A Damn Shame

I think the saddest part of Coach Wolff's departure is that we have to retire these bad-ass shirts that Tall-boy made up.
Whose got ideas for Coach Chambers T-shirts?

Will the Chambers plan work?

Coach Pat Chambers came to BU and saw a deficit of enthusiasm. And judging by the way he's handled his first few months, he's making it priority #1 to change that.

The apathetic aura surrounding BU basketball is a long-known and often-lamented fact around campus. Sure there are die-hards. But there are also box scores that show no hope of getting attendance figures out of the triple-digits. And national blogs writing about how the published figure was 276, but the in-person count was merely 147.

I don't plan on doing this all season long, but contrast the efforts of our former coach with our new one. I am one who thought Dennis Wolff was a good coach, but his outreach efforts to the student fan base consisted of a 3 minute speech at Midnight Madness. Then get out of the way and let the sports marketing department struggle to push the boulder up the mountain.

Chambers has a plan. A plan that will require a lot of time and effort, but and one he has already begun to embrace. And it's one that says get out of the way sports marketing department, I'll handle this one.

1. He started a blog. And it's not like the "The BU Blog" on the Athletic Dept website, which despite the fact that it's got good info and shows they're trying, still sounds press release-y. No, Coach's blog is obviously written by him. His "Chambers Vision" videos are awesomely hand-filmed by himself. The whole thing gives BU fans who are hungry for more to read about the team (and yeah, there's a couple of us like that). Frankly, that's why we started this blog. Does that make our blog obsolete? Don't answer that.

Go read Coach Chambers' blog: http://coachpatchambers.blogspot.com/

2. He's twittering. Like you, I thought twitter was retarded. Then Coach Chambers came on there and started spilling nuggets about recruits coming on campus and all the other good stuff I want to know about, and it forced me to check it out. And then I grudgingly admitted that there was some other cool stuff on there, so I signed up. Gratuitous pimp: Follow me here if you're so inclined - it's not all BU hoops stuff, but some of it will be - and once the season starts, look out.

Oh, and go read Coach Chambers' twittering: http://twitter.com/Coach_Chambers

3. He's going out and meeting regular students. People just like you and me! He's just going up to people and talking to them. He's going to talk to student groups and wander around the dorms. And, in a very smart move, he's trying to snag them during orientation, before they can be poisoned by the hockey-industrial complex. Does anyone remember the BU Soccer Tailgate on the first day of school last year? They just herded all the freshmen to that thing and ended up with 5,000 fans, which is just amazing.

4. He's sending PLAYERS out to meet regular students. This is something I thought they should do forever. A lot of the fans who come to the games are there because they're friends with some players and they want to support them. I started coming to some games during my sophomore year, but I didn't become a die-hard until I worked with some of the players over the summer. After that, it was cool to see guys I was friends with out there on the court.

The players need to be ambassadors for the program. I understand that they are just college kids, and they are probably a little shy to just go up to random people all the time, especially if you are freakishly tall. I would probably have a tough time with that too. But it would go so far to walk around the lunchroom at Myles or Warren and show everyone that they're students just like them. I imagine it's a lot harder for someone to blow off the basketball game if the day before Tyler Morris asked you point blank if you'd come watch him.

5. He wants to play all our home games at The Greek. Coach thinks it helps build a big-time atmosphere around the program (and probably would help attract better recruits). It's definitely a topic of contention, and has been discussed at length here and elsewhere. Are those in favor of home games at The Roof swayed at all by Coach's plans? Do you want to see evidence that his plan is working first, and then move games to Agganis? It's kind of a chicken-and-egg scenario. I am on record as being pro-Agganis though.

So that's Coach's plan as I understand it. I'm optimistic.

Here's one piece of advice I'd offer: when targeting students in the dining halls and dorms to recruit to games, go after girls. Don't just forget about them because we think of guys as more traditional basketball fans. Make them the priority. Since stereotypes are such a good time-saver, remember that girls are more willing to try new things, they make personal connections better, they are unfailingly loyal to friends, they find basketball players hot, and wherever girls go -- guys will follow.

The Stamp: Comings and Goings and Stayings

Let me first say that our absence from this blog since Coach Chambers took over has ZERO reflection of how excited we are about the team. In fact, I can't remember being as pumped about BU basketball as I am right now (in the off-season, anyway).

