We Goin to the 'Chip

I wrote a long enjoyable blog post about the last day of the tourney on the plane just now. And then it got unceremoniously deleted. These were the highlights.

- It was a pleasure to watch Vermont lose. So many sad old people (their fans) reminded me of a nursing home.
- I praised Pat Hazel for ridiculous free throw shooting and general domination.
- Likewise, I praised Matt Griffin for his clutchness and declared his new nickname Matty Ice.
- I said I was so nervous watching BU beat Hartford that I shat out enough bricks to build the third Student Village tower.

That was the gist. So pumped for todays game against Stony Brook. The Greek will be rockin on The Deuce!

#Winning on Saturday (Duh)

The details of yesterday are a bit hazy after the tailgate. To paraphrase Rick James, four loko is a hell of a drug.

We missed the Albany-Stony Brook game, but the Binghamton-Vermont and Maine-Hartford were memorable and pretty good games. We spent the non-BU games vacillating between our neutral seats in the corner rooting for upsets, the beer garden for pretty reasonable $5 beers, standing in the bathroom lines, looking for outlets to charge cell phones, and inexplicably buying America East Tournament tshirts.

Our search for matches led us to ask pretty much everyone in the AE FanFest tent for matches. Nobody smokes anymore! But we were saved by a TV technician (I think) who went and got them from his truck, leading me to drunkenly tweet, "HOT DOGS FOR EVERYONE!" For those who care, we also ended up going on a late night Mohegan Sun run, wandering around the casino in our BU jerseys looking for the craps tables. (We broke even.)

The punctuation mark on the day was the Hartford fans storming the court after their upset of... Maine. Freaking Maine?! I spoke with Kyle from Midmajoritywho was wondering afterwardhow the UHa students would top this if they got a win in the semifinals.

Which brings us to tonight's game, of course, when BU will try to prevent another court-storming and who knows, maybe burning the arena to the ground. BU took care of bidness against UNH in one of my favorite types of games: it was exciting throughout but I was never really worried about losing. BU held a single-digit lead the whole time. I haven't seen box scores but apparently JH23 led the team in scoring, which was great considering we were so worried about his health. Matt Griffin, Darryl and DJ all hit some bigtime shots in the second half.

I was really impressed with the BU fan showing - loud and fairly numerous. Props to the kids with the "Partin the Interruption" and "DJ's got me falling in love again" signs.

I talked to John Holland's pops during halftime, who said he thought his soon looked good and pretty healthy (and I respect his expert opinion). Couldn't believe how calm he is though! I feel like I'm way more worried about hoping his son makes an NCAA tourney than he is! Maybe he knows something I don't...

Tonight we take on the homestanding host Hartford Hawks. In last year's quarterfinals, we won by 41 points. They did beat us this year in this building earlier this year. But that was before we were the team we are now. I watched that game at Cornwalls in Kenmore Sq with WildBoyz, and it was the one where we had a huge lead that we let evaporate over the last 5 minutes. Something tells me the Terriers won't let that happen again.

First order of business: resume rainy tailgating.
Second order of business: go inside to root against Vermont.
Third order of business: watch BU kick some ass.

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The Road to H-Town

This year has sucked for BU basketball blogging. I shat the bed, the Hot Dog and Jesus folded up shop, and a few others dropped off as well. (Thank goodness for the Full Court Press.)

But that doesn't mean I can't rise like the phoenix to blog about Hartford 2011. I saw or heard every game this year, either in person, on TV at a bar, on internet video, on internet radio, or via an elaborate contraption I twice set up to record game audio when I wasn't home for the game. And frankly, what I've seen and heard has me EXTREMELY excited for single-elimination basketball this weekend.

The team, over the last month, has looked nothing short of great. John Holland took over the league. Darryl Partin helped him out. When John went down with an ankle, D.J. Irving stepped up and became an upperclassman out of thin air. The Terriers are the hottest team in the league and just beat Vermont without our best player.

