:: Can You Believe We've Been Doing This Shit for Six Years Now? ::
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
A Joyful Ride Home from Rhody
What a turnaround for our guys. After the most heartbreaking loss on Friday, nobody could have blamed them for dragging a little through the rest of the weekend. Instead, even more inspired play resulted in hard-fought wins against Rhode Island and then Hofstra.
Credit the team leadership. Not just Coach Jones, but the captains. Matty Griffin shook off the end of the Cleveland State game to make some big threes, and Pat Hazel talked about sending a text to Coach after the loss to say, in effect, "We aight Coach. We got this."
DP scored over 20 points yet again - he is now tied for 7th in the country - and earned the AE Player of the Week award. Pat Hazel continued his new-found ferocity in the paint. And even though you could tell he was gassed from 3 games in 3 days, DJ ran circles around defenders.
Gotta feel good about this club right now.
Tonight, BU has a winnable game at home against the Dela-where Blue Hens. I'll let you in on a shameful secret though. Now, I ain't no do-gooder or nothin, but I have to miss tonight's game to be at an undisclosed charity function. Depending on how long it takes BU All-Access to archive the game video feed, I may have to sequester myself from all America East web sites, Twitter, and maybe even ESPN until I have a chance to watch the game - and who knows how long that will be. Even the New York Times or CNN could be off-limits, on the off-chance BU breaks historic records by scoring 200 points, or the game goes 9 overtimes or something.
So none of you jokers better email/tweet/call/comment/show up at my apt until you're sure I know the outcome!
Pat Hazel played an underrated role in BU's championship run last year. He doesn't put up big offensive numbers, but over the last half of the season he became a force in the middle of the defense. In the end, I guess he was accurately rated because he was awarded a spot on the AE All-Defensive Team.
But while Pat hasn't registered any blocks yet on the season, we've seen renewed vigor on the offensive side as he is scoring 7.5 points per game in the young season. One thing I noticed during the Northeastern game was some really solid inside moves and nifty footwork by Pat when he got the ball. This was against NU's very athletic and tall interior line. If Pat can keep showing aggression and using these moves to get to the basket, he could make an impact on offense this year.
The key with Pat, as always, is making sure he stays clear enough from foul trouble to continue being a factor.
We still don't know if Dom Morris is going to get around to utilizing his size to get inside (instead of chucking up 3-pointers over and overand over...). Cornell has some height on the interior, but they aren't athletic as the Northeastern or Texas front lines. This game should be a good test of whether we can be successful scoring with our bigs.
#4 Egregiously Omitted Summer Story: John Holland graduates
We've just said goodbye to one of the greatest Terriers to don the scarlet and white.
John Holland capped his career in the most satisfying way possible -- a legacy-redeeming run through the America East tournament, picking up the tourney's Most Outstanding Player award along the way, and sealing the championship with an individual performance that transcended anything I've ever experienced as a Terrier fan.
The second half of that championship game changed the way we'll think about John's career at BU and turned him from a hero into a legend. And as we all remember from The Sandlot: "Heroes get remembered... but legends never die."
Number 23 leaves as a 2,000-point scorer (over 2,200 in fact) and second to only Tunji in terms of greatness. Only Reggie Lewis had over 2,000 points, 700 rebounds and 200 steals in America East history. It'll be a while before we see another Terrier like John Holland.
Since his illustrious collegiate career concluded, John's been continuing to make headlines. Aside from the AE Player of the Year and AE Tournament Most Outstanding Player, John won all sorts of national and regional honors like AP All-American Honorable Mention and many others that I can't even name. He was invited to the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament for NBA draft scouts, and actually made a few waves and got mentioned as a possible second-rounder (though we know that didn't happen).
He played internationally for Puerto Rico in the FIBA Americas basketball tournament and played pretty well, scoring in double-digits in 3 of the 10 games. By the way, his dunks are just as exciting in Spanish - watch this coast-to-coast slam on someone's head:
Finally, John signed a contract to play professionally in France for Chorale Roanne Basket, and he's actually kicking serious ass over there. In his first 3 games, he has scored 14, 18 and 22 points. You can see his updated statistics here.
