A nice visit to our garbage-pickers

I wouldn't say that my trip down to Delaware was a total loss, but I can't see myself going back to that state any time in the near future.

I got to Newark in plenty of time for the game, but then got completely lost for about an hour and a half while trying to look for the Bob Carpenter Center. Apparently there are two of them, "Big Bob" and "Little Bob". I think I ended up seeing most of Delaware while trying to find the arena, even getting trapped in one of the biggest suburban neighborhoods I've ever seen for about a good half hour. The neighborhood also happened to have an Aids walk going on throughout the whole area, with all the roads lined with paper bags with candles inside them. And it went on for miles! It was so surreal, like something out of a David Lynch movie.

But back to basketball. I finally found the arena and got in after half-time, by which point we were down twenty points, and Hot Dog and Jesus had already run out of clever things to say about Delawares male cheerleaders. I think the best way to sum up the game is that after I got there, Delaware missed one shot the whole rest of the game. Or it seemed that way anyway. And we were layin' bricks like we'd just been hired to do the construction along Comm Ave. We lost, embarassingly, and I can' really think of anything positive to say about the game except it was good to see Tyler Morris back in uniform. And to see Ibe in his uniform (brown pants, tope shirt, tie, black shoes).

The Kicker? Turns out that if I had gotten off the highway one exit later and driven fifteen feet I'd have been the arena parking lot. You win again, Mapquest.

Today should be a much easier road trip as I head just down I-90 to UMass to see BU take on a scary Minuteman offense who toppled Syracuse earlier this year. They've got four scorers who average over ten points a game, including our old friend Etienne Brower. Tony Gaffney will be in action too. He's averaging over 20 minutes a game, with 5 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and 1.6 steals. I wish we still had these guys. Did I mention the team averages 85 points a game to our 60? Should be fun. And if we lose, so what? They're a bunch of minutemen anyway. Had to throw that in there somewhere.

I got a shiny new camera for Xmas so come back in a few days for some highlights of the game, assuming there will be any.

Road Trip

I'll be hitting the road in about an hour to drive down to Delaware to see Tyler Morris in action for the first time this season. This will probably be the furthest I've driven for a BU game, but the five hours each way should be worth it.

Assuming Tall-boy and I will be the only BU fans in the stands (do any of our players have family in Delaware?) we should be able to get seats right behind BU's bench.

Now Delware has already beaten Albany and Vermont, two of the powerhouses in our conference (is it too early to call UMBC a powerhouse? We'll have to wait to conference play to find out I guess). If Delaware manages to take care of business against us, then our conference truly is pathetic. Not that that's not already true.

Let's hope for a much more organized offense now that Tyler Morris is in charge. I'm so excited for his return, it's probably how Yankee's fans felt when Roger Clemens suited up for the second half of the season this past summer. And hopefully that's the only comparison I'll be able to make between the two of them.

Prediction: BU 72 - Delaware 65

Whisked away to.... Delaware

I hope everyone else as excited as me for the Terriers' upcoming visit to the great State of Delaware (best known as the home of Wilmington and several screen door factories) And this:



If you're going to be joining the High Roller and I at the game, try not to get laryngitis screaming at the horrific traffic and exorbitant tolls you'll pay for the 5 miles of road you actually drive on in the state, lest you be too hoarse to root for the Terriers at the game.

**HECKLING TIP** UDel just blew it in the I-AA national football championship, getting blown out by Appalachian State. Of course, it's I-AA, not I-A, and nobody gives a rat's ass. Oh I'm sorry, Football Championship Subdivision. Either way, winning the I-AA championship is like being the world's tallest midget. So Delaware is actually the world's second-tallest midget.

Before I make too much fun of The First State, I have to admit that Delaware does have one redeeming quality, and that's Dewey Beach. Over the past 2 summers, I have spent many days and nights which I can't remember at places like this and this and listening to awesome bands like this. Of course, you can't go there in December, so for now let's all agree that Delaware just plain sucks.

The Corey Lowe Show

Yes, indeed, Corey Lowe was the story of BU's routing of Yale with his 35 points. The final score was 76-67, and it seemed like every part of our game was on. Our shots were falling and there's weren't. Our 16 turnovers to their 21. We shot 53.2 % from the field, and if we can do that every game, we have a good chance of winning every game.

But though I had fun listening to the Terriers beat up on the Bulldogs, I thoroughly enjoyed just listening to the play by play commentator for Yale's student radio station.

