A Big Win in Puerto Rico!

My expectations for the Puerto Rico Tip-Off were not high before coming down here. I thought we could compete, but with such a stacked field I did not think we'd win a game.

By now you've heard that the Terriers did just that, staging a thrilling come-from-behind victory over the storied Indiana Hoosiers. Maybe you listened on the radio stream, or even followed along with my fevered series of tweets down the stretch. But this was a game that made the trip to Puerto Rico well worth its while. We didn't just travel here for the fun of watching the Terriers, we came here and witnessed something great.

BU was behind the whole game, due to another pretty poor shooting performance, but always remained within striking distance. In the first half, we got in a hole and clawed our way back to within 2 points just before halftime... unfortunately, IU hit a buzzer-beating 3 to make that deficit 5 again. They had held Corey Lowe scoreless in the first half, but rebounding kept us in the game.

In the second half, we hung around and made our move in the final minutes thanks to huge 3-pointers by Lowe, Carlos Strong, Tyler Morris and John Holland. Jake O'Brien, with a double-double, and Jeff Pelage led BU to a 52-32 rebounding advantage over the Hoosiers. Strong's only bucket of the game, a 3 that tied the game for the first time at 63, made the BU fans go bonkers. Clutch free throws by JOB and Corey kept us up until a lay-in by Jake with a minute remaining (off a pretty feed from Tyler) put us up by 4. Indiana couldn't hit any desperation shots after that, and the rest is history.


The keys to the win were certainly REBOUNDING, the lack of FOUL TROUBLE and Indiana's refusal and/or inability to institute a full court PRESS. That press had been utilized by the 3 teams that already beat us to take us out of our offensive rhythm, and it worked. Maybe Indiana just didn't have the athletic horses to take such a tack.

Sherrod Smith and Valdas Sirutis played meaningful minutes, and BJ Bailey played his first collegiate minutes, even scoring on a lovely fast break. He looked good out there.

Coach Chambers has that monkey off his back, and got his first head coaching win. He's got the team excited and disciplined, and as the team made their way off the court he led them in a simultaneous salute to the BU fans in attendance. Awesome moment.

As for the High Roller and I, we found a cool little hole-in-the-wall pub to celebrate in Old San Juan (we've gotten pretty good at ordering beers in Spanish). We get to spend today regaining our voices before taking on #21 ranked Georgia Tech on Sunday.

But this win over Indiana, our first over a BCS conference team since Michigan in 2004, is one we'll remember for a long time!

Time to Crean House: The Indiana Preview

If there was ever a year to beat mighty Indiana University in basketball... well, it was last year when they only won 6 games. But this year is a close second.

So far, the Hoosiers have taken out two competitors below BU's level, and then looked overmatched last night against Ole Miss. Why are they so bad? Well, their old coach cheated. Something about illegal texting and cell phone calls (see below). That's not very Indiana-like.


It's sad to see such a once-proud program reduced to a Binghamton-like level. But like I've said about Binghamton, that's what happens when you take shortcuts.

This will essentially be a home game for Coach Tom Crean's Indiana. They had the most fans by far (although we didn't see the Villanova game). Maybe I can get one of them to explain on camera why it was so unfair that they got hit will all sorts of sanctions by the NCAA.

Bottom line: we can win this game. The Terriers looked better last night, and that was without Corey Lowe for half the game.

Tough Loss to Kansas State, 80-70

What's the difference between an Big 12 team and an America East team? Not much except for size, strength, speed, and skill. The Terriers were just as into the game as the Wildcats, possible even more, but gumption will only get you so far.

And there's only so much one team can do when they commit 34 fouls in a game. I like the way Chambers coaches, but there's no way that he can allow Corey Lowe to reach four fouls in the first half.

Corey Lowe and Tyler Morris were both limping at the end of the game, by the way. Make of that what you will.

Today we take on the Hoosiers of Indiana, and as John Holland Sr. says, it's "winnable". Less fouls, less turnovers, more threes, and tighter defense should pave the way to victory.

