The Corey Lowe Situation: Update

My theory is almost 95% correct.  The only difference is that I believed that Corey hired an agent, when in fact he only had contact with an agent, which is not illegal according to NCAA bylaws.  Today's Daily Free Press has a great investigative article that describes in great detail the course of events that led up to Corey Lowe's removal from the active roster prior to the Morehead State game. 

In short, Corey had been in "contact" with an agent on Saturday 3/20 but claims he did not break any NCAA rules.  Coach Chambers found out about the "contact" and removed him from the team before the Morehead State game.  Chambers could not know for sure exactly what happened on Saturday, so he took the precaution of removing Corey from the team to avoid any investigations into possible NCAA violations that could affect the future of the program.

This was a smart move by Coach Chambers.  If Corey was going to be in direct contact with an agent he should've consulted with Coach Chambers especially if he wanted to remain on the team for the rest of the postseason run.  I don't fault Corey that much though, he made a small mistake that in the long run is going to have almost no affect on his BU legacy.  I am going to remember the four years he poured his heart and soul into this program, not the two games (which he wasn't going to play in anyway) he missed at the end of his final season because of a small mistake.  Corey you still my boy

_____________

Season Wrap Up Part 1 of 3: The Corey Lowe Situation

The BU Terriers season was probably one of the more eventful and dramatic in recent history.  Before the season began it looked like BU was poised to to make it's first NCAA tournament appearance since 2002. However, BU returned 9 seniors all Dennis Wolff recruits, but did not return their head coach and commandant Dennis Wolff.  Before the season, in an unexcpected move to shake things up, BU got rid of their most winningest coach and hired the associate head coach for the Villanova Wildcats, Patrick Chambers.  In his first year as a head coach of any team, he took over a very experienced and talented squad that his predecessor almost entirely constructed.  So many story lines, so many moments, what a season the Terriers had.  In the last  three games they beat Oregon State, they lost Corey Lowe, the third highest scorer in BU history, beat Morehead state in overtime and lost to Virginia Commonewelath in the CBI semifianls, what a dramatic end to a very fulfilling and eventful season . As fans we can only hope that the Terriers put out an even better product to play under The Roof and within the walls of Agganis Arena in the years to come.

The Corey Lowe Situation
I think this came as a shock to everyone who was BU fan.  After BU slaughtered Oregon State in the first round of the CBI, Corey Lowe unexpectedly left he team before the Morehaead State game.  I didn't learn about this until the Morehaead State game,  And I like a lot of other fan discovered this when I went to the Morehead Sate game on Monday.  I watched the game, and I saw a lot fo our stars from this year out there but within almost five minutes I noticed Corey Lowe wasn't on the floor and he wasn't on the bench.  He could've been in the stands but I didnd't see him the entire night, where was he? My first thought was that something happened to either him or his family, I was concenred.  I learned after the game that he "moved onto the next chapter of his life."

I really wasn't sure what this meant at first.  Why would the third highest scorer in BU history (that is 101 years of BU Basketball) just leave unexpectedly? In the coming days it became apparent that the "next chapter" meant playing pro ball in Europe.  Still, why leave the team?  You are one of the best players in BU history (again that's 101 years of BU basketball).  Pat Chambers (for all purposes of my upcoming theory we will give him the benefit of the doubt) said that everyone involved with the team supported Corey's decision to leave.

So my theory is this.  Corey was not expecting to play this far into the postseason.  He didn't know what his chances were of playing on a professional level. As an NCAA player he is not allowed to receive advice from scouts or agents about going pro. Corey was anxious and he knew that if he got injured in the the final games of his at BU it would severely hurt his chances of a pro career.  What did Corey do, he hired an agent but kept it quiet, he wanted to see out his last games in a BU uniform but wanted to get advice about his future.  In a sense Corey wasn't thinking about the present he was thinking about the future. 

