Leftover Cable Car Stats

An interesting note from Thursday's box score: second half field goal percentage, BU 70.4%, UCR 70.8%. Those are insane numbers. Not only is this nowhere near where we would normally shoot from the field, but it is way above what we should normally give up on the defensive end. With those numbers, it's no wonder we had our largest point total of the season. It reflects that we were able to keep up with the fast pace of play that UCR dictated throughout the game, but we should be able to hold the opponent to less than 50% shooting no matter what.

Another statistical highlight: Brian Macon 8 assists and 1 turnover, Shaun Wynn 7 assists and 1 turnover. That is fantastic play from our two primary ballhandlers. Brian Macon played particularly well... he was a real catalyst on offense, sparking the team each time he entered the game.

Coblyn Watches Game in His Sean John Sweater and Slacks

Ben Coblyn missed yet another game tonight, forcing me to eschew his "Cobber" nickname for the more apt "Hobblin' Coblyn" (I still like "Coblyn the Hob-Goblin").

They say it's a different ankle sprain than the one that sidelined him earlier this year. This one is just a minor sprain, whereas the other one was a more serious high ankle sprain. Wolff says he'll be back for the next game, but I'm worried about the kid! He can do some serious damage on the court, but he's just a freshman - we're going to need him for the long haul!

I'd rather Wolff kept him out of the Holy Cross game, and saved him for the UMBC game next Thursday. The week of rest will do him good.

BU Snatches 3rd Place Trophy, Will Display in Lobby of The Greek

BU routed UC-Riverside in the consolation game of the Cable Car Classic tonight, 80-69. The game wasn't really as close as the score sounds. BU was easily the much better team. The hapless Highlanders, who fell to 0-10 on the season, always seemed to be playing out of control - they ran down the court and either shot the ball or turned it over in the first 10 seconds of the possession. BU used patience and ran when they had to, and they racked up their highest point total of the season.

KG made his mama proud by scoring 19 after last night's disappointing 6. The radio guys said Brian Macon was fantastic at the point (and the numbers back them up), and Omari was solid in his first ever start. And of course Hassan the Assassin dumped in his customary 17 (yawn). Glad we got this win before heading back east for 2 more road games!

One other note: former BC and Ohio State coach Jim O'Brien did the radio color commentary for these past two games, and he was outstanding. He always had a lot of intelligent things to say, and I felt like I was learning something. I know Coach probably has a lot on his plate, but if he wanted to take a few of Billy Collins' shifts at the mike I wouldn't complain...

BU vs. Cal-Riverside - Game Night Thread

Couple minutes into the game, and we're 4-4 from 3-point land! Hassan is absolutely on fire.

Let's keep it up, and clamp down that defense.

Go BU!

A Highlander Has Something To Do With Scotland, Right?

OK, here's what I know about tonight's opponent UC-Riverside:

They play in the America East-like Big West Conference.

They are currently 0-9 on the season.

Their weather is probably 100 times better than Boston's.

Even with that limited knowledge, I'll be pissed if we lose to the mighty Highlanders. This is one of those games that we should never ever lose (and we haven't, over the last 4 years). UCR has not played a bad schedule, so their 0-9 record could be misleading, but BU should win these games in their sleep.

So how do we go about doing that? We execute our offensive game plan, and play our regular lock-down defense. Luckily, they reset the fouls after each game, so KG will get one more chance to impress his homeboyz. He needs to be deeply involved under the basket - if the Terriers can get him the ball down there, we will win. With the inside-out threat of Hassan and Gardner, we are tough to defend when all cylinders are pumping.

Let's drive these suckas back up to the highlands.

Bison Trample Terriers 63-57

Quick post before bed about BU's 6-point loss to Bucknell. Lots of good and bad for BU tonight. The good was an exciting second half comeback to bring the game within 2 points with 3 minutes left. The bad was KG, Omari and Cobber ALL getting into foul trouble early, stifling our inside game for the whole game. This was critical, since Bucknell's best player (6'11" fellow kraut Chris McNaughton) shot 9-11 and we couldn't stop him.

Overall, I think the game ended closer than I would have predicted. Bucknell is really good, and I think we held our own against them. Would have loved to take this one, but we just couldn't get over that hump.

