The 2018 Gildan Charleston Classic which takes place from Nov. 10-18 has one of the deeper fields of any of the early-season tournaments. Who are the participating teams?
Last season the Temple Owls defeated the Clemson Tigers 67-60 to win last season’s Gildan Charleston Classic. Here is an early preview of the eight teams who’ll be playing in next season’s event.
Alabama Crimson Tide
Avery Johnson’s squad finished just 8-10 in the SEC but they did earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament as a No. 8 seed, beating Virginia Tech before falling to national champion Villanova. Freshman phenom Collin Sexton is gone to the NBA and key reserve Braxton Key has decided to transfer, but the Tide does bring back the young guard duo of Dazon Ingram and John Petty who will be a junior and sophomore respectively after combining for 20 points, 8.3 points and 4.4 assists last season.
It is possible Johnson could have a freshman starting point guard for the second straight season, as he brings in top-100 recruit Jared Butler. Javian Fleming is a 6-9 230lb. big man who should see minutes backing up senior Donta Hall who averaged 10.6 points and 6.6 rebounds as a junior.
Appalachian State Mountaineers
The Mountaineers finished just 15-18 last season but coach Jim Fox has some things to build upon for this season. They averaged over 76 points per game and ranked 20th in the country in rebounding at 39 per game. Fox also has five of the seven players that saw action in all 33 games last season, including leading scorer Ronshad Shabazz who scored at a clip of 18.5 per game and Justin Forrest who poured in 13.5 per contest as a freshman.
Returning in the frontcourt is a couple of Johnsons, Tyrell is a 6-8 forward who averaged seven points and four rebounds, Isaac is 6-9 and was the team’s leading rebounder with 8.4, he also notched 7.3 points per game.