#5 Egregiously Omitted Summer Story: JOB has foot surgery

Poor Jake O'Brien can't catch a break... unless you mean a bone in his foot.

He's stuck with this BU program through a lot.  We forgave him for attending BC High and in the end accepted him as one of our own.  He was a Dennis Wolff guy, and after a fantastic freshman year almost transferred when Wolff was fired.  He didn't progress as much as we hoped under Pat Chambers, and was hurt for the second half of last year.  When BU made it's memorable title run, Jake was stuck sitting on the sidelines in a suit and tie. 

Sadly, that's where Jake will be as BU attempts to defend that title.  He's gone under the knife to have surgery to work on that foot again.

The team is going to miss Jake's leadership this year - if not for him sitting out, I'd have predicted BU to finish in first place. This definitely hurts our chances at a repeat.

But, he sounds committed to recovery and playing again next year, so here's hoping we can keep this success going another 2 years, and give JOB a chance to celebrate on the floor with his teammates.

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.

Winning With Integrity: The Binghamton Preview

I'll admit it: I circled this game as a win as soon as Tiki Mayben, DJ Rivera and the rest of the Cailfornia Penal League got kicked off the team over the summer. Wouldn't you have? Those guys represented like 90 percent of their returning talent. Yes they won the championship, but everyone who got them there is now gone, including smarmy coach Kevin Broadus. Old friend Dennis Wolff said, "I'm not sure they can win a game this year."

And here we are, January 14, and Binghamton has 7 wins and is an OT loss away from being undefeated in the league.

I delighted in those losers getting booted, as well as the crying of their annoying fans afterward, as much as anybody. However, it's somewhat gratifying and even inspiring that this rag-tag group of underachievers, even if they play for Binghamton, is putting together a run on their grit alone. We can learn something from this group; it's better to lose a few games and keep your integrity, than to sacrifice your values for a few wins.

That all said... let go down there and beat the shit out of them tonight.

BU Coaching Rumor Roundup: Masiello is just not that into you

Out of the three Louisville assistant coaches mentioned for the BU head coaching job, Steve Masiello is clearly the most qualified. Walter McCarty has been an assistant for only 2 years and Richard Pitino Jr. is younger than me - but Masiello has been doing this for about 8 years, and is Louisville's top assistant. He will be a very good coach some day.

After Dennis Wolff was fired, the Boston Globe's Mark Blaudschun reported that Masiello was on the early list, and that was published a few other places. Turns out though, even before Blauschun came out with his list, the local Louisville writer knew better. Rick Bozich wrote for the Louisville Courier-Journal:

Word I've gotten is that two U of L assistants (Walter McCarty and Richard Pitino) ARE interested and one (Steve Masiello) is not.

Masiello is the most experience coach in the group, but he's reportedly looking for a bigger opportunity.

You kidding me?? It doesn't get any bigger than BU baby!! Ok, so maybe it does get bigger than BU, and he will probably get one of those jobs. He could probably get something in the CAA/MAC/A-10/C-USA range as a first gig.

However, there aren't many of those jobs open this year, so he will probably be back at Louisville next year. If BU were to convince him to come to Beantown, it would be a major coup. But don't hold your breath Terrier fans.

BJ Bailey is still coming to BU

Great news out of New Jersey, as BU star recruit BJ Bailey has decided to honor his commitment to BU despite the firing of head coach Dennis Wolff. Michael McGarry of the Press of Atlantic City says it had a lot to do with 1) BU's academic rep and 2) Orlando Vandross.

The [firing] caused Bailey to rethink his decision. He decided to stay with Boston University primarily because of the school's excellent academic record, Spirit coach Jamie Gillespie said in an email Friday night.

Bailey also was happy that Terrier assistant Orlando Vandross has been offered the associate head coaching position on the new staff, according to Gillespie. Vandross was the Boston University coach that had the most contact with Bailey during the recruiting process.

