More TV Games?!

This year, the America East started streaming live video of some conference games on their website. The quality of the video (if not the games) is pretty good and it's way better to watch games than listen to them, but the number of games is a precious few.

Well (via yoco) it seems that is about to change. Turns out that there will be a few more chances to watch missed free throws during the second half of the year:

CSTV has signed deals with two new NCAA basketball conferences, the America East and the Patriot League, to broadcast those league's games online.

Both conferences will make their games available to fans on CSTV.com as part of the site's XXL Broadband Package through the end of the current season in March. The XXL package, which is available for either $14.95 per month and $99.95 per year, gives fans online access to a wide variety of college sporting events, ranging from ice hockey to lacrosse games.

I had a hard time finding any info at all on CSTV's website about the AE games, and I have a hard time believing that anybody will find the money to produce every game for the rest of the year to make them suitable for broadcast. But we shall see - it gives me hope.

Game notes from Sunday

Instead of a long, boring post of things that have been already said about the Maine game, here's a bunch of things that I saw, and felt needed to be stated, even if they already were.

-5 steals for Tony Gaffney ??? Thats insane, and that's only part of the great game he had. I wish I had 4 foot arms.
-The most effort I've ever seen at BU game was given by Wynn on that save when he dove out of bounds. What was even better was when he got back up and hustled all the way back to the other end for defense. He's a hustler, baby.
-Our big guys did a great job defending their big guys in the first half. KG and Coblyn especially did a good job of bodying up.
-Our free throw shooting performance made me want to vomit the 4 dollar pretzel that I didn't even enjoy.
-Geffen and Wynn are really competing for my favorite player this year. Gaffney has a chance as well.
-Hassan proved to us once again that he deserves the last shot, though he probably didn't expect to make that one.
-This game seemed like the opposite of all our other games. Our first half was simply stellar, and our second half was simply God-awful.
-Gaffney's reverse was pretty damn awesome. You better believe I yelled out "showtime!" as he neared the basket.

KG Finally Gets His Propers

The America East finally figured out who is the leader of the Terriers is this year. Kevin Gardner got his first career AE Player of the Week Award. He did it by getting back-to-back double-doubles in his usual quiet fashion. I'm glad he won this award - he works so hard on both ends of the floor, he's an visible leading presence on the court and he's certainly BU's most consistent offensive threat. So congrats, KG.

As an aside, is anyone else sick of the fact that there are always more than one Player of the Week? It's always "Co"-Players of the week. It wasn't always like this - I seem to think this is the first year. Hey America East, can we put a stop to this? It dilutes the meaning of this award, which, in the grand scheme of things, is barely meaningful to begin with.

Maine Sucked Less

Another poor free-throw shooting performance, another tight loss. This is truly killing us this year. Against Maine we were 6-14, a.k.a. 43 percent!!! Completely unacceptable.

The two bright spots in Sunday's game were Tony Gaffney, who completely took over the game for a stretch of about 5 minutes late in the first half, and KG, who amassed yet another workman-like double-double (16/10). Unfortunately, Gardner fouled out with about 30 seconds left, and we found out how crucial that was when Cobber missed two [tough] lay-ups in a row in the waning seconds.

Other Maine notes:

Kind of glad to get away from the Greek until we have a better offense. The place is gorgeous, but we suck there.

We're still in 3rd place, but it's amazing how far we could be in either direction. Our team has played so poorly that we could easily be much lower, but our four conference losses have been by 1, 6, 2, and 2 points - all winnable in the final minute.

Hassan is still struggling, going without a 3-pointer for the second straight game. It's obvious teams have been guarding him much more closely, but he still plays a big part because even when he's not scoring he remains a focal point for defenses.

And finally, "The Shot." Hassan sinks a Hail Mary from beyond half-court with -0.2 seconds left - meaning 0.2 seconds after the game ended. Amazing to think about what would have happened if he had shot it half a second earlier. He'd be on every college hoops highlight reel this year, and probably in the 3-5 range of Sportscenter's Top 10 Plays (depending on how many times Kobe scored 81 that week).

BU vs. Maine - Game Day Thread

The High Roller gets to watch the game in person, but I have to settle for watching at Porter's in the District. Thank God for satellite TV and NESN!!

Got any thoughts about the game? Unload em here.

Go BU!

The Curse of the Greek

So is it even worth it to play our games in Agganis Arena?

Let's see, since it opened last year, we have gone 2-3, beating only Vermont twice. Here are the games there:

W Vermont 61-55
L Northeastern 63-48
L Michigan 51-46
L Rhode Island 48-38
W Vermont 43-41

Granted, we schedule our best games at our new palace, so these are the toughest home games on our schedule. But we have only scored over 50 points once!! That's not good at all, I mean even with our offensive woes our team does average 57 points a game. Maybe it's the new rims, but for all the home-court advantages that come with the larger crowds, etc., we should be doing a little better.

Let's start to change that today versus Maine.

BU takes on Maine at the Greek

What's the best way to follow up a the grandest keggar I've ever helped host that eventually turned into an all night Mario Brothers 3 marathon? With a healthy dose BU basketball, of course.

In a double header, we take on Maine at the Greek. The women's game is actually over already, and they won 80-61, so congrats to them. They have a real impressive team this yeah, and I feel bad for not supporting them.

But oh well.

Anyway, we edged out a win in Maine, but we seem to only be able to beat Vermont in the Greek. While that makes me happy, I'd still like to win more games there.

Kudos to the sports marketing department for actually telling us that there is a game this week, since the're dropped the ball last week. Not that I expect a huge crowd anyway.