We have a lot to look forward to this weekend. Watchable basketball. Beautiful, historic Hartford. Drunkenness. Hopefully a couple wins. Check back and I promise to update a few times.

Current drunk-scale=0

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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...

Broadus Interruptus: Bing Pulls Out

We're feeling pretty confident, pretty happy about our seeding situation and playing Binghamton this coming weekend at the tournament - after all, we just beat them by 40 points. But then....

...Binghamton finds a new way to embarrass itself. Just days before the tournament is set to begin, and after playing the entire regular season, they decide to sit out the tournament. WTF.

This is fine if Binghamton had finished 9th as expected. But they finished 5th, so it affects every single matchup this weekend! It eliminates the (Formerly) Stony Brook Invitational Play-In Game completely - am I getting a refund for the ticket package I bought that includes this game? Of course not.

The biggest swings of fortune happen to the BU and Vermont squads. Vermont should be playing #7 New Hampshire, a decent team that could get hot - instead, after Bing pulled their French military maneuver they'll play UMBC, the most hapless bunch of haps that ever happed. Meanwhile, instead of facing the team we just beat by 40, we play the team we lucked into a last second win over - and oh yeah, they happen to be the tournament's host team.

It's unfortunate, and I think the decision (whoever's it was - the league, the school, the state...) was wrong, especially for the players who stuck with the program. And BU came out on the bad end of it.

But at the end of the day, WE WILL PLAY WHOEVER STEPS ONTO THE COURT AT 2:30 ACROSS FROM US, dammit! We still have to win 3 games to survive.

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.

...And now back to 5th place

The only good thing to come out of Saturday's Stony Brook game was that we unexpectedly got two of our injured Terriers back in uniform, Tyler Morris and Brendan Sullivan. It didn't help us on the court, where we looked pretty awful.

The Fighting Popoko's got out to a 13-0 start and never looked back. I don't think we got closer than 6 or 7 for the rest of the game. So frustrating to watch. Each of their guys took turns making shots they shouldn't be making.

On our side, John Holland had one of his worst games he's ever had, and Corey wasn't pretty either. Our three turnovers to start the game (leaving us without a shot 3 minutes into the game) really set the tone.

So my 6-2 prediction for the second half... not looking too pretty right now. We'd have to win our final 6 to make that happen. We're behind freakin Binghamton, and tied in the loss column with Hartford. Awful.

The only silver lining is that 5 of our last 6 are at home. I think we can win 5 of those 6 (counting Vermont at home as the loss), but of course nothing is guaranteed with this league and this team. One thing's for sure though, you can count us out of the race for the top seed -- I don't see Stony Brook losing 3 more games this year. That team is legit. I think #3 is probably our ceiling, though #4 more likely.

More depressing news is likely coming this afternoon when the Bracketbusters matchups are announced. Once again, we're not good enough to get a high-profile TV game (or even a medium-profile ESPN360 game!). There is little doubt that with our mediocre fortunes this year we'll be saddled with another terrible MAAC team. The only suspense left is which it will be.

I think we can rule out:
Iona (played them this year)
Marist (played them this year)
St. Peter's (previous Bracketbuster)
Manhattan (previous Bracketbuster)
Siena (too good and will get a TV game)
Fairfield (not a hosting team)
Niagara (not a hosting team)
Rider (not a hosting team)

This leaves the following possible schools:
Loyola
Canisius

Check back later to see which one of these fun opponents awaits.

Let's Avoid Unnecessary Nudity: The UMBC Preview

We play UMBC tonight. UMBC is unbearably awful. Like, really really bad. Like they make a bad team like Hartford look like... um, a good Hartford team (hard to believe those two schools competed for the AE title only 2 years ago... and we let them go on national television!!)

If we lose this game, I will streak around Nickerson Field naked at 2:00pm on Sunday, January 24, 2010. I am deadly serious about that. Hold me to it.

I don't even have anything else to say.

30 for 30

The depleted Terriers took care of bidness against lowly Hartford on Saturday, 84-70.

