On to the Little Dance
With a resounding 76-56 thumping of Maine, the Terriers ended the 2009-10 season on a high note. That makes 5 out of 6 wins in February, the only loss coming in the final seconds against Vermont. What made this win more notable than the others is that it was the first of the year over a top-3 opponent. That is a nice hump to get over, and such a convincing win gives hope going into the tournament.
We finish at 17-12 and 11-5 in the America East Conference, which is good for 4th place. How does that compare with the season that got Dennis Wolff fired last year? Well, last year we were 17-12 and 11-5 in the conference, which was good for 3rd place. Scott Brittain was out this year, but Tyler Morris and Carlos Strong missed most of last year, and this year the guys are a year more experienced.
So on the surface, it doesn't look like the coaching change made any tangible year over year difference. However, DWolff wasn't fired for going 17-12 or 11-5. He was fired for going 0-1.
Will Coach Pat Chambers make his mark on this portion of the record? If that's how we judged Wolff, it's only fair we judge Chambers by the same standards. I think it's fair to say that Chambers will be feeling some heavy expections from Mike Lynch et al as he heads to his first America East tournament.
So who do we play? Well right now, it's uncertain. We are supposed to play Binghamton, who finished 5th place despite some crazy obstacles. But one more obstacle may be put Bing's way, namely a voluntary or involuntary absence from this year's tournament in Hartford. NY Times reporter Pete Thamel tweeted that "The America East and Binghamton are deciding if Bearcats should play in conference tournament."
This would be bullshit for us, especially since we dominated Binghamton by 40 last week, and it would leave us with the host team Hartford. Meanwhile, Vermont would move from getting a tough UNH team to getting the hapless UMBC Retrievers. This may all be resolved by the time you read this post, so no use getting worked up about it now. I am sure that Chambers & Co. are doing everything they can to prepare the Terriers for whichever team shows up at 2:30 on Saturday.
More on the tournament to come this week.
Labels: AD Mike Lynch, Binghamton, Carlos Strong, Coach Wolff, Hartford, injuries, Maine, Pat Chambers, Scott Brittain, tournament, Tyler Morris, UMBC, UNH, Vermont
posted by Tall-boy @ 4:59 PM
15 Comments:
According to the America East page we are playing Hartford.
Dennis Wolff got fired because he couldn't even make the conference tournament final in his last SIX seasons - despite being the pre-season favorite or co-favorite in FOUR of those years! Mike Lynch will NOT judge Chambers on what he does in this years tournament, after all - he's not playing with his kids!
NO, he is not playing with his kids...but most of you say how great these kids are. So once again, you cant say that then say they are not his kids.
Anyone who says these kids are "great" obviously have over-rated them. Regardless, if you look at these kids as "great", then it is obvious Wolff underachieved. If you look at these kids as "decent, but not great", Wolff did not do enough recruiting "great" players!
So then Chambers has not done as good of a job as wolff then correct? He had much worse injuries last year then this years team and had a better record if i recall correctly.
First off, their record is the same! Secondly, how can one even compare the two at this point?! These kids are NOT his..... whether you think these kids are "great", "decent", or "bad"! And let's not even discuss the difference between the two as far as marketing the team, interacting with the student body, band, and season ticket holders. Bottom line is that the person(s) who count made the right decision in FIRING Wolff......
That's the debate I was trying to stir up. Obviously Chamber is not getting fired (nor should he) if he loses in the first round. But it's interesting to compare this year with last year under almost identical circumstances.
Can't be identical when Chambers did NOT recruit these kids or even have them in his system for two years as Wolff did last year.
I give it 3 years and the people who made the decisions in firing Wolff will realize they made a mistake. Wolff built the program in the right way...yes the championships were not there, but you will see that shortly its not easy to do what Wolff did at BU. You have no support from the student body(which is marketing dept...god awful at BU)
BU absolutely did the right thing in firing DWolff. The program was mediocre, in a weak league, where BU should be top dogs giving the advantages in location, resources, academics, reputation etc. DWolff's program was boring and spinning its wheels. We won't know for sure about Chambers until he starts to coach his own guys. BTW, with Brittain, I have no doubt that Chambers would have accomplished more than DWolff. Brittain isn't a great player, but he was what was needed and could have made a BIG difference.
couldn't have said it any better. Wolff was a cartoon character that had players transferring on an annual basis, and was stuck in mediocrity in a terrible league. Chambers will dominate this league once he gets his own players in the program.
Please...your a joke. Wolff did a great job at BU. If anyone cant see that then they are blind. I keep pointing to this year...same team as last year, however didnt have strong and morris for almost the whole season. Wolff won more games. And dont tell me Brittain is more important then those 2 players.
hey dennis, stop posting as "anonymous"..... if you weren't such a Joke, you'd have a job! please post a blog next March, and the following March, and the following March, once Chambers has his own guys, not your losers!
Wolff was the worst coach. The team was torture to watch on the floor. His kid was even worse. Why the heck was he playing? Chambers has done good things already. We're crushing teams by 40 now that the kids are healthy. Also, look at the recruits on ESPN for next year. You will fall over in your seat that BU is getting these guys.
Most of you guys have not the slightest idea what you are talking about. How was Wolff a bad recruiter if he brought in a team that was voted to win the American East title for this year? If they win on Saturday, even tho he is no longer the coach there the credit should go to him. the reason they didnt win it last year was bc of the injuries to carlos and tyler(2starters)pat chambers was put in an excellent situation. a situation that no other new coach in the nation was heading into this year. do u really think coaches like calhoun and beheim give a fuck about school spirit and student support? no all they care about is winning games just like Wolff. Pat Chambers can dance around like a homo all he wants chanting lets go bu but wait till next year when the majority of the players on the team will be his. he wont nearly be as good as a recruiter as Wolff considering every single one of his recruits except one are from the same state and 3 of them from the same high school, a high school that isnt even a top one in the nation.
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