The Tourney Experience - Part I

The America East Tournament is not just another tournament, it's an experience. To fully understand what it's all about, you really need to experience for yourself, but I'm going to try to give you a taste of what it's like.

Too late, you say? After the tragic (and somewhat traditional) ending to the Terriers season, I didn't have the strength to write about it. It was too depressing. Now, 6 1/2 months later, I've finally come to grips with what happened, and I feel comfortable writing about it. So for anyone who cares, here are my fuzzy memories from the tournament:

We arrived, as far as I can remember, in time for the two Friday night games, featuring the four weakest teams in our conference. Who were they, you ask? Well I ask you, who cares? It's not just that I don't remember, it's that the four teams hardly factored into the rest of the tournament, so who the hell cares?

We found our seats pretty quickly. It's not that hard when they're the absolute top row and as far into the corner as you can get. We didn't let that drag us down, though, since the arena was half full.

I honestly cannot remember any highlights from either of the two games, but anyone who was there that night will distinctly remember the UMBC pep band being truly amazing. Everyone loved them, especially the crazy tuba (?) player with the long hair.

After the game we hit up Hooters (I feel this is turning into a tradition if the tourney goes back to Binghamton any time soon). We were chatting it up with a Vermont fan who was there by himself, but after a few minutes of boredom we paid our bill and got the hell away from him before his backwoods lifestyle had a chance to rub off on us city boys.

It took us a while to find a liquor store, but we got our traditional bottle of Southern Comfort and swung by a supermarket for a 30-rack of Genessee for 8 bucks. Simple amazing. We rushed to "downtown" Binghamton so we could check in to our "hotel" before check-in hours ended. In other words, we made sure that we got into the parking garage before it closed.

We hit up a bar or two, then crashed for the night in the car. Even the sleeping bags weren't enough to keep us from freezing our asses off. That didn't bother us though, because the next day was what the entire weekend was really all about: four straight games of mediocre college basketball.


Check back for Part II of my extremely late recap of the Tourney Experience.

Terriers bailing on us

Well, it needs to be discussed.

Immediately following the Terriers' '04-'05 season, three players -- Tony Gaffney, Bryan Geffen and Brendan Sullivan -- announced that they were transferring out of the BU program. None of the three were considered HUGE losses. Sure, Gaffney is athletic and talented, but in two years was never able to come out and show it (except while defending on the full-court press). Many people (including myself) thought Geffen had steadily improved and brought us a more consistent offense than Brian Macon. And Sullivan, who was just a freshman at the time of his transfer, never truly got a chance to show what he could do. Taking into account Sullivan's and Gaffney's suspensions, the trio contributed a whopping 7.25 points per each Terriers game.

So by the numbers this wasn't a huge immediate loss. The common thread running through, however, was conflict with coach Dennis Wolff. Both Gaffney and Sullivan were suspended last season, presumably for team rules-type reasons. For the time being though, I was willing to wait and see if maybe we weren't better off without "cancers" in the clubhouse. [FYI - I do NOT know all of the circumstances surrounding these players' departures, nor I suspect do anyone who are not the parties involved, so I am making a big assumption in this case that the players are at fault for not abiding by Wolff's rules - I do not have any direct evidence for this.]

Then the bomb dropped.

In August, it was revealed that Corey Hassan, the Terriers' leading returning scorer and America East All-Rookie team selection (AKA the future of the program), would not return for his sophomore season. (This deserves, and likely will get, several blog posts of its own in the near future.) This would be a major blow to the program. He cited the fact that he did not enjoy "city life" as his reason for departure. I'm no mind-reader, but I don't quite buy what he's selling there. Hassan is a scorer when it comes down to it, and it's tough for someone like that to thrive in an extremely defense-focused system like Wolff's.

The question is, does Wolff's style rub his players the wrong way so much that it adversely affects the program? By all accounts, Wolff runs a tight ship and don't take no crap from nobody. It's his way or the highway - which means, shut up and play defense. If he can't keep his star players happy (like ones that start every game and have the green light to shoot every trip down the court despite being a freshman), who CAN he keep happy?? Maybe not even his own son!

As I mentioned in the comments section of a previous post, this is certain to remain one of the subplots to watch this season.

No swearing at BU games? F*ck that

The good news: the BU athletic program is making some national waves this fall!

The bad news: the reason is because the administration is a bunch of fun-hating language Nazis. Apparently, Boston University students have re-entered the 4th grade. From AP via ESPN:

Muzzled Terriers: BU outlaws swearing in stands

BOSTON -- Boston University fans had better watch their language.

Under a new campus policy, anyone caught swearing or taunting the opposing players with racist or sexist chants during games face ejection, and repeated offenders could even be banned.

Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore said the new rule followed a stream of complaints about students' behavior at hockey games, particularly their swearing. Even NCAA hockey officials, who have probably heard it all in their jobs, have complained, he said.

[...]

Some students weren't ready to believe it.

"That's terrible and an infringement on our freedom of speech," Kendall Lyons, an 18-year-old sophomore who said he often takes part in the chants, told The Boston Globe. "Sports won't be fun anymore."

Read a more in-depth article at the Boston Globe.

Now, obviously this rule is aimed at the hockey fans, and not so much the basketball fans. But I'm sure it applies at all BU sporting events. And since this will affect the BU basketball-watching experience, I'll go on record saying that the new rule sucks.

I'm well aware that the school would like to create a "family" atmosphere. But this is college sports. When it comes down to it, the games are for the students. The ESPN article mentions that the policy was modeled after similar rules at Ohio State and Wisconsin -- those two school have great reputations as tough places for opponents to play, so we're in good company. However, I've never heard anything truly egregious at a BU game when it comes to fan obscenity. The worst it gets is the "F*** em up" chant, which by now is an institution. This rule makes it that much harder to get into an opponent's head.

So to those hockey fans pissed off about the no swearing rule I challenge you this: Come to a BU basketball game. With things a little quieter, you can try your hand at some more nuanced jeers at the opponents. We've had fun at the expense of All-American Jameer Nelson, telling him he was "definitely only a second-rounder" and "have fun playing for the Raptors." Brandon Hunter of Ohio University (future Celtics draft pick) almost threatened the life of our friend Nick, and he didn'd utter one obscenity all game! Point is, come to a basketball game to taunt opponents in a nice, clean, family-appropriate way. That'll really piss off the politeness police.