Most notable about the game was the 30-point performances from Corey Lowe and John Holland. Yeah, in the same game! We've never done that before. These two superstars scored exactly three-quarters of our total output. Relying so much on two guys is never a great idea, but thanks to our bench situation it may be necessary this year. We won't need 30 from both of them every time, but we'll need to have good performances.

Before the Hartford game, I did some research that said winning the game meant we should be cleaning up in the AE Tournament this year. I'll admit, it's a bit of a stretch. But check this out. Corey Lowe won the AE Player of the Week for his 28- and 31-point games this week, giving BU a total of three winners of the award so far this year (Jake O'Brien and Holland have already won it). The AE did this research on the other teams this decade that had three different players win AE Player of the Week in the same year:

Boston University (2009-10)
John Holland, Corey Lowe, Jake O'Brien

UMBC (2007-08)
Ray Barbosa, Jay Greene, Cavell Johnson, Darryl Proctor

Albany (2006-07)
Jason Siggers, Brent Wilson, Jamar Wilson

Albany (2005-06)
Lucious Jordan, Jason Siggers, Jamar Wilson, Kirsten Zoellner

Boston University (2001-02)
Chaz Carr, Jason Grochowalski, Matt Turner

Hofstra (2000-01)
Rick Apodaca, Roberto Gittens, Jason Hernandez, Norman Richardson

Every single one of those teams (except this year's BU Terriers, of course) won the America East that year and went to the Big Dance. OK come on, surely that has got to mean something, RIGHT??

Playing for our tournament lives: The Hartford Preview

First, let me say that I was extremely excited about the win over UNH on Thursday. I was pretty down about the team's chances on the road. Thankfully UNH forgot how to shoot a basketball, and thankfully Corey Lowe put the team on his back and gave them a piggy-back ride to the win.

Jake and John had tough games - but you could tell the team was making a conscious effort to bring the ball into the paint, and not jack up another school record for 3-point attempts. We only tried 10, instead of 37 against Stony Brook. This time it was UNH making that mistake, going 4-31 out there (!) on their way to sub-30% shooting overall.

Today the Terriers travel to the location of this year's America East Tournament (Hartford 2010!!) to take on the Hawks. This is like the opposite of The Mighty Ducks: these Hawks are not good. That's not to say that we're going to win this game (anything is possible with the 2009-10 Terriers), but UHa is 2-12 with a 9 game losing streak. Draw your own conclusions.

Hopefully the Terriers will use their time to scout the place and make sure they are quite comfortable there when they return for the tourney. I hope they become experts on the Chase Family Arena. But how have we done in the past when scouting the tourney location?

Albany 09
1/8/09:
@ Albany 62, BU 61
Tourney:
UMBC 79, BU 75

Binghamton 08
1/6/08:
@Binghamton 69, BU 49
Tourney:
BU 68, Albany 64
Hartford 59, BU 52

Boston 07 (N/A)

Binghamton 06
2/14/06:
@Binghamton 74, BU 51
Tourney:
Vermont 64, BU 61

Binghamton 05
2/27/05:
@Binghamton 65, BU 48
Tourney:
Maine 47, BU 45

Boston 04 (N/A)

Boston 03 (N/A)

Northeastern 02
1/20/02:
BU 95, @Northeastern 88
Tourney:
BU 86, Northeastern 76
BU 63, Hartford 60
BU 66, Maine 40

So let's see here. We haven't won at the location of the AE Tournament during the regular season since 2002, when we won the whole damn thing. Clearly, the lesson here is that we need to take care of business today against Hartford, and everything will work out perfectly on the first and second weekends of March! Make it happen!

I wonder if Snooki will be there!!: The Marist Preview

BU was able to take care of bidness against Bucknell last weekend, which I'm quite grateful for. But I have a bone to pick with the BU Athletic Dept.

I was unable to watch the game live, so I waited until late Sunday night to watch the video archive of the game. I even avoided the outcome of the game all day. Problem was, every time I tried to play the game, I got "The media you have selected is currently unavailable." This was maddening, since the whole reason I knew it was OK to miss the game was because they put up archives of all the home game broadcasts.