Mr. Holland's Opinion

BU had a small but vocal group of fans present at the Kansas State game in Puerto Rico, but none were more vocal and spirited than John Holland, Sr. Whether trying to mess up the Wildcats during free throws, shouting out orders to the Terriers on the court or giving the refs a piece of his mind, John was heard throughout the Coliseo de Puerto Rico cheering on BU. The man knows what he's talking about, too; he played his own college ball at Iona College.

John was nice enough to sit down with us and chat during halftime about the tournament in Puerto Rico and BU basketball...

Better Late Than Never? A Closer Look at Kansas State

This would have have been much timelier before tonight's game, but it arrived in my inbox during the first half, after I was already hoarse from screaming at the referees. However, this is good stuff and he went to all the trouble to put it together for us, so we're posting it anyway. Kansas State blog Bring On The Cats' "BracketCat" was nice enough to answer a few questions for us since we know next to nothing about the Big 12 school. Just pretend you read it before we played them.

1. When I think of Kansas State, I think of football. Have the fans started to pay attention to basketball yet?

Strangely enough, I think people are more pumped for basketball this year than they are for football. No one expected the football to be where it is, or even to be decent. As Ron Prince ran our program into the ground, basketball became a refuge for many fans. Everyone in Manhattan has been pretty fired up for basketball ever since Bob Huggins arrived (and left), and some don't know that K-State has a much better basketball tradition (pre-1988) than it does football.

2. This game will be in Puerto Rico, but what are home games like? Any cool traditions? What's the best way to make fun of the Rock Chalk Jayhawk chant?

Home games are pretty nuts. K-State has one of the best, and most underrated, home courts in the Big 12, mostly due to a student section that spans the entire east side of Bramlage Coliseum, from floor to ceiling. Traditions include the "Bring on the Cats" chant, swaying to the Wabash Cannonball, chanting "Left, right, left, right... sit down!" when opposing players foul out, and just generally being loud and annoying for the other team.

3. Jacob Pullen, Jamar Samuels and Denis Clemente helped lead the offense last year, and appear to be off to a good start again this year. Who's the star of this Wildcat team? What's their game like?

Well, you listed three of who I would say are our four most important players. The other is junior UConn transfer Curtis Kelly, who starts at the 4 position. He's our best post scorer in years, because he has all the moves you need in the post. Also surprising is starting freshman center Jordan Henriquez-Roberts, who's 7 feet tall with a legit 7'6" wingspan. Both Kelly and Henriquez are former New York Gauchos.

4. Compare and contrast the integrity and overall quality of the KU dance/cheer team with those of K-State, using the most graphic terms you feel comfortable with.

I'll put it simply. KU had a male dancer a few years back. That's all you need to know.

But in all seriousness, the Classy Cats are awesome. I should know -- I used to play trombone in the pep band and got to see them up close and personal for three years. Very talented and attractive ladies, indeed.

5. John Holland is our highlight reel dunk artist - who from K-State can we expect to match his ferocity on the rim? Got a YouTube link of one of his best?

Jamar Samuels, affectionately and aptly nicknamed "Jam Sam."

This isn't his best work, but it's a decent effort:

6. Finally, give us a prediction for the game and the Puerto Rico Tip-Off overall (blatant homerism expected and encouraged).

I'll say K-State wins 84-70. We have more depth and more inside presence, but Boston's outside shooting and our early defensive lapses should keep the Terriers in it until near the end.

My hope is to win the first two games and give a good effort against Villanova in the finals. For a team picked to finish 4th in the Big 12, and which I think can finish 3rd, that is a realistic expectation.

BU Takes on Kansas's Junior Varsity Team: The Kansas State Preview

Tonight we head into the first game of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off against
Kansas State. The Wildcats come into the game 2-0 after torching two
lame opponents who aren't even worth mentioning. BU comes in at 0-2
after losing 2 forgettable games to teams we should have beaten. On
paper, this game is a tremendous mismatch.

Whether this game turns into that mismatch depends on if the Terriers
can correct some of the major problems plaguing them during the awful
GW loss. Namely SHOOTING. Gotta put the ball in the basket. We did
better in other areas, like slowing down the tempo to avoid foul
trouble. Turnovers still need to be cut down.

KSU brings an experienced team that is athletic and should contend for
an NCAA berth. A tough task for the Terriers.

