I Will Never, Ever Get Tired of This

I think I'll make this post my new homepage. And I don't really care that it takes up the entire space.

Hartford 2010: Glowing Reviews

Sunday
(see the first part of the weekend)

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.

Adding Insult to NU's Injury

It's always fun to beat our rivals from the dirty part of the city. For the second year in a row, we did just that - this time in overtime, and on our home floor. There were no BU students in attendance to start a "Where's your football" chant, but we knew it was in the minds of their fans.

The Hussies are picked to finish 2nd in the Colonial Athletic Association behind Old Dominion this year, which makes this win arguably even better than our victory over Indiana.

It was a game of runs. NU got an early 10 point lead, which BU erased by halftime. BU jumped out to big lead in the second half, which was erased by the end of the game. Fortunately, BU ended up on top at the end of 45 minutes.

With John Holland having an off night, we needed someone to step up - and Jake O'Brien did, just like last year's game at Northeastern. Corey Lowe also stepped up, despite his 7 turnovers, and made a gutsy shot near the end of regulation, with the shot clock buzzer sounding, to tie the game and send it to overtime. B.J. Bailey played his best game so far with over 20 minutes, and he looks to be getting more comfortable with every step onto the court.

I was there and captured the final moments of regulation and the overtime period - Corey's big shot and Northeastern's last gasp.

Their hero is WHO?? Talkin' P.R. hoops with the locals

Sean Kingston nearly ruined this nice video we did with some cool kids from Puerto Rico who were there watching the basketball tournament. So I apologize in advance for the audio quality, which is why I had to put in the subtitles.



A big thanks to Andy, Robert and Eddie for taking the time to tell us what they think of basketball and the Puerto Rico Tip-Off!


This is Denis Clemente in the white jersey, the Kansas State player who the boys came to see, a.k.a. the next Jose Juan Barea. So far in the tournament, Denis is averaging 12 points per game in a win over BU and a loss to Ole Miss. Hopefully, the guys will be rooting for BU against Georgia Tech tomorrow afternoon!

[UPDATE 9:25 PM]

I just remembered seeing this by Denis Clemente a couple months ago. Sickness.

Mr. Holland's Opinion

BU had a small but vocal group of fans present at the Kansas State game in Puerto Rico, but none were more vocal and spirited than John Holland, Sr. Whether trying to mess up the Wildcats during free throws, shouting out orders to the Terriers on the court or giving the refs a piece of his mind, John was heard throughout the Coliseo de Puerto Rico cheering on BU. The man knows what he's talking about, too; he played his own college ball at Iona College.

John was nice enough to sit down with us and chat during halftime about the tournament in Puerto Rico and BU basketball...

This is what #1 looks like

BU may have lost First Place in the America East standings last night, but we gained First Place on Sportscenter's Top Plays. In case you missed it last night (now with worse quality again):

Be Perfect, BU: The Marshall Preview

I tried to watch We Are Marshall last night, to get inspired for this afternoon's game against the real Marshall. But the video store was out of it, and the closest thing I had was Friday Night Lights which I had never seen.

Truly inspirational. And you can picture Coach Wolff in that locker room motivating the Terriers to victory just the way Billy Bob Thornton did. Well, maybe not exactly the same.



The game today will be played at lovely Agganis Arena. A lot's been said this week about whether BU should be playing more of their games at The Greek or if they shouldn't play any at all. I've written about this before, and I'm firmly of the mind that BU should be playing games there - in fact I love this half-and-half arrangement they have now. The shooting percentage numbers are lower there, for sure - but I believe that's caused by the quality of the opponent we host there.

A week and a half ago, these same Terriers shot 55% in a win in Northeastern's Matthews Arena. The general shittiness of Matthews aside, it's a pretty similar setup to Agganis: it's located on top of a hockey rink; there's seats behind the baskets. And I don't think the Terriers have been coming over to practice in Matthews Arena on their off days. So the idea that BU is unable to shoot well in Agganis for those reasons simply doesn't hold water.

However, I love that the term "curse" is thrown around now. Here's D-Wolff:

“I vehemently disagree with the idea that there’s any curse at Agganis,” BU coach Dennis Wolff said. “Agganis is a state-of-the-art building. It’s one of our home courts. It’s great to play in there and that’s how we have to look at it.”