I tried again at work the next day. "The media you have selected is currently unavailable."

I tried AGAIN at work on Tuesday, still avoiding knowing if BU won or lost: "The media you have selected is currently unavailable."

WTF, I'm paying for this service, am I not? I am a subscriber to BU All-Access. I have an All-Access Pass, dammit! This is like going to an Alice Cooper concert with a backstage pass, only to be denied before Alice ever has a chance to explain what Milli-wauke means.

Even now, the archive is still "currently unavailable," so I had to rely on written accounts and the box score. Sounds like JOB had a great game, Corey played pretty well coming off the bench, Holland had an off-night, and Carlos and BJ had some clutch points down the stretch.

After a week off, we play again today, and then have another long layoff for finals before the next game. These breaks come at a good time. Our short bench means guys are tired, and maybe this will allow some players like Valdas and Corey to get healthy.

The Terriers travel to Poughkeepsie, NY, to visit the Marist Red Foxes. Some of you may also know that Poughkeepsie is also home to "Snooki" a.k.a. "Snickers" from newest awful/great show on MTV, Jersey Shore. This is one of those car wreck TV shows where you know you should look away but you just can't. Snooki is an annoying, loud, overtanned shrimp of a girl who gets obnoxiously drunk the first night, and while doesn't deserve what she gets later in the season, this may be one of the most gratifying images ever:


OK, back to basketball. Today's game is against Marist, another team which we cannot lose to. Marist is currently 0-6, including a 14-point loss to UNH and a 37-point loss to Hartford. I repeat, we cannot lose this game to Marist.

Quarterfinal/Hangover Saturday

I love the Stony Brook Memorial Play-In Game on Friday night because you can get warmed up for the tournament weekend with a game you don't care about. Also, it presents a chance to overboard on the sauce and get a hangover that you'll regret until Selection Sunday. Such is the case today.

We got into town just in time to see Maine lose to Hartford. While I felt bad for Maine since they and their few fans in attendance since they all drove 9 hours, we were rooting for the Hawks because they brought dance team, cheerleaders, mascot and pep band - which makes for a better atmosphere the next day. And I think they have a better chance at beating the hated Bearcats.

Except for an exciting run at the end that brought them within 1 point, Maine never seemed real into the game. Note the guy on the sideline wearing a Snuggie:


I guess he wanted to read a book while still keeping warm.

After the game we took over a corner of Sutter's, which is conveniently located just steps from the campus, and proceeded to stay there way too long. Luckily the people-watching improved dramatically once the drunk students started showing up. One Boston local saw all our shirts and came over to wish us luck tomorrow.

Off to our tailgate now - look for our BU flag flying high and say hello.

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.

The End of the Road: The Hartford Preview

The end of this season is a little bit anti-climactic. Today's game against Hartford at The Greek could not mean less. The 3 seed is locked up. Hartford is so bad that they are guaranteed to be a non-factor in the tournament. We beat them by like 30 last time.

The only thing that means anything today is that it's Senior Day. Today we say goodbye to 3 guys who will (hopefully) graduate and who will not put on the red and white beyond next weekend (plus whatever happens with post-season for us, if anything).

Sam Tully - I can honestly say I have never seen the kid play. He hasn't gotten into a game this year, but had a rebound last year as well as a steal. But today, he will get into today's game and make his family proud. Let's see if he can but the biscuit in the basket.

Marques Johnson - I like MJ. He's a good backup PG and pretty much does his part when he's asked to. He was never a scorer but always had a good A/TO ratio when he was in. I remember hearing rumors about him possibly wanting to transfer a couple years ago, and I'm glad he didn't. I'll have two great memories about MJ. One was the career game he had this year when he stepped in for the suspended Corey Lowe against Albany - he played all 40 minutes and came away with 7 points, 7 assists and 8 rebounds... and 0 turnovers. The other memory I'll have is when we went to to Holiday Classic at Madison Square Garden. We were taking the PATH train back to Hoboken after a tough OT loss to St. John's, and one of the train operators noticed our BU shirts. He told he us he had a nephew on the team - it was MJ's uncle. He told us how proud he was to have him playing ball up in Boston, and we told he we loved MJ.