Thank goodness for O. The article says he has been asked to remain as associate head coach on the new staff, and not just during the transition period -- new information? I wonder if that will make it harder to attract the best coaching candidate.

Anyway, this confirmation by one of our future stars can only be taken as good news. Now, we just hope that none of our current stars decide to hit the old dusty trail.

Wolff Fallout: Will "distraught" BJ Bailey still come to BU?

I don't write much about recruiting, but I do know that BU had signed a nice 6'4" guard out of New Jersey for next year by the name of BJ Bailey. Kid can light it up, leading his team to the South Jersey finals with 17.6 ppg. But now that the man who signed him has been fired (the same day as his HS career ended), BJ is reportedly "distraught" and rethinking his options:

"B.J. was pretty distraught (Wednesday night)," Gillespie said Thursday afternoon. "He was more or less wondering, 'What do I do.' We're just kind of evaluating things and seeing how it all shakes out."

Gillespie said the school has offered to allow Bailey out of his letter of intent, leaving him free to choose another college.

"If he's not going to be happy, (Boston University) doesn't want him going there," Gillespie said.

I couldn't find anything about Dan Munoz, our other announced signee, and his reaction to the Wolff firing.

Truthfully, I'm not optimistic. At this point, my first concern is keeping all of our current guys at BU. But Bailey was supposed to be a big part of our future as well, and losing him would hurt. If he decides to go elsewhere, the new coach will have almost no time to find new recruits for next year.

Did DW get a raw deal?

Boston Globe writer Mark Blauschun is a friend of Dennis Wolff's, so he's a pretty good guy to go to for quotes when nobody else can get in touch with him. Yesterday he reported that Wolff was "surprised but not stunned" by the firing. Today, he bothered Wolff at home long enough to get some more info, if you're interested in the former head coach's state of mind:

Meanwhile, Wolff was at home in Walpole, absorbing the firing and pondering his future.

"I was up all night thinking about it," said Wolff, who had four years remaining on a 10-year contract, which could cost BU as much as $1.2 million. "I enjoyed my time at BU and this was clearly not the way I would have liked to see my relationship end. But they think that someone else can do a better job. I hope for the kids' sake that everything works out."

I'm excited that BU is trying to move the basketball program and I think this will be a good thing on the whole, but a large part of me thinks DW got a raw deal. He did win games and titles, and even though this timing will make hiring a new coach easier, you'd think he could have had one more shot at a winner with his heralded junior class. The team was on an upswing with the best record in 4 years and 3rd place in the conference, and nobody had transferred in like 2 or 3 years!

However, Lynch made clear that 3rd place isn't going to cut it for BU in the America East, and in the end, that's a good thing. BU should be dominating. And it's not like Dennis won't have 1,200,000 ways to console himself.

I'm grateful Dennis Wolff ran a clean, honorable program without taking shortcuts. He recruited good students with good character. I would rather have that and 3rd place this year than what is going on over at Binghamton these days.

Wolff Was 2 Legit 2 Quit

ESPN.com's Andy Katz spoke with recently shit-canned BU head coach Dennis Wolff:

"Wolff said he was in New York recruiting and was called back to Boston to meet with administrators. Wolff said he was asked to resign. He refused and was let go."

Damn. Well, you can't call the guy a quitter.

Story mentions he's in the process of negotiating a buyout now. Said AD Mike Lynch, "This decision was not made quickly or easily. However, after a thorough analysis, I believe that a change in leadership is in the best interests of our men's basketball program."

Wolff won 247 games over 15 years at BU.

Holy shit: Dennis Wolff fired as BU's coach, sources say

If Fox Sports' Jeff Goodman is correct, BU has fired it's all-time winningest coach after his best season in four years:

Dennis Wolfff was fired as Boston University's head coach after his 15th season at the school, according to sources.

Wolff compiled a 247-197 record at Boston U., including a 17-13 mark this season. The Terriers lost in the quarterfinals of the America East tournament to UMBC.