My prediction: BU-49 Maine-44

Geffen for President (or at least Point Guard)

One of the High Roller's biggest gripes over the last month or so has been the lack of playing time for Bryan Geffen. Frustrated with the point play of Brian Macon (as so many of us are), the High Roller has openly called for his replacement by Geffen. Honestly, I think the two players stack up pretty evenly in most areas: quickness, ability to drive, shooting and passing are all pretty close. But obviously, something is wrong with our offense with Macon at the helm. He's gotten better since the beginning of the year, but we still aren't able together any semblance of an offensive push. The question is, would things change at all with Geffen getting more PT?

Well, the numbers don't lie. The two games in which Geffen did not play, home losses to Albany and Binghamton, we scored a pathetic 47 points each time. Since then, we have won all three of our games (Stony Brook, Vermont, and Hartford), and Geffen was a major part of each. He averaged 9 points in the three games, including his game-high 15 versus Hartford.

Point is, let's continue to get Geffen some time running the point. I like the way he runs the offense, he's a creative passer, and the kid can even shoot the rock pretty well. Not that we need any more shooting or anything...

Halfway Home

We have gone through 8 of our 16 home games this year, and finished with a record of 5-3. Not bad, considering our losses from last year, but maybe not what we hoped for after our fairly strong non-conference showing. We sit alone in 3rd place, behind only Binghamton and Albany, and just in front of Vermont and New Hampshire.

I predict we will need to repeat that 5-3 performance in the second half the season in order to snag one of the top 3 seeds in the AE tourney, which would allow us to avoid drawing the host Binghamton. But a look at the schedule reveals it won't be an easy task:

HOME vs. Maine
AWAY vs. UNH
AWAY vs. Albany
HOME vs. UMBC
AWAY vs. Binghamton
HOME vs. Stony Brook
AWAY vs. Vermont
AWAY vs. Hartford

Obviously, the way we are playing now those road games against Albany, Vermont, and Binghamton are the most likely losses. The rest seem to me to be eminently winnable. If we are able to steal one of those tough road contests (not impossible considering how closely we played those teams the first time around).

Of course, 8-0 would be ideal....

BU Holds Hawks to 40

As I entered the roof for Wednesday's game against Hartford, I was shocked to see so many students in the crowd. Yet as I ascended the steps to find a seat near the back where I could sit back and observe, I noticed that half the kids were either reading or doing homeworkd.

It suddenly dawned on my: I'm surrounded by hockey nerds, only there for a chance to get Beanpot tickets before everyone else.

I didn't let this bother me, though, as we won our third straight conference win. Geffen had a hell of a game, along with great efforts by, KG, Wynn, and basically the entire squad. We shot so many more three's than we usually do, and guess what? We made a good portion of them! Why we're not shooting more that we normally do is beyond me, but 5 different players dropped a three tonight, and that truly impressed me.

We played very well as a team, causing turnovers and working our offense. It was the BU team that I've been used to all throughout college.

I got to observe Adeleke's play for the first time tonight, and I'll be honest: I thought he'd be a tall white German kid. I had no idea he was black. I guess I got him confused with Zoellner. Anyway, Hartford won't make it far in the playoffs if Adeleke and Cook are their only offense.

Lastly, Congrats to Coach Wolff on his 200th win at BU. Let's have 200 more.

Quick note: Did anyone else notice that Hassan only played 10 Minutes?

BU vs. Hartford - Game Night Thread

Hartford is kind of an enigma this year. They started out hot, but have cooled lately. They have two of the better players in the conference (including one who is probably the best), yet languish near the bottom of the standings.

BU coming off a strange yet fulfilling game at the Greek against Vermont, we'll see if they can turn it into more wins. Hopefully they can at least keep up that rebounding zeal!

By the way, Wolff drops a bombshell before the game: Ibe, who sat out the last two games due to an unnamed academic issue, is done for the year. Wolff said the issue was resolved, but that Ibe still needs to be focused on what's important (which is his studies). If this is the case, it's a ballsy and admirable move by Wolff, who is already missing two guys due to injury.

Talk about the game here...

BU takes on Hartford at the Roof

I figure I'll get this out of the way while I'm at the Cummington computer lab, since I won't get a chance to go home before tonights game at the roof. With the momentum we picked up on Sunday, I think we'll be able to earn a convincing win for the first time in a while.

I honestly can't remember attending a game where I wasn't worried about losing. It seems like the last few seasons, every home game was a guaranteed win, but that's clearly not the case anymore.

If we win tonight, we will safely be able to say that we are on a winning streak. But first, we have to win.

As for my predictions, I'm going to be a lot more realistic this time, since my last few predictions have been off by about 20 points for each team. Tonight I'll say the final score will be BU 52, Hartford 46.

Best of luck, and hopefully KG's leg isn't seriously hurt and he'll be able to start.

The Road Ahead

BU has won two in a row with this past defeat of Vermont. I'm not getting too optimistic just yet (especially in light of the "uniqueness" of the last game), but maybe this is the start of a turnaround. A win tomorrow against Hartford would be 3 in a row, which can accurately be described as a streak.

We're going to need that momentum heading into the second half of the season, because it's going to be ROUGH. After tomorrow, BU will have one game against each of the other America East teams. The problem with this is that the games against the bottom 4 teams (Maine, Hartford, Stony Brook, and UMBC) are at home, and the games against the 4 teams in the top half of the conference standings (Albany, Vermont, Binghamton and UNH) are ALL on the road. That's a damn tough schedule.

Personally, I'd be happy getting 2 of those 4 road games, and sweeping the home games.

