Hartford 2010: Rolling 7's and 11's All Weekend

I've attended the quarterfinals and semifinals of 9 America East tournaments in a row. Not since the second one have I come home feeling happy.

Of course that streak stopped this year when we demolished the host team Hartford 87-46 and then upset the top-seed Stony Brook 70-63 in a tense and amazing game. Corey Lowe looked like the player we always thought he might be, scoring 26 in the first game and 24 in the second, while contributing great defense and being a floor leader. He was the unquestioned MVP of the first two rounds of the tournament. Now, we have a date with the Catmounters for a trip to the Dance.

So how did it all go down? You really should have been there to see for yourself. But if you weren't...

Friday

Due to late starts from work, the weekend got off to a rough start. Traffic and a 6+ hour drive from DC to CT will put anyone in a bad mood, even those embarking on a hoops pilgrimmage. Sadly, but somewhat fortunately for our situation, the Binghamton situation and the combined men's and women's tournament at the same location meant we didn't have to get up there in time for the Stony Brook Memorial Play-In Game. We were sapped by the time we got to CT at 1:30am, so we called it a night so we could be at full strength the next day.

Saturday

Breakfast was delicious at the lakehouse courtesy of our amazing hosts. Of course, we all had the America East Special - two eggs over easy with cheese plus bacon and a sliced bagel.

We got to UH's Parking Lot N early to begin the annual tailgate. I wonder why nobody else tailgates at the America East Tournament. The weather was gorgeous and the Hartford parking cops were very cool in casting a blind eye toward the Miller Lites. Last year, the Albany Times-Union asked us about it:

A few cars over, recent Boston University alumni Chip Weiskotten and Mark Bassotti, natives now living in Washington, D.C., had set up shop with a BU flag, a grill and a crockpot filled with chili.

Both were such fervent basketball fans that, when they arrived back home this weekend, their respective moms had cut out various newspaper clippings on the championships for them to read.

"I'll root for Albany," Bassotti said, "unless they're playing B.U."

With the car painted with "Go BU" slogans and AC/DC blaring from the speakers, we let the sweet aura of Miller overtake us. We chatted with whichever Vermont fans wanted to come over and say hi. And the folks from Cabot Cheese loved us because we chanted, "Cheddar! Cheddar!" every time we saw them. And boy did they deliver.

Eventually, we did get inside to watch some basketball. We saw Stony Brook TCB against last place Albany. Finally, it was show-time and BU took the floor against Hartford. Unfortunately, Hartford never really seemed to take the floor against BU. This was absolute annihilation.

Poor Hartford - the hometown fans never got a chance to cheer for much this weekend, other than their women's team. J.O.B. and Corey shone brightest for BU, with 28 and 26 points. We happily went off to find some dinner downtown and were delighted to find some nice microbrew at City Steam Brewery.

We did end up going back to the arena for about half of the other two games... but they left a bit to be desired. Neither was close, and Maine (who we wanted to win due to Maine being the home state of the lady) was clearly going to lose. Plus, we wanted to check out Mohegan Sun.

The Sun was farther away than anticipated. We got there sometime around midnight. But we finally made it and were determined to play a few rounds at the craps table before we had to leave. We wanted to teach Honorary BU Alum Britt the basics of craps, so four of us put in $20 each and decided to play until the first shooter crapped out. Shouldn't take too long, right?

Cut to 45 minutes later, and the same dude is still freaking shooting! This guy couldn't miss -- a lot like BU earlier in the day against Hartford! Finally, he rolls a 7 and craps out. So we leave the table and drive home at 1:30... a combined $1,000 richer!!!

As someone mentioned on our way out, "I think this might be BU's weekend..."

Sunday - To be continued...