There's lots to talk about these days, starting with the changes to the roster that we'll see next year. Every one of these has been impacted by the new coach's arrival, which shows just how quickly he's managed to put his own stamp on the program.


~~~ COMING ~~~

G BJ Bailey

Bailey isn't really coming to BU because of Chambers, he's coming despite Dennis Wolff's firing. As a Wolff recruit, Bailey was said to be "distraught," but as we reported in March, decided to honor his commitment to BU. I'm excited about it. I followed BJ's run to his high school title game and watched a lot of video of him. He's tall and athletic, and at BU I think he will fall somewhere between Carlos Strong and Corey Lowe. I'm hoping he chooses 5. Btw, the nickname possibilities for BJ are extensive - I'm leaning toward Beetle. Better ideas?

G Darryl Partin

Partin comes to us as a transfer from the A-10's LaSalle, and will be welcomed at opposing AE arenas to the sweet serenade of "Daaaaaaaarryl, Daaaaaaarryl." He didn't light up the stat sheet most of the time but has enough talent to shine -- in his 28 games (3 starts) as a soph, he had 27 "ehhhhh" games and 1 amazing game, an impressive win over UMass in which he scored 30 points. Darryl will have 2 years at BU to fulfill the promise he showed but never quite achieved at LaSalle.

F Patrick Hazel

Another junior transfer, Hazel is coming to us from Marquette from the B-EAST. Pat's another guy who never put up the numbers he was expected to, and will try to turn that around at BU. Our two recent Big East incoming transfers -- the Big O, Omari Peterkin, from Notre Dame and Billy Collins from Rutgers -- came under similar circumstances and they worked out pretty damn well for us. Patrick went to Marquette with some fanfare, but left without making much of an impact. John Borneman of the Marquette newspaper wrote an angry, scornful article about Hazel after he announced he was transferring in which the author comes off as particularly dick-ish. To sum up Hazel's career with the Golden Eagles, he features a quote from coach Buzz Williams: "I've stopped practice more times as it relates to Pat Hazel's mistakes, maybe, than the rest of the team combined."

Well, I don't care. I've got a reply for John Borneman: STFU. Nobody cares what you think. Way to trash a guy who's already out the door. Obviously Marquette wasn't a good fit for him and he's a Terrier now. Welcome to Boston, Pat - we look forward to seeing what you contribute for us.

G Gary Correia

Gary was released from his commitment at UMass and told Coach Chambers he was coming to BU. This was cool because normally the pipeline of transfers goes from BU to UMass, not the other way around. Gary has had an undistinguished career so far at UMass, being stuck behind a few other players at the guard position. But I won't spend too much time writing about Gary because...

~~~ GOING ~~~

G Gary Correia

Nice knowing ya, Gary. He was a Terrier for all of a month. At first we were hearing that he simply was returning to UMass because incoming Minuteman transfer from UConn Doug Wiggins got kicket off the team, which would leave plenty of unclaimed minutes and assuage Correia's playing time concerns. But it seems there is a little more to the story. According to a story from the Springfield Republican (MA), Correia said, "I had (verbally) committed to Boston University. If everything had gone the way it should have, I'd be there. But some of the information given me ... it didn't go the way I had expected." Huh?? Was he recruited over, maybe by Partin? Was it a run-in with a current Terrier, or Coach Chambers' first conflict with one of his players? Either way, by the time Wiggins was given the heave-ho, the article states, Correia "was already souring on BU." We probably won't find out what really happened, but in general I don't like incoming recruits souring on the program before they even get here.

PG Danny Munoz

Munoz was a prototypical Dennis Wolff point guard in the Kevin Fitzgerald/Brian Macon/Marques Johnson mold: very headsmart player, good passer, good floor leader, but limited physical traits and scoring ability. He was perfect for the system Wolff ran, and was an early commit to BU. After Wolff was canned, it was easy to see that Munoz wouldn't get the same opportunities under another coach and de-committed. It's probably a good turn of events for both parties. Munoz landed on his feet and we'll see him next year at American University.