BU vs. Bucknell - Game Night Thread

Late game tonight for us East Coasters. Staying up for the game? I wouldn't miss it.

So, how does Bucknell stack up against the hype? Which of BU's freshman is gonna step it up tonight?

If you got any thoughts on the game, post em here!

The San Francisco Treat

The Terriers' holiday tournament in the Bay Area over the next two days, the Cable Car Classic, is somewhat of a homecoming for Kevin Gardner, who is from lovely Palos Verdes, CA. Although I don't know where exactly Palos Verdes is, it's got to be the closest KG has played to home since his freshman year, when the Terriers lost to Stanford 61-57 in the Preseason NIT on national TV (and that was a good Cardinal squad!). This is particularly fitting in light of the huge leadership role KG has taken on this year, and how crucial he will be to winning a game or two out on the left coast. I'll bet he has a few of his homeboyz in the crowd tonight; here's hoping he can light up the bison for 18 and 11 to give em a good show.

On an unrelated note, why can't the Cable Car Classic be broadcast on Cable TV? Is that too much to ask?

Game On!

Well that was a nice break, I must say, but now it's time to get back to work. By get back to work, I mean the blog, not school work of course. Tonight seems like it's going to be a tough night for the Terriers, but I wouldn't be surprised to see them squeak by Bucknell with win.

What do we know about Bucknell? Basically what we read on ESPN.com. From what I've heard, Bucknell's got a pretty good defense, so we're going to have to shoot well if we want to compete. This means we need a big game out of Hassan and Wynn(assuming Wynn is still in shooting form), and as few turnovers as possible from Macon, who has steadily improved throughout the season.

On the other side, we're going to need to have a pretty tight D around the perimeter, as Bucknell's a pretty good shooting team.

I guess this is our last shot at an impressive win this season. Sure Bucknell is a mid-major team, but they're definitely atop the mid-majors. Hopefully the Terriers aren't too busy enjoying the nice Cali weather to turns some heads with a win.

Okay Time to Start Blogging Again

Hey everybody, we're back! Hopefully we didn't lose 100% of our audience over the Christmukwanzukkah break. Well, in case you missed it, the Terriers are on a roll lately; after easily dispatching Canisius, we've won 4 of our last 5 and we just got back two key guys in Tony Gaffney and Ben Coblyn, returning from suspension and an ankle boo-boo respectively.

So as the Terriers are at the peak of its season (thus far), they might be about to run into a brick wall named Bucknell. Bucknell has been one of the most impressive mid-majors of the season so far, gaining a few fans along the way. They bring their 8-1 record and their win over Syracuse, we bring our 4-6 record and our win over New Hampshire.

The keys for us will sticking with what's worked for us lately: solid defense, KG (with a healthy dose of Omari and Cobber) holding down the middle, and Hassan shooting the lights out. This is a good chance to get a win over a real quality opponent, and open some eyes.

Go Terriers!

Well I'll be Damned

Now I feel like the biggest moran ever. I got a call 10 minutes ago from tall-boy, telling me to write a quick post before the game started. So I write a quick post, head to check out the gamecast, and lo and behold the game already happened.

Call us bad journalists if you want, but I prefer to call myself lazy. On the bright side, I did come pretty damn close with my prediction. The final score was BU-69, Canisius-58. I'll be on later to go into detail on our win, but from what I heard, KG had a hell of a game, and so did Hassan

Sorry again for the laziness

Late Entry

I may be able to sneak this in before the game starts, but probably not. Frankly, I had no clue there was a game tonight. My bad. Anyway, we're playing Canisius, and it should be a pretty good game.

My Prediction: BU69-Canisius57

I'd also like to apologize for slackin off this past week. I know I have nothing to do, so I should have been posting every day.

Good news is, this break will be spent following BU around the northeast, going to whatever games I can. That should make for some good infotainment, eh? Really sorry about the slackin.

Let the break begin (for me anyway)

I've got great news everyone. I am finished with finals! Now I'm not trying to rub it in anyones faces, this is just good news because I'll have more time to post. That is great news for you guys. I wish I were you guys, just so I could read my great posts, but then I'm glad I'm not you, because I'm done with finals.