Nearly Legendary

What does it take to become a legend?

I'd say it requires either an amazing career, or an amazing play to win a huge game, kind of like Hassan's shot to win the Vermont game. Although I wouldn't say that that game was important enough to make Hassan a legend.

let's compare that shot to basically the same shot that David Heinous made 3 years ago to beat us at the roof for the America East title. Though I can taste the vomit in my mouth when I type this, but that shot probably made him a legend in Vermont. First of all, it won the championship, but it was also Vermont's first ever trip to the Big Dance.

Most people won't say that Sunday's game was important, but I think it was for our team. I think it was a turnaround point, and that excitement and momentum will carry us for a while.

Hassan didn't quite reach the status of Stijn Dohnt (if anyone can remember that inbound pass and three pointer with 0.8 seconds left on the clock), but he's got a very long career here at BU (hopefully) to show us what he's got.

There's No Way Anyone Could Describe The Experience Of Witnessing This Game Without Using A Series of Schematic Drawings And Some Hand Puppets

Bear with me, just beginning to regain my capacity to construct a rational thought.

Thought #1 after this game ended: "Holy Christ, what a finish! Hassan sinks it with 2.6 secs left to "a-Hassan-ate" the Catamounts and send them back to cow country!!"

Thought #2 after this game ended: "WTF did we just witness here? Was this not the most messed up game anyone has ever seen?"

After the revelry of the last shot finally dwindled, I thought about some of the numbers produced by this game:

Vermont made 54% of their shots, yet scored only 41 points and lost to a team that made 25% of their shots. (?!)

Vermont made zero baskets in the last 14 minutes of the game, and scored only two free throws in that time (even BU's impotent offense hasn't done that this year). (?!?!)

BU came down with 25 (!) offensive rebounds, compared to just TWO by Vermont. (?!?!?!)

And I am sure of this although I have no numbers available to back me up: there was a stretch of at least 3 and a half minutes late in the game where Vermont did not touch the ball even once. There were 6 or 7 offensive rebounds in a row, and with BU's inability to shoot the ball with more than 5 seconds on the shot clock combined with BU's inability to actually make any of those shots, it seemed like the possession would never end. Losing by 2 at this point, the insane thing is that the Terriers could not convert on any of those chances!! The sequence ended with a foul on Omari, and it wasn't until ANOTHER five-offensive-rebound possession that Shaun Wynn finally hit his monster 3-pointer to bring the game within 2.

Bottom line, it took me a long time to decide whether to be disgusted or euphoric about this victory. In the end I went with euphoric, since all that matters is the W. After a stretch of five games during which BU was poised to win each one in the final minute but came away with a loss in every game, this is the one that they squeezed out just enough to finish it. The first truly clutch performance after being let down so many times in a row.

I don't care how ugly it was - I'll take it. Now let's never speak of this game again.

Electricity at the Greek

Tie game with the final shot, who do you give it to?

The last four years, I would have said Chaz Carr everytime. Now, I say Corey Hassan every time. With his bucket with 2.7 seconds left in the game, BU took it's first lead since the beginning of the game at 43-41. Vermont made a sloppy attempt at a pass half way down the court to try to score, but it was broken up and the Greek was shaking for the second time this weekend (the first being the 5-0 win over Merrimack).

To be honest, todays game made up for that 5 game losing streak of near wins. Probably the most exciting game I've seen at BU, definitely the most amazing game I've seen at the Greek, we were behind the entire game, as usual. Frankly, I considered us lucky to have been down only 6 at the half.

And as usual, we came out in the second half looking like a real team. This time, though, we gave the effort needed to pull out the win.

While we play hard for 40 minutes, it may have been more a case of Vermont beating themselves. They scored two points in the last 14 1/2 minutes, and those two came from Trimboli free throws. Since the 3rd TV time-out of the second half, it seemed like BU had the ball the entire time, using up shot clock after shot clock, and getting rebound after rebound. To get an idea of what it was like, we out-rebounded UVM 41-25. We also had only 10 turnovers to UVM's 15.

Rather than blaming the loss on Vermont's collapse in the second half, I'd like to give credit to all the Terriers for their never-say-die attitude, and for playing their hardest to the very end. Maybe this past week is a turnaround week for us, and things will start going my way.

Side Notes:

-It was good to see Geffen getting some solid playing time with 22 minutes. I'd like to see him get to run the point more, I like his style of play.
-We made our free throws, and thats why we won this game.
-Coblyn had a truly amazing dunk. It was worth the Techinical foul, but probably not worth the bitching out that he got from Wolff.
-We still missed a lot of lay-ups and easy shots, but thanks to the rebounding, it didn't hurt us.
-KG hurt his leg at the end, and there's no word on what happened, but hopefully he's ok.
-BU beat Vermont in the second half with a score of 21-13. We held them to their lowest point total in 26 years.
-Wynns 3-pointer to bring us within 1 with 2 minutes left also makes a case for play of the game.
-I'll no longer make any predictions over 55 points for either team. It's just that kind of a season.

I wish I could give Player of the Game to everyone on the team, but it of course has to go to Hassan the Assassin for his game winning shot

Honorable mention: KG, Wynn-credible, Big O, Brian Geffen (any nicknames?), Big Ben, Macon Bacon, and Stretch (A.K.A. Tony Gaffney)

Game Time

A quick prediction before Tall-boy and I head over to the Greek for what I assume will be an amazing game against Vermont: BU 67, UVM 63

Side note: at todays game, they will be selling basketball jerseys(!) so if you want to look good at a game instead of wearing a hockey jersey like an idiot, get one while you can.