Matt Wolff - Matt is probably the most controversial player we've had in our program. As the coach's son, he gets a lot of scrutiny. And since he doesn't score much, he catches a lot of flack for all the minutes he plays. After a very promising freshman year (ALLLL the way back in 2004-05), he had really bad luck with knee injuries. But since then, he has played in 60 straight games and has quietly been a solid player, whether anyone wants to admit it. For all the shit he has taken, I don't believe would have been as successful this year had Matt not been on the team.

Thanks for the memories, guys.

The Rest of the Best

With 5 games left in the conference season, the cream has risen to the top of the standings. It appears to be a 3-horse race now, between BU, Binghamton and Vermont. Everyone else is below .500. So how good is each team really, and what does the rest of the season hold for them? This is a blog, so I thought I'd spout off some uneducated opinions and homerism.

Boston University

In my mind, we are clearly the best team in America East. We have shown steady improvement since the beginning of the conference season, with no hiccups at all. Now we're just blowing everybody out. Does that mean we're amazingly consistent, or amazingly due for a hiccup very soon? Over the last few years, every time BU puts together a run and starts doing well enough to be mentioned in Bracketologies and Mid-Major polls, we lose a game and come back down to reality. So as a BU fan I'm constantly on edge about this when we start doing really well. This group is playing so well it's got me remarkable calm now though.

Corey and Johnny haven't been letting anybody get off this train, and until I see otherwise, I've got to believe it will continue.

Vermont

All season long I thought of Vermont as the powerhouse frontrunner. Way before the season started too. They have so many weapons. But we're starting to see chinks in the armor. They have lost twice at home and double- and triple-teams seem to be starting to work on Blakely. And most importantly, they don't seem like they are able to effectively close out games. Everyone thinks about the horrific/embarrassing loss to Binghamton last week, but the same thing happened to a lesser degree against Hartford 2 days ago, and only won by 8. And if Hartford wasn't so terrible they might have come all the way back. It's a bad weakness, and it's the opposite of what BU has been doing to opponents.

Binghamton

They are so erratic. It means they could easily put together 3 hot games and win the tournament, but it also means they can't sustain it for the whole conference season. They went 0-fer three point range (twice!) earlier this season, or they can shoot the lights out. They can put up a gawdawful first half up in Vermont... or they can put up an amazing second half in Vermont. When it comes down to it, this team didn't impress me at all when BU destroyed them on the road earlier this year. We shut down their best player DJ Rivera, and they had nothing else. So until I see better (and they'll get a chance to prove it this Saturday), I don't think they have the horses (or the consistency) to finish in first place.

Mascot issues

Lots of pixels lately on the interwebs about the America East mascots for some reason. America Least decided to do a Mascot Bracketology, and the Hot Dog wrote up his own rankings of the mascots. Hot Dog obviously placed Rhett the Terriers as the #1 mascot, and the America Least brackets have yet to play out.

But as big a fan as I am, I have a bone to pick with Rhett. I attended my one and only BU home game a couple weeks ago (you may remember it... it went 4 overtimes). I had a young lady with me who may not be the biggest basketball fan but is a huge fan of mascots. And Rhett the Terrier decided not to show up for that Monday night home game at the Roof!! All she wanted was a picture with Rhett. While I would have felt pity for the poor soul who had to endure four overtimes in that stuffy suit, it would have been nice to have a little entertainment in between periods for those of us who were excited to see Rhett.

We did a little investigating, and found out that the reason for Rhett's absence was that the athletic department for some reason didn't have access to the Rhett suit that night. Huh???