I wouldn't say he had the boarist manners of a Yalie, but he did sound more awkward and nervous than a 12 year old boy with a date on the way to the movies in the back seat of his mom's minivan. It really was hilarious. Just for fun, here's a few quotes from the game:

"Corey Lowe has 6 points...on the game"

"His ball fake was so good that he walked with it..."

"...he's fouled there by Courtney Lowe..."

"At the half, the score is 20-36-28" (It was 38-26)

"That's the 6th team foul by the Bulldogs and the Terries are now in the bonus."

"...Bat Britton gets the rebound..."

"That's a career high now for...uh...jeez...um...Lowe"

The only thing that bothered me was his vexing habit of calling half court "the timeline". Now I've watched and listened to a lot of basketball, and i've never heard it called "the timeline". Maybe that's an acceptable term, I don't know, but it was pretty annoying. I mean, when the point guard crosses it, does he travel back in time? Does he have to set his clock back an hour?

Ok sorry about those jokes. Anyway, this commentator brought back memories of this future Trey Wingo:

Congrats Corey

Corey Lowe earned the honor of Player of the Week for the America East conference. He lead us to a win against Harvard with his double-double and 23 points, but frankly, the award could have just as easily gone to Carlos Strong. He's scored 20 points or more in the past three games. Let's see what these two can bring to the table tonight against Yale. But more importantly, who else will step up? These two can't be all of our scoring every game. Brittain almost always pitches in his share. I'm just waiting for John Holland to break out offensively.

Prediction: BU 70 - Yale 60

This is what Harvard gets for trying to take over Allston

Notice that I didn't write anything about Saturday's game against Bronx College. I mean, that was horrible. Everybody was juiced about Corey's return, there was a big crowd there for the double-header with the BU-BC hockey game... and the team went ahead and sharted out their worst performance of the season. The Jaspers are a team that we should beat. Poor High Roller was actually at the game, and even he didn't write anything - that's how bad it was. I asked him to take a few pictures and some video for the blog, but he told me he had to turn over all his film to the BPD's homicide unit after the game as evidence, because the Terriers got murdered.
(ba-dum, ching!)

So after a series of "Terriers looking for answers" articles in the Freep and a new round of questioning Coach Wolff's continued employment at the University, you might say it was nice to pound the snot out of some smaht kids. Wolffie got the best of Harvard coach Tommy Amaker once again, having beaten him twice while he was coaching Big Blue up in Ann Arbor.

Carlos Strong was lights out in the first half, finishing with 22 - over 20 points for the third straight game.

Corey Lowe got his first double-double of his career, with 10 boards to go along with those 23 points.

Scott Brittain crashed the offensive boards with authority after a half-time pep talk from Wolff, and finished with a career-high 18 points.

Marques Johnson was steady at the point - forget about his career-high 11 points.. gimme that 7 to 0 assist-to-turnover ratio any day.

You could tell there was a difference in the way Wolff ran the offense. Players were shooting only 10 or 15 seconds into a possession, as opposed to waiting until 30 seconds had gone by. On turnovers and defensive rebounds, Marques Johnson was pushing the ball up the court - BU ended up with 16 (SIXTEEN!) fast break points! That's got to be some kind of record for a Wolff-coached team.

All in all, you can't ask for much more. But the team should accept anything less, either. These guys need to be firing on all cylinders by the time conference season comes around, and this is the way to do it.

BU Offense Remember's How to Score Points

We did it! We won! We beat the nerds! Ok, it wasn't like we beat a premier team or even a significant mid-major, but it's a start. In a game where the refs felt they had to test their whistles every few seconds for fear that they might stop working (23 BU fouls to Harvards 21), the Terriers outscored the Crimson 79-72.

We can give most of credit for the win to 3 of our amazing sophmores: Corey Lowe - 23 points, Carlos Strong - 21 points, and Scott Britain - 18 points. Carlos Strong is definitely in the middle of his breakout season. He's fun to watch and he will be for the next 3 years.

Marques Johnson even got in on the action with 11 points.

Not sure why there were so many fouls, but since there were almost as many on the other team, I don't think it's something to worry about. And limiting our turnovers to 12 is certainly a large step in the right direction.

Still not a whole lot in terms of points from Wolff and Valdas, but they're putting in major minutes on the floor.

I was impressed at the way the offense ran tonight, it seemed to work fairly well. I hope it continues, because 60 points isn't going to be enough to pull off a win. Let's hope we can bring this momentum to Yale.