When Auburn fans read a Coastal Carolina score, do they get depressed?*
Probably. Cliff Ellis’ team is killing it.
Coastal Carolina is tearing up the Big South. The Chanticleers have won 19 straight games, are 21-2 and 12-0 in conference play. Only Liberty (16-8, 10-2) is close, and they just lost at Coastal Carolina Thursday night. (Auburn is 8-13 and 1-6.)
Yes, things are good in Conway, S.C. And good for Ellis, too.
The former Auburn coach – and 1999 national coach of the year thanks to the Tigers’ 29-4 season and SEC crown – is 73-42 in four seasons, taking a .500 team and turning them into the class of the league. An NCAA tournament appearance would make him the sixth coach to take four different schools to the Big Dance (he also went with South Alabama and Clemson).
He’s done it with guys like Desmond Holloway, Chad Gray and Anthony Raffa, all of whom began their college careers elsewhere, but transferred to Coastal Carolina. But they all could care less about the streak and the regular-season wins. They won 28 games last year and missed the Big Dance.
“Because we went through all this last year, we did all this stuff, and then we got into the championship and we didn’t win. And that’s really what our goal is,” sophomore Danny Nieman told the Myrtle Beach Sun News.
“We could win, what, 24 or 26 in a row and still not make it to the NCAA tournament. That’s the biggest thing about a mid-major team, and that’s what makes it different for us. So we really got to just focus on getting better every game.”
The Chanticleers are doing just that. Can’t say the same for Auburn.
*This question only applies to the basketball fans. Football fans -- 99 percent of Tigers fans -- not so much.
(Thanks, CBSSports)
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