Now lets see, posts...posts...

Ok here's a riddle:

Why is BU considered a hockey school instead of a basketball school?
























Because the administration doesn't care about things that don't make them money!

Wait that's not a joke, that's terrible.

Separated at Birth?

"It's the story... of a man named Brendan..."

Eh, maybe it's a stretch.

Hassan the Assassin

While Monday nights loss made me want to eat a whole bucket of KFC and then puke it all over the ice at the Greek (our new nickname for Agganis Arena), there is something to smile about. Monday night, Corey Hassan was announced rookie of the week for the America East. He definitely deserved it to, with stellar games against Harvard, UNH, and Maine.

My only worry is that he is definitely being overplayed, as pointed out by the number one fan. He logged 35 minutes last night, probably a lot more than he should have for such a bad loss. Hopefully he has what it takes to keep it up all season. I do know one thing, and that is that I don't think this will be his last rookie of the week award. Congrats, Corey.

Chalk this one up to whatever the hell you want

Well I'm glad I fell asleep after class rather than make a prediction about tonights game. That way I didn't embarass myself with a god awful prediction. I'd have to say that this was a lot worse than last years game, when we witnessed Etienne hand the ball and the lead directly to UMass with 8 seconds left.

Where do I begin? I don't even know. I only heard the last minute of the webcast (it was a tough call between listening to the game and a new episode of Arrested Development). I waited 3 hours for the BU hoops page to release a box score, so that I might find something good in this loss, but came up empty. Definitely worth the wait.

There's probably not too much say about this game except it sucked. Most of it sucked anyway. From what I hear, we started off the game pretty strong, but after that no one was effective at all. Coach Wolff may have well put in Big Bird, John Silber, Jared from the Subway commercials, Warren from There's Something about Mary, and the Colonials mascot. We may have done better in the last stretch of the game.

There is one excuse: It was our 4th game in a week. That'll make anyone tired. I'm not saying this allows us to play so badly, I'm just sayin.

BU Shits The Bed

Ugly. Disgusting. Painful.

Just some of the words that come to mind when recalling the second half against UMass. We ended up losing 64-45, but it might as well have been 100-30. Funny, we had a really decent first half, and we ended the half only down by 2. Which actually kinda sucks compared to our 10 point lead ten minutes into the game.

But when I finally turned the game off with 5 minutes left to go and puke, we had made only TWO buckets the entire half! UMass is a decent team, but nobody's defense should hold us to that. We were just colder than a witch's titty. We were playing in a frickin meat locker. Nobody stepped up to reverse it, and it just got worse and worse as a 2-point deficit turned into 20+ in a matter of minutes.

All I can say is thankfully for the players' sake (and the fans!) we have 10 days off until playing Canisius. Just repeat with me: "It's just one game."

BU vs. UMass - Game Night Thread

Terriers out to a quick 16-12 lead in Amherst. Time for them to finish what they started last year.

GO BU!

Giant Killing

We're on the eve of our last chance to beat a "major" opponent this year. We play UMass tomorrow, and boy would it be sweet to take them down. After the debacle last year, which we witnessed in person (and I'm hoping the High Roller will post about that experience in the near future), it would be real nice to get a win in Amherst.

In the last few years, we have wins over Michigan, Rhode Island, Florida St and Michigan, and it would really be breaking with tradition to not to snag another big one this year. Nobody else on our schedule (Bucknell?) would provide such an opportunity. UMass was a national power in the 90s and has declined since then, but are still a good team in the solid Atlantic-10 conference.

We have come close in the past, but if Hassan can continue his hot streak this might be the year that the Minutemen go down.

Back at the Top of the Bottom

This just feels right, doesn't it?

I'd have to say that it does. I mean i knew it was only a matter of time before we started winning games. We've been playing really well for the most part of the season, and we all knew that once we started with the conference games, we'd have more success, considering the caliber of our rivals. That said, we all know that we have no chance of getting an at-large bid.

That's a given.

And we never will, as long as we're still in the America East. We need to get the hell out of there in the next two or three years, or we're going to be stuck in the same place since we grew to be a semi-decent mid-major team.