Not to mention, John was one of the nicest and polite people I met at Boston University, with a good head on his shoulders - he's going to go far.
Once I knew BU was hosting the AE championship, I knew I'd be sparing no expense to be there. I was in the house in 2002 (woo-hoo!) and 2003 (barf), and nothing short of a Lohan-style ankle bracelet was going to stop me from going this time.
So off I went -- with a quick stop at T's Pub for the pre-game tailgate where a couple of PBRs calmed the nerves. Being in The Greek for this game felt like an event. It wasn't sold out, but it felt like it. The crowd was buzzing, the bands and student sections were yelling back and forth, the bright ESPN lights were gleaming off the shiny hardwood floor. It felt like primetime.
I don't think I can adequately describe the game.
The first half made me want to cry. I think we had 3 points about 12 minutes into the game - something very sad like that. It picked up a little before the end of the half, but we still trailed 30-23 when the teams went into the locker rooms.
In need of a change of scenery and luck, I moved from my very adult-like seats halfway up the side at mid-court down to the rowdy students area behind the basket (no thanks to the fun-hating security guards who tried to stop me). For a while, nothing changed - Stony Brook went out to a 15 point lead and I sunk further into a Kafka-like depression.
Then he showed up.
John Holland -- 3-time AE First Teamer, AE Rookie of the Year, AE Player of the Year, future AE Tournament Most Outstanding Player, future BU Hall of Fame member, wearer of future BU Retired Number 23 -- decided it would be a good thing if we won the game and went to the Big Dance. He reeled of 14 points before anyone else on the court scored, over the course of about 6 minutes. I hope it goes down in BU lore as "The Six Minutes." They need to be remembered.
From there, it was a tight game, and Holland kept asserting himself. The last minute of the game, he drew a foul and sank two freebies to tie it up, forced a jump ball to give BU possession, then got fouled with 2.4 seconds left and sank two more. You know what happened next.
But going back to The Six Minutes. I have rewatched this section about 70,000 times on my DVR, and I get chills every time. Does anyone know how to upload a high-quality youtube of this - at least the 3 possessions in the middle that went three-pointer/ridiculous up-and-under/steal-and-breakaway?
.
John Holland wasn't going to be denied his trip to the Dance, and took it upon himself to carry the team on his back. In the process, he cemented his legacy at BU.
Terriers Clean Up at Awards Banquet (Not Literally, the Busboys Did That)
The "BU Hoops Mobile" (according to our drivers side rear window) made it into the Nutmeg State a little after midnight. That might be late for some, but not for the nocturnal Cousin Bob, in whose home we happen to be staying. So we settled in for a Bud Heavy or 3 to catch up on family business.
Today, the America East awards were released. BU did quite well:
- DJ Irving and Dom Morris made the All-Rookie team. I actually think DJ may have earned a shot at the Rookie of the Year award, which went to Vermont's Brian Voelkel (DJ played MUCH better in the two head-to-head games), but I was happy to see both DJ and Dom recognized. - Pat Hazel made the All-Defensive squad, a very nice honor for the league's top shot-blocker who had a really slow start to the year. - Darryl Partin made First Team All-AE, which came as quite a shock. But his offensive number show he deserves it, and he was really solid on the defensive end too. - And finally, and most impressively, John Holland came away with First Team All-AE and the Conference Player of the Year award. He deserved it, we all know he deserved it, and nobody should have been pretending the entire year that anyone else might have taken it. If not for Marqus Blakely, he should have earned it twice or even three times. Congrats to John on a tremendous and well-earned honor.
I cant even think of a single award BU was even slightly shafted on - DJ may have had an outside shot at ROY, but it probably ended up right. Coach Chambers would probably be the Number 2 Coach of the Year choice behind UVM's Mike Lonergan. Overall a good take by the Terriers.
And now, to get some shut-eye. Long day of drinking, tailgating, basketball watching and drinking ahead of us.
Fresh of the high of going to sleep a few benjamins richer, we awoke for another round of America East Specials. Our original plan was to get back to the arena by 11am to see the BU women play their semifinal game, however we could not get off our lazy butts in time... sorry ladies.