But do you think of basketball when you think KSU? Me neither.
Perpetually drunk Miami Heat player Michael Beasley spent 1 year there
and probably learned how to drink there. The High Roller says Kansas
State makes him think of the good Kansas basketball team, the one that
is ranked #1.

We're hoping for a good competitive game tonight. Go Terriers!

--
Sent from my mobile device

First Impressions in PR: The Little Mermaid Motel

We arrived in Luis Munoz Marin International Airport a couple of hours ago, and made our way to our low-budget car rental, and finally to the low-budget motel. Hey, no reason to class up the amenities when we'll be out watching basketball all day long.

San Juan is unlike any place I've ever been. There are wild colors everywhere. Loud dance music blaring from every direction. We drove our modest Kia Rio around the middle-class neighborhood of Isla Verde looking for the Coqui Inn. We were blocked twice by streets closed off by geysers of water shooting up from the pavement -- yes, twice. Undeterred by street signs we could not understand ("No Entre?? What the hell does that mean?!"), we somehow found our motel despite having no idea where it was on the map.

The Coqui Inn proudly proclaims on its website that it's "a friendly 'no-frills' budget hotel." This is true, but it's got a lot of charm. Every wall is painted like those airbrushed hats and t-shirts you can buy on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City. Big murals of aquatic life and beaches around the pool. I feel like I'm in The Little Mermaid.


Quote from the High Roller: "This place looks like the perfect setting for a Girls Gone Wild video... well, actually those places are usually nicer."

So far we've been here for an hour and we've quoted Arrested Development, Seinfeld, Wayne's World, Ace Ventura 2, Dumb and Dumber and Salute Your Shorts. It's good to see the High Roller.

Talk to you next from Coliseo de Puerto Rico!

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

Hey there. Long time no blog, eh? High Roller here, taking advantage of Airtran's internet service (best $5.00 I ever spent). I've got my laptop, my BU jersey, $80, and no idea what to expect when I get to Puerto Rico. I've never been, so this is going to be a learning process to say the least.

As I was looking over the teams invited to the Puerto Rico Tip-Off, I couldn't help but think that BU doesn't quite fit in a tournament with Villanova, Indiana, Kansas State, Dayton, George Mason, Georgia Tech, and Ole Miss. BU rarely plays teams from the Big East, Big Ten, ACC, Big 12, and SEC, but it's great for our team, and whatever Chambers did to get us in this tournament, I hope he keeps doing it.

Did he sell his soul? Did he sell his body? All I can do is speculate, it's up to you to decide.

See you in SAN JUAN!

By some stroke of luck, or genius, or cunning... the BU Hoops Blog will be reporting to you direct from San Juan, Puerto Rico over the next few days.

Thanks in large part to these guys, the High Roller and I will travel to the Puerto Rico Tip-Off and take in hours upon hours of college basketball, rooting our Terriers on all the way.

Lesser men and women would cave and spend at least a few hours on the pristine white-sand Caribbean beaches. No beaches for us. We're trading sand for hardwood, and that's the way we like it.

We fly in tomorrow, arriving some time in the middle of the George Mason/Villanova game. Come back often for plenty of updates, basketball talk and random Puerto Rico tales of hilarity. We'll be unencumbered by the constraints of work obligations, girlfriends or personal hygiene. We may even have appearances by a special guest or two.

¡Vamos, Terriers!

Hobbs, Chambers tweet before tip-off

Both coaches hit their Blackberries within 5 minutes of each other for a quick tweet before the game tonight. You tell me which one feels more confident about tonight's matchup:

@GWCoachHobbs Just finished shootaround / really tough game tonight. Young group has to mature quickly.

@Coach_Chambers Heading to our shoot around... Can't wait for tonight!!! Lets pack Agganis and start the season right at home!

As always, you can follow me here @chipweis, which roughly 75% of the time it's about BU basketball.

Finally, a few minutes ago from @JohnBattaglino, can't wait to see this place packed:

We Must Protect This House: The GW Preview

Today is the day we get to find out if the performance at the Terrier Tip-off worked. Coach Chambers can scream all he wants to rally the students, but if they still don't come to fill up The Greek tonight for GW, you have to wonder if they ever will.

I remember vividly the first game at Agganis Arena, a hope-filled win over Vermont seen by over 5000, a number that hasn't been matched since. Here's hoping today brings us back to that first game.