Wolff has the most wins in school history. His best season at Boston was his third, when he led the Terriers to a 25-5 record and a 1997 NCAA tournament appearance. Boston also made the NCAA tourney in 2002 and the NIT for three straight seasons from 2003-2005.

The Terriers had three straight losing seasons before this one.

I am pretty speechless. I know he has many detractors amongst the fanbase, but I always assumed his job was pretty secure. His contract extension runs through the 2013-14 season, which is quite the pricey buyout.

My first impression is that I think he should have had at least one more shot with his current crop of juniors. Some players left, the team gets into ruts once in a while -- but it can't be denied that the man wins ballgames. He has a reputation as a defensive mastermind. Certainly some frequent commenters here should be pleased, and I'd be interested in their reaction.

Still shocked.

Tourney Time: UMBC, we comin for you

The Terriers seemed to be ending the regular season on a high note, then almost a disastrous note, then finally on a relieved note. But eventually, BU finished off the spunky Hawks of Hartford in OT and did not put all of their fans on suicide watch.

The highlight of this game was, obviously, The Rod. We here at BU Hoops Blog have been clamoring for The Rod all season long and especially when the injuries hit, but DWolff went for a miniscule rotation instead of adding Sherrod to it. It's gotta hurt when your coach would risk severe exhaustion and burnout of his stars just so he doesn't have to put you in the game. But The Rod proved him wrong with stellar play, subbing for the quickly injured Matt Wolff.

The latest reports say Matt has recovered from his concussion and is back to practice, but will Sherrod still play a part in the Terriers' first round game? Luckily, we're playing the only team with less depth than us.

UMBC beat Albany on Sunday and earned a date with us. This worked out really well in a lot of ways:

• We get to miss the host school, Albany, who even though they suck will have tons of people rooting for them.
• UMBC's aforementioned depth troubles.
• BU handled them twice already this year, even if one of the games went to 2OT.
  
• We avoid Stony Brook, who beat us already and is my pick for a big-time tourney upset.

As the #3 seed, things work out well except that we meet up with Vermont in the semis. But, in order to be the best, you have to beat the best - and I'd rather get a crack at them in Albany in front of a semi-neutral setting. I'd feel more comfortable at Binghamton in a final than at Vermont.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. I like the idea of knocking out the defending champs. Retrievers, you're up.

A Night at the Pelaggio

You know, I lied last night when I wrote that we really couldn't learn anything from the Maine game. We learned that Jeff Pelage is going to be a fun player to watch over the next 4 years.

I have to remind myself that this was against Maine, but JP (or "Busta" as the Burger Man calls him) put on a fine show last night. After he seemingly kept scoring 9 points and 8 rebounds every time he got decent minutes... he finally broke through to double digits in BOTH categories, resulting in his first career double-double: 10 pts, 12 rebounds. Not to be outdone, John Holland had a dub-dub with 20 and 10. Jake O'Brien had 18 and 9... falling obviously 1 board short. What's crazy is I specifically remember when Jake and John both had 9 rebounds, and one of the last defensive possessions they were in the game, a rebound came down and both grabbed it at the same time, but Jake was closer. I remember thinking, 'Nice, both freshman are gonna have double-doubles!' And then John just ripped the ball out of Jake's hands, and Jake kind of backed off. So John Holland literally took a double-double right out of JOB's hands. I guess that'll be a lesson to him about why he should be more aggressive on the boards.

But back to Pelage, and speaking of aggression on the boards... he was a lunatic out there when he saw a missed shot coming his way. On several occasions he knocked down other BU players when he grabbed a rebound. This happened to Scott Brittain and either Matt Wolff or JOB I think. It was awesome and hilarious. He would not be denied.

In all his interviews, DW says he just needs to work harder and it will just come to him. He could be a force inside if he puts his mind to it.