Take Northeastern, for example. With a pretty impressive squad, they headed into the Colonial conference this year, and should have a decent season. Most teams don't do very well in their first few seasons in a better conference, but that's normal. You start at the bottom, and work your way to the top. Then eventually, get into an even better conference. I mean how do you think BC made it into the ACC?

I think the Atlantic 10 would be a good conference to shoot for. It's got some decent teams, one of which we'll be playing tomorrow night, so this will be a nice little test for us. I wish I could go see the game, but I've got no car, so if anyone has room for one more, let me know.

It may feel right being at the top right now, but in a few years, it'll feel so very wrong if we're still in the America East.

Glad To Be Out of Orono

BU outlasted Maine today, 58-55. God, I hate games like that. I mean, I love 'em, but I hate 'em. And I hate playing at Maine. Even though we've won our last six games up there, they always seem like a team that is ripe to knock us down (like last year's AE tourney), and Orono is a long ways away (eight and a half ours this year, because of snow! Thank God for those skilled Crystal Bus drivers!).

Maine was in control for the first 35 minutes, but after their two big men got into foul trouble with around 5 minutes left, BU went on a 10-0 run to go from down by 9 to up by 1. The Terriers were able to hang on from there. KG and Hassan again came up big on offense, and Wynn came up huge on defense (especially in the second half). Coblyn (AKA Cobber AKA Coblyn the Goblin) made a huge block and steal with a minute left to preserve the lead. Some observations:

Love that we pulled out a close one. As the High Roller mentioned to me, our young players are going to have to learn to win these games.

We're getting a lot better taking care of the ball. As a team we were under 10 turnovers again, and Macon only had 3 to his 6 assists.

BU is in the midst of its first winning streak - 3 games and counting. We're going to need that momentum heading to yet another tough road contest at U ASS on Monday.

We may be 3-5 overall this year, but we're 2-0 in the ones that count.

BU vs. Maine - Game Thread

Got here late, but it sounds like a great game!

About 5 minutes left, and BU just took the lead by one. Maine has been leading most of the game.

Go BU!

Late Prediction

Allow me to squeeze in a quick prediction before the game starts.

I'm gonna say BU-67-Maine-58 Listen to the game at the Terriers official page. Go Terriers!

Bobblin'? Wobblin'?

Some players on the team have nicknames that might just arise naturally: KG for Kevin Gardner is pretty unique as far as college players go (of course he'll have to change it if he somehow gets to the NBA) and Corey Hassan the Assassin is a no-brainer. But what about some of the others?

I think Ben Coblyn needs a new handle. My suggestions:

Cobber

Coblyn the Goblin

Hobblin' Coblyn (especially apt since he's been injured)

Big Ben (mentioned by #1 Fan in the comments, but maybe a bit too clockish)

Cob-Bling

Got a favorite of your own?

Our Core

Heading toward the end of our non-conference schedule, the team is finally starting to put together an offense that doesn't look like it belongs to a 7th Grade girls church league team. I imagine Coach Wolff scripted it just like that: test the team and its already stellar defense early, and use that time to find out what works on offense. It seems to be coming together just in time.

We knew at the beginning of the year that KG and Shaun Wynn would be two of the leaders of the team, and we were hoping stud freshman Corey Hassan would step up to join them (which he seems to be doing right about now). These three make up the solid core of the team this year: KG serves as the anchor and steady offense, Wynn is the steady defender and occasional offensive spark, and Hassan is the lights-out shooter who gets red-hot. Could be too early to start referring to them as the Holy Trinity, but we'll see where this season goes.

That much has been established, but the supporting cast is much more fluid. Coblyn stepped up early, but we were able to get by without him while he was out; now that he's back, he'll have a chance to show that those flashes were no fluke. Ibe has been serviceable inside, but his lack of basketball IQ at this point probably keeps him from being the steady second post player we need. I see Ibe learning a lot this year, and then getting much better next year and beyond (remember, he's just a freshman!). And most recently, Omari apparently asked for some aggression as an early X-mas present, on which Santa seemingly delivered. Whether one of these three becomes more consistent than the others or they all contribute on a rotating basis, we're still waiting for this supporting cast to mold itself around the core. You see, a great basketball team is a lot like eating an orange: first there's the skin, then the sweet, sweet innards...