And if there's a team to break the "curse" against, it's Marshall. This is not the same team that destroyed us 70-47 last year. And we're not the same team either - that was when Tyler was still hurt, Johnny H. was still coming off the bench, and C-Lowe was on his mental health vacation.

This year's Marshall Thundering Herd come into The Greek at 1-4, with losses already to Wisconsin-Green Bay, Morgan State and East Tennessee State. Not lighting the world on fire quite yet.

This is BU's second chance (out of 3) this year to lay the smack down on a major conference opponent, since Marshall's coming from the Conference USA. Make it happen.

Where Amaker Buys His Apples: The Harvard Preview

I'm ready to get over this one.

At exactly 8:51pm on Saturday, November 29, I turned off the BU vs. Mount St. Mary's game, drove to airport and boarded a Delta 737 that took me directly (via layover in Cincinnati and Houston) to the Le Blanc Spa & Resort in Cancun, Mexico to partake in some relaxation, refreshment and rejuvenation for my mind, body and spirit. I was in a knot after that game, and a Shiatsu massage, seaweed body wrap and a 50-minute Steam-Vichy Rain Journey were just what the doctored ordered to calm my hoop-rage.

Or, not. I couldn't drop the 3 grand it would take for rejuvenating therapy, so I had to rely on the old fashioned Frank Costanza method:



It was a frustrating game - to listen/watch, to play in, and to coach. Mount St. Mary's is a good team, and they played well enough to win on Saturday - but I don't think they are necessarily the better team. I think the teams were evenly-matched to the point that whoever was the home team would win. MSM jumped out to a big early lead, but BU was able to grind it down throughout the entire 2nd half to tie the game with 5 minutes left.

Much of the trouble in this one came from FREE THROWS and REBOUNDING. We were dominated in both aspects. I think that's where much of the frustration came from. Plus that one really frickin fast guy they have.

It appears as though D. Wolff blew a gasket in this one. The refs blew a shot clock violation on MSM with about a minute to go that could have altered the outcome of the game, and the refs basically admitted they blew it by not T-ing up Wolff during his ranting. The players got fired up too, with news coming that the two teams nearly erupted in fisticuffs near the locker rooms after the game.

But it's time to forget about that now, and I can only hope that much of that fire carries over to tonight's game against Harvard. This is another team that is easy to underestimate but not very easy to beat. BU has pwned the smart kids lately, winning 14 of the last 15. And Tommy Amaker has nightmares about the Terriers, dating back to his back-to-back home losses to BU back at Michigan.

He's starting to bring some good players to the Crimson though, and it's showing in the standings. Harvard is going to challenge for the top couple spots in the Ivy League by the end of the year.

There are plenty of reasons to hate them though:

1. New York Times exposes dirty recruiting by Harvard

"In a New Era at Harvard, New Questions of Standards"
The New York Times
By Pete Thamel
March 2, 2008

"It is also because Harvard is willing to consider players with a lower academic standing than previous staff members said they were allowed to. Harvard has also adopted aggressive recruiting tactics that skirt or, in some cases, may even violate National Collegiate Athletic Association rules [...] In the race to become competitive in basketball, Harvard’s new approach could tarnish the university’s sterling reputation."

And this is funny...

"In another case, Amaker approached the parents of an athlete in a grocery store and urged that their son visit Harvard..."

See ya in the produce aisle, Tommy!

2. Harvard encroaching on BU's territory

"Residents mobilize against Harvard"
Allston-Brighton Tab
By Karen Elowitt
February 15, 2007

Allston may be smelly and disgusting, but this side of the river is ours, bitches!

3. Apples

We're almost there...

I think I just got a boner...

[As regular readers have undoubtedly noticed, the video always starts playing when you visit this site. So I'm taking it down until this post leaves the front page and heads to the archives. You can still see it here. Dear BU, please equip the next video with an off switch. Sincerely, the BU Hoops Blog and its readers.]


... because the BU basketball season is THREE DAYS AWAY!!!

That video makes me want to buy season tickets even though I don't even live in Boston.

PS - I don't even care that it covers up the sidebar, it's a bitchin video.

Making amends for the UMBC game

As part of our effort to add 32 pieces of flair to our humble weblog, I had big plans for the big BU vs. UMBC matchup back on February 17th. Loyal readers might remember that we never actually wrote anything about that game, despite the fact that it was actually a game that I could go and see in person, AND it was on TV, AND it was a huge game for BU.