There's no place like home

There was yet another Freep column today about which building BU should play basketball inside of. The Hot Dog has established in the past that he is strictly in favor of Case Gym as the home for BU basketball. The guy who wrote yesterday's article, known to Freep.com readers only as "MEYER," is in favor of playing our home games at Harry Agganis Arena. I thought I'd weigh in.

First, the Hot Dog's case for Case stems mostly from the performance of the current and recent teams, in terms of winning percentage and shooting percentage. The reality is, those things are going to correct themselves back to the mean in time. There is no Agganis Curse, as Coach Wolff rightfully insists and I'm sure the HD knows this. But Hot Dog makes good points about practice time and comfort level on the Agganis floor that are valid - but I think those are things that will improve on their own over time as well. The Terriers won their fifth game at The Greek this year, and looked more comfortable than I have ever seen them play there in their win over Albany. They play the last game of the season there against Hartford, and I'm predicting the comfort level will continue to improve with each game.

I disagree with MEYER's original complaint that BU's "big deal" of a Bracketbuster game should have been played at Agganis; it would have been a big deal if it were a real Bracketbuster on TV, but it wasn't... and if we had gotten a TV game, I believe it would have been held at The Greek. But he/she makes good points about many teams having separate practice facilities, about The Roof being the smallest AE facility BY FAR, and about impressing recruits with our nice new arena.

Look, we are not filling up either gym. Attendance at Case is probably hovering somewhere around the 500 mark. While it's only marginally better at Agganis, it looks bad no matter where we play. Might as well give the fans a thrill by being lonely in a big-time arena.

And about the fans. Many fans are attached to The Roof, including me. They say it sounds louder in there because every is closer to the action. But they said the same thing when the hockey team moved from Walter Brown Arena to Agganis. And they were right to an extent, but I don't think anybody is complaining about it any more.

The bottom line is that if we have an A+ facility on campus, we should use it. Playing there more often should alleviate the comfort concerns of the players, and playing some lesser opponents there should get that winning percentage back on the right track. As far as attendance is concerned, it sucks right now no matter where we play. The only thing that can fix that is winning. And that has little to do with where we play the games.

Bracket Bluster: The Iona Preview

Today is BracketBuster Saturday. While Vermont is on The Deuce (do people still call it that?) playing in a real Bracketbuster against Buffalo, at the same time BU will be stuck inside Case Gym playing a sub-.500 team in a "Bracketbuster Pool game." Unfortunately this does not mean they're playing Marco Polo.

Back during our 8-game winning streak (R.I.P.) I got cocky and complained about the quality of our opponent, Iona College. Right now, Iona is 12-15, under .500 in conference play, and sitting in 6th place in the MAAC. Their RPI is languishing in the low 100's. Basically, they're not very good.

But let's get real, we're not busting anyone's bracket they way we're playing lately. I predicted before the season that we'd get stuck with some shitty MAAC team, and we are, just like usual.

What BU needs more than a better BB opponent is some wins and getting back to playing the way we were before. And some rest. The guys look tired.

Corey is mad from being benched against Stony Brook. We could have won the game if he played, but I'm pretty glad he got some rest anyway. I hope it lights a fire under his ass for the rest of the season. Last time he was benched, he came back to play the best ball of his life.

FCP says Wolff is planning to start Lowe against Iona, so everybody's back on good terms. Wolff also says he's planning to play all the starters their regular minutes. I suppose he wants to get them back into the flow of how we were playing before, but I can't say I wouldn't like to see quite a few minutes of Valdas, Pelage and --dare I say it?-- the Rod.

(Nah.... never happen)

Biggest game of the year?: The Vermont Preview

Here it is, the Big One - how this game isn't the Mid-Majority Game! Of! The! Night!, I have no idea. Seems like every year the "Biggest Game of the Year" playing up in Burlington in February. Just once, I want Vermont to finish in last so we have a different Biggest Game of the Year.

So this is our chance to finish in 1st place - if we lose this one, we'll lose all the tie-breakers and we'll have to hope Bing and Vermont lose to the lower echelon... which ain't happening.

