• Season 9 SuperTicker presented by BLAPP
SEASON 7

Recent Game Recaps

Epilogue, The Ninth: Only Love Can Break Your Heart

Memories

So We Meet Again

Rte. 139 - End of the Line

Hanging On

A Championship in Pictures

This Time of Year

Dotson Leads Ducks to the Sweet Sixteen

Grizzlies Overwhelmed by Orangemen

Empire

Challenge 11: Final Four Memories

By George, UConn is Dead

Butler and Us

Donning the Black and Gold

Challenge 10: Tourney Memories

The Madness of the Horizon League

The Rare Ivy League Conference Tournament

MAC Madness

Anything Can Happen in the MAAC

Challenge 9: Shock The Neighborhood

A Youthful Surprise

From Worst to First

Peers and Seers

Game 7-098: NIT Second Round
March 19, 2011 6:22 pm ET by Kyle Whelliston

Charleston Cougars at Cleveland State Vikings

March 19, 2011 2:00 pm
H. J. Goodman Arena
BBState Stats/Recap

There is one National Championship. Everything else is just low-rated cable programming. Lose the wrong game at the wrong time, and you end up here -- in basketball purgatory. At the Wolstein Center in Cleveland, there is a long green curtain that separates backstage from the arena, which is a few armchairs and a checkerboard floor away from being the dreamworld from "Twin Peaks." Players from both teams gather there on their way out of the locker room, before taking the court. On the other side, a few thousand fans who can't let go of the dead season. This is a curtain call.

Also: why the National Invitation Tournament is like "The Sixth Sense," the NIT prize pack, the morality of showing Down Syndrome dancing on TV, where in the world is Jon LeCrone, 1-for-25 #superhoop shooting, And finally, the wisdom of former MMBOW and Mid-Majority hero Norris Cole, as he leaves us for good.