This team has a chance to be great this year.

Wildcats? More like Mildcats

Jeez Louise. Sometimes you need a game like that, at the roof, to remind you of what BU basketball once was. After the last two games, I think we're getting back to that point again. By the time the tournament rolls around, our team will be pretty solid.

Here's a bunch of things in no particular order:

First of all, it was good to see Coblyn back in uniform. He had a rough first half, but it was good to see some real aggressive play in the paint.

Congrats to Ibe for scoring without touching the rim. Not only did he make a free throw, but he made a lay-up as well! He's proven his worth to me.

Hassan cannot miss, it seems. Although in reality he did miss a couple times, but after 6 minutes left, he was draining 3's just to be a bitch to the other team, and I like that. You could tell he wasn't trying. 18 points for the frosh.

Macon and BIG O are doing exactly what they need to do. Macon's makin jumpers (first three shots of the game) and BIG O's making almost all of his fade-aways. Stellar games by both.

We got to see time out of Marques Johnson and Brendan Sullivan, which I enjoyed. Johnson's got some moves, baby.

Great rebounding as a team, esp. from Ibe and BIG O.

2nd game in a row with 4 players in double digit scoring. This is a trend I'd love to see continue.

Though Gardner wasn't too dominant, you know it's a blow-out when he's pulled with more than 10 minutes left.

We've done a much better job of getting the ball inside, as a whole.

Only 11 turnovers, and only 1 by Macon??? That's very good news.

To be honest, I really didn't see much at all wrong with our play tonight. Chalk that up to the pretty sweet buzz I had going on during the game, or chalk that up to our great play. I choose the latter. This game made me feel a lot safer about our handling of the AE teams.


Player of the Game:

It's gotta be my man BIG O
Finally, we get to see him play the way we expected him to. I tell ya, he made fade away after fade away. This kid's gonna be dangerous down low. Another career high with 16, as well as 8 boards in only 20 minutes.

BU dominates the Wildcats, 67-46

It's nice to be playing America East teams again. We'll get a fuller recap from the High Roller, but just wanted to give a quick reaction to tonight's game.

This one was no contest. The most frustating thing about the game was when I tried to turn on the webcast and only got the BU hockey game. I did figure it out in the second half, and heard the remains of a game long decided.

UNH didn't seem to match up with the Terriers at any position. BU's defense kept UNH to under 40% shooting, and the offense was really hoppin again. Hassan sank SIX threes (we knew that kid could shoot!) and the Big O set his career high for the second straight game with 16. Even Geffen's and Macon's shooting touches showed up, with both of them scoring 10 points.

I know, UNH is no America East powerhouse, but this was an impressive showing, and more like the Terriers of old. We'll learn a little more in a road game against Maine on Saturday (always a tough trip)

Go BU!

BU vs. UNH - Game Night Thread

This one counts.

The Terriers will probably play before their smallest crowd of the year tonight. Combine the bitter cold with a game against the Unversity of No Hoop, and that means about 500 Terriers in the stands. New Hampshire has more wins than we do (2), but that was playing against Colgate and some guy named Robert Morris.

But that doesn't matter. All the games so far really don't mean much of anything, these conference games count for everything at the end of the season. Our America East season starts in 2 minutes.

Let's hope BU can keep up its hot-shooting streak!

Screw it

Well I did write a pretty sweet post about tonights game, but my computer decided to be a bitch and freeze up on me. So here I am, one 40 and half a sparks later, and all I can muster up is one lousy prediction. I'll have to say BU-69 UNH-57. Hopefully the fan base will brave the cold and make it to tonights game on the roof. This is a should win, or rather, a must win. Because if we can't beat UNH at home, well then, we probably don't belong in the big dance come March.

Makin a list, checkin it once

Ok allow me to quickly go through my pregame checklist and see what we got.

-Corey Hassan to score the first points of the game with a three.

CHECK. An early start for Hassen is the key to our offense, in my opinion.

-Better penetration. This includes driving and passing it to KG or Ibe.