Vermont beat us at home earlier this year, yes it's true. We were winning throughout the entire first half, then fell apart or ran out of gas in the second half. Vermont used a full-court press the whole game, and since Corey was brand new to running the point, it affected us. We had 14 turnovers in the game, and we haven't been coming close to that lately. You can also chalk a few of our misses up to the unfamiliar rims at The Greek.


I think tonight's game is different. Nobody is rolling like BU right now. Vermont is having some trouble at home, especially late in the game. Corey is far more used to running the show now - he's become a great facilitator and making great decisions about when to keep it himself. Holland and O'Brien are scoring like it's prom night.


Even Coach Wolff can't control his excitement. For several games now, he's been saying Corey has been playing as good as he's ever seen. And the Freep reported that after yesterday's practice, Wolff said John Holland looked like an NBA player during the workout. High praise from a man from whom praise is normally issued in teacups, not buckets.

A well-deserved break

The Terriers have been sleeping in their dorms for the past two days, and today they'll finally get back to practice after the most exhausting week I can imagine anyone ever having, except for maybe Michael Phelps circa August 2008.

The Terriers have won 4 in a row to stand atop the AE standings, the most impressive on paper being the blowout road win against Binghamton, who is also tied for 1st. But each of the wins stood out: the big comeback win at Maine, after being down by 18 in the first half; the deja vu game against UMBC only 2 days after the longest game in Boston history; and, of course, the longest game in Boston history.

When I planned my Boston trip this year, I wanted to combine it with several things:

• ** A 3-day weekend (thanks Marty!), which actually turned into a 4-day weekend in the DC area (thanks Barack!)
• ** A BU hockey game, which turned out to be a win over BC (thanks Kim for the front-row seats!)
• ** The AFC and NFC Championship weekend, which has turned into an annual ritual at T's Pub (I refuse to call it by the new name, despite the increased prices for the same mediocre food)
• ** A BU basketball game

Everything was working out in the planning, except that the hoops game was against Stony Brook. Don't get me wrong, I was excited about the prospect of seeing any BU basketball game, expecially at The Roof -- but having it be the Seawolves was a very "ehhhh"-inducing thought.

Obviously, I couldn't have been more delighted about how the game actually turned out.

Though I respect the current student section, we snagged front-row seats where we used to have the students -- Section 4, directly across from the BU bench. Truth be told, the majority of the game was sort of forgettable. I remember thinking at half-time, "Wow, this game is going so fast. I can't believe I came all this way for a BU-Stony Brook game and now it's almost over." Later, in the second half, Stony Brook kept chipping away at our league, and I started thinking, "Oh my God, we could lose to Stony Brook today."

Stony Brook actually took the lead briefly at the end of the second half, and after that everything was a blur. Scott Brittain made a spinning post move and got fouled on a critical possession in the final minute, and people started getting raucous. Then came the ridiculous buzzer-beater 3-pointer on the other side, which shut most people up but I was ecstatic because it meant that I didn't have to go home yet.

The next hour was filled with jumping out of my chair into the aisle every time John Holland or Corey Lowe made a huge 3-pointer, and slumping back into my seat every time Stony Brook answered. Holding my breath when Corey went coast-to-coast to tie it with 4 seconds left. Matt Wolff's rimmed-out half court heave at the second OT buzzer was a heart-in-the-throat moment. It's also when the ladies that accompanied our group started wondering when the damn game was going to be overwith.

When we were down by 5 in the second OT, I thought it was over but Corey put the entire team on his back and forced a fourth. When we were up by 7 in the fourth OT, I thought it was over but Stony Brook clawed back once again, and the girls got that Oh-God-Here-Comes-Number-Five look in their eyes. But a SBU put-back (which really should have gone in) rimmed out, and there was joy. BU wins, 99-97.

Corey decided during the overtimes that he was not letting BU lose the game. It was amazing to watch. John made some ridiculous rainbow 3-pointers. There was some fun jawing back and forth between Corey and the talented Stony Brook freshmen.