GW and I go back a long time. As they're my local team now and knowing quite a few alums, I attended quite a few Colonial games in 07-08, and flirted with sub-fandom for a while. I even have GW t-shirt. But it was a love/hate relationship, and ultimately the inferiority of the First Ladies dance team and the creepiness of the mascots pushed me to Howard instead.

However GW is a team that should be doing better. Long-time readers will know that a frequent target of mine is "Little George," who was described thusly by a blog ranking the 25 worst college mascots:

For some reason, the Colonial reminds me of the Norseman, McKinley High's mascot in "Freaks and Geeks." Both are unintentionally terrifying, with their gigantic heads and soulless eyes. While the Colonial isn't sporting a spine-tingling grin, somehow his look of placid indifference is even scarier.

The bad mascot news doesn't end there those. GW features an odd mix of several miscast mascots (see chart).


Now, there fantastic news for Colonial Nation, as Little George has been retired. I guess they got tired of re-painting his papier-mache face every year (really..) and replaced him with a much, much, much better version of Little George. Now they just have to puncture the 10-foot tall inflatable Big George and we'll be in business.

Damian Hollis has been my favorite Colonial for a while, mostly because he constantly looks like he's about to fall asleep. He comes from a long line of tall, athletic GW forwards like Rob Diggs and Pops Mensah-Bonsu, but has never achieved on the level of those two - again, mostly because he's about to fall asleep.

Hollis is the best player, and I'm not sure what to expect from the rest of the team. GW sucked last year, but still beat us.

I do know that BU is going to have to cut down on fouls and turnovers this game. The shots will fall eventually. Hopefully, many will be there to hear it. Hmm, there's a tree-falling-in-the-woods analogy somewhere in there...

Who is this fast-paced basketball team, and what have you done with BU?

In my Iona preview I listed a few things people might think of when they hear "Iona." Unfortunately, BU fans who traveled to the game on Friday have emailed me to add another one: "raging alcoholic dickheads."



Read the Hot Dog's full account here, if you don't mind feeling uncomforable just sitting in your chair. Now, I'm not going to say we were all choir boys and angels back in my day, or always showed up ready to pass a breathalyzer, but we never personally targeted other fans or got in anybody's face. Especially for 40 straight minutes. These losers had zero interest in the game, just in making life miserable for the die-hard fans who made a 2-hour trip to cheer on their team. Idiots.

As for the game: sigh. In the excited build-up to every basketball season, especially this year with Coach Chambers getting everybody whipped into a frenzy, you forget how quickly you can be brought back down to earth by one uninspired opening performance.

This year it was BU losing by 9 at Iona, 82-73. One thing was crystal clear from this game: this is no longer Dennis Wolff's team. If the teams were Elton John songs, this is "Crocodile Rock" to last year's "Candle in the Wind." No more walking the ball up the floor to a half-court set offense. No more low-scoring games. And really, not much defense to be seen.

The Terriers ran up and down the floor non-stop. While this makes for an exciting, back-and-forth basketball game, I've got to criticize the strategy a bit. We had only 6 regular rotation players available... plus Vlad Sirutis and Sherrod Smith. Going up against a rotation of 11, this puts us at a disadvantage. Not only would we get tired more quickly, but the fouls mount up - which is exactly what happened. We had 6 guys finish with 4 or more fouls. Add it up and you've got a defense that resembles... the BU hockey team (sorry guys).

No strategy is going to work unless the shots fall, which they didn't. We shot under 40% for the game, and worse, made only 4 of 9 free throws in the second half. Turning the ball over 22 times doesn't help.

Bright spots were there. Tyler Morris looked like the 2006 version of himself. Carlos Strong had the first double-double of his career. The guards (Carlos, C-Lowe and Holland) rebounded the ball well, which will be important for our perimeter-oriented team.

The team's injuries hurt the depth, but even so we could have won the game. This much was glaring: the team desperately misses Scott Brittain's presence inside.

Buckle up, everybody: The Iona Preview

Tonight we arrive, as KW so eloquently put it, at Milepost 0. First game, beginning of the journey that is the 09-10 BU Terriers season.

