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.

A Boost for Our Bench Scoring: The Maine Preview

I am currently watching Georgetown-Notre Dame on CBS, and they flashed a stat onscreen that caught my eye. It said that Georgetown is ranked #345 out of 347 D-I schools in bench scoring with 17 points per game, and Notre Dame is last in the nation at #347 out of 347 with 13.6 bench points per game.

I immediately called bullshit. As a Terrier fan, I know that absolutely NOBODY has worse bench production than us.

Basketball State doesn't show bench scoring, so I had to add this up myself. All told, even including 5 or 6 games at the beginning when John Holland was coming off the bench, BU non-starters only scored 290 points in 28 games - an average of 10.3 points per game. So SUCK IT CBS, I had no idea where you got that stat from. I'd love to know what they were talking about.

Things could change today, as it's Senior Day and all our senior bench guys will start, meaning we will have Jake O'Brien and John Holland coming off the bench. Here's how I see our starting lineup:

G Mike Schulze
G Tunde Agboola
F Sherrod Smith
F Valdas Sirutis
F Brendan Sullivan

Anything else would be a travesty. Lowe, Strong and Morris don't need to start this game. All 5 of those bench guys should get at least 4 minutes, since this game is essentially meaningless. It would be really awesome if Scott Brittain could suit up for this one too, but I don't see it happening.

So let's have these guys go out and win this Senior Day for Scott.

My Terrier Pet Peeve: The Delaware Preview

A couple things. First, that Binghamton game was the greatest. It seemed like Every Single Thing went right for the Terriers. Shots were falling, and we played amazing defense. Tyler, John, Jake and Carlos all shined. It's true that Binghamton was finishing a 4 game road trip, but it's still a team that almost beat us a month earlier. A 42 point win is a 42 in though. In the seniors' last game ever at Agganis, they finally proved once and for all that they could score there. Just a joy to watch.

Now, with only one more conference game left, we're locked into the #3 or #4 seed for the tournament. The #3 is wayyyyy better because we wouldn't have to play Stony Brook in the semifinals. So we have to root for Maine to lose one of their next 2 games, and then beat them in our last game. BOOOOOOO to Maine.

Now, I've got to get something off my chest. I love the Terriers, and they play a fun brand of basketball this year. But one thing really sticks in my craw: when the other team makes a bucket, it takes forever to get the ball inbounds. I'm not talking about if the other team is guarding us, it's just that it seems like the guy who's supposed to inbound it seems to forget he's has to inbound and is already running down the court. Then the point guard has to call someone back to inbound it.

I know, it doesn't really matter, but I hate it! It interrupts the flow of the game for me. Look for it next time you watch the Terriers. So note to the inbounders: Don't run down the court and forget to inbound!!

About today: it's BRACKETBUSTER SATURDAY! Or fake bracketbuster Saturday. Instead of a crappy MAAC team we got a crappy CAA team. But it's cool because Delaware is within driving distance for me. So I'll be among a small group of visiting Terrier fans today.

This game, in reality, doesn't really matter at all. The big one is next week. But we can at least use it to keep our momentum going. We're playing well now, we just need to continue that into the tournament.

To Be the Best You Gotta Beat the Best: The Vermont Preview

Tonight is a huge game for our Terriers. The last two wins... they were nice. It's important to take out the UNH's and the Albany's that are near the bottom of the conference.

But tonight, Vermont comes to town. This is a different story, because BU is 0-4 against the best 3 teams (Vermont, Maine, Stony Brook).

If we fail to pick off any of these teams, we're going to be stuck finishing in the middle of the pack. Depending on how we do over these last 4 games, we end the season as high as #2 or as low as #5.

Vermont killed us in the first matchup this year. We kept Blakely under wraps, but the rest of their guys were hitting every shot they took. Luckily, we are MONEY at The Greek lately. Five of the last six games there have been wins.

Should be a great game - and it's on TV! That means I'm braving the snow to make it to the bar! Go Terriers!

Back in Third Again: The Stony Brook Preview

That's twice we've played for first place, and came up short both times. Thankfully this one went a little better than against Vermont, but that doesn't change the fact that we are back in 3rd place again now.

BU didn't exactly play up to their abilities against Maine, but Maine's defense is legit. Most of the game was frustrating -- in fact I said during the game that it was the most frustrating one I've ever seen. However, the final 3 minutes in which BU forced its way back from 10 points down to tie it up with 5 seconds left ALMOST redeemed it. At least we showed some heart.