See you all there, GO BU

Vermont Sucks

To be honest, I don't much like Vermont. It feels really good to beat them. I hated all the attention they got in their Cinderella season last year - part of that was jealousy from playing second fiddle for a couple seasons, part of that was my love of my other favorite team, the Syracuse Orangemen. There's nobody I'd rather go to the Greek and cheer against and hurl various insults at.

But that said, it's nice having them around - what's fun about sports if you don't have a fun, evenly-matched rivalry?

One question for Vermont fans: please tell me what the M in "UVM" is so I can stop making fun of it?

Pressure the Rookie

Running out the door to catch the BU hockey game, but thought I'd post a few thoughts about tomorrow's tittalating tilt with the Mounted Cats.

The game is important for both teams; Vermont needs a win to show that it belongs among the elite of the conference, and BU needs to prove that that 3-game conference losing streak was just a fluke.

Here's the key to the game, I'm calling it right now: turnovers. Vermont's freshman point guard Mike Trimboli can shoot, but he doesn't take good care of the rock. If BU presses for most of the game (like they should be doing every game), they'll be able to exploit this weakness. With Gaffney lighting it up against Stony Brook, he should get some more PT on Sunday - and we all know that he's a monster on the press with those albatross arms of his.

Breaking out is hard to do

While Tall-boy and I have been busy partying it up in good old Boston, that's still no excuse for our lack of posting after an impressive win against Stony Brook to break our five game losing streak. Not to say that partying is more fun than sitting in a dark, basement room with no windows and typing away in solitude.

First of all, I'd just like to say that it's about damn time that we broke out of our depressing pattern of losing. We've been close in the previous 5 games, but the same thing happened every single time. You already know what that thing is, because it's been a main theme on this blog. For those of you who don't visit regularly, I'll quickly recap by saying we start off slow, we're behind at half time, we play a real strong second half, but 20 minutes is never enough for us to claw our way back.

This time, it was different. This time we seemed to be in control basically the whole game. As far as I can remember, we had the lead for a good chunk of the clock, thanks to our trademark defense.

Great perfomances by Hassn and Gaffney, who had an amazing game, carried our offense. Hopefully they can keep it going tomorrow when we take on Vermont at the Greek. You better be there, because it's going to be huge.

BU vs. Stony Brook - Game Night Thread

Early report says Ibe and Gardner (!) are sitting this game out. Wondering where our offense will come from without KG in there!

Thoughts on the game?

High Roller's Prediction

Quickly, before the game starts, I'll say BU66-Stony Brook 60.

I'm hoping to do well on this one, since I was so far off last time.

Sizing Up the Rocky River

I was fortunate enough to attend Stony Brook's last game against GW. In a word, this game was a blowout. From the moment the game started out 13-0, the game was never close or exciting. To make matters worse, I had to spend another 2 hours watching "Big George" do his retarded arm-flapping thing.

Stony Brook certainly didn't do as well as BU did against GW. But they've got some offensive weapons that could help them against us. I would love to have a guy like Bobby Santiago on our team -- a point guard who can shoot, pass and slash to the basket. They have a few other guys, Mitch Beauford, Mike Popoko, and a few promising young guys, who can create on the offensive end; we don't really have anyone like that.

That said, I don't think it will be enough to beat us, especially with our rock-solid defense. Hopefully, we'll be able to put this one away and roll into that Vermont game on Sunday with some confidence.

Terriers Aim to Turn Around this Crappy Year

Whaddya say we ditch this 4-game losing streak and finally win one in '06? Stony Brook sounds like a good prescription for what ails us.

Not that Wrong Island is an easy place to win this year (Vermont lost there earlier this season), but SB hasn't exactly been lighting it up. That is beside the point though. The important thing is for us to execute our game in order to score some points, and get on track offensively.

We need to figure out to score consistently from both the outside and inside. That was working for us earlier this year, but ever since Hassan crapped the bed recently we've got nobody who can shoot. Shaun Wynn has admirably tried to take the lead among the guards, but it will take some more effort on the part of the others. Let's hope this is the game that either A) Hassan starts hitting some shots again, or B) somebody else starts hitting them.

More on Stony Brook a little later...

Let's have a little bit of Professionalism here, please

Tall-boy might consider this a drunk post, but I consider it something I've got to get off my chest. At the Binghamton game, nothing was more laughable than the free throw contest between two losers in the second half.

Each contestant had 3 chances to shoot, and the one with the most free throws made wins, of course. Well no one made a basket, so the first person to make a basket would win. They took turns shooting free throws, and this went on for a bout 2 full minutes.

Eventually, the time-out was over, and there was still no winner, and both of the unskilled morons had to slink off the court to a barage of boos and insults, including what the old man in front of me said: "You're shooting is bad and you should feel bad!"

Now this comment made me chuckle to myself for about the next ten minutes, but the situation left our team in a horrible position. We were in the process of a great run on Binghamton, and at the end of the time out, our team returned to the court to hear nothing but boos and insults. Way to fire up the crowd, sports marketing department.

Sure, they couldn't foresee two retards shooting it out for "least retarded free throw contestant", but it's their job to get the crowd fired up, and give the home team an advantage. My question is, what happened to the half court shot? I've never seen a crowd so pumped at a game at the roof than when Tall-boy made his half court shot. The crowd was on it's feet and going nuts, and gave our team a great boost.

This "contest", which took place during a media time out, did little except remind the fans that no one from BU can consistantly make free throws, esp. our players.

In my opinion, this was a turning point of the game, and may have actually caused the loss, because after that moment, the energy was completely sucked out of the roof.