So I went to the game, and was able to get B-Wags to come with me, and I even Tivo'd it to try and put video highlights up. But then I dropped the ball. I kept trying to figure out how to transfer Tivo to the computer, cut the video into clips, successfully put them on to YouTube... and nothing ever got written about the game.

This is a familiar pattern for those who have looked forward to reading about our experiences at the America East tournament the last two years. There is so much to write about and we always have big plans for it, but there is almost TOO much to write about and anything less than a full report seems lame. Also, we are always too drunk for the whole time. So we end up not writing anything while we're there, despite the pure gold that we're witnessing, and by the time we get around to it, nobody really cares anymore since the season is over.

Well that's going to change right now. The following four videos are some of the highlights of this amazing game, a game that I called one of the best AE games I have witnessed in person. Everyone was making shots for both teams, tons of ties and lead changes, and the lead never went above 4 points for almost the entire game... UMBC just came out a little ahead at the end of 40 minutes. (And by the way, we hope to put up more videos, so you can subscribe to our YouTube channel if you wish)

Now, B-Wags was at last year's AE tourney, but he had never seen John HOLLA in person (and I'm permanently borrowing that phrase from the Hot Dog). I promised B-Wags a mammoth dunk from Johnny (much like I had promised Burger Man against Maine), and late in the second half, Johnny delivered:


The next highlight came near the very end of the game, just over a minute to go, BU down by 3. Corey decided to take matters into his own hands:


Finally, these are the "un-highlights" of the game. These are the last two possessions for BU, both under a minute left and trailing by a possession. Poor Scott Brittain - undeniably having a great season, but this was not his game...sigh:

No words.

If BU hopes to go to the Big Dance this year, I hope they can come up with some new moves.



So that scores about a 9.8 on the Uncomfortable Scale and about a 1,000,000 on the Awesome Scale. Earlier this year I quoted from an SI On Campus article about the Terriers' summer vacay in Taiwan. The relevant section:

Representing the United States in the annual Kainan University Tournament in Taiwan, the Boston University men's basketball team put on a show for an international crowd, both on and off the court.

Before winning the tournament, the team showed off its skills by dancing to a mix of the Cha Cha Slide, Right Said Fred's I'm Too Sexy, and Lloyd's Get it Shawty. "There was a talent show where each team went up and did a skit in front of about 500 students," said coach Dennis Wolff. "From our team standpoint it was a very good bonding experience."

"We had nothing for the show and only a few of us wanted to do it at first," said redshirt sophomore Tyler Morris. "But then we decided to go outside and practice it and made up this little dance skit in 10 minutes. The rest is history.

History indeed. Bob Saget's AFHV wouldn't touch this shit. But give 'em credit for gettin up and trying. Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for your Dancing Terriers.

Sucks To SBU

Today we play against one of the 3 teams we can beat, the mighty Seawolves of Stony Brook.

BU had a week off to prepare for this game, but you have to wonder if any minds wandered to the Binghamton and Vermont games looming on Tuesday and Thursday. I kind of wish we had a whole week to prepare for one of those teams, but it is what it is.

This game is pretty important too actually. With a win, BU moves back to .500 in the conference!! Something like that looked pretty far off when we were 2-5 and languishing in 8th place, which is basically last place if you don't count Stony Brook, which I don't. BU is coming off 2 of its best wins all year: comfortable victories over Maine and UNH. I got to watch the UNH game at Porters, a bar that is almost always willing to throw on an obscure game for you. I kept waiting for a collapse, but none came and BU was in control the entire time. It's become a broken record lately, but John Holland and Scott Brittain were fantastic, and Corey Lowe dropped in 23 without even trying.

BU is playing for its first 3-game winning streak of the year, and hopefully peaking for the most important part of the season As Dennis Wolff said in the Freep, "We need to start putting a little run together or it's going to be too late."

Stony Brook for its part is coming off a W at Maine, except that it was 9 games ago. But as was said on the AE message boards, at least they have this guy going for them:

This may hurt a bit

I said I'd post some highlights from our game to UMass, which seemed like it would be a blowout, but we came within 3 points, with 1:30 left. Couldn't really find any highlights, so here's a montage of UMass blocking a whole bunch of our shots. It was just an ugly game, with very few bright spots for us. Apologies all around in advance for the shaky camera work.