There was some serious bullshit with the time they put back on the clock after the last Maine timeout... but that's in the past - gotta move on. Proud of the Pelaggio - his layup to tie it was CLUTCH!

We play at Stony Brook tonight. Gonna be honest - not overly optimistic about this. We just haven't played well against the top teams in the conference. Number one priority: stick to that young man Brian Dougher like glue.

Halfway Home: The Maine Preview

How exciting is this! We're halfway through our conference schedule, and tonight we're playing for first place. Something odd though - the game isn't against Vermont, and it isn't against Albany or Binghamton. It's against Maine. That's right... terrible, basement-dwelling, joke of a team Maine. I know, I can't believe it either.

But right now, let's focus on the halfway through part. How did the first half go?

Well, we're playing for first place, so not too badly. We cleaned up against the crap teams, and we crapped the bed against the good ones. But in the words of the immortal Brian Johnson, 6-2 ain't a bad place to be.

The Story of the First Half: Coping With Injuries

Already without Scott Brittain and BJ Bailey, we lost Tyler Morris after the first AE game. At that point, many BU fans labeled the season a lost cause and were ready to write the season off. I publicly wondered who would run the point for BU.

Since then, the Terriers starters have pulled together and stepped up their game. And I've got two of them in mind in particular, and that's Corey Lowe and Carlos Strong. 'Los has really stepped up rebounding and on the defensive side of the ball, while still shooting 47% from 3 point range. And Corey has been all-around ridiculous; upping his points and assist numbers, while becoming a real leader on the floor.

The bench has been a problem all year, mainly because of those injury problems. But we're finally beginning to see a glimmer of hope (aka production) there, and from the unlikeliest of sources: Sherrod Smith (7 rebounds against UMBC!!!), Brendan Sullivan (5 rebounds against Binghamton!!), Tunde Agboola (shooting 67% for the year!!!) and yes even Mikey Schulze (a big '2' in the scoring column against UMBC).

What Can We Expect the Rest of the Year?

That all depends on how long our 4 main guys can keep up this pace. They are going to get TIRED. However, 5 of our final 9 are at home, so that helps.

It depends on whether the bench can continue to improve.

It depends on how good Tyler is, and to a lesser extent Brendan Sullivan, coming back from injury.

And it depends on how bad these 9 seniors want to finish out their careers on a good note.

My Prediction: Another 6-2, for a grand total of 14-4 and 2nd place.

I think the tired legs will make an impact at some point. But the experience and talent of the team will get it most of the way there.

It starts tonight in Maine. This is a team that is somehow good. They have a player, Gerald McLemore, who is maybe the next Corey Lowe in this league. And they've got some beefy guys who can patrol the paint. I'm hoping we can hold this one down, and be able to stand on top of the AE mountain for a few days.

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.

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.

Just Don't Get More Hurt: The Maine Preview

The Terriers have got two games left, both at home, but we may not know any more about our team before the tourney than we do right now.

One reason for this is that these two games are against the two worst teams in the conference. Tonight is Maine, and Saturday is Hartford. We have blown out both of these teams. The only way we'll learn something from these games is if we lose one of them. Maine and Hartford will meet in two weeks in the Stony Brook Invitational, at which Stony Brook will be conspicuously absent.

Secondly, we're hearing a little bit from the injury fairy these days. These are the first injuries since TyLos went down. Corey Lowe turned his ankle in the nice win over Iona, and it looked really bad when he left the gym on crutches. But he made a "miraculous" recovery and will start tonight. However, JOB turned his ankle in practice and will be a game time decision.

So my hopes for this game is no more injuries, a win and a John Holland triple-double. In that order.

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.

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.

1 game down, 6 more to go

I'm not so sure how our plan of regular tourney updates is going to work. We've only been through 1 game so far and we're all ridiculously hungover.

The drives here were long but uneventful - car bingo, mad libs, the like. We took care of some Sparks in the parking lot and settled into the FRONT ROW to watch the scintillating Stony Brook vs. Maine matchup. The BU team ended up sitting right near us. The game was a close one, so at least it wasn't to boring. Maine's #22 (Mark Socoby) was hitting from everywhere, including a banked 3-pointer to send it to OT. Ovetime was all Stony Brook though. The High Roller caught some good (and hilarious) footage in his Handycam.

