The Chants had already lost Tyrone Poole and Willie Kirkland to injury.

Despite the last couple of weeks and the injuries/lost players, our Chants still have plenty of talent left on the floor the season.  Anthony Raffa leads the team in scoring with over 18 a game.  Sam McLaurin leads the team in rebounding, pulling down nearly 8.5 a game.  Second in rebounding is Chris Gradnigo (6.1), who is also second in points per game (15.4).  So while our depth is being challenged, our top players have avoided the injury bug so far.

Only time will tell how the injuries will affect Coastal over the course of the season.  Hopefully, Coastal will overcome these obstacles and find a way to make it to the dance.  However – first things first. Let’s beat Chuck South on Saturday.

Happy New Year!

1. Win the Big South basketball tournament.  Coastal has been just seconds away from the Big South title in recent years only to have it slip out of their grasp.  They have lost two title games at home, losing to UNC-Asheville in last year’s title game.  This season, it’s the Chanticleers’ turn to dance.
2. Send CCU Baseball to Omaha. Coastal Carolina has shown it has an elite baseball team in the past few years, but they still haven’t made it to the College World Series.  In 2012, that’s going to change.  It’s time for the Chants to make a trip to the Mecca of college baseball – Omaha, here we come!
3. Get back to the playoffs in football (and this time, win a game).  The bar has been set very high by DeCenzo and Yurachek in regards to the new coach.  They want top 20 teams and playoff appearances.  Well, we’ve had both of those in the past, but we have never won a playoff game.  This year that changes.
4. A national title for the soccer team.  Hey, I know it seems a little far fetched. However, without a missed hand ball in the final minutes against #1 North Carolina (who went on to win the title), Coastal might have had one this year.
5. Fire the AD!  Even if the hiring of a billionaire for football coach works out, it makes the University look pathetic.  It looks like we hired the guy just because he was rich and we are dirt poor.  Not to mention, it looks like we passed over two more qualified candidates to hire him. Just my opinion.

I’m sure I’ve missed quite a few, so feel free to add yours in the comments section underneath. Note: these are resolutions not my opinions on what will happen, just what I want to happen. Happy New Year, everyone!

The staff of CoastalFans.com wishes you & your family/friends a happy & prosperous New Year! Please, be safe while celebrating the arrival of 2012!

Coach David Bennett (Courtesy of the Sun News)

In the wake of Coach Bennett’s “reassignment,” interest in CCU football is at an all-time high. Even higher, in my opinion, than in 2002-2003 when the program was in its infancy. Dr. DeCenzo & AD Yurachek definitely succeeded in DeCenzo’s goal of creating excitement around the CCU football program. As I discussed in my previous blog, most of that excitement was unfortunately quite venomous and destructive. However, it also started an interesting trend locally – a trend which I feel has caused some unfortunate reactions from fans & supporters of the school.

I’ve always thought that media outlets by rule were only supposed to report the news, not actually take sides in heated local debates. Unfortunately, there were at least two local news outlets – one newspaper, and one TV station – that all but came out and said that they were on David Bennett’s side. I won’t name them here, but if it was this obvious to me, you should be able to figure it out as well. It does no good for the news to steer people towards a stance when an issue becomes as heated as this one.

These media outlets seem to have taken a very pro-reinstatement stance, and it’s not helping matters for Coastal in the Public Relations department. I’m forced to wonder why these outlets are running with conspiracy theories such as, “CCU’s new coach and David DeCenzo have been neighbors for over a year.” This same story then goes on to point out that DeCenzo & Moglia’s houses are about 1.5 miles apart. To put that in perspective, 1.5 miles is about three times the distance it would take a person to walk from the Commons dining hall to Coastal’s new chapel. That’s right – they’ve lived that close to one another for an entire year. Seriously, folks, stop propagating this theory just because the news pointed out that two rich people live near each other in an area where rich people tend to live.

This image has been circulating on Facebook to call for the reinstatement of Coach Bennett.

For my final words on Coach Bennett’s dismissal, I’d invite you to read this interview I did with the Myrtle Beach Herald. I think it sums up my thoughts fairly well. Coach Bennett, if you read this – please know that I will miss you. But please also understand that I’m a Chanticleer first, and I’m standing by my school. I hope my fellow CCU fans will stand with me.

Joe Moglia, New Head Coach of the Chanticleers (Courtesy of The Sun News)

After listening to MoJo (or JoeMo – I don’t believe we’ve decided on a nickname for him yet) speak at his press conference, I have to say that my shock at hiring someone who was basically unknown to the coaching world faded a bit. I was impressed with some of the things he had to say, and in the third and final part of my blog miniseries, I’ll go over what I think of his press conference. I’ll also go over what I think/know about Moglia personally, as well as what I feel the future holds for CCU football.