@midmajority Game Tweets

13:52 Game No. 7-098: Charleston at Cleveland State. NIT second round. #ghostbracket. http://plixi.com/p/85256728
13:56 Charleston, on the other side. http://plixi.com/p/85257928
14:01 This is a very sad scene anyway, but this will also be the final game for one of two great former MMBOW's: Andrew Goudelock or Norris Cole.
14:03 Charleston. 25-10 (14-4 SoCon). Their season "ended" on Mar. 7, when they lost to Wofford in the tourney final 77-67. Beat Dayton in NIT 1R.
14:04 Cleveland State. 27-8 (13-5). Their light went out in the HL semis vs. Butler, 76-68. This team could never could get past the Bulldogs.
14:06 In front of 1,472 (an inflated figure), Cleveland State beat Vermont here 63-60 in the NIT first round. Ghosts.
14:06 Tip. http://plixi.com/p/85260475
14:07 First skirmish of the Cole-Goudelock battle: Goudelock drives on Cole, gets it stolen, then steals it back. But COFC 3's on the next trip.
14:10 Cole scores his first basket at 16:33 1H. Small crowd erupts. 9-5 CLST, end to end action all the way.
14:12 We were here few weeks ago, and there was still a lot of hope. It was that CLST-MILW game for control of the Horizon. Neither made it.
14:16 Plus, it's only a few blocks from the arena that had 4 NCAA games yesterday here to the Wolstein. Just walked it. Longest 5-min walk ever.
14:18 CLST 15 COFC 12 13:55 1H. Cole with 4. Obvs, if there wasn't a TV conglomerate willing to fill time with the NIT, it wouldn't be viable.
14:20 Before the NCAA bought it out and "selected," it was all about TV. Certain schools always got 1R home games, so it would look good on TV.
14:22 CLST 17 COFC 14, 11:39 1H. This Cole/Goudelock is great. Cole is using the "face scrubber" defense and it's annoying the hell out of AG.
14:25 It's easy to feel sympathetic for the NIT, which was castrated by the NCAA many years ago, then stuck around longer than it was useful.
14:28 But big ? is "why are we here?" Other than filling 2 hours of ESPNU & giving Goudelock/Cole more reel for possible summer league invites.
14:31 CLST/COFC tied 21-21, 7:32 1H. Cole 6, Goudelock 2.
14:33 There are only about 2K people here, and they're cheering every time Cole touches the ball. They don't want to let go of the season.
14:35 The reason has nothing to do with them and their $10 tix, but those 2K people are the only ones who are getting anything out of this.
14:36 If you've been here to the Wolstein, you know there's a giant (GIANT) green curtain that runs from one end of the arena to the other.
14:37 The teams came out from behind that curtain to come out to the court. You don't have to stretch for the allegory. This is a curtain call.
14:39 The show's over, the play's done, but a few people stay in their seats, then the players come out again for a bow. That's all this is.
14:42 Goudelock a 3 with Cole off the court, and COFC has opened up a 35-25 lead at 2:28 1H. Donavan Monroe, also a sr, has 10 for the Cougars.
14:45 Down 12 late in 1H, CLST fans are yelling at the refs, cheering for Cole to get buckets, as if it were February & not basketball purgatory.
14:47 I'm on a row full of seats set out for Horizon League commissioner and officials. Not here. They're in DC, getting ready for another game.
14:48 It's halftime here at the NIT! Charleston 38, Cleveland State 32.
14:53 Tempo-free HT brought to you by BLAPP. Cleveland State: 32 points in 34 possessions (.94). Charleston: 38 in 31 (1.22). CLST from 3: 1/13.
14:55 NIT games might not mean anything anymore, but BLAPP is real. That blend of lager, fruit juice and grain alcohol brings ghosts back to life.
14:56 Warning: if you are involved in any athletic activity, or plan to be in the next 24 months, do not drink BLAPP.
14:57 RT @JohnEzekowitz: @midmajority How can you judge what a player has meant to a program? Games like this at Cleveland St.
14:59 The producers of "Lost" could never figure that out. RT @kevinheaslip @midmajority is moving through purgatory better than 1&done in heaven.
15:02 A number of movies about people who are dead but don't know it. "The Sixth Sense," for instance. "Brazil" is my favorite from that genre.
15:07 The NIT is like that. Cleveland State and Charleston: you were never second, ever.
15:10 Second half underway in Cleveland. COFC leads 42-34, Cole has 10 and Goudelock has 6. Donavan Monroe, COFC's 3rd leading scorer, with 12.
15:10 BLAPP can fix that RT @jobu415: C'mon now that sentence made me diabetic
15:13 Vikings on a run, cut it to four. It's mostly been the "other guys," Montgomery and Harmon. Our presence continues to curse Norris Cole.
15:15 RT @bubbaprog: ESPNU just showed a Cleveland State fan with Down Syndrome dancing during a timeout. I can't figure out if that's wrong or not. @midmajority
15:17 It would be wrong if you put that on Gifulmination, @bubbaprog. Charleston by two at 12:08 2H.
15:18 And Cleveland State ties it up. Cole is not getting points, but he just set up big Joe Latas for a lumber layup. Crowd rises as one!
15:22 PA announcing NCAAT scores at time outs, and there is no reaction. But huge cheers for the kids Dougie contest. Reward: "an NIT prize pack."
15:24 The reason why the NCAA buried the NIT (and NYC) was because of a different kind of "prize pack": envelopes full of point-shaving cash.
15:26 The "NIT prize pack" appears to be a t-shirt, program and mini-ball. You will not be the coolest dude at your sports bar in an NIT t-shirt.
15:27 I have one. It has never got me laid. RT @Joshuaishere: @midmajority false. I would love an NIT t-shirt.
15:29 We are into the fourth quarter now. CLST leads 46-45. Cole stuck on 10, but distributing. Goudelock with 7. The end-end-end for one of them.
15:33 RT @solidblue94: @midmajority My Delaware Lottery pack was better than that! I won a big beach towel, a cooler, and a deck of cards.
15:37 52-46 COFC. Coug sr Antwaine Wiggins heating up. He has 11 now, and a fine sculpted Kidhawk. CLST band chants, "get a haircut!" Ummm... #30
15:39 Cougard froshhh Trent Wiedeman with a #superhoop, and Charleston goes up 10 at 4:55 2H. Cole can't take this game over, still stuck at 10.
15:42 Andrew Goudelock, as of now, has scored 2,535 college points (18.3 ppg). Only 7 tonight. Looks like he'll have the chance to score more tho.
15:43 There's quiet, then there's "2000 home fans in the late stages of an NIT game with the home team behind" quiet.
15:46 But Cole has at least one more highlight in him! Steal in the backcourt, and a layup! Throws the ball at the ref like a pitcher, let's play!
15:48 Band. http://plixi.com/p/85287480
15:51 And another Cole steal and layup! He stopped in the air for a half-second, posing for his poster! Gravity-defying! Hair! 58-54 COFC 52.5.
15:54 Cole pops another one, 45 ticks. 18 for him. Like MILW, VALP, BUTL etc etc etc games, it takes him some time to shake the Bally curse.
15:56 And the final shot of Norris Cole's college career: an airballed 3 from the deep corner. Not fair. Final: Charleston 64, Cleveland State 56.
15:58 Charleston goes on to play somebody, somewhere, or something. Cleveland State gets to let go. The NIT continues, live on the ESPN Family.
15:59 I prefer that. Good night, sweet prince with SWEET hair. RT @bubbaprog @midmajority Let's remember him this way instead http://30fram.es/1p6
16:03 RT @midmajority360: Charleston 64 Cleveland State 56 | COFC: D. Monroe 16 - CLST: N. Cole 18 | http://tmm7.me/g0r
16:08 Should note that Cleveland State ended up shooting 1-for-25 from three in this game. Made the fourth one.
16:12 Reporter asks Donavan Monroe to rank this victory among the other COFC wins in his career. "It wasn't that special. It was an NIT win."
16:33 Norris Cole (6/22 FG, 0/8 3FG) at his final CLST press conference: "There are no low points, it's always a developing process."
16:44 "But when it's curtain call, then that's all you gon' get." http://plixi.com/p/85301638