Corey Lowe confided in us that he wanted Stony Brook to win the game. He was also pretty jealous of the red BU headband one of us was wearing, but turned us down when we offered him one.

Aside from winning the game, Stony Brook kicked Maine's ass when it came to fan spirit. We had a fun time with Wolfie, but the band and dancers were kind of lame (better than this guy though).

Then we went to our temporary home and played drunken Rock Band all night and then went out to some OK bars. Ended up stumbling home after the High Roller got kicked out of a bar because he wouldn't stop videotaping this dancing old guy who looked like Ric Flair. If we ever get the video online, you will see exactly what I mean.

OK, time to head out into the rain for our big tailgate!

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.

The Race for #2

As this America East conference season winds down, one team (UMBC) has distinguished itself as the clear leader, and three teams (UNH, Maine, Stony Brook) have distinguished themselves as trailing the pack. What remains in the middle is a muddled mess of teams fighting it out for the 2-6 seeds.

A quick look to the right sidebar reveals standings that look like this (as of 2/26):

2. Hartford (9-5)
3. Boston University (8-6)
4. Albany (8-6)
5. Binghamton (8-6)
6. Vermont (8-6)

The big prize for any of these teams is the #2 spot. Landing in this position means a date with the significantly less scary UNH, and more importantly avoids and of the other 2-6 teams until the Semi-Finals. For BU, the coveted #2 spot is still within reach, but they need some help.

BU will not sweep any of the teams in the top 6, so winning a tie-breaker is unlikely (and even if it weren't, who the hell knows what tie-breakers the AE has set up). So winning the spot outright is BU's best chance. Here's how it could happen (only meaningful games are listed):

Wed, Feb 27
Alb at Bing

Thu, Feb 28
Hart at BU
UVM at UNH

Sat, Mar 1
Bing at SBU

Sun, Mar 2
BU at Alb
Maine at UVM
UMBC at Hart

None of that seems terribly unreasonable - and it would only require one win by UNH/Maine/Stony Brook (either UNH or Maine beating Vermont... and UNH always plays Vermont tough at home). Those game results would create this final standing:

2. Boston University (10-6)
3. Hartford (9-7)
4. Albany (9-7)
5. Binghamton (9-7)
6. Vermont (9-7)

Not bad. We can't control what any of those other teams do, but it all starts with takin' care of bidness ourselves, and that means putting a whuppin on UHa tomorrow night.

Burger Man, Meet Mr. Holland

Let me tell you about Burger Man. Burger Man is a big-time BU fan, but you might say his fan-dom of the men's hoop team has lapsed a bit. He still follows the team from afar and is always up for watching a game, but maybe not as up to date on the intracacies of the team as if, say, he read this blog every day.

But I won't hold that against Burger Man.

Burger Man earned his stripes as a BU basketball fan, showing such spirit during college that he sometimes showed up to games looking like this:

I was delighted when Burger Man elected to join me at Porter's for the BU vs. Maine game on Wednesday (the bartender doesn't even hesitate anymore - he sees my BU shirt and immediately tunes the DirecTV to NESN). The last game Burger Man watched with me was really depressing, so he had been a little gunshy about bringing more bad luck to the Terriers.

"But they're a whole different team now than when you saw them shit the bed against Albany!" I told Burger Man. "And wait till you see this John Holland kid."

"Who?"

Clearly, something needed to be done about this. I told Burger Man that Johnny Holland was going to put on a show for him against Maine.
Annnnnnnnnnnnd, he did.

Within minutes, John-boy was dropping effortlessly 3-pointers and frustrating the Maine ball-handlers at the top of the zone defense. BY FAR, the most ridiculous stretch came near the middle of the 1st half. BU stole the ball on 4 straight Maine possessions, each time leading to a fast break - first for a Marques Johnson lay-up, then a missed 3-pointer, then a Carlos Strong dunk... and THEN what we were all waiting for: Johnny gets a steal and takes it the length of the floor for a jaw-dropping, thunderous dunk. I loved that 2 minutes of my life.

BU annihilated Maine - it wasn't even as close as the final score of 73-54. The outcome was never, ever in doubt. Burger Man and I were hoping to either double Maine's score OR stay ahead by 30... we did neither, but it didn't matter. John Holland and Co. put on a show for us, and we were thankful.