The game made national news, especially since Johnny played all 60-minutes. Bob Ryan was in the house, and you could tell he wanted the damn game to end, but he came out the next day with a good story in the Globe.

But what totally distinguished this extraordinary athletic event is that this wasn't merely your, pardon the expression, "ordinary" four-overtime game. This was one of the most competitive strings of overtimes any two teams have played.

Jeff Goodman of Fox Sports called up to interview John:

"I'm definitely a little tired," said Holland, who finished with 29 points and seven boards in the win. "It was a battle. I was just looking for ways to stay energetic and motivated."

Kyle Whelliston at Mid-Majority weighed in with the numerical implications of BU's recent extra sessions:

A lot of people sent this one in, and we'll get to another mailbag soon I promise once things get settled down again, but Boston University certainly has played its share of overtime games lately. Last night at the venerable and historic Roof, the Terriers outlasted America East champions UMBC in an 80-77 double-OT thriller-chiller. This game just three days after a four-overtime win over Stony Brook. John Holland played all 60 minutes!

Add in earlier OT wins over George Washington and Bucknell, and BU has played eight overtime periods this year. It probably doesn't surprise you to know that that leads the nation, but there are three previously tied teams with six: William & Mary, Idaho State and Bucknell. And there are the 129 squads that haven't played any extra periods at all.

Boston University has already tied last year's national high in overtime periods with about two months to go in the season -- Quinnipiac played eight of them in 2007-08. BU's next OT period would match the endurance kings of recent memory, the Indiana State Sycamores of 2005-06. They played nine extra frames.

ESPN Radio called after the game to talk to Coach Wolff, and I still haven't heard it since I don't have ESPN.com Insider. The game was mentioned at the end of SportsCenter and was a headline on ESPN.com's men's hoop page for a few days.

All said, this was the most intense basketball game I've ever been at. I'm really glad I didn't change the trip to Boston just because of Stony Brook. Everyone who was there will remember this one for a looooooong time.

But the Terriers forgot about it quickly and closed out the win with two wins after that, including 2 more OT's (ho-hum) against UMBC and the comeback in Maine. The team showed it could show some grit when the going got tough and win some close games. The most important thing now is keeping up that momentum and turning it into more wins. Right after the team wakes up from it's well-deserved rest.

Back To My Roots: The Binghamton Preview

Tough loss to take, last time out at The Greek. BU, and by BU I mean John Holland, played pretty well in the first half, building up a big lead. But at the end of the half, Vermont started doing full court press pretty much every time and it started working. They kept this up for the entire second half, and we had no answer.

The lead kept ssssssssssslipping away, and we were helpless. It was so obvious we were helpless against the press that when we were down 5, it felt like 25 and I knew there was no way we were coming back. Dennis Wolff called it "caving in" but I think they just ran out of gas.

The turning point, I believe, was the stoppage in play after Marqus Blakely stole the ball from Matt Wolff, Matt tried to grab it back, and then a pile-up ensued on the floor. Anybody else get the feeling that the game felt different before and after that play? I feel like several minutes of standing around got us out of any rhythm we may have been establishing.

But the real problem was handling the press. And here's the reason we couldn't handle the ball coming up the floor: WE HAD NO BALLHANDLERS. When you put 4 forwards out there with 1 guard, teams are going to take advantage.

So here's my plea for today's game in Bing: start Marques Johnson, and let him play. He can handle the rock.

Today I'm back in Boston for the first time in a year, for some kind of alumni weekend+football watching+general drunkenness. Unfortunately the Terriers are not in Boston. So I'm going to do the right thing and watch the game online in the GSU. You can purchase the video from Binghamton here, beware of homer announcers. Question: Does the GSU have free wireless for anyone, or am I going to have to go across to Espresso Royale?

Thanks for joining us, Mr. Brittain

BU's new look offense necessarily runs through the paint a lot more than the old one did. When you lose two of your best shooting guards, that's what happens.