Let me say something: Of course I have nothing against women's basketball. I was quite the BU women's fan back in school. I don't even mind having the men's and women's tournament together, since I'm sure it saves everyone money. But not holding the men's semifinals until Sunday evening is insane. The combined format should preserve everything that was great about the men's tournament from years past.
Everyone in the conference in driving some major distance to get to the tournament. This year, half of our party couldn't wait for BU's 5pm game - which meant they drove 6 hours each way for 1 game. Taking away the Stony Brook Memorial Invitational Play-In Game on Friday night was bad enough... making the semifinals too late for many fans is unforgivable. Vermont fans had to drive 3.5 hours after their game ended at 10pm... good thing we don't have to worry about Maine ever making a semifinal!
America East: Please make this change for next year's tournament.
Back to this year's tournament. We had plenty of time to kill before our Sunday evening (I still can't believe that) game. There were brochures at the tournament's FanFest for something called Monster Mini-Golf that seemed interesting enough to waste a few hours on. Turns out it's an indoor arcade which is totally dark except for fluorescent things everywhere. It was kind of fun to play skee-ball and air hockey under black lights, but the real fun was on the putt-putt course. It actually looked really cool.
Finally, the time came to head back to watch BU - of course, not before more tailgating, more beer/Sparks, and more free Cabot cheese.
We were playing Stony Brook of course, the #1 seed that had beaten us soundly twice this season. That, combined with the fact that their cheering section was about 5x ours, meant we were going to have to be super loud. That worked for about a minute when the supposed "best player in the league" Muhammed El-Amin hit three straight 3-pointers to begin the game. The Terriers didn't lose hope though, as they quickly caught up, then ended the half on a ferocious 15-point run to end the half.
Play of the game: Towards the end of this run, the shot clock was running out and Corey had the ball near halfcourt. Instead of running toward the hoop, Corey just launched a 35-footer (no exaggeration) then found the hoop and the BU fans went apoplectic. That shot takes some large balls and was a huge momentum booster. The fans, the coaches, the bench and the players were pumped up to 11.
Halftime came and went, and then some of the air came out of everyone. Stony Brook immediately went on a 13-0 run, and we didn't score for over 5 minutes.
(Tangent: Dear BU Pep Band, can we stop the slow clap at the beginning of each half? Please? Nobody else joins in. And it gets real embarrassing/frustrating/annoying when it has to go on for 10 minutes including time-outs. Worse, it prevents anyone from starting any different cheers, specifically faster-paced ones that may be helpful in boosting energy in the fans and players, like D-FENSE. Can we maybe put a 2-minute time limit on it? Or at the very least end it after the first media time-out? PLEASE end this "tradition." Love, BU Hoops Blog.)
After we finally scored and the band mercifully stopped slow-clapping, the teams traded leads over the rest of the half. BU kept stalling though, and that's when Pat Chambers took matters into his own hands. He says he wasn't "trying" to get a Technical (wink, wink), but he got one anyway with about 6 mins left. The ensuing free throws left Stony Brook with a 53-48 lead. It fired everyone up though, and from then on it was BU making steals, getting rebounds and putbacks, making free throws and Corey with another big-time 3-pointer to take the lead.
BU won the game with defense. The "best player in the conference" disappeared down the stretch, and actually contributed 8 of SBU's 19 turnovers. And despite the non-stop trash talking and shoving by Tommy Brenton and Chris Martin, the Terriers kept their cool.
As the final seconds ticked down, the team started going crazy on the court and some of the fans came down to join. This group of seniors, which had never made it to the final game of the America East season, wasn't ready to be done yet.
There, I said it. I know I'm the only one who thinks so. But John Holland's importance to BU's program cannot be understated.
John's numbers speak for themselves. He leads the team in points, rebounds and minutes per game. He's the first Terrier to ever lead the America East in scoring with 19.8 points per game. His rebounding numbers are solid at 6.2 per game, good enough for 8th in the conference. He has an innate ability to get to the free throw line, where he is surprisingly amazing: 84.6%, best in the conference among players with significant minutes. He's the last BU player since Tunji Awojobi to score 500 points in consecutive seasons... and this year, he has a chance for 600. His field goal percentage is 47.1%, excellent for a guy who shoots from everywhere on the floor. His defense is better and better every year, and he averages 1.6 steals per game which is 4th in the conference.