Happy Valentine's Day! I LOVE beating Vermont

The wins against UNH, Maine and Stony Brook were nice to build a little confidence. The destruction of Binghamton was a great game that proved we were ready to compete with anybody in the conference.

But this one just felt GOOD.

As a veteran of the Terrier-Catmounter Wars of 2002-04, watching them make the conference finals these past 3 years (and WINNING it the 2 years before that) has been torture. Ever since we made the tourney in 2002, they just always seem to be ever-so-slightly better than us.

That may still be true, and last night's 59-58 win is by no means equal to a conference championship, but it's really nice to walk into their house, out-play them for 40 minutes and prove that we still got some fight in us, even in what we thought was a down year.

The first half ended with a 4-point BU lead, and the story was defense. It seemed like BU stole the ball every other possession and pushed it up for a fast break. That's one thing I LOVE about this team... they're not afraid to run and they do it well.

Second half - remember how after the Binghamton game I wrote about the stepping on the throats thing? Yeah, not so much. BU pushed it out to a 14-point lead, which was great, but let Vermont claw back into it, culminating in the thrilling conclusion: what else, but Mike Trimboli missing a shot at the buzzer.

The Freep says it's BU's first one-point win since 2003. Winning this one, our fifth straight, against UVM made it that much sweeter.

Thanks for the Valentine, BU.

See you in Baltimore.

Great Brittain

I'll let the High Roller fill our readers in on the finer points of our experience in Boston last weekend (if he can remember any of them), but in the meantime there were two basketball games in the last week that merit mention.

The outcomes were different, and in each case the fortunes of the Terriers hinged on one Scott Brittain. At home against Vermont, Scott helped BU claim a 1 point lead at halftime, only to leave the game early in the second half with his 4th foul, allowing UVM to take command and we never recovered. Ibe went insane in the first half with 3 blocks, almost all in row - which really got the crowd going. John Holland had another really solid game, and Tyler looks like he's finally becoming himself again.

Highlights of this one included relentlessly heckling Vermont's #12 for airballing one shot and then -- I shit you not -- shooting over the shot clock on top of the basket when he was standing in the low block area of the paint. Worst shot I have ever seen in my life. One of their other guys airballed a free throw too, so we let him have it. It was fun to heckle Marqus Blakely too for his lame Mr. T haircut, but it wasn't as fun since he torched us for a double-double and rejected two BU dunks.

Fast forward to last Wednesday at Maine. This was one of BU's best games of the year. They never trailed, played great defense and won the turnover margin by a bunch. Holland, again, was fantastic, but the story was Scott. He went off for a career high 22 points. And the key? He didn't get whistled for his first foul until the last few minutes of the game. Scott really is our only offensive threat in the paint, so keeping him out of foul trouble needs to be a priority in the future.

BU got a nice surprise in the unexpected return of Corey Lowe - kid didn't even practice last week, and all of sudden shows up in Maine ready to ball. Surprised everyone, including the equipment manager, who didn't even bring Corey's #13 jersey on the trip. So, trooper that he is, Corey threw on the #14 and dropped in 7 points in limited minutes.

By the way, if you told me at the beginning of the year that in one game Carlos, Corey and Tyler would combine for 15 points and BU still won the game.... I would have punched you in the face and told you to never lie to me again.

Conference Prediction

I know conference play has already started, but I figure I'll let you guys know what I think's going to happen, because I know you all want to hear my opinion. These rankings are only for final conference record.

1. Vermont

I'm watching Vermont play Albany on TV right now, and it's clear to me that Vermont just plays better as a team. Marcus Blakely just stole the ball out of Hastings' hands in the backcourt and slammed it home. I hope that's youtubed.

2. Boston University

We actually have some big time-scorers on out team. We have to do well, right?

3. UMBC

I'm buying into the hype. Hodges, Barbosa, Proctor, and Johnson are scoring mad points.

4. Albany

They better figure out who their go-to guy is, and quick.

5. New Hampshire

Ended a 7 game losing streak by beating Albany, and they're neck and neck with UMBC right now. Who knows what that means, though.

6. Hartford

No real reason for chosing Hartford to finish sixth. It just feels right for me.

7. Maine

Should be able to end their 5 game losing streak when they start conference play against Stoney Brook. Should being the key word.

8 Binghamton

What a mess. Who knows what'll happen here, but it would be nice to see them make something out of this season. Wait, no it wouldn't.

9. Stoney Brook

You keep at it, Stony Brook.