F Jake O'Brien

Ahh, as if the soap opera of BU's off-season couldn't get any more compelling, Jake O'Brien annouced after Dennis Wolff was fired that he wanted to transfer out of BU. His stated reasons for leaving included something about the "different goals" of Wolff and Chambers, even though there were rumblings of his exit even before Chambers was hired, leading some (like me) to believe that he just wanted a bigger stage than BU. Now, there's a difference between wanting more of a challenge and thinking you're too good for a team or a league. I don't know where Jake's thoughts fell on that spectrum, but I do know that he wasn't "dominating" the AE and that there were significant holes in his game that would have come out at a higher level. We heard about flirtations with Providence and BC and others, and read about visits to Xavier and St. Joe's. But just two days ago, we learned that...

~~~ STAYING ~~~

F Jake O'Brien

Jake decided to come back to BU. I have no idea why. Maybe it was all the hard work that Chambers was no doubt putting in to get Jake to stay -- and if so, well done Coach. But he obviously had options - the Rookie of the Year could easily find a good landing spot. And announcing your desire to play elsewhere is certain to cause friction with teammates and fans.

Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy to have Jake back on the team. He's a very good player, with a chance to be a great one. But I hope he didn't expect to spend the whole spring acting like he wanted to play anywhere but here, and then come back like it never even happened. As fellow fans, are you convinced that Jake won't try this again after his sophomore year if he puts up even bigger numbers? I know I'm not. BU fans (and teammates) may never be totally comfortable with Jake's commitment to BU until he's being celebrated on his Senior Day.

I suspect this will not be the last time we hear about or talk about this issue.

Meet BU's new head coach, Pat Chambers

After being called out by good friends, anonymous commenters and none other than AD Mike Lynch, it's time to update the blog. I'm redefining the phrase Better Late Than Never.

As you may or may not have heard, BU finally hired a coach after a month-long search: Mr. Pat Chambers, formerly assisting on the Villanova sidelines. My first reaction, of course, was: Who? The media kept telling me we were looking into these big names like Richard Pitino and Tim Welsh and Fran McCaffery. It only mentioned lesser-known names like Pat Chambers in add-on sentences at the ends of articles about those other guys. And if you used the BU Hoops Blog as your sole source of information on the search, you still thought Tony Jones was the main candidate for the job (sorry).

I'll admit I let myself be drawn into the celebrity search. I liked the idea that a Richard Pitino could come in, energize our players and our fanbase and turn BU into a perennial winner in no time. It sounds nice, but the reality is that doesn't usually happen. It takes tons of hard work, skills gained through experience, and time to build something like a basketball program. It doesn't just happen because you bring in a big name.

That was something I realized the day Pat Chambers was introduced as the new men's basketball coach. I didn't know much about Coach Chambers except that he spent 5 years at Villanova, rising from Director of Basketball Operations (booking hotels and flights?) all the way to associate head coach (X's and O's plus head recruiter). And truth be told, 5 years doesn't seem like that long to be coaching at the highest level.

But anyone who had any doubts about Coach Chambers taking over the program and making it successful should take the time to watch the introductory press conference (I'm looking at you Jake O'Brien). The guy is young and energetic, enthusiastic and optimistic to a fault, and just seems to be a guy that college players could relate to. He also seems like he could be a hard-ass if he wants to (he's got the military haircut for it anyway).

A young, hungry, up-and-coming assistant coach is who we've been hoping for in this program - somebody like Leibovitz, Lonergan, Pikiell and Broadus, who have all been making their marks on this league. And if all goes well, we'll be looking for another coach in 3 or 4 years (although the same could be said if all does not go well at all).

There's no way to know right now if this is a good hire or not. That will be decided in 2 or 3 years by what is produced on the court. For now, however, put me in the effin-pumped column. I think the future's bright for BU basketball.

Tony Jones Withdraws from BU Coaching Search

After a few days of articles by Mark Blaudschun in the Boston Globe saying it appeared to be a done deal, Tennessee assistant Tony Jones will not be BU's next head coach. Jones withdrew his name from consideration today. His statement to the Knoxville News-Sentinel:

“With the commitment the University of Tennessee has shown to the men's program, I feel it's in my best interests to remain a part of Bruce Pearl's staff,'' Jones said. “After long and thoughtful consideration, I've decided Boston wasn't the right fit for me at this point in my career.''

Hmm, this might have something to do with Memphis' failed pursuit of Tennessee's head coach, Bruce Pearl, and the pay raise Pearl was able to finagle because of it. An AP report in the Memphis Commerical Appeal said that Pearl "is expected to ask for a larger assistant coaching salary pool." A pay raise for Jones is probably his reason for staying - maybe UT is giving him more as an assistant than BU was offering as head coach.

Jones did the same thing -- withdraw after doing interviews -- when he was considered for the Tennessee State job.

The question is: where does BU turn now? And how does Blaudschun regain some credibility after being wrong on so much of this coaching search? Blaudschun is now flogging Villanova assistant Patrick Chambers (while still clinging to Jones as the frontrunner)... more on Chambers later today.

BU Coaching Rumor Roundup: Globe Says it's Tony Jones

Mark Blaudschun in the Boston Globe, after issuing the requisite safety escape valves for himself (i.e. "appears to be the choice," "expected to be completed," "barring any snags or a change of heart"...), says that the next BU men's basketball coach is Tony Jones.

Blaudschun's source says, "They are talking and working on a few things. But it looks pretty good." His sources have been wrong before, but he says he's talked to folks both at BU and at Tennessee.

Meanwhile, Mike Griffith of the Knoxville News-Sentinel gives a little more background on Jones. He says Jones was a finalist for the coaching job at Marshall University - a Conference USA team that we lost to this year - and was considered by Tennessee State this year. he has been the top assistant to Bruce Pearl (a damn good basketball coach) for the last eight years between Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Tennessee, and currently makes $182,434 as an assistant. At UT, Jones handles scheduling, in-game substitutions and some recruiting duties (Blaudschun says he "is known as an aggressive recruiter").

Jones confirmed to UT's hometown paper that he interviewed with Mike Lynch, but would not comment beyond that.

BU Coaching Rumor Roundup: A New Frontrunner, and a Lot of New Names

I'll be the first to admit I've been a little negligent over the past week, as the BU coaching search has been heating up nationally. Lots of updates to get to.

Tony Jones
Is there a new front-runner? Mark Blaudschun of the Boston Globe thinks so, and it's Tennessee assistant coach Tony Jones. Jones is by all accounts a great assistant and has a great resume, having spent four years at Tennessee since following Bruce Pearl there after four years at Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He also spent a few years at Toledo and Buffalo. But Jeff Goodman is confused by the focus on Jones: he has zero ties to the New England/New York City region. He's a midwest guy through and through.

I'm interested to see where it goes. Can a guy come in and be successful without any access to BU's historical recruiting grounds

Steve Donahue
Blaudschun spent a whole article talking about Cornell coach Steve Donahue, only to find out the next day that Donahue isn't interested.

Fran McCaffery
Oy. The coaching search firm screwed up on this one. Blaudschun says they "emailed" Siena coach Fran McCaffery about coming to talk in Boston. Yes, the same guy who just won an NCAA game for the second straight year and is being talked about for Big East and ACC jobs. Not only that, but when McCaffery told them they needed permission from the Siena AD to talk to him, "they didn't seem willing to do that," according to McCaffrey!

The idea of McCaffery coming to BU is laughable, and the Times Union's Mark Singelais agrees. He even calls it "silly." Dear Parker Executive Search, please don't turn our program into a laughingstock anymore.

Jay Lawson
Apparently the search firm talked to D-2 Bentley's coach Jay Lawson for "a two-minute conversation." Lawson seems to be a good coach, but this one gets slammed by Jeff Goodman, who questions the need for a search firm to find a guy who lives 2 minutes down the road.

Rob Burke and Pat Chambers
Finally, Blaudschun casually drops the fact that two more guys have been interviewed: Georgetown associate coach Rob Burke and Villanova assistant Pat Chambers. I can't even keep up with all these guys.

It may be easier to keep up with who is NOT getting interviewed:

Pittsburgh assistant Tom Herrion: "No one has contacted me yet."
Louisville assistant Richard Pitino: "I haven't heard a thing."
Ex-Providence coach Tim Welsh: "No one has called me."

Is Parker calling all the people who don't make any sense, and refusing to call the people seem to make the most sense? Or was Mark Blaudschun basically wrong on all of his initial guesses?

BU Coaching Rumor Roundup: Masiello is just not that into you