Boxscore

CHARLESTON 64, at CLEVELAND STATE 56
03/19/2011

CHARLESTON 26-10 (14-4) -- S. Lewis 7-16 0-0 18; A. Goudelock 3-12 7-8 13; D. Monroe 5-8 4-4 16; T. Wiedeman 5-8 2-2 13; A. Wiggins 4-9 2-2 11; W. Hall 3-7 0-0 8; A. Lawrence 1-2 0-0 3; J. Carlton 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-46 15-16 64.
CLEVELAND STATE 27-9 (13-5) -- N. Cole 6-22 6-8 18; A. Pogue 6-13 1-1 13; T. Harmon 3-12 2-2 8; T. Kamczyc 3-5 0-0 7; J. Montgomery 1-9 0-0 2; C. Woods 2-3 0-0 4; J. McCoy 0-2 0-0 0; L. Ndaye 0-1 0-0 0; J. Latas 2-2 0-0 4. Totals 23-69 9-11 56.

Three-point goals: COFC 7-19 (D. Monroe 2-4; A. Goudelock 0-6; A. Wiggins 1-2; A. Lawrence 1-2; W. Hall 2-4; T. Wiedeman 1-1), CLST 1-25 (N. Cole 0-8; T. Harmon 0-6; J. Montgomery 0-5; J. McCoy 0-2; T. Kamczyc 1-3; L. Ndaye 0-1); Rebounds: COFC 33 (T. Wiedeman 9), CLST 34 (A. Pogue 14); Assists: COFC 15 (T. Wiedeman 4), CLST 9 (N. Cole 7); Total Fouls -- COFC 11, CLST 18; Fouled Out: COFC-None; CLST-None.