That's why the re-emergence of Scott Brittain from the brink of obscurity couldn't have been timed more perfectly.


Scott had been a complete non-factor all season, after he started with his head injury. He scored a high of 3 points in the team's first 12 games. He played 7 minutes each in the humiliating losses to Delaware and Cornell. He didn't even get into the game during the humiliating loss to Holy Cross! Not only did the concussion slow him down from the start, but Coach wasn't happy with his effort/progress in practice which is why he wasn't getting any minutes. Coach said before the season that he was going to hardest on Scott out of anyone - he said that by the end of the season, he was going to either turn him into an All-Conference player, he was going to hate his coach's guts. For the first half of the season, I'm sure it was the latter.

But when TyLos went down, Scott was asked to step up out of necessity, and he responded. He played 26 minutes against Albany, scoring 10 points with 7 rebounds. He followed that with 15 points in the blowout of UNH. Maybe he's scoring more just because there are less options on the floor -- but he's looked a lot better out there... more agressive, less tentative.

How has this happened? Modern medicine still doesn't know everything about concussions. Although Scott was medically cleared to play after two games, he hasn't looked "right" until now. Maybe it just took him a full couple of months to clear his head. Or maybe Wolff's yelling at him in practice finally got through to him. Maybe he saw two of his teammates go down, see how bad they wish they were on the court, and realize he needs to make the most of his opportunity to be out there since he's able to play.

Whatever it is, keep it up Scotty!

Debut of the New Look Terriers: The Albany Preview

I was planning to do a recap review of the entire out-of-conference season, but any games played before today hardly even seem relevant anymore.

I know that the BU Athletic Dept still hasn't confirmed any injuries, or the fact that Corey won't play tonight, but I'm taking the Hot Dog at his word. The kid once transported a t-shirt 350 miles for me, for crying out loud. So assuming he's right, how do the events of *Black Thursday* change this team?

Short answer is: Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck... A slightly longer answer is: it will change the team a lot.

BU's bread-and-butter (when we were still making bread and butter at the beginning of the season) was always the perimeter game. Big time 3-point shooters. That's what opposing defenses focused on. Now, Corey Lowe is our only 3-point shooting guard. Yes, JH23 and JOB can go long-range, but they're are forwards, so they have other responsibilities too (ahem, rebounding, ahem...). And Corey isn't even playing tonight!!

Marques Johnson will be running the point from now on. Marques cannot shoot 3's with any regularity. Who else is there tonight? Sherrod Smith, Tunde, Sam Tully and Michael Schulze have a combined 2 career 3-pointers, both by Sherrod (who sports a .111 3FG%). Brendan Sullivan, not a guard but another walkon, at least has 5 in his career, albeit all during one magical night at Rider. Bottom line: We are not getting production from the 1 or the 2 positions tonight, unless one of the traditional starters (Holland or Matt Wolff) shifts over.

Probable starters, I'm guessing:
G Johnson
F Wolff
F Holland
F O'Brien
F Brittain (maybe Pelage?)

That's a big lineup - 4 forwards, 1 guard. This completely changes the offense into a post-oriented one. The emergence of JOB and Jeff Pelage, along with the leftover talent that we know Scott Brittain has (need ya know, buddy), makes that the strength of this team. Do we even have plays designed to get the ball into the post?!?!

For those wanting to see D'Wolff gone from the sideline, you'll get to see what kind of coaching mind he has tonight... for better or worse.


The High Roller is stuck at work and cannot blog, but weighed in on today's occurrences via text message. A few choice nuggets of wisdom:

• First off, im excited 2 c the rod get some decent time. I always like seeing him play
• I cant think of ne more positives. Thir is a horrible situation all around
• I still dont get why hes benching corey. If hes trying to make a point its not working
• Also I think marquez wil5 be a disaster

So there you have it. The High Roller has a knack for seeing the big picture, spelling errors or not.