We were told that it was locked up in some inaccessible part of Agganis because of the hockey game TWO NIGHTS EARLIER or something. That's not even the worst part, get this: there are TWO different Rhett suits, and they couldn't get the other one either! The story on that is apparently it was somewhere in East Campus and nobody bothered to go get it. What was it doing in East Campus you might ask? Hell if I know, maybe walking around Myles dining hall or some other such non-athletic activity. Come on BU, these are really sad reasons not to have your mascot at a home basketball game.

The mascot impropriety doesn't stop there, however. Two days ago, BU had a game on ESPNU, and since we're not often on national TV, they bused down to Hartford with the cheerleaders, band and some fans, plus our lovable Rhett. Cool idea, right? Yeah, cool idea -- except I'm watching on TV and I almost spit out my Miller Lite:

RHETT THE TERRIER IS WALKING AROUND THE HARTFORD GYM IN A HOCKEY JERSEY.

What the shit? This is an outrage. This is worse than Rhett not showing up to a home game. Would Rhett ever prance around at a home BU hockey game dressed in a basketball jersey? No, he'd be laughed off the ice. BU fans who go to basketball games dressed in their hockey jersey have a special place in hell reserved for them. And not only does our mascot do that, but he does it at an AWAY game, on NATIONAL TV, for everyone else to see how pathetic it is.

Ugh. Come on, Rhett. Time to step up your game. The team needs you. The fans need you. I need you.

At least we know the BU Dance Team is still on top of things:

Halfway Home: The Hartford Preview

Terriers are back from their much-needed week off today, and they're on national TV! The question is, why?

We play Hartford today, and this year Hartford stinks so bad it's more like Fartford. The Hawks sit in last place at 2-6, while BU sits above everyone except Vermont right now. On paper, BU should dominate. But the guys can't rest on their laurels, whatever that means - this one smells like a trap game to me.

The Terriers are on a 4 game winning streak because of the effort they've been putting in every game. We know they are rested, but will they get off to a slow start? The effort level worries me - because while this team can be real good when they try hard, they can be real bad when they don't.

This also represents the halfway mark of the conference season. After this game, BU will have played every team at least once. If you told me at the beginning of the year they would have the chance to play for a record of 6-2, I would have been happy. If you told me that at the beginning of the conference season after we lost TyLos, I would have been ecstatic.

The Better Belding

When it comes to the America East conference schedule, which came out yesterday, I think of it like Mr. Belding. Do you remember when he wanted to take the gang on their Senior Class Trip to Yosemite for a lovely, but slightly boring and predictable, nature outing? But then his brother the substitute teacher, Rod Belding, swooped in with the more exciting prospect of whitewater rafting, leaving Mr. Belding to sadly toss his Yosemite brochures in the trash.

Every year, the non-conference schedule swoops in, tempting us with fun exciting games like Notre Dame and UMass and GW. But where's that non-conference schedule gonna be when the end of the year comes and BU wants to try to make the Big Dance? That's right: taking off with some stewardess who's only in town for the weekend.

And that's when we'll realize who's been there with us the whole time - the predictable and slightly boring games with Maine, Binghamton and Stony Brook. The long, flowing golden locks of GW and the chiseled jaw of Marshall are not taking us whitewater rafting to the postseason... it's going to be the balding, paunchy Hartford's and Albany's.

To paraphrase, it may not be the most exciting schedule, but yesterday we got the better schedule.

Thu 1/8 - @ Albany
Sun 1/11 - vs. New Hampshire
Wed 1/14 - vs. Vermont
Sat 1/17 - @ Binghamton
Mon 1/19 - vs. Stony Brook
Thu 1/22 - vs. UMBC
Sun 1/25 - @ Maine
Sat 1/31 - @ Hartford
Mon 2/2 - @ UMBC
Thu 2/5 - vs. Albany
Sat 2/7 - @ New Hampshire
Wed 2/11 - @ Vermont
Sat 2/14 - vs. Binghamton
Wed 2/18 - @ Stony Brook
Sat 2/21 - vs. Bracketbuster TBA
Thu 2/26 - vs. Maine
Sun 3/1 - vs. Hartford

We found out which AE games are going to be held in The Greek too: Vermont on 1/14, Albany on 2/5, and Hartford on 3/1 (along with GW, Marshall, Holy Cross and the Bracketbuster). Vermont and Albany are no-brainers, as the dominant forces in the conference over the past few years. To me, Hartford is a mild upset - I thought they would give UMBC some respect for winning it all last year. But it'll be cool because the Hartford game is Senior Night - hopefully a starting lineup consisting of Matt Wolff, Marques Johnson and someone named Sam Tully can fill the Arena.