Out of the three Louisville assistant coaches mentioned for the BU head coaching job, Steve Masiello is clearly the most qualified. Walter McCarty has been an assistant for only 2 years and Richard Pitino Jr. is younger than me - but Masiello has been doing this for about 8 years, and is Louisville's top assistant. He will be a very good coach some day.

After Dennis Wolff was fired, the Boston Globe's Mark Blaudschun reported that Masiello was on the early list, and that was published a few other places. Turns out though, even before Blauschun came out with his list, the local Louisville writer knew better. Rick Bozich wrote for the Louisville Courier-Journal:

Word I've gotten is that two U of L assistants (Walter McCarty and Richard Pitino) ARE interested and one (Steve Masiello) is not.

Masiello is the most experience coach in the group, but he's reportedly looking for a bigger opportunity.

You kidding me?? It doesn't get any bigger than BU baby!! Ok, so maybe it does get bigger than BU, and he will probably get one of those jobs. He could probably get something in the CAA/MAC/A-10/C-USA range as a first gig.

However, there aren't many of those jobs open this year, so he will probably be back at Louisville next year. If BU were to convince him to come to Beantown, it would be a major coup. But don't hold your breath Terrier fans.

BU Coaching Rumor Roundup: LaFleur gets some big backing

Most of the attention in the media for the coaching search so far has focused on Richard Pitino, but today Andre LaFleur was getting some help.

Writing for the Hartford Courant, Mike Anthony says that BU is interested in UConn assistant Andre LaFleur. But he says he has not been contacted by BU for an interview yet. His quote is very PC:

"I'm not the kind of guy who can work with one foot out the door," LaFleur said. "I'm focused on what we can accomplish here and now. I feel like [UConn] can mount a real challenge in the next few weeks. But you always hope you'll get an opportunity to run a program; you hope your name will come up when there are openings."

However, speaking to Mark Blaudschun of the Boston Globe, LaFleur is a little more transparent:

"I am very interested," said LaFleur, who played at Governor Dummer and Northeastern. "I think I can bring a lot to the table."

Not only that, but he's got his boss a.k.a. Connecticut's multi-million dollar man in his corner.

"I called Mike Lynch and talked to him about Andre," said Calhoun yesterday as he prepared the Huskies for today's first-round NCAA Tournament game against
Chattanooga. "I think there was some interest." [...]

Calhoun and UConn associate head coach George Blaney believe LaFleur is ready to take the next step. "He's a great recruiter and he's very aware," said Blaney. "He's more than ready."

BU Coaching Rumor Roundup: Candidates floating out there

The BU coaching position is one of the hottest openings this year, and will attract plenty of interest from some big names. It's getting a lot of ink far and wide, so I figured I'd periodically sum everything up.

For now, I'll mention some of the names that have been published elsewhere. By the way, none of these people have a damn clue about what's being said inside the BU Athletic Dept., they're just making guesses. There's no real hard news being reported.

• The Boston Globe got the ball rolling right after the firing with its list of candidates. It mentions Louisville assistants Walter McCarty and Steve Masiello, former Providence head coach Tim Welsh, current BU assistant Orlando Vandross, Pittsburgh assistant Tom Herrion, BC assistant Pat Duquette, and Providence assistant Pat Skerry. But it spends most of the article (and the headline: "Younger Pitino on BU list") focusing on Richard Pitino Jr. Richard is an assistant at Louisville under his pops, who of course began his coaching career at BU. The article quotes the younger Pitino, "I would be very interested."

• Pat Forde of ESPN.com pimps McCarty for the job, despite only having 2 years of assistant coaching under his belt. He appears to dismiss Masiello for the BU job, saying he might go for a "higher-profile opening" like DePaul.

• Andy Katz, also at ESPN.com, mentions Forde's pick of McCarty, in addition to Herrion and Duquette. He said the BU job will "command a lot of interest."

• Howard Herman of the Berkshire Eagle of Pittsfield, MA, must have gone to grade school with Duquette or something, because he seems to think he's the best assistant since John the Baptist. He dismisses Pitino Jr. as only having been a college assistant for five years, and says Mike Lynch should "look no farther than down the other end of Commonwealth Ave."

• Katz again flogs Duquette, Herrion, Pitino Jr. and Welsh, but this time throws Florida Atlantic assistant Mike Jarvis II into the mix (as if there weren't already enough nepotism in this coaching search).

• Bill Reynolds of the Providence Journal mentions Pitino Jr. as a candidate in passing. In a carzy coincidence, however, just a day before Wolff's firing he wrote a long story about what an awesome guy Tim Welsh is.