Beyond the numbers, John possesses intangibles that make BU a winning team with a shot to go far in the postseason. He's the first to dive on the floor after a loose ball. He's as intense as they come during the game, but loose as a goose and a helluva nice guy off the court. After hearing former Coach Wolff talk about how John needed to step up his intensity in practices the last two years, all reports point to John responding to the call this year in practice.
I'm not here to compare John to Marqus Blakely, whom I know is a monster and has his usual monster season. All I know is that John Holland is deserving of the honor of America East Player of the Year.
For shits and giggles, here are the rest of my picks:
AE Player of the Year: John Holland, BU
AE Defensive Player of the Year: Marqus Blakely, Vermont (I'll throw him a bone here)
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??
The Terriers walk into their 11th and final non-conference game tonight on a three-game winning streak (a first!) and missing another body on their ever-shortening bench (sadly, not a first).
Against Mount St. Mary's, BU was shooting a hot rock at 56 percent. The main beneficiaries were John Holland, who threw down some of his patented slams, and Jake O'Brien, who earned the America East Player of the Week for the effort. Not to be overlooked were Corey Lowe's 9 assists. To me and many around us, though, the story of the game was the ridiculously quick whistles of the zebras. Both teams were called for fouls on seemingly every possession, which prevented the game from having any sort of flow at all. Refs, let 'em play!
But during the game, I noticed that BJ Bailey, our lone freshman, was not among the few in uniform on the bench nor the many in suits on the bench. His departure from the team was confirmed by some BU folks at halftime.
The highlight of the game was clearly this guy's hair:
Tonight, we catch Dayton, a team picked first in the Atlantic 14 conference and one that we saw play in Puerto Rico. They were damn good, despite the fact that they lost 2 games just like we did. Thing is, they beat Georgia Tech (which ended up pasting us in our last game). At least both teams' losses to K-State were comparable. They have one young man in particular, Chris Wright, who is quite good at basketball.
Even more impressive than Dayton's basketball players are its basketball fans. They were the biggest group of fans in San Juan, and I thought they were loud there; I can't imagine what it'll be like inside University of Dayton Arena tonight.
This is our last chance to make a splash in the non-conference and improve our RPI, but it's a tall order tonight.
There's a rule when you have a "basketblog" that you have to make end of the season picks and predictions. So fine let's get the boring ones out of the way.
1st Team All-Conference Marqus Blakely - Vermont John Holland - Boston U. Darryl Proctor - UMBC Corey Lowe - Boston U. DJ Rivera - Binghamton
Rookie of the Year Jake O'Brien - Boston U. Defensive Player of the Year Marques Cox - Stony Brook Coach of the Year Bill Herrion - New Hampshire Player of the Year Marqus Blakely - Vermont
The rest of them, 2nd/3rd team, All-Defense... eh, who has the time.
Here's how the tourney should go down: I don't care what anybody says, this is how I think it will shake out. Binghamton is a paper tiger - you can't win that many extremely close games without eventually losing one of them. BU over Vermont might be a stretch, but not if they are missing Mike Trimboli - who at last check is still "questionable" to play in the tournament.
OK, now for the important predictions.
1) First coach to get T'd up: Randy Monroe, UMBC 2) Least fans in attendance: Tie - BU and Maine 3) Bing player attracting the most heckling: Tiki Mayben 4) Average age of Vermont fans, including dance team: 67 5) Most likely to go to overtime: UNH-SBU 6) Biggest blowout: Hartford over Maine 7) Number of Sparks consumed by our group of 5: 13 8) Weather for our Sat morning tailgate: Rain, of course. 9) Minutes Matt Wolff is on the bench in Round 1: 6 10) Tournament MVP: John Holland, BU
There's nothing like inviting UNH to town, if you want to ditch that 5-game losing streak.
Thanks to the Mild Cats, BU is back on the right track after a 31-point thrashing in The Roof. We didn't seem to be suffering ill effects, at least for this game, from the absence of TyLos. And we got a glimpse of how Dennis plans to run the team for the rest of the year without them.