The Terriers are not making it easy on themselves. Already, Scott Brittain and BJ Bailey are out with concussions. That means were going to have a VERY thin bench for the next few days. More importantly, our youngest Terrier is off to a bumpy and painful start, and any more concussions for one of our senior captains could bring his long-term health into question. I don't even know if Trent Green had 3 concussions. Be safe, Scotty.

On paper, BU should dominate Iona College tonight, right? We won in last year's Bracketbuster, we didn't graduate any of our big scorers, they lost 2 out of their top 3 scorers and they are picked 9th out of 10 in the MAAC. My expectations would normally be for a win of blowout proportions.

But then you account for the injuries on our side (Iona is a little banged up too, but not as bad). And that we're on the road. And it's our guys' first game under Coach Pat Chambers' new system. And they have a lot of tall men.

It'll be a good first test, and a nice tune-up for the GW home opener. And hopefully a win!

Expectations and Predictions

Expectations are a funny thing. As fans we cheer for our team and talk trash about how we're better than other teams. But then sometimes, we are hesitant to predict big things from our team. Why? Because we don't want to "raise expectations."

And why don't we want to raise expectations? I guess because of some fans have this idea about how much enjoyment you can get out of it. If you expect to come in 1st, and you come in 3rd, you're disappointed. If you expect to come in 1st, and you come in 1st, you're merely satisfied. And if you expect to come in 3rd, and you come in 1st, you're ecstatic beyond your wildest dreams. These fans think you get more enjoyment out of coming in 1st if you're not expecting it, and they want to mitigate their disappointment in case they come in 3rd ("Well, this is how we expected to do..."). The same effect comes into play to a sickening degree at political debates.

In the case of players and coaches, they try to set expectations low for the same reasons, except it's job security instead of enjoyment.

Well, the players can do what they want, and the coaches can do what they want. But I'm not tempering my expectations. I expect us to win a game in Puerto Rico. I expect us to win 20 games. I expect us to have two players on the All-AE First Team. I expect us to win the America East this year and go to the NCAA Tournament. And I'm going to enjoy it all just as much as if I only expected us to finish in 8th place (Binghamton is the default 9th place).

These high expectations should be the same every year, for every team. They're the reason Dennis Wolff was fired. And I don't think Pat Chambers should get any leeway from them just because he's new! We have a group of great veterans who have proven themselves capable. This is their last shot - why wouldn't they expect to make it to the NCAA's themselves!

Coach Chambers, Tyler Morris and Carlos Strong have all recently talked about not looking ahead of the next practice or game in front of them, and not worrying about where they are at the end of the year as long as they are the best team they can be. That's a fine attitude to have in order to keep concentration on the day-to-day efforts at improving. But they're crazy if they don't have any goals or expectations for the entire season.

There is pressure involved in setting high expectations. But when you expect great things, sometimes you get great results.

* * *

Now, predictions are different that expectations, but for fans they can fall into the same trap as the expectations... forecasting lower results to minigate disappointment and be "pleasantly surprised" by success. Well, not me. I predict (and expect) that this group of seniors and this new coach will bring us a championship.

Others who don't care about our program one way or the other are unencumbered by the expectations game. So what do they think?

In short, they all have pretty high expectations for us. I haven't seen a publication yet (published post-Tiki) that doesn't have us winning the America East. So what about beyond that, in the NCAA tourney?

CBS Sports: #16 vs. Kentucky
ESPN Bracketology: Play-In Game vs. Jackson State (!)
Blogging the Bracket: #14 vs. West Virginia
FoxSports: #16 vs. West Virginia

That's a lot to live up to.

Air Carlos, Now Boarding

And you thought JH23 was the only Terrier who could fly?

Photo by Kristyn Ulanday via Coach Chambers

Media Day: Everybody Loves the Terriers!

For the third year in a row, the America East coaches have UNANIMOUSLY picked BU to finish #1 overall in the Preseason:

1. Boston U
2. Vermont
3. Albany
4. Stony Brook
5. New Hampshire
6t. Hartford
6t. UMBC
8. Maine
9. Binghamton

And we were well represented on the Preseason All-Conference Team:

Tim Ambrose, Jr., Albany
Marqus Blakely, Sr., Vermont
Muhammad El-Amin, Sr., Stony Brook
John Holland, Jr., Boston U.
Corey Lowe, Sr., Boston U.