CHECK. We did a great job getting it inside to KG and BIG O, and some pretty good drives were there too.

-Ibe score a basket without needing to touch the rim with his hands.

NOT. Ibe missed all free throws he took, two attempted lay-ups completely missed the rim, and one lay-up was too late, as he was called for traveling. His dunk at the buzzer was pretty awesome though.

-More use of the press. Earlier use of it as well (as in the first half).

NOT. I don't think we used it even once. Then again, we didn't really need to.

-10 blocks between Ibe and KG.

NOT, but there were some nice swats by BIG O, Shaun Wynn, and Brian Macon, some how.

-Less than 10 turnovers in the entire game. If not, how 'bout less than 15?

NOT. Still needs some work, but a 2:1 Assist/turnover ratio for Macon, a huge improvement.

-25 minutes out of Big O.

CHECK, at 26 minutes, 6 more than Ibe.

-Someone tell me that I have the boarist manners of a Yalie.

NOT, but I didn't really expect this to happen.

-People making more than 60% of their free throws. I mean come on!

CHECK. Take away Ibe's 3 missed FT's and we shot 80% free throws.

-More than 200 people in the stands.

CHECK, I think. There's no official number, but I'm pretty sure it was more than 500.

-A win, for fuck's sake.

CHECK and MATE!

Crimson isn't a team name it's a color, stupid

Well that really made my day. BU topped a semi-impressive Harvard team 72-63. I'll start out with my recap, and in another post, go through my checklist. But Wow, what a game! I feel like such a shithead for predicting 64-60 in favor of Harvard. I missed the first 10 minutes of play because my 3 hour class ran 10 minutes long. How the hell does that happen? Anyway, I was very please to show up and see that we were up by 6.

By far the best first half this year. Hassan was lighting it up from the start of the game, and so was Wynn! I think Wynn's finally learned to clear his head when he shoots, he's really turning into a shooter.

We started the second half on fire. KG was quiet the entire first half, then really took over. And I mean he took over. Big O was playing pretty well too. With four players in double digit scoring, our offense is really starting to pull together. This is a BU team that I'm starting to recognize. Though several of the players are fairly new to me, they're playing like the kind of team that I remember.

FAVORITE MOMENTS:

-Wynn grabbing the broom from the broom girl to clean up KG and BIG O'S sweat.
-Wynn's amazing block/pin. I can't really remember if he blocked it or pinned it against the backboard, but he was like 4 feet off the air.
-Ibe's reverse dunk at the buzzer. Really brought the house down and capped an amazing game, but I think he pissed off coach by rubbing the win in Harvard's face.

Player of the Game: Corey Hassan.

Career high 17 points. I love that this kid's a freshman and he's one of our top scorers. This means a lot of points for the next 4 years.

Honorable mention: my man BIG O (omari peterkin, for those of you who aren't hip to my lingo). I believe he had his career high as well with 12 or so.

Next up: UNH (should be pushovers)

BU vs. Harvard Game Night Thread

We need a win pretty badly, and this one is winnable.

Game has just started, and BU is up with an early lead. The High Roller has already gotten one item from his list wish: Hassan scored a three-pointer for the first points of the game. He's off to a big start, already has 8 points!

Your thoughts on the game...?

High Roller Prediction

I forgot to add this to my last post, so here it is.

BU-60 Harvard-64

Raise the Roof (after we play on it)

Tonight we face Harvard, our most beatable opponent yet, back at the good old roof. But that isn't to say it's a guaranteed win. They're 5-1, and have beaten our conference rivals Vermont and UNH. They also took it to Holy Cross, in Worcester. They average 71 ppg, a heluva lot more than our 51 ppg.

Also consider that we'll most likely have only 9 players available, assuming Coblyn is still resting his foot. Hopefully, though, we'll see the same outstading performance that we saw last Friday against GW. I know it's unlikely that Wynn will ever make 6 threes in one game again, but he needs to help KG (who has done a great job so far) lead our offense. We also need Corey Hassan to shoot more, and score earlier. Once this kid gets on fire, he stays on fire. The only problem is he rarely scores in the first half, and only gets in his rhythm with about 10 minutes left in the game.