And how bout the remote control car contest between two nine year olds at half time? They gave the prize to the contestant who clearly cheated, by not circling around the basketball. An F-ing travesty which also provoked boos from the crowd.

Sports marketing better get their act together or we might as well just kiss this season good-bye.

This is getting ridiculous

The last thing I want to do when I'm hungover on a Sunday morning is suffer in a stuffy, hot gymnasium, while listening to the ear-shatteringly loud pep band and a fat idiot who won't stop shouting out dog related cliches such as "put 'em in the dog house!" or "take a bite out of Binghamton!"

Strike that- the last thing I want to do is go through all that and then lose by one point to Binghamton.

I'm not going to do a recap of the game because it was just too sad, so here's a bunch of things in no particular order.

First of all, everyone on the team needs to practice their free throws. This part of the game is killing us. When you add up the free throws missed, and the point differential in our recent losses, it will make you cry.

Lay ups, too. Again, we missed several shots which we should always make.

We blew our chance to win it with 5 seconds left. Rather, Macon blew it by passing the ball to Gaffney with no time left on the clock, rather than taking his own shot. We need to at least get a final shot off before the buzzer. I'm still not satisfied with the way Macon runs the offense, but I'm pleased that he's cut down on the turnovers.

It's a young team, yes, and we're going to be losing to teams like this. But it is clear that KG and Wynn are truly working hard to lead this team. Wynn has really been putting in the effort and it shows.

I was happy to see Wolff using the press in this game. The press was on for a good portion of both halves, and we seemed to be in control when we used it, but we didn't cause many turnovers.

At this point in the season, I honestly think that any team in the conference has a chance to make it to the big dance.

A quick sidenote, #32 on Binghamton looked real sharp and I think he has a shot at the All-Conference team, or even player of the year since no one else is really standing out.

My Head Hurts

The Good News: I'll be at the Binghamton game today.

The Bad News: I'll be way too hungover to cheer much, if at all.

My Prediction: BU65, Binghamton 55

Come on guys, lets get one here.

BU vs. Binghamton - Game Night Thread

It's the Battle of BU vs. The Team That Thinks It's BU (aka Binghamton). Binghamton's got itself a solid team this year after a bad start. They are on a 3 game conference winning streak and score a lot of points (and their defense ain't bad either).

It's important we win some of these early games at home. How bout we get that winning streak started today?

Post your thoughts about the game here.

We'll Be OK

There has to be a point somewhere during the season when you have to accept the fact that the team you thought you had at the beginning is not going to live up to lofty expectations. We knew BU had last a lot coming into this season, but I think we all still thought of the Terriers as one of the top teams in the America East. We were just so used to seeing them at the top of those standings.

I think it's time to re-evaluate. Look at the standings now; we're right in the middle of the pack (6th actually!). Our record stands at 5-10, and we're 2-2 in the conference. And although we're only 4 games in, it's obvious we're not going to steam-roll over the rest of the league.

So let's look at the bright side of this. I think it is going to make for a more exciting season. Instead of worrying about positioning for the NIT or the #1 seed (as we have in past years), we have to jockey for a position within the AE tournament. Maybe see if we can snag one of those top 4 spots. Of course, as we all know the seedings never really helped us in the past anyway! This means every game will be more meaningful, and I think more games will be exciting to watch/listen to. In fact, the Terriers' last four losses (Albany, UMBC, Holy Cross, and Bucknell) have been nail-biters that came down to the last minute. Our losses are largely a function of our inexperience, and I think we will improve in those late-game situations as the season goes on.

Bottom line: let's not panic, enjoy this season where anything can happen, and turn it up at tournament time.
Go Terriers!

This is getting old

It pains me to say this, but we were simply outplayed by Albany last night. Sure, a few things did go our way. Our shots just weren't falling, but we didn't have many good looks from the outside anyway, thanks to a good perimeter defense by Albany. As for our inside game, I've never seen so many missed lay-ups. There aren't any excuses for this loss.

One thing is for sure, the youth of our team is really showing, especially when it comes down to the last 2 minutes. It seems our game completely falls apart every time towards the end. The final score was 53-47, but it was closer than a 6 point game leads you to believe. We took bad shots and we turned it over. Macon didn't seem like he was able to lead the team at the end of the game. When down bby 4 with 30 seconds left, we can't be taking 20 seconds to get a shot off. Those kinds of things can't happen at the end of the game.

But we made mistakes early in the game too. KG, Omari, Cob (still looking for a decent nickname for Ben), and eventually Gaffney got into foul trouble early. Wayyyyyy to early. How we ended up with the lead at half-time is beyond me, because it seemed like Albany was in control for most of the game.

I'm not quite sure how to get over this loss. Albany is a quality, and there is no doubt in my mind that they're the team to beat this year.

Guess Its The Size Of The Dog In The Fight...

Don't know what the final score was, but BU loses this one in familiar fashion. Big scoring droughts set us up for a rally at the end that is just not enough. We didn't score for the first 7 minutes of the second half. Hassan stunk up the joint after hitting a three to begin the game. It's becoming apparent that KG can't carry this team on his own without some help from the outside shooters. BU snaps an 11-game winning streak at the Roof.

One thing is clear: there is a new "top dog" to beat in the AE.

Hoping for some good insight from the High Roller later.

BU vs. Albany - Game Night Thread

Game time is upon us. Early report from the roof is that Ibe is sitting out with a foot injury, and Coblyn is back in the lineup.

This game is getting some national pub - it's the front page mid-major G! O! T! N!

Any thoughts on the game?

High Roller's Prediction

Just a quick guess before Dr. Jack and I head over to the Roof.