Pat Chambers was "sick" (no really, Coach, we believe you...) and missed his first America East Media Day, so right-hand man Orlando Vandross ably stepped in to give soundbites of things we mostly knew already. Among them:

Chambers will bring a more exciting, Villanova style of play to BU

Carlos Strong and Tyler Morris are healthy and ready to go

BJ Bailey should emerge as a regular part of the rotation by conference play

It was mighty nice of the coaches to vote us #1, but we don't care

"There is a genuine excitement about our basketball program. We need to harness it."

BU will secretly play UMass on Saturday

OK, so don't tell anybody, but BU is going to play UMass in a "secret scrimmage" this coming Saturday. It'll be Pat Chambers' first experience as a head coach going up against another D-I program. It's an opponent his players will know better than he does; before last year, BU played (and lost to) the Minutemen three years in row.

Every year, teams play 1 or 2 so-called secret games against another school, one that they won't play during the regular season, just for practice purposes. It's secret because fans and media are not allowed to attend, and coaches aren't allowed to comment on them. This is because schemes and plays that coaches are trying out are apparently akin to state secrets and should be protected as such. Jeff Goodman released his list of "secret scrimmages" this morning.

This leads to some philosphical questions of the basketball universe. If two teams play a basketball game and nobody's around to see it or hear about it... does it ever actually take place? Is there a score? If an injury happens, does it miraculously heal when the teams return home? Since it's Halloween, will they dress up in disguises?

If, somewhere in the space-time continuum, this game actually occurs and somebody hears about it and any real or virtual scores, storylines or injuries, let us know!

Just the Tip-Off

PAT CHAMBERS.

I could end the post there and I would have said enough. But it deserves a few more words. We have heard Pat Chambers talk a lot about getting kids fired up for basketball. This is the first time we saw it in action. Like a mad man, Chambers sprinted out onto the court, screaming at the fans to stand up, even jumping up on the scorers table. And the fans responded by standing up, and screaming back louder. Chambers lost his voice in about 2 seconds. He went on for about 5 minutes talking about supporting the team, getting fired up, the team has a new attitude.

It was a far cry from a Dennis Wolff tip-off performance, or even the BU women's coach. It might even succeed in getting people to go to games, who knows.

Random observations from the rest of the night:

-- Is it just me, or were the guy's intro songs slightly outdated? I think the time for "Hey Shorty, It's Your Berfday" and "Pretty Fly for a White Guy" has passed. (And John Holland, lose the Yanks cap dude. You're trying to connect with the student body!)

-- Speaking of outdated songs, someone with access please slip some newer material under Chris Parks' office door. I love the BU Band -- they are probably the most devoted BU sports fans there are -- but the old songs they have been playing since I was a freshman (a decade ago!!) just remind me of the OLD BU basketball. Pat Chambers is trying to re-invent this program with new life, but that old intro song the band plays (whatever it's called) keeps me back in the DWolff era. And were any students even born before "Push It" came out?

-- The Dance Team was good as usual, but I'm feeling the MJ fatigue. But the collab with the hoops team was "Bad" (meaning good). John Holland was not good, Tyler Morris was surprisingly good, and Jeff Pelage looked like he was having the most fun out there.

-- My ranking of the different dance performances of the night:

1. Fusion
2. BU Dance Team
3. BU Cheer Team
4. XCeption
5. Status Quo - not impressed by them. Bring back Lil' Phunk or Phunk Phenomenon!
...
99. BU Men's Basketball team - points for effort. At least it was better than this:



-- In the first round of the 3-point shooting contest, both girls beat Tyler Morris and Corey Lowe. In fact, both guys appeared to be drunk. But then Tyler redeemed the men by getting on fire in the second round, proving once and for all the men are the dominant gender.

-- The best dunks from the dunk contest were pretty impressive. Carlos Strong was the clear winner, so I'm glad he took the title for the second staight year. My favorite comment, courtesy of Dean Elmore: "Show 'em what it means to be from Maine, Carlos!"

Line up the troops!