For Your Consideration: Corey Lowe and John Holland

It's been said before, but let me say it again: LoweHolland08.

The America East end of the season awards are announced at the tournament banquet tomorrow. BU has two players who, if they aren't awarded... well, they might make Ocean's 14 about that robbery. The coaches vote on this, so fellas - don't screw this up.

Corey Lowe... for First Team All-America East
For the first half of the season, Corey was all we had. He did everything he could to put the team on his back and carry them across the finish line. The frustration definitely showed at times - the road trip he missed, the transfer rumors. But in the end, Corey showed how important he is to the program. The emergence of Holland during the conference season may have lightened the load on Corey, but he responded by being even better than before - he kept putting up the points, but his assist numbers went way up. With Tyler having a tough season with injuries, he became a leader on the floor. We have no illusions here - nobody is knocking Marqus Blakely off the AE Player of the Year pedestal this year. But Corey is truly among the best three players in the conference, and deserving of this honor.

The facts:
18.5 points per game (#2 in the conference)
3.42 assists per game (#7 in the conference)
3.79 3-pointers per game (#1 in the conference)


John Holland... for America East Rookie of the Year AND Third Team All-America East
It wasn't until the conference season began that Johnny began getting major minutes on the floor. His accomplishments have been well documented here and elsewhere. He was the only freshman to prove that he can truly dominate a game, capped off by his otherworldly performance at "Senior" Night against Hartford. It was no coincidence that Johnny's emergence came right at the moment that BU started to win games, winning 8 of the final 10 games of the season. He just finished the regular season with the last 5 AE Rookie of the Week awards. His stats are WAY ahead of Blakely's during Blakely's freshman year last year. Marqus is clearly dominant now, but their games are similar... except Johnny's got a jump shot. John Holland is a force to be reckoned with in the next 3 years, and should easily become BU's second consecutive Rookie of the Year. In my mind he's also one of the best 15 players in the league, and deserves the coaches' votes for 3rd Team All-AE.

The facts:
11.5 points per game (#2 among rookies)... 15.5 in AE play (#1)
4.9 rebounds per game (#2 among rookies)... 6.8 in AE play (#1)
1.57 steals per game (#1 among rookies)... 2.13 in AE play (#1)

First look at the bracket matchups

Yes, the official bracket came out two days ago, and if you follow the America East enough to actually visit this blog, then this is probably not your "first look" at the bracket. But here it is anyway.


What you haven't seen yet is the BU Hoops Blog's thoughts on the first-round match-ups NOT involving BU (I know, it's outside of our area of expertise, but humor us). The parity in the league this year give this weekend the potential to be the most entertaining conference tournament in the nation.

The Stony Brook Invitational
#8 Stony Brook vs. #9 Maine

Jan. 6: @ Stony Brook 75, Maine 59
Feb. 23: Stony Brook 56, @ Maine 51

Stony Brook is wearing the home whites in the America East tournament, possibly for the first time ever. And they dominated Maine during the regular season, so things look good for the Mighty Seawolves. We make a point of driving to the Stony Brook Invitational Play-In Game every year to see what the Seawolves have in store for us. Last year, they rewarded us handsomely with buzzer-beating loss to Hartford after blowing a 20-point lead. Since the so-called "winner" of the SBIPIG goes on to get destroyed by #1 (except of course for that year when Stony Brook used their momentum from the game to beat one of the best BU squads ever...grrr), the REAL winner of the SBIPIG is whoever gets the drunkest. Let's see if we can defend our title.