I foresee BU 67-Albany 63, With Hassan scoring 24 points.

Prognostication, BU/UA Style

Unquestionably the biggest game of the young America East season. BU's rock-solid defense vs. UAlbany's experience. Up for grabs: first place in the AE and a 15/16 seed in the next Bracketology.

A few opinionated souls:

Tall-boy: BU 62 - UA 60
Dr jack: UA 68 - BU 62
BUHoopsFANatic: BU 66 - UA 54
High Roller: BU 67 - UA 63

Anybody else feeling brave?

Can you feel the hype?

Tonights game between BU and Albany may be the biggest game in the America East this season. At least that's what the Times Union is saying. They've hyped the game up so much that you'd think each member of the losing team would have to spend a night with Whoopi Goldberg. Thank God that that's not the case. I wish that upon no man.

Regardless, the artical showed respect for BU, an "annual power". Jamar Wilson said that while his team has been impressive in conference play this season, their achievement is still measured by whether or not they can beat us. That says something there.

I hope anyone in the Boston area shows up for this game, cause I guarantee it will be one for the ages. See you all there.

Meet the Parents

When BU plays Albany, it becomes a contentious affair around the dinner table for the boys of BU Hoops :: Doggy-style. See, both High Roller and I attended classes along the Charles and bleed Terrier red (well, obviously). But Ma and Pa both accumulated their knowledge at UAlbany/Albany St. - or, as much knowledge as one could actually accumulate at a SUNY school.

The 'rents have the decision between rooting for the school at which they earned their degrees and rooting for the school to which they send all of their money. Ma received degrees from UHartford and SUNY Binghamton in addition to UAlbany, so the loyalty there does not seem to affect her that much -- so she roots for BU. But Pa lived it up along Washington Ave for his FIVE years of undergrad, and remains staunchly dedicated to the Great Danes. He claims his Most Valuable Player trophy for the 1973 Albany St JV track and field team maintains his connection to UAlbany sports, but to be honest I'm surprised he can remember much from that portion of his life!

The fact remains that the High Roller and I spent our formative years in the Capital Region, and yes we spent a few nights watching the Danes play some fine D-III ball under legendary coach Doc Sauers. But I think I speak for him when I say that the day we stepped onto that Commonwealth Ave campus we became Terriers for life. Sure, there's a soft spot for the Great Danes now and then, but we ain't bleedin nothing but red from now on.

Scouting the competition

I had the "good fortune" to be stuck in Albany long enough to get to see Cornell play at Albany, and catch a glimpse of what we're going to be up against on Thursday.

First of all, Albany looked impressive, routing Cornell by more than ten points. I can't give you an exact score, because I truly didn't care about this game. Jamar Wilson looked sharp, scoring well over 20 points, I assume. His brother Brent Wilson also played pretty well. Overall, a pretty sloppy game against a less-than-stellar Cornell team.

A few things I saw:

-Great individual play by the Great Danes, not so great when it came to teamwork.
-Sophmore Lillis was scrappy, coming up with a bunch of steals, and a few good offensive plays. Watch out for this kid and his shaggy haircut.
-A very lethargic Zoellner. Could be because they just played saturday, or because Germans breed slow-moving giants for their basketball teams.
-A strong defense inside. Cornell scored the majority of their points from the outside.
-Levi Levine's bad temper.
-Lots and lots of offense, but that's what I expected.


Things we'll need to do on Thursday:
-Man to man coverage with Wynn on J. Wilson and KG on Zoellner. That should limit their points.
-Keep an eye on Lucious Jordan. He didn't play much, after two fouls in the first minute. Their coach was probably saving him for us anyway.
-Make our threes. Hassan, Wynn and Macon are really going to have to perform since they're so strong inside. We should also attack Zoellner with Big O and Coblyn the Goblin and try to get him to rack up some fouls.
-Press? We rarely have used the press this season, but I think it would work well against the Great Danes and fluster them a bit.
-Get a strong conference win.


Side note: Nothing made my chuckle harder this break than the 65 year old blue hair that made up the trombone section of Albany's ragtag pep band. Her and the fat, balding middle aged man on trumpet.

On second thought, nothing made me chuckle harder than learning that Vermont lost to Stony Brook.

Little bit worried

Even though it's fairly early in the season, this "journalist" is just a little bit worried right now. I can't really remember the last time we lost to a team in our conference aside from Northeastern and Vermont (exluding our annual playoff choke).

This UMBC loss has me a bit rattled, but there are upsides:
-The powers in the America East are changing, and UMBC has become a decent team with some good players. A loss to them isn't the worst thing.
-It was a fluke loss- as in it was just poor luck that our players bumped into each other. Not much you can do about that.
-It was an away game. Lose to UMBC at home, and that's another story all together.
-People are settling into their roles, and Wolff is learning more about our young players' abilities.

We have a pretty big homestand coming up, and we're gonna need all the people in the stands that we've got, especially when Albany comes to town. Speaking of which, did I mention that Albany is the most boring place to live in and I want school to start up again?

Disappointing Turnout

As if there wasn't anything else that could go wrong at the UMBC game, it turns out that the highly-touted UMBC dance team was not going to be performing at the BU game. I can only assume that the reason for this is the school's winter vacation -- only two of the dancers were in attendance. As you can see, they were indeed lovely young women, but it would have been nice to see the whole gang put on a show.

Funniest moment of the night: during the "Dress Like a Retriever" contest where little kids run down the court, put on oversized basketball jerseys and shorts, and try to score a basket, one little kid had a tough time with the shorts requirement. Poor kid began taking off his own pants in order to put on the basketball shorts, until the athletic department worker girl rushed over to stop him. High comedy.