Sadly, the Rod will not be a large part of the plans. Neither will Tunde. However, the Rod got a good 4 minutes of burn against UNH -- 4th man off the bench!! He's been a player Wolff has thrown in to a game in years past when he gets REALLY pissed at guys 1-8 in the lineup, and I expect that to continue this year.
In other news, John Holland is a man. Probably my favorite thing in the world is watching him play tight D at the top of the zone, watching him tip a pass and chase it into the backcourt -- and for about 2.5 seconds being overcome by goosebumps knowing that John Holland is about to throw down a ferocious breakaway dunk. Nice feeling.
Johnny scored 25 in both games last week - the 25 in the loss to Albany was almost more impressive since he was missing Corey Lowe and was trying to carry the team across the finish line by himself. But both games served notice that JH23 is out of his slump and can go toe-to-toe with any player in America East. For his efforts, John was rewarded with his second America East Player of the Week, and I salute him.
It wasn't the blowout we were all hoping for, but last Saturday BU at least came away with a win against St. Peter's. Despite the final score, BU was clearly the better team all day long and was firmly in control. Two droughts, near the end of each half, allowed the score to get a little closer than it should have. But even a 5-point margin was a vacation compared to the full-on, Dennis-Wolff-vein-popping Cardiac specials provided by the first two overtime games.
BU has a winning record for the first time since the very beginning of last season when we were 1-0.
Johnny Holland went off for a "quiet" 26 (well, it seemed quiet to me, except for his thunderous alley-oop slam from Mr. Corey Lowe) in only 24 minutes. Someone remind me why he only got 24 minutes. This effort, combined with the one against Bucknell where he took over in OT, was enough for him to snatch the Co-Player of the Week award, his first of what I assume will be several this year. Corey had another good game, but again missed some key FTs down the stretch. Jake O'Brien had tough shooting night, which I guess we have to expect once in a while - but boy does he love to shoot when he gets the ball, whever he gets it. But Wolff doesn't mind, as he said after the game, "If he’s looking at the basket and his feet are set, I’ll be mad if he doesn’t shoot."
Finally, Scott Brittain returned to the active roster. He wasn't the unquestioned difference-maker right away - with 2 points in 11 mins - but that is our fault for expecting too much. It's obvious Wolff is easing him back into the rotation, totally understandable because you can't be too cautious with head injuries. Take your time Scott, and we know you're gonna come up huge for us down the road.
As for The Quest for 901, that went sadly unfulfilled. A paltry 600 settled into the Roof for its opener, well short of the half-enrollment of St. Peter's I was hoping for. We'll have to settle for one-third of their total enrollment. Maybe the Dec. 10 matchup against Yale in Case Gym will bring more luck, although I suspect they have an enrollment a bit larger than St. Peter's.
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)
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.
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?
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.
Faced with a chance for their first 3-game winning streak of the year, BU brought the hammer down on Stony Brook. Correction, make that Johnny Holland brought the hammer down on Stony Brook.
Kid turned in one of BU's best overall performances of the year last Saturday: 15 points, 14 boards... and oh yeah, no turnovers. Holland's performance in the game was overshadowed only by the fact that Matt Wolff got into a fight.
John Holland was rewarded for his effort with his second straight AE Rookie of the Week award and third overall (Matt Wolff, we can only assume, was rewarded for his effort with a cookie).
I have been pushing Johnny's candidacy for Rookie of the Year over at the AE message board, where most folks seem to think it's a two-horse race between UNH's Alvin Abreu and Hartford's Morgan Sabia. But let's look at the stats for conference games (which is when Holland started taking minutes from Wolff):
Holland 12.3 ppg 7.3 rpg 12/18 a/to
Sabia 12.3 ppg 3.6 rpg 10/22 a/to
Abreu 12.2 ppg 4.2 rpg 21/24 a/to
If you ask me, it's a close contest but Holland wins it. Sabia is the conference's 3-point field goal percentage leader, but then why isn't that translating into more points - and for such a tall guy that's quite a low RPG. Abreu's high numbers come from playing almost all of his team's minutes, since they have nowhere else to turn.