We all know there is a lot we need to work on, but here's a list of things I'd like to see during the game tonight. Some of them are easily do-able, others, I got greedy with. Hopefully we can check a few of these things off the list when I post tonight after the game (esp. that last one).

Things I'd like to see tonight:

-Corey Hassan to score the first points of the game with a three.
-Better penetration. This includes driving and passing it to KG or Ibe.
-Ibe score a basket without needing to touch the rim with his hands.
-More use of the press. Earlier use of it as well (as in the first half).
-10 blocks between Ibe and KG.
-Less than 10 turnovers in the entire game. If not, how 'bout less than 15?
-25 minutes out of Big O.
-Someone tell me that I have the boarist manners of a Yalie.
-People making more than 60% of their free throws. I mean come on!
-More than 200 people in the stands.
-A win, for fuck's sake.

The BU Hoops Experience at GWU

As you may have read, I had been planning for the GW game for quite some time, what with planning the alumni club outing and the High Roller coming into town and all. The alumni event was a resounding success, defying the expectations of even the alumni club itself. We had about 35-40 people at the game, all clad in red and ready to cheer their little hearts out.

Starting out at Froggy Bottom Pub was a great idea - good chance to meet up with some old friends and make some new ones. Unfortunately, good buddy Mark decided to wait until 15 minutes before game-time to get hungry and order a burger. After he finished it in a record-breaking 110 seconds, we headed to the Smith Center.

GW's group ticket sales guy was nice, but he gave us crappy seats. Top three rows on one of the "end zones" gave us kind of a bird's-eye view of the game (in a bad way). But the good news is we were loud enough to make our presence known. Scattered BU fans from around the arena gravitated to our section, and we were annoying enough during BU's second half run that the Jumbotron showed us to get the GW fans fired up.

And it's been mentioned a few times on this blog, but again: the giant inflatable George Washington was beyond ridiculous. It's stunted, jerky "dancing" and elbows pinned to its sides made it look like it was doing a cross between the robot and the Elaine dance. Add to that the fact that I couldn't get the idea that it was a giant sex doll out of my head, it was quite a disturbing image.

Finally Getting Around to Writing About BU-GW

Would you believe I was so overwhelmed by the game that it took me 2 days to gather my thoughts? No? Okay, it was just kind of a busy weekend with the High Roller in town and all. Luckily, you had his more-than-capable analysis to keep you company.

I was pleased with the game. It was fun to watch, we played well, and I saw some positive developments on offense. Shaun Wynn played out of his mind for sure, but I'm not ready to deify him like the High Roller is. I don't see him playing like that every night. But as a senior captain, he needs to step up with big performances in big games like this one, and I was really glad to see it. Gardner was solid (as usual), Ibe came down will some monster dunks (and absolutely nothing else). Macon and Geffen had a tough time with GW's athletic defense at times, but also had some nice assists throughout the game. Bottom line, if we play like this during conference play, we're not going to lose many games.

One great thing I saw from Coach Wolff was a change in our offensive pace. We are still a defense-first team and our tempo is still comparatively slow, but even Wolff must see the need to score over 40 points in a game (like against URI). We weren't breaking any sound barriers, but we did things like pushing the ball fast up the court after turnovers and rebounds. It didn't always work. Sometimes it did. I liked the effort though, and I'm sure it's an indication that Wolff is trying to spark his scorers. Wynn in particular seemed ready to push it when he saw an opportunity (and he seemed to be the beneficiary on this night as well).

All in all, loved the effort, of course not satisfied with the results, but we're getting there.

Terriers lose, 75-62

First of all, I'll like to say that if I ever doubted Shaun Wynn as a shooter, I'm sorry. For the first time that I can remember, Wynn led our offense with 6 threes, amounting 18 points, a high for any terrier this season. I don't know what he changed, but I hope he sticks with it.

That said, while it was disappointing to lose, I was still very impressed with the teams play. They jumped out to a good start, and lead 12-6 at one point, but their offense kind of skidded to a stop. Down 13 points at the half, we came back to within one, as GW led 55-54. After that, GW's offense went on yet another tear.