Terriers Lose In The Worst Way Possible

Well, might as well get this out of the way. Just got back from lovely Catonsville, MD,and the BU-UMBC game. We lost by one in overtime on a last-second shot. Go here to read the whole recap because quite frankly, I'm not ready to talk about it yet.

But I will give a few observations:

First, congrats to the Retrievers - they're a good team this year, they deserved to win this game, and they'll be a force to be reckoned with in March.

Playing ball for 10 minutes of a game and taking the other 30 minutes off is not going to win the game.

KG is unstoppable when they get him the ball! So get him the ball! Once we started doing that, we went on a 20-3 run. And then we couldn't get it to him at the end of regulation or in overtime.

Wolff did everything he could to jump-start the offense, including switching up the lineups until he got one that could score. He finally found one with 10 minutes left: KG, Wynn, Hassan, Gaffney and Geffen. But once they started scoring, he didn't take ANY of them out for the rest of the game. Geffen and Gaffney played well (Gaffney especially on the press, his specialty), but after they stalled I would have preferred Macon or Coblyn in there to shake things up again.

UMBC's only guys who could score, big men Housman and Zito, both had 4 fouls with 3 minutes left in regulation. Why were they still in the game when OT ended?! We should have continued attacking them until one or both fouled out. The game would have been over at that point.

It sucks to lose on a bad luck play like we did last night. With 4.1 seconds left and leading by 1, two of our defenders collided and fell to the floor, leaving a tall man wiiiiide open right under the basket. Shitty way to lose.

Props to Wynn-credible and Hassan the Assassin, who both came up huge as the final seconds ticked down. Wynn's driving runner at the end of regulation was ballsy, and Hassan's jumper with 7 seconds left in OT was so money.

Game Night Thread - BU vs. UMBC

Gonna go ahead and open up a thread for anyone listening in to the game and wants to discuss.

I'll also throw my prediction out there of BU-67, UMBC-55

Should be close in the first half, until the Terriers break away in the second half.

Go Terriers!

Chillin' Out, Maxin', Relaxin' All Cool

I've only attended one away game by myself, which was last year at Hartford. Well, it seems like thanks to uncontrollable circumstance (ahem, *cough*schwalbe*cough*bassotti*cough**) I will be flying solo at UMBC tonight.

To be honest, it's not bad at all. It's some alone time, some time to think about nothing but the game and to relax. Not having "Go BU!" or "De-fense!" chants to keep up with all the time. Not having old friends to catch up with during the game, since it's the first time you've seen them in a year -- yes it's nice to catch up with them, but we can save that for the bar! For forty minutes, I want to be consumed in Wolff, Hassan, Gardner and Wynn.

Looking forward to some relaxation tonight, baby.

Get Crunked

This is kind of a follow-up to the Holy Cross game, where this issue featured prominantly. The issue I'm talking about is that nearly every game, the Terriers come out flat, and have to struggle to get back into the game in the second half. I think it's only been two or three games where we've led at half time.

While we usually outplay our opponents in the second half, it's not always enough to overcome the first half deficit.

So why does this happen? Part of it has to do with preparation for the game. It seems that every half time, Coach Wolff gives one hell of a speech and comes up with a great strategy, leading us to play like a true college team in the second half.

So why doesn't this work for the first half? I'm sure Wolff gives them a pep talk and his strategy before every game, so maybe the players just need to get crunked up a little bit before each game.

At home games, we have the chance to give them a real home-field advantage. The bigger and louder the crowd, the more they'll get pumped up for the start of the game, and play with intensity right from the start. At away games, it will be harder (it'll be especially hard for Tall-boy in Baltimore tonight). I really saw no intensity in the first half Monday night, but when BU comes home for a short home stand, we should be able to give them a little help.

Don't forget to listen in to the game tonight.

UMBC Has A Nice "RAC"

Tomorrow I fight the Beltway traffic up toward Catonsville, MD, to the Retrievers Athletic Center (RAC) to catch the Boston University Terriers versus the University of Maryland at Baltimore County Retrievers. UMBC is one of the dwindling number of America East schools that I haven't visited for a basketball game (Stony Brook, Maine, and UNH are the others).

The BU-UMBC series has not exactly been one for the highlight reels - BU has won all 4 match-ups since UMBC joined the conference in 2003, and UMBC has never scored 60 points against BU. But this year could be different: UMBC has been one of the most surprising teams so far this season, and BU is not the dominant team of past years. UMBC is tied for the conference lead in wins with 5 (along with BU, Albany, Vermont, and Hartford), but the wins are over lowly Maryland-Eastern Shore, Stony Brook, Navy, William & Mary, and Delaware. So this will be a good test for both teams - both have shown promise, but neither has really asserted how good they can be.

OK, so all that stuff I just talked about, that's not really why I'm excited to go see BU play UMBC. If you were at the America East tournament last year, you undoubtedly noticed that UMBC leads the league in smokin' hot dance teams (I'm allowed to say that since BU's dance team didn't attend). I'm sure the Retriever-ettes (bitches?) haven't lost a step since last year.

A Heartbreaker

No other word can describe last nights game. It was a bonified heartbreaker in front of several BU fans who made the short drive. To see the Terriers down at half-time, as usual, then fight back for the lead throughout the entire second half, only to lose it in the last minutes broke my heart.

