CHATTANOOGA, TENN. -- The College of Charleston goes into the Southern Conference tournament today as the No. 1 seed in the South Division and has already locked up a bid to the National Invitation Tournament.
But the Cougars (14-4 SoCon, 22-9 overall) didn't exactly finish the regular season with a bang, losing at Appalachian State and Western Carolina.
"It just seemed like we hit a wall after we won the regular season," Cougars coach Bobby Cremins said. "We knew it would be two tough games. We struggled. I feel bad I didn't anticipate any of it."
Cremins offered up no excuses, but the Cougars may have been worn out. They played short-handed the final eight games of the regular season after forward Jeremy Simmons was sidelined because of a blood clot in his right shoulder.
Cremins is hoping the Cougars can scale the wall and erase some bad memories of the last time the tournament was played in Chattanooga. In 2009, the Cougars finished tied for second in the South but did not get the bye awarded to the top two finishers in each division.
Having to win four games in four days, Charleston ran out of gas after dispatching UNC Greensboro, Western Carolina and Davidson. They lost to Chattanooga, 80-69, in the championship game.
"Going into the tournament, obviously the first thing is we have to re-establish ourselves and try to get our momentum back," Cremins said.
"We have an NIT bid in the bank, but there is a bigger reward out there (the NCAA tournament for the SoCon champion). We can't play like we did at Appalachian or Western going into this tournament. If we play like that, we will be in trouble. It's definitely a brand new season."
Freshman forward Trent Wiedeman said the Cougars are focused on getting back to the NCAA tournament, something the school hasn't done since it first joined the league for the 1998-99 season. Charleston went 16-0 in the league, won the championship and posted a 28-3 overall record. The Cougars lost to Tulsa in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
"With the team we have this year, we have the potential to win a couple of games in the NCAA tournament and get the program back to where it was when Coach (John) Kresse was coaching," Wiedeman said.
"We know we have to take it one game at a time because coach Cremins reminds us of that every day. We will be fine."
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