• Lenny Megliola of the Milford Daily News mentions Pitino Jr., saying "it's just a matter of time before he's a head coach."

• Our friends at America Least have a funny list of assistant coaches from around the country seemingly chosen at random. But just in case they happen to be right, I'll list them here: LaFleur at UConn, Georgetown's Robery Burke, Steve DeMeo at Central Florida, Eric Eaton at Quinnipiac and TJ Sorrentine who is an assistant at Brown (btw, yuo have permission to murder me if he ever becomes our coach).

• The Globe chimes back in and says that Tim Welsh said he would definitely be interested in the BU position. We also see former Harvard coach (and current America East head of officials) Frank Sullivan's name for the first time.

• Finally, the bloggers at HoopDirt.com have a whole list of candidates, which includes everyone already mentioned here plus UConn assistant Andre LaFleur, Minnesota Timberwolves assistant Ed Pinckney and Bentley head coach Jay Lawson -- I have not seen any of those guys mentioned in the traditional media.

BJ Bailey is still coming to BU

Great news out of New Jersey, as BU star recruit BJ Bailey has decided to honor his commitment to BU despite the firing of head coach Dennis Wolff. Michael McGarry of the Press of Atlantic City says it had a lot to do with 1) BU's academic rep and 2) Orlando Vandross.

The [firing] caused Bailey to rethink his decision. He decided to stay with Boston University primarily because of the school's excellent academic record, Spirit coach Jamie Gillespie said in an email Friday night.

Bailey also was happy that Terrier assistant Orlando Vandross has been offered the associate head coaching position on the new staff, according to Gillespie. Vandross was the Boston University coach that had the most contact with Bailey during the recruiting process.

Thank goodness for O. The article says he has been asked to remain as associate head coach on the new staff, and not just during the transition period -- new information? I wonder if that will make it harder to attract the best coaching candidate.

Anyway, this confirmation by one of our future stars can only be taken as good news. Now, we just hope that none of our current stars decide to hit the old dusty trail.

Wolff Fallout: Will "distraught" BJ Bailey still come to BU?

I don't write much about recruiting, but I do know that BU had signed a nice 6'4" guard out of New Jersey for next year by the name of BJ Bailey. Kid can light it up, leading his team to the South Jersey finals with 17.6 ppg. But now that the man who signed him has been fired (the same day as his HS career ended), BJ is reportedly "distraught" and rethinking his options:

"B.J. was pretty distraught (Wednesday night)," Gillespie said Thursday afternoon. "He was more or less wondering, 'What do I do.' We're just kind of evaluating things and seeing how it all shakes out."

Gillespie said the school has offered to allow Bailey out of his letter of intent, leaving him free to choose another college.

"If he's not going to be happy, (Boston University) doesn't want him going there," Gillespie said.

I couldn't find anything about Dan Munoz, our other announced signee, and his reaction to the Wolff firing.

Truthfully, I'm not optimistic. At this point, my first concern is keeping all of our current guys at BU. But Bailey was supposed to be a big part of our future as well, and losing him would hurt. If he decides to go elsewhere, the new coach will have almost no time to find new recruits for next year.

Did DW get a raw deal?

Boston Globe writer Mark Blauschun is a friend of Dennis Wolff's, so he's a pretty good guy to go to for quotes when nobody else can get in touch with him. Yesterday he reported that Wolff was "surprised but not stunned" by the firing. Today, he bothered Wolff at home long enough to get some more info, if you're interested in the former head coach's state of mind:

Meanwhile, Wolff was at home in Walpole, absorbing the firing and pondering his future.

"I was up all night thinking about it," said Wolff, who had four years remaining on a 10-year contract, which could cost BU as much as $1.2 million. "I enjoyed my time at BU and this was clearly not the way I would have liked to see my relationship end. But they think that someone else can do a better job. I hope for the kids' sake that everything works out."

I'm excited that BU is trying to move the basketball program and I think this will be a good thing on the whole, but a large part of me thinks DW got a raw deal. He did win games and titles, and even though this timing will make hiring a new coach easier, you'd think he could have had one more shot at a winner with his heralded junior class. The team was on an upswing with the best record in 4 years and 3rd place in the conference, and nobody had transferred in like 2 or 3 years!