In the first half, I saw a sloppy, lazy offense combined with a gritty defense. There was very little movement when we had the ball, and no plays were developing. In the second half, we came out looking like a solid college basketball team. For the first 17 minutes of the second half, we outplayed Holy Cross. After that, the inexperience of our young team showed. We missed free throws and we turned the ball over.

Nonetheless, I was very impressed with the way our team looked in the second half. They played well as a team, with almost everyone fitting into their roles. KG and Omari really took over in the second half, after being completely shut down in the paint in the first half. KG and Gaffney had some pretty sweet steals, and Wynn and Macon made some sick moves.

All in all, a good performance in the second half, but we came out flat at the begining of the game, which is one of our biggest problems.

I'd also like to give #41 on Holy Cross the "most butt-ugly free throw I've ever seen" award. Picture a kid with rakes instead of arms, and that's what it was like.

Apparently They Had God On Their Side

Gosh, I wish we could have had that one. I'm starting to really hate Holy Cross. We dropped this one 57-55 in what sounded on the radio and from first-person accounts to be a very exciting game.

Some early thoughts--

Yea: Omari came up BIG again, with a career high 19. Adn he seemed to be clutch too, stepping up when we needed a bucket.

Nay: Corey gets only 5. He's part of the reason we had ZERO 3-pointers in the second half. We knew the 7-game double-digit streak wouldn't last forever, but I hope it's not long before he's back to form.

Yea: KG was solid again, and it sounded like Gaffney had a pretty good game (despite bricking the potential game-tying shot).

Nay: Eleven for 23 in free throws!! 48% is unacceptable, period. I feel like that is what cost us this game.

Yea: At least this one doesn't count. It's our last practice [read: non-conference] game before getting to the good stuff.

BU vs. Holy Cross - Game Night Thread

Game on tonight, and it would be nice to get a win to start off 2006! The Cross has been a decent team, but not outstanding.

Corey Hassan scored his second Rookie of the Week award this past week for his solid play in the Cable Car Classic - that's right where we want him heading into league play!

The High Roller will be giving us a first-person account of the game afterwards, which I'm sure will be filled with tales of debauchery and internation intrigue.

Thoughts on the game?

OK Now Hold That Position For 11 Weeks

December 30th could be a turning point in this Terriers season. On that day, way back to last year, Boston University made its first appearance on ESPN's Bracketology. This week, bracketologist Joe Lunardi has pegged BU for the 16 seed in the Oakland bracket - but we're playing #1 seed Villanova in Philadelphia before that (I'm so making that trip!!). That #16 is no surprise by the way, considering the putridity of most of the America East conference this year (no teams over .500!!). I'm just glad Lunardi doesn't have up destined for that 64 vs. 65 play-in game (yet!).

I say this is a turning point because for the first time, the young Terriers are being regarded by some of the so-called "experts" as the front-runners. Vermont can certainly also make a strong case for that status, as can Albany, who had been listed in every previous Bracketology this year. Albany's not-so-good losses to Sacred Heart, Harvard and in their grudge match against Siena helped elicit their fall.

The rest of the conference is chasing us now, and maybe that can help us elevate our game a notch or two.

Better say your prayers, Holy Cross

This year, we will finally beat Holy Cross. Not that we haven't before, but since I became a hardcore BU hoops fan, we've lost to them every year. Two years ago, we lost by a buzzer-beater (I believe?), and our good friend Ephraim the Retarded Rabbit nearly duked it out with a 90-year old man.

Last year, we lost to them in our embarrassing home opener(I believe?), not a great way to start our season. This year, the Holy Cross team that we are going to see is difficult to figure out. They were crushed by Harvard early in the season, then barely lost to Vermont, and just recently beat a sharp-looking Northeastern team (on paper, anyway). This pattern clearly shows an improving team, and with the momentum coming home with them after their impressive win in the dirty part of Boston, we are in for a real dogfight.

On the other hand, our Terriers are finding their stride, and the individual players are settling into their roles on the team. This will prove to be an exciting game from start to finish. I'm lucky enough to get to use Tall-boys car, so I'll be able to make it to the game, and I'll be there front and center to witness one BU's most exciting wins this season (I believe?).

Let's Hope These Resolutions Last Past January

Having almost fully recovered from the annual New Year's hangover, time to start thinking about 2006 and what will become the Year of the Terrier (I do think the High Roller is still down for the count though). I thought I'd chime in with what I feel should be some New Year's resolutions for Coach Wolff and the boys.

In 2006, BU basketball should resolve:

To not let men's basketball attendance to fall below 1000 (yes, that includes games at the Roof too). Anything less is totally unacceptable. This is more the Athletic Department's problem, but it should be a priority.

To get our future stars some more experience. Aside from Hassan, guys like Brendan Sullivan and Marques Johnson are going to be big down the line. I wish they could get more PT and experience now. Gaffney could use some more minutes too. Where will the minutes come from, and who do we take them away from? Eh, let Wolff figure that one out.

To be careful with Hobblin' Coblyn's gimpy ankles! Yes we need him badly to help KG and Big O in the middle, but he's another future star of ours and we don't need a nagging injury saddling him through February.

To refuse to lose any more games at home. We lost at home to Rhode Island and Michigan, which are understandable losses. But there is nobody left on our slate that should beat us there (yes that's the whole conference).

To help KG gain attention for a run at the America East Player of the Year. He's one of the most hard-working guys in the conference, he's the leader of the 05-06 Terriers, and he's putting up the biggest numbers of his career. With Jamar Wilson's Albany squad underperforming a bit so far and Hartford's Kenny Adeleke as Jamar's main challenger, there's an opening for KG to turn some heads. So get him the damn ball!

To win the conference championship and make it to the Big Dance. Duh.