At Fake BU, the lineup means standing in front of a giant ruler and a witness behind glass. At the Real BU, however, it means the five guys who are going to lead Coach Chambers into his inaugural season on the court.

Projecting the Terriers' starting lineup and depth chart will not be as easy this year as it seems. Even if Chambers didn't bring in any of his own guys this year, he's bringing his own system and philosophies and we may not know how the players fit into his schemes.

That said, we've seen what all but one of these guys can do so we have a pretty good starting point. What can we expect to begin the season? My guess:

1: Corey Lowe
2: Carlos Strong
3: John Holland
4: Jake O'Brien
5: Scott Brittain

I think this is the year that 'Los sheds the "6th Man" label and gets a chance to start every game. The other option is throwing Tyler in at the point and moving Corey off the ball, but Tyler was a little less effective last year after coming back from injury. Chambers may feel that Corey would be more effective off the ball. But due to Tyler's injury problems of the last few years, he may benefit from not being ridden for 35 mins per game this year. I think that Tyler would excel in a bench/quick energy, shooting and defense role, but we know he can hold down a starting job too.

There aren't really any other debates about the starting lineup, but there is certainly some decent depth right behind them. While noting that practice hasn't even started yet, here's how I could see it shaking out:

1: Lowe/Bailey
2: Strong/Morris
3: Holland/
4: O'Brien/Sirutis
5: Brittain/Pelage

I think it'll be a 9-man rotation, with Vlad Sirutis getting only a few per game. Mike Schultz, Tunde, Sully and, unfortunately, TheRod Smith will play the role of pine-jockey until the team is completely ravaged by injuries.

Who's steering this thing??

Famous captains:

Apparently, you can add 4 more to that list. Coach Chambers announced that Corey Lowe, Tyler Morris, Scott Brittain and Carlos Strong are BU's captains this year. This group contains all of the seniors who have played significant minutes every year since they were freshmen.

Congrats to all of them, as they have all been great contributors over their three years so far and they all deserve to be recognized.

However, and maybe I'm behind the times on this, but I have always been of the mind that there should be 1 captain per team. It's very cool for all the players if every significant player to go through the system becomes a captain at some point in their careers, but if every player is a captain does it really mean anything?

And if they really do have actual responsibilities, is it a good idea to have 4 guys trying to make decision or run drills? You know what they say about too many cooks in the kitchen.

Take Derek Jeter or Jason Varitek, for example. They are not the best players on their teams, but they lead by example and they lead by their words. It's not Varitek, Wakefield, Lowell, Ortiz just because they are the "seniors" of the Red Sox. President Obama is the "Captain" of America... we didn't choose the 4 guys who had been in the Senate the longest.

Regardless, I'm sure the guys will find some way to divide the captaining responsibilities. As long as it doesn't devolve into an ugly power struggle along the lines of Jim Halpert/Michael Scott.

BU's schedule: This time with Latin Flavor!

Most of you have seen and pored over the BU non-conference schedule, which came out via Twitter a month ago. I tweeted some reaction at the time, but here it is all in one place:

11/13/09 at Iona
11/17/09 vs George Washington
11/19/09 vs Kansas State
11/20/09 Indiana/Mississippi
11/22/09 TBD
11/25/09 vs Northeastern
11/29/09 vs Harvard
12/02/09 vs Connecticut
12/06/09 vs Bucknell
12/12/09 at Marist
12/22/09 vs Mount St. Mary's
12/29/09 at Dayton
2/19/09 TBD

With a brand new coaching staff, you'd expect to see a few changes from the past few schedules. But... no, not really. This year's out-of-conference slate looks a lot like last years. (Maybe that's because the AD has a bigger hand in putting together these games.)

Our home opener is GW for the second straight year. This is a series of which I'm a big fan. Last year we took them to OT, this year we should be able to finally break through. Sad they won't be playing here in DC, but on the bright side I won't have nightmares from their mascots.

Iona and Marist are middling MAAC teams - at least we can't get them in the Bracketbuster, as we did Iona last year. FUN FACT: John Holland's pops played at Iona.

Harvard and Northeastern are there every year. Doesn't make me like them any better.

Mount St. Mary's and Bucknell are both very decent teams from other low-major conferences. We split them last year; with an improved squad we should take both this year.