And you know what? I'm so burnt out by all this stuff that I can't even thing about our opponent tonight, Albany. So no scouting report or anything. Just know that they lost their 3 or 4 best players from last year when we KNOCKED THEM OFF IN OVERTIME IN THE TOURNAMENT and so they've got a lot of new contributors. None of which I know much or anything about. Read what this guy has to say.

Anyway, it's still my job to root for the Terriers, so GO BU, and.... this should be interesting.

Wolff might sit Corey against Albany... but I don't believe it

The Albany Times-Union is reporting (via Albany message board Big Purple Fans) that Coach Wolff is considering benching Corey in tomorrow's game at Albany:

It will be a “game-time decision” whether Boston University junior guard Corey Lowe will play at the University at Albany on Thursday night, according to BU assistant sports information director Scott Ellis.

Boston U. head coach Dennis Wolff is thinking about sitting Lowe, the team’s leading scorer at 17.6 points per game, because he was ejected from the Terriers’ 19-point loss to Holy Cross last Friday. Lowe received two technicals, one for shoving a Holy Cross player and one for arguing with an official.

Couple things - I thought both fouls were for talking to the refs after questionable foul calls, not shoving anybody. And I don't think he was ejected, he just racked up 5 fouls including the T's, so he fouled out. Some conferences have a rule that if a player accumulates 2 technicals in a game, he must sit out the next game -- however, the America East does not have this rule.

I highly doubt Wolff will sit his best player for this very important game. The main reason for this is that I don't think he was that mad about it! After the second technical, which was given for almost nothing done on Corey's part, Wolff didn't even look mad - I think he was happy one of his players cared enough to get fired up. And after the first technical, Wolff was so ripshit about the call that he HIMSELF got T'd up for arguing it.

Here's what's going on: Opponents have been focusing on tightly defending Corey Lowe on the perimeter over the last few games, which is a big reason why he's been off his game and our 3-pt shooting has suffered. If Wolff can plant the seed of doubt that Corey might not play, that forces Albany's Coach Will Brown to create a whole new defensive gameplan, instead of devoting all their practice/scouting toward stopping Lowe. Why else would he have his S.I.D. just deliver that information to an Albany journalist?? I'm thinking Dennis is engaging in a little gamesmanship here.

Wolff has benched players before, so it's possible - but count me surprised if Corey doesn't play tomorrow.

Whose fault is it?

This team is bad right now and looks like it's getting worse... thank God we're not playing NJIT this week. I don't think this season is a lost cause by any stretch -- at this point last year, things looked even more hopeless before it got turned around.

But a change needs to happen, and with the first conference game coming up on Thursday NOW is the time for it to happen.

Whose fault is it when the team falls behind by double-digits during the opening 5 minutes in back-to-back blowout losses due to defense -- the coaches drawing up the scheme and doing the scouting, or the players out there executing (or not executing, as the case may be)?

Whose fault is it that players reach for loose balls and go after rebounds with the intensity of a basset hound rather than a hyperactive Boston terrier -- the young ADULTS who are getting paid (tuition) to exert effort toward winning ballgames, or the coaches who are paid actual money (and in BU's case, a hefty chunk of it) in return for motivating these individuals?

Whose fault is it that the same players, shots and playbook that delivered 83 points on the road against Northeastern, a very good team, could manage barely half that at home 1 month later against Holy Cross, a very poor team?

I'm not inside Dennis Wolff's head. Nor am I inside John Holland's, Tyler Morris's, Scott Brittain's or Matt Wolff's. So I don't know what the problem is. And since the team has been bad for a few weeks now, apparently neither do they. If they did I'm sure the situation would be rectified.

This team has the tools -- players and coaches -- to be good, maybe even great. Nobody's getting fired during this season, and nobody's transferring away. These are the guys we're going to win with or lose with this year.

The real question is -- when is someone going to decide that in the end it really doesn't matter whose fault it is, and just fix it?