#6 Egregiously Omitted Summer Story: BU selected Pre-Season #1

It's ridiculous.  For the FIFTH straight year, the coaches of the America East have predicted that BU will finish in first place.  This despite three different BU coaches over that time period, and no actual first-place finishes in the standings.

So what is it that keeps these boneheads from being at all creative and picking someone else? 

We just lost our coach and the best player in the league BY FAR, and our inside-out matchup problem has to have foot surgery again.  Meanwhile Stony Brook comes back from a title game loss with nearly everything intact, plus pull in a great recruiting class, plus re-gain probable MVP candidate Tommy Brenton from knee surgery.

The pre-season polls don't mean anything really, except that it forces BU to continue to be seen as an underachieving program, which simply is not true.  BU has finished above .500 in 9 out of the last 10 years, and during that one exception we were 8-8.  The program has been consistently very good, but is judged a failure only because of the expectations set by some group of outsiders.

The poll ended up looking like this:

1. Boston U. (6) 62
2. Stony Brook (3) 56
3. Vermont 46
4. Albany 42
5. New Hampshire 39
6 Maine 32
T-7. Hartford 18
 UMBC 18
9. Binghamton 11

Are they doing this to intentionally set us up for failure?  I hope we end up winning the whole thing just to stick it to these damn coaches.

My 2010 Tourney Predictions: Hey, I'm an optimist

I'm about to leave for Hartford 2010 in literally 5 minutes. I thought I'd post my predictions here since I'm not sure when I'll get online next - I'll try to post a vid or two from Chase though.

I'm hoping the High Roller can weigh in with some fearless prognostications from the left coast.

Expectations and Predictions

Expectations are a funny thing. As fans we cheer for our team and talk trash about how we're better than other teams. But then sometimes, we are hesitant to predict big things from our team. Why? Because we don't want to "raise expectations."

And why don't we want to raise expectations? I guess because of some fans have this idea about how much enjoyment you can get out of it. If you expect to come in 1st, and you come in 3rd, you're disappointed. If you expect to come in 1st, and you come in 1st, you're merely satisfied. And if you expect to come in 3rd, and you come in 1st, you're ecstatic beyond your wildest dreams. These fans think you get more enjoyment out of coming in 1st if you're not expecting it, and they want to mitigate their disappointment in case they come in 3rd ("Well, this is how we expected to do..."). The same effect comes into play to a sickening degree at political debates.

In the case of players and coaches, they try to set expectations low for the same reasons, except it's job security instead of enjoyment.

Well, the players can do what they want, and the coaches can do what they want. But I'm not tempering my expectations. I expect us to win a game in Puerto Rico. I expect us to win 20 games. I expect us to have two players on the All-AE First Team. I expect us to win the America East this year and go to the NCAA Tournament. And I'm going to enjoy it all just as much as if I only expected us to finish in 8th place (Binghamton is the default 9th place).

These high expectations should be the same every year, for every team. They're the reason Dennis Wolff was fired. And I don't think Pat Chambers should get any leeway from them just because he's new! We have a group of great veterans who have proven themselves capable. This is their last shot - why wouldn't they expect to make it to the NCAA's themselves!

Coach Chambers, Tyler Morris and Carlos Strong have all recently talked about not looking ahead of the next practice or game in front of them, and not worrying about where they are at the end of the year as long as they are the best team they can be. That's a fine attitude to have in order to keep concentration on the day-to-day efforts at improving. But they're crazy if they don't have any goals or expectations for the entire season.

There is pressure involved in setting high expectations. But when you expect great things, sometimes you get great results.

* * *

Now, predictions are different that expectations, but for fans they can fall into the same trap as the expectations... forecasting lower results to minigate disappointment and be "pleasantly surprised" by success. Well, not me. I predict (and expect) that this group of seniors and this new coach will bring us a championship.

Others who don't care about our program one way or the other are unencumbered by the expectations game. So what do they think?

In short, they all have pretty high expectations for us. I haven't seen a publication yet (published post-Tiki) that doesn't have us winning the America East. So what about beyond that, in the NCAA tourney?

CBS Sports: #16 vs. Kentucky
ESPN Bracketology: Play-In Game vs. Jackson State (!)
Blogging the Bracket: #14 vs. West Virginia
FoxSports: #16 vs. West Virginia

That's a lot to live up to.

Media Day: Everybody Loves the Terriers!

For the third year in a row, the America East coaches have UNANIMOUSLY picked BU to finish #1 overall in the Preseason:

1. Boston U
2. Vermont
3. Albany
4. Stony Brook
5. New Hampshire
6t. Hartford
6t. UMBC
8. Maine
9. Binghamton

And we were well represented on the Preseason All-Conference Team:

Tim Ambrose, Jr., Albany
Marqus Blakely, Sr., Vermont
Muhammad El-Amin, Sr., Stony Brook
John Holland, Jr., Boston U.
Corey Lowe, Sr., Boston U.

Pat Chambers was "sick" (no really, Coach, we believe you...) and missed his first America East Media Day, so right-hand man Orlando Vandross ably stepped in to give soundbites of things we mostly knew already. Among them:

Chambers will bring a more exciting, Villanova style of play to BU

Carlos Strong and Tyler Morris are healthy and ready to go

BJ Bailey should emerge as a regular part of the rotation by conference play

It was mighty nice of the coaches to vote us #1, but we don't care

"There is a genuine excitement about our basketball program. We need to harness it."