I plan to have that blog up on Monday, so let me take this opportunity to wish you & yours a very Merry Christmas. Thanks very much to everyone who has read and/or shared these blogs – I really appreciate all of the positive feedback I’ve been getting since Part 1.

DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed in this blog series are solely the opinions of the author, and do not represent the opinions of CoastalFans.com as a whole.

David Bennett (Courtesy of The Sun News)

I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to call this entire situation a “debacle.” From the moment the announcement was made late on a Friday evening, it just felt like odd timing to me. As the owner of CoastalFans.com, it’s often a little difficult for me to express my opinion because some might construe it as the opinion of this website as a whole. Before I go any further, I’d like to make it very clear that what I write here is solely my own opinion. I’ve held back from doing much commenting until now, but I feel that some “level-headedness” is much needed at this juncture.

One of the things that has shocked me the most is exactly how venomous the debate became between the Pro-Reinstatement vs. Pro-Reassignment camps (re: David Bennett). I’ve had Facebook friends post statuses vowing to never again support Coastal Carolina University unless Bennett is reinstated. Users of CoastalFans.com have posted messages saying that they will not renew their season tickets because of how the situation was handled. On the other side of the coin, you have people praising the decision to remove Bennett, saying that they will now increase their level of support in the wake of all this. Needless to say, the camps are very divided – and I think it’s about time that the venom stops flowing.

Members of CoastalFans.com with Coach David Bennett

It is for this reason that I have been so disheartened at the reaction of so many since Bennett’s reassignment. Especially, alums such as Tyler Thigpen and Jerome Simpson. Thigpen sent a letter to the administration of CCU, in which he repeatedly urged them to immediately reinstate Coach Bennett. He also requested a refund of his donation for the naming rights of the QB Coach’s office, as well as that any pictures of him from his post-CCU NFL career be removed immediately from Coastal’s campus. You would think that this would be the thing that has saddened me the most, but it’s unfortunately not.

Jerome Simpson Trashes His CCU Jersey

Do Tyler, Jerome & Mike Tolbert (as well as the other alums who have expressed their displeasure in the past several days) have every right to feel the way they feel? Yes, they do. I don’t agree with their stance – and I feel that Tyler is going a bit overboard with some of his requests – but it’s their right to feel that way. I won’t stop supporting them (as some users of CoastalFans.com have said they will) simply because I disagree with their opinion. Instead, I’ll take the advice Jerome’s mom gave him – I’ll remember the good times. I sincerely hope that my fellow Chanticleer fans will choose to remember them with me, and look forward to new good times in the future. The ultimate disrespect we can pay to Coach Bennett is to fail to support the players on the field – the kids he is said to have cared for so much. If we as fans fail to show up to Brooks Stadium next year, and fail to show the players on the field that we care about them – we will be as at fault for the decline of CCU football as people would have you believe Dr. DeCenzo/AD Yurachek are.

This story has not only captivated the local media since it broke – it has dominated it. Every where I go, every local news show I watch – everyone is talking about it. Dr. DeCenzo’s statement said, “It is imperative that we find a way to create excitement around our program.” If nothing else, they have definitely succeeded in that regard – I don’t know of anybody in this part of the state that has not been talking about CCU football since December 9, 2011.

Check back here within the next two days for Part 2 of my blog.

Kierre Greenwood

The 9-1 College of Charleston Cougars are led by Senior Antwaine Wiggins and Junior Andrew Lawerence.  These two combine for nearly 32 points a game.  Lawerence leads the team with over five assists a game, while Wiggins is second in rebounding with seven a game. Coastal is 9-2 this season, and they will counter the CofC attack with a variety of players.  Anthony Raffa is the only player that is in the top two in more than one of the major categories (Points, Rebounds Assists).  Raffa leds the team in in points with 19.1 and is second in assists with 2.5 per game.  Chris Gradnigo is Coastal’s second leading scorer with 15.5 points a game.  Our front line of McLaurin and Pack combine for 14.6 rebounds and almost 3 blocks.  Kierre Greenwood leads the team in assists with just under four a game.

I expect a fairly high scoring game.  I would not be surprised to see both teams break 80 points Thursday night.  Coastal is averaging 78.4 points a game, while the Cougars average 74.9.  I’m hoping to see an up-and-down game with plenty of excitement.  Coastal needs to continue to take high percentage shots to win this game.  They are currently third in FG percentage at 51.8%.  I think this will be the difference in the game.  If Coastal can continue to be hot from the field as they have been all season, they will defeat the Cougars on Thursday night.  Final score: Coastal 88, CofC 81.  Go Chanticleers!