However, Lynch made clear that 3rd place isn't going to cut it for BU in the America East, and in the end, that's a good thing. BU should be dominating. And it's not like Dennis won't have 1,200,000 ways to console himself.

I'm grateful Dennis Wolff ran a clean, honorable program without taking shortcuts. He recruited good students with good character. I would rather have that and 3rd place this year than what is going on over at Binghamton these days.

Wolff Was 2 Legit 2 Quit

ESPN.com's Andy Katz spoke with recently shit-canned BU head coach Dennis Wolff:

"Wolff said he was in New York recruiting and was called back to Boston to meet with administrators. Wolff said he was asked to resign. He refused and was let go."

Damn. Well, you can't call the guy a quitter.

Story mentions he's in the process of negotiating a buyout now. Said AD Mike Lynch, "This decision was not made quickly or easily. However, after a thorough analysis, I believe that a change in leadership is in the best interests of our men's basketball program."

Wolff won 247 games over 15 years at BU.

Holy shit: Dennis Wolff fired as BU's coach, sources say

If Fox Sports' Jeff Goodman is correct, BU has fired it's all-time winningest coach after his best season in four years:

Dennis Wolfff was fired as Boston University's head coach after his 15th season at the school, according to sources.

Wolff compiled a 247-197 record at Boston U., including a 17-13 mark this season. The Terriers lost in the quarterfinals of the America East tournament to UMBC.

Wolff has the most wins in school history. His best season at Boston was his third, when he led the Terriers to a 25-5 record and a 1997 NCAA tournament appearance. Boston also made the NCAA tourney in 2002 and the NIT for three straight seasons from 2003-2005.

The Terriers had three straight losing seasons before this one.

I am pretty speechless. I know he has many detractors amongst the fanbase, but I always assumed his job was pretty secure. His contract extension runs through the 2013-14 season, which is quite the pricey buyout.

My first impression is that I think he should have had at least one more shot with his current crop of juniors. Some players left, the team gets into ruts once in a while -- but it can't be denied that the man wins ballgames. He has a reputation as a defensive mastermind. Certainly some frequent commenters here should be pleased, and I'd be interested in their reaction.

Still shocked.

Quarterfinal/Hangover Saturday

I love the Stony Brook Memorial Play-In Game on Friday night because you can get warmed up for the tournament weekend with a game you don't care about. Also, it presents a chance to overboard on the sauce and get a hangover that you'll regret until Selection Sunday. Such is the case today.

We got into town just in time to see Maine lose to Hartford. While I felt bad for Maine since they and their few fans in attendance since they all drove 9 hours, we were rooting for the Hawks because they brought dance team, cheerleaders, mascot and pep band - which makes for a better atmosphere the next day. And I think they have a better chance at beating the hated Bearcats.

Except for an exciting run at the end that brought them within 1 point, Maine never seemed real into the game. Note the guy on the sideline wearing a Snuggie:


I guess he wanted to read a book while still keeping warm.

After the game we took over a corner of Sutter's, which is conveniently located just steps from the campus, and proceeded to stay there way too long. Luckily the people-watching improved dramatically once the drunk students started showing up. One Boston local saw all our shirts and came over to wish us luck tomorrow.

Off to our tailgate now - look for our BU flag flying high and say hello.

On the Road to Albany '09

SEFCU Arena

This is the first tournament that I'll be missing since 2003, but I almost don't mind since it's held in the depressing SEFCU Arena. Almost.

While the MAAC tournament is going on a few miles away in the impressive Times Union Center, or whatever it's called these days, the America East players and fans will be stuck in a box with no where to go, and nothing to do. The scoreboard is outdated. Most of the seats are pretty much benches, so if you don't want to be hunched over for 8 hours on Saturday, walk away now.

If you want to stretch your legs and walk around, there's a small walkway around the perimeter of the top of the stands, and that's about it. You can walk to the lobby, which is fairly small, but I don't think it can handle the restless crowds who have spent all day watching mediocre basketball.

And I'm hoping, for your sake, that they either bring in some outside vendors or step up their game in the food department. The last time I was there, your options were pretty much limited to a hot dog, nachos, or a pretzel, and that's about it.

So in conclusion, I'm hoping that America East decides never again to hold the tournament in Albany. I'd rather go to Binghamton for the next three years. And that's not easy for me to say.