Now it starts to get really interesting. We play against UConn at the big Hartford arena, then against Dayton in their intimidating building. Chances of taking either game are slim as both are great teams, but it's a good learning experience for the guys that'll make chumps like Bucknell seem like JV Girls.


Finally, the crown jewel is the Puerto Rico Tip-Off beginning with Kansas State, then Indiana or Ole Miss, then George Mason/Villanova/Georgia Tech/Dayton (again). All are great power conference teams (or close enough), and we'll be lucky to steal one. Indiana is probably our best chance, since they're the Big Ten version of Binghamton except not nearly as addicted to crack.

As soon as we know a little more about all of these teams, I'll come back with a prediction for each game. Until then, we wait (im)patiently for the conference schedule to come out!

I'm embarrassed to share our initials

It's almost October - and although you may not believe me due to lack of posts, I've been starting to think a lot about the start of BU basketball season!

I have dutifully been following Coach Chambers on Twitter, and on his blog Chambers Vision... and now even John Holland is blogging! That's one thing I can say pretty definitively, that John Holland wouldn't be blogging under a Coach Wolff regime. Chambers seems to think that the more people read and hear about the team, the more people will get interested in it. That's the main point behind a lot of blogs, including this one!

What really jumpstarted me into writing again, however, is the steaming shitpile emanating from the Southern Tier of NY. And for once, I'm not talking about Elmira.

Binghamton, of course, is making national headlines again. Tiki Mayben, their point guard who couldn't even make grades at UMASS(!), was arrested because he had a warrant out in lovely Troy, NY for selling crack cocaine, the result of a 3-month investigation. He went home to Troy "after class" last Wednesday, and got picked up -- and he had a bunch of coke on him when he was arrested too! Not only that, but he had been arrested like 12 days earlier on Binghamton's campus for pot possession. Stop me when you've heard all this.

Long story short, the city and state created a backlash against the Binghamton program and its leadership, going all the way up to the statewide chancellor. They had seen enough of the bullshit brought on by the shady Coach Kevin Broadus. Mayben is now off the team, along with 5 of the shadiest other dudes on the team. One happens to be Malik Alvin, a starter from last year, and one happens to be DJ Rivera, the so-called best player in the conference. All this is the name of cleaning up this "zoo" of a program (the athletic director's words, not mine).

Now this is a sad story. I feel bad for Tiki in a sense... he is a product of his environment to a degree... and especially bad for his kid. But this is a basketball blog.

Everybody else in the conference knew Broadus was taking shortcuts in building his program. So screw him. There's no being torn about how to treat Binghamton when we play them. These assholes are the defending champs. Their dirtbag coach brings in questionable character guys as a shortcut to win. And their fans were incredible d-bags about it. They loved Broadus when he was winning games with these guys. Now they reap what Broadus sowed. Frankly I'm embarrassed our school is associated with them. No mercy.

Their own fans are finally seeing what this strategy has brought. The alumni and community, especially, are turning away from the team. Here is a hilarious letter to the editor of the Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin from the manager of the local zoo:

Comparison insults zoo
September 29, 2009

I am tired of hearing that blight on Binghamton University, the men's basketball team, being referred to as a "zoo." The Binghamton Zoo at Ross Park has just received re-accreditation by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the industry's governing authority. We achieved this status by being in the top 10 percent of all the zoos in the country.

Our animal care, safety, employees and educational and service standards are set high and met accordingly. Not one of our tigers has been arrested with cocaine. No otter knocks over old ladies to shoplift condoms. Our bear doesn't have temper tantrums and storm off his exhibit. You won't find any of our lemurs busted for smoking pot. So, please, stop insulting zoos by comparing those criminals to us.

Amanda J. Padwa
Business Manager
Binghamton Zoo

I usually shy away from writing about other teams in the conference. However, this thing couldn't be more huge for BU. I haven't gotten to see all the preseason previews, but most have Binghamton #1 and BU #2. Without all these guys, there is zero chance Binghamton finishes in the top half of the conference, or even out of the play-in game. Before any shot is taken, in the blink of an eye, the biggest obstacle to Coach Chambers' taking BU to the promised land just vanished.

BU has just become the clear favorite to win the America East.