Side note: This is the first tourney in 5 years we won't have the chance to heckle Popoko. Sad times indeed. Please read the High Roller's farewell letter to Popoko from last year's tournament. We will be on the lookout for new Stony Brook freshman who can fill Popoko's shoes for the next 4 years.

Quarterfinals
#1 UMBC vs. #8 Stony Brook/#9 Maine

Jan. 3: UMBC 76, @ Stony Brook 62
Feb. 6: @ UMBC 75, Stony Brook 63
OR
Jan. 12: Maine 77, @ UMBC 74
Feb. 28: UMBC 85, @ Maine 68

Based on regular season performance, we might expect to see Stony Brook sitting in this position, barely 12 hours removed from a SBIPIG victory. But it was MAINE that somehow beat UMBC at home this year! NASA scientists are still trying to figure that one out. You can bet that with all their weapons, UMBC will be ready for either one of them this time though.

Side note: I think it's kind of unfair that the winner of the SBIPIG has to face #1 so soon after that game. Let's break it down: The game ends at 9:00, and the next game starts at 12:00. That's 15 hours. You can take out:

30 mins getting dressed after the game.

1 hour traveling to and from the arena.

2 hours for dinner, breakfast and lunch.

45 mins for sex with team groupies.

1 hour for team showers (with or without groupies).

15 mins because someone is always late to the bus.

2 hours looking at film and preparing for a game against the toughest team in the league.

1.5 hours to warm up for the next game.
That leaves a grand total of six hours to rest and sleep and recover from a grueling 40 minute basketball game. I mean, I know #1 is supposed to get an advantage, but come on. I think it was Will Brown who was complaining last year about scheduling games too close together. Well, Willy B. never had to play with 6 hours of rest, did he?


#4 Vermont vs. #5 Binghamton

Jan. 3: @ Vermont 71, Binghamton 60
Feb. 6: Vermont 83, @ Binghamton 78

In my mind, this will be the most entertaining game of the day. On the Binghamton side, you've got coach Kevin Broadus coming off his hilarious 1-game suspension for fighting another coach - we'll see if he can keep his emotions in check. And on the Vermont side, you've got the best and most exciting player in the league in Marqus Blakely, who is more than happy to serve John Holland's only competition for the AE's best dunker. Unfortunately, Vermont is also the whiniest bunch of cry-babies since Jose Juan Barea. So get ready to see Mike Trimboli break out the water-works every time he gets called for a hand check on one of the Binghamton guards.

Side note: The cry-baby thing makes me thing of the game several years ago at The Roof when we bought a few packages of diapers and painted the No. 5 on them, and we waved them around and cried like babies every time Barea had a hissy-fit. Those were good times.

If the BU "Zoo" is reading this, you would be wise to take advantage of such a tactic. But please get rid of the pizza boxes. My god, those pizza boxes. Lame. Oh, and no storming the court on Saturday - you're in the #4/#5 game, and it's only the Quarterfinals.


#2 Hartford vs. #7 New Hampshire

Jan. 27: @ New Hampshire 74, Hartford 59
Feb. 17: @ Hartford 82, New Hampshire 63

This feels like a big opportunity for a nice upset. I kind of feel like Hartford is pretty weak for a #2 seed, and UNH has already shown that they can blow out the Hawks. Plus all the Albany and BU fans will be rooting for New Hampshire. Both of these teams will be chucking up 3's at an alarming rate - so depending on whether they go in the basket or not, this could be a really exciting game or an excruciating one.

Side note: It's hard to hate either one of these teams. Both have been hard luck losers for pretty much their entire time in the conference. They also always have among the least fans in attendance at the tournament (so get ready to hear a pin drop at this game). In past tournaments I have adopted these teams to root for since BU got knocked out so quickly. But I'm going to try my hardest to hate whichever one BU will face if we get by Albany.

We'll also get to see the 2nd and 3rd place finishers for Rookie of the Year (UNH's Alvin Abreu and Hartford's Morgan Sabia) face off, since John Holland wrapped up #1 last week with his fifth consecutive weekly award.