The game did have it's exciting parts, don't get me wrong. The thing that killed it was the pace. For every one or two dunks there were ten fouls. Combined there were 59 team fouls in this game. In both halfs the two teams were in the bonus within the first ten minutes. This killed the last ten minutes of the game. Everytime there was the slightest bump the ref was calling it. Then all of the players had to walk at a snails pace to the other end for free throws.
I have to say though BU's brand of Basketball is a lot more exciting than most mid-major teams and huge improvement over last year. The most impressive play of that game to me was when I saw John Holland hustle for a loose ball near the scorers table. The whole crowd, and probably coach Chambers knew that he was not going to get it. He dived anyway, it ended up being off of the Terriers. But to see that kind of hustle on a routine play was like watching Derek Jeter run out a ground ball. No matter what the cicumstance you are going to see John Holland give it his all every night. John Holland averages almost 20 points per game which is enough to put him among the top 40 in the nation in scoring. That's no fluke, the junior from the Bronx (coicidentally the same city where Derek Jeter plays home games) is a great player and has a legitimate shot to be the America East Player of the Year.
During the game, the Terriers utilized a trap full-court press early in the first half that was very effective. They forced many turnovers and held The Mount to one field goal in the first nine minutes of the game. BU struggled almost as much, scoring only a few field goals and wasn't really able to pull away until the second half.
(Halftime came and the Newton fifth grade boys team came onto the court. For a bunch of little kids, some of them played pretty well. They went up and down the court pretty quickly and made some impressive passes. It was almost more exciting than the game itself).
I was hopeful about the second half. And as mentioned before, this game did have it exciting parts. The first ten minutes of the second half was probably the most exciting of the game. The Terriers were making some clutch threes. John Holland made a couple of pretty spectacular dunks. And Jake O'Brien had some pretty sweet plays inside the paint. Both Holland and O'Brien ended the game with 21 points. After the first ten minutes both teams were in the bonus, the game struggled to find any real flow the rest of the way. There was a foul and foul shots every 30 seconds. If the Terriers were up by 20 like they had been earlier in the game I probably woul've left. But somehow The Mount stuck around by making more than 80% of their shots at the charity stripe (compared to the 56% the last game).
A deceiving score to an awful and worse game than I anticipated. The Mount was never in this game. They fell behind early in the game and could never find the energy to catchup to a very strong Terriers team right now.
With their first winning streak of the season the Terriers have to feel pretty confident about their performance thus far in the young season. Dayon on Tuesday will be a real test. Dayton is a better team but unlike the Georgia Tech, Kansas State and UConn games, I think they have a great show to win.
Other Notes:
- MVP of the game: John Holland, no surprise at all.
- The Mount Saint Mary's MVP: Shawn Atupem's hair (see my previous post). He looked like one of those rappers fom the early 90's or the main character from house party. Maybe the most exciting thing about the Mount Saint Mary's team. I don't know how this team was picked first in the NEC, they are bad.
- Coach Chambers was screaming at his team early in the game for fouling the The Mount. The funniest part was how he said it "Stop fouling! They only have one field goal!"
- Like a dumbass I forgot to bring the camera. I promise I will have pictures for the Stony Brook game.
Next Up:
Boston U v. Dayton Flyers
12/29 - 7 pm ET
Listen: 1510 AM
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