This was the best game I've seen them play since Duke. Our offense was better than I'd ever seen this year, with three players in double digit. If we played this well against Rider, Michigan, and URI, we probably would have won those games. The problem last night seemed like GW sank three-pointer after three-pointer. Almost every shot fell! Aside from that, our defense seemed pretty good. Againt, it was turnovers that killed us, with 19. We're atop the America East with 91 turnovers, and that's got to change.

Overall, it was still a fun game to watch. We terriers, up in the second to last row in the upper deck, made a hell of a lot of noise and even pissed off a few people. Though I still can't get over GW's mascot, and I still can't stop wondering what they were thinking when they created it, what with his inability to separate his wrists from his sides. It's just that when he tried to dance to the pep band's music, he looked like giant (who's arms never developed) flailing in horrible pain.

See you back in Boston, Terriers.

BU vs. GWU - Game Night

While the BU Athletic Dept. was very helpful in trying to attain media credentials for the game, the GW Athletics Dept. was a bunch of bastards. A rant on them coming soon...

But for now, it's game time. I don't get to see too many games in person this year, so this is a treat. Here's hoping BU puts together a complete game and sparks something on the offensive end. My prediction for tonight: a very respectable 60 - 55 loss for BU.

If you're listening in, add your in-game comments here.

Tonight's Game

It's about 6 hours to game time right now, but there's a lot to be done. Tall-Boy and I are working hard contacting people, trying to get press credentials for tonights game at George Washington. Hopefully we will indeed get those passes, and get a couple of interviews with some of the players, or maybe coach Wolff. If nothing else, we'd at least be able to attend the press conference following the game.

But that will all come later. For now we have to worry about meeting up with the BU Alumni, getting the pompoms and all that free crap which was generously donated by the sports marketing department, and dishing out the tickets to the people who ordered them, which will probably be a nightmare.

If you are in the D.C. area though, come to Froggy Bottom at 6 PM for a happy hour and a chance to mingle with the BU Alumni. And if you don't have tickets to the game, I'm sure there will still be some available at the ticket office.

It promises to be a night of fun, excitement, and possibly a drunkerview here and there.

A Wild Weekend

What would a weekend in D.C. be without a visit to the dirtiest club on earth? Now that we got that out of the way, Tall-Boy and I can focus at the true point of this trip: our game against George Washington. I've got high hopes, even though they're a top 25 team. It'll be interesting to see how the team holds together with only nine available players. This is when true character shows, and true leaders step up. Friday, the 2nd, is an important day for BU basketball.

Hopefully, we will be able to get an interview before the game. If not, maybe' we'll get a chance to talk to some of the players after the game. Either way, we'll report the game in full once it is over, assuming we make it home safely from the post-game bar hopping.

My Prediction: BU-48 GW-60

BU Hoops, District-stylee

It's a very exciting time for us down here in the nation's capital. The High Roller just flew into town, and we're partying it up in Adams-Morgan tonight in order to achieve the perfect hangover for tomorrow's game.

I have assembled 35+ die-hard BU alumni to come to this game against GW, and we'll be loud and proud and we'll attempt to use that pride to quiet all those Colonial fans in the Charles E. Smith Center. If you live in the DC area, for the love of Pete, come out to the Froggy Bottom Pub at about 6ish and meet us for a pint or two before the game. Sure, we may not defeat the #22-ranked GW Colonials... but damn it we'll have a good time.


Also, check back before the game tomorrow for possible very special guest (you'll understand tomorrow if it works out!).

Subtraction and Addition

So we're down a few men coming into this Friday's matchup with THE George Washington University. Matt Wolff looks like he might be done for a while - possible MCL injury (OUCH - see you next year, Matt). Ben Coblyn has sat out the last two games with his high ankle sprain, and been seen walking around in The Boot. And Tony Gaffney missed the URI game and BU says this is for a "violation of team rules" (sources say the team rule in question is, like, not failing out of classes or something). We hear he's gone for the rest of the semester, and then will be back in January.

But just as BU is losing 3 players, GW's monster forward Pops Mensah-Bonsu comes back from serving his three-game suspension, just in time to face the Terriers. Pops is GW's best player... here's hoping he's rusty his first time out.