Holy shit the season starts tomorrow, better get a preview in

It's the best day of the whole season: all the excitement and optimism of the upcoming months, before the drag of losses and injuries sets in. Today, we're undefeated. Today, we can all have visions of that magical George Mason/Davidson year that we still think is possible for us. Today, we can envision the huge crowds that will flock to Case and The Greek because the buzz is finally growing around this sure-to-be-special team. Today, we're so sure we're getting that autobid.

Well, that could all change tomorrow if we lose to GW of course. But let's not think about that.

This year's squad returns just about everybody of importance. Not that Ibe wasn't important, because we all know he changed my life as well as yours, but I mean of importance to the success of the team. We've still got our two-time All-AE performer, our HEALTHY 2007-08 AE Rookie of the Year, our reigning AE Rookie of the Year (plus reigning All-Defensive Teamer), our Olympic Hero, our Dunk Champion. Plus we add a couple new guys who seem to have some promise.

Will all these guys (plus one more year of experience and bonding without the distraction of transfer rumors thank God) translate into more wins than last year's campaign? Dennis Wolff seems to think so, and so do I.

Out of Conference Schedule
This year's schedule looks to be a fair bit easier than it was for last year's disastrous 3-9 campaign. Not easy, mind you, but a little easier. As the Wolff-man said, there's a few conference winners on there.

My prediction: 7-3
I think we beat up on Yale, Harvard and St. Peter's, as we should. Delaware, Bucknell and Holy Cross are all down from where they once were, and I think we take em. As for Cornell and the Mount St. Mary's, yes they're conference winners but I think our conference is stronger than both the Ivy and the NEC, so we should be able to beat both. I'm chalking up Marshall and Notre Dame, as much as I loathe them, as losses. That leaves Northeastern, who's up this year, and GW, who's down this year - I think we split those, but I don't know which one we beat.

Conference Schedule
Vermont is going to be loaded. Hartford brings almost everyone back, except for their one big guy, so they're a question mark. Albany loses way too much. Same for UMBC. UNH brings everyone back including a good freshman class, so they're on the upswing. Maine brings almost everyone back, but they're just not as talented overall - they probably stay about the same. Stony Brook lost their only two scorer, so they suck again. And who the eff knows what's going on in that clusterfuck known as Binghamton?

My prediction: 11-5
With everyone from ESPN to Blue Ribbon to the AE coaches picking us to come in first, expectations are high. I think this group can live up to them, with a few minor hiccups along the way.

1. Vermont
2. BU
3. Hartford
4. UNH
5. UMBC
6. Albany
7. Maine
8. Binghamton
9. At this point do I even have to write it?

Prediction

Big game today at UNH. A win here would be great for us.

My prediction: BU 58-UNH 54

Retrieve This.

Tonight we have a critical game for our season, a must-win game. We will be taking on the Retrievers of UMBC at the Roof, and it's not going to be easy.

They average around 72 points a game, most in our conference, and we average around 62 points a game, least in our conference. Hodges, Barbosa, Proctor, and Johnson average 17.4, 15.7, 14.8, and 12.8, respectively.

But 4 of their 5 starters average well over 30 minutes a game, and you've got to think that they'll start to wear down. If not now, then at least by early March.

I wouldn't be surprised if we lost to UMBC in Maryland, but we need to beat them at home. Our record will take a serious blow, and we don't want to be 2-4 when we face Vermont on Friday.

Let's hope Corey is back in action tonight, Tyler plays as well as he did against Stony Brook, and we play tight defense on their big scorers. If we can do that, maybe we can pull this off.

Prediction: BU 69 - UMBC 66

Now it REALLY starts

It wasn't BU's finest non-conference effort. Here is a quick recap:

BU was predicted by everyone from ESPN to Tiger Beat to win the AE... and then promptly put up a 3-9 OOC record.

Tyler Morris missed all but three of the games, and even when he came back, he wasn't the Tyler we know and love. Stress injuries like his take a long time to rehab, so he continues to improve. But we need him if we hope to win the conference as predicted. As others have said, even Tyler at 75% helps BU more than hurts them.

Marques Johnson and John Holland develop into solid role players. Finally given playing time, Marques has run an efficient offense by limiting his turnovers. And Holland has shown an explosiveness of offense and could turn into a star over the next 2 years.

Corey Lowe missed two games on the Redneck Roadtrip through West Virginia and western Pennsylvania, fueling rumors of his impending exodus to UMass (where else??), then "works out his issues" and starts putting up 20 points per game. What a roller-coaster ride. I sure hope he's with us next year (or even until the end of this year!). No denying he is a great player.

Our top-recruit, Will Creekmore, leaves the team and intends to transfer to Missouri State or TCU or somesuch. I and many others have said that his attitude was to blame, and would have hurt us more than his playing abilities could have helped. Meanwhile, poor Scott Brittain toils alone in the paint, and it's hard not to think of how much better we would be if he had some help in there.

This whirlwind has led to another round of Wolff detractors calling for his job. I still say no matter what, he still always gets the team ready for conference play. I say, let's see what happens this year. I am cautiously optimistic about this team's chances.

And you know what? None of those results so far mean a thing. It all starts today in Binghamton.

(P.S. thanks to the fine folks in Bing's athletic dept for their live streaming video)

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.