On the plane ride back to Boston from Oregon State, Corey approaches coach Chambers who is studying the scouting report for Morehaed Stat (wishful thinking Coach Chambers probably didn't have a scouting report printed out yet, but I like to thnk that my team's coach had a scouting report in his hand withing minutes of knowing who his next opponent would be).  When he speaks to Coach Chambers he explains that he is already thinking about a pro career but he would like to remain with the team. Chambers gets suspicious and eventually finds out that Corey has in fact hired an agent. Chambers and Lowe go back and forth for about 15 minutes.  Lowe wants to remain with the team but wants to have a limited role.  Chambers says no, he either plays with a full role or not at all.  Also, he says to Lowe, "if you have already hired an agent, maybe it's best if you stayed away from the team, we don't want to have any future sanctions against us."

Corey was BU's third highest scorer (the third time I've said this), he just got a little too anxious.  I guarantee if BU was one and done in the NCAA tournament that this would not even be as big of a story as it is.  I cannot fault Corey and I cannot fault Coach Chambers. They were both looking out for their best interests.  However, Corey's best interests may have been slightly selfish and Chambers's best interest were all about the team.  I'm disappointed in Corey but I'm not one to hold a grudge for long.  Corey's career is going to be defined by what he did in four years not what happened in the last week.

-------

In the next two parts of my season wrap up:

• BU beats Morehead State at The Roof .
• BU is defeated by VCU.

Also to come in the offseason a recap of the year and a preview of next.

Rapid Reaction: Vermont beats BU, 83 - 70 in the Championship

It was a rollercoaster season for the BU Terriers and it all came to an end on Saturday.  BU went out and they did not play the same brand of basketball that they played in Hartford just a week earlier.  On defense they looked flat, they did not have an answer for Marqus Blakely and they did not get their two point baskets to fall.

This didn't pan out as I predicted it but, I definitely predicted the two x-factors and the other thing to watch:

• Marqus Balakely had an amazing game, that dunk in the last two minutes was awesome and likely a top ten highlight on Sportscenter.
• John Holland, the leading scorer in the America East did not play like it in this game or in the first two games of the tournament.
• Corey Lowe hit some nice threes but it was not nearly enough

Congratulations to Vermont! More to come later today or tomorrow

___________

Quick Haltime Thoughts - BU v. Vermont - America East Championship

At halftime BU is losing to Vermont 42 - 31.  How did we get here?

• Corey Lowe has been almost half of our scoring and they've been mostly three and foul shots.
• Marqus Blakely is too much for BU to handle, he is dominating the paint.
• BU can't make a two point field goal to save their life.
• John Holland did not show up.
• BU's defense did not show up.
• Vermont is matching BU's threes with threes of their own to widen the lead.

Eleven points is a large lead for BU to overcome, but if the Terrier defense plays better and they can get some two point baskets to fall, then they can get back in it.  I'm hopeful, but right now these Terriers are not the same Terriers that beat Stony Brook and killed Hartford, 42 points against is just discouraging.  Coach Chambers' needs to light a fire in the locker room at halftime.  We'll see what happens in the second half, BU needs to come out of the locker room with more intensity on both sides of the court, if they fall behind early even more, Vermont will march on.

And John Holland, please finish those dunks, I'm begging you.

__________

Prediction - BU v. Vermont - Tomorrow Noon ESPN2

Cool moment of the day. I'm a follower of New York Daily News beat writer of the NY Yankees, and BU Alum, Mark Feinsand (@bloggingbombers) who writes a blog on the Daily News website. This is how it played out (I also have problems recognizing other people's sarcasm in real life as well not just on twitter):

@BloggingBombers: Luis Tiant? RT @JoeandEvan Please...can people stop referring to Tomlinson as LT!! There is only ONE
@thejimmyc: @BloggingBombers haha Lawrence Taylor, c'mon Mark
@BloggingBombers: @thejimmyc Clearly I was kidding. Hey, at least I didn't say Lawrence Tynes, right?
@thjimmyc: @BloggingBombers haha I'm still having problems recognizing sarcasm on twitter. GO BU BASKETBALL! http://www.terriersbasketball.com/
@BloggingBombers In honor of tomorrow's America East championship, one last #FF @AnthonyDiComo @PeterBotte @stephsamps @gcf123 @thejimmyc #GOTERRIERS
@thejimmyc: @BloggingBombers thanks Mark! #ff #GOTERRIERS. I'm also thinking of blogging the bombers from beantown - "Yankees fan in Boston"

It's cool that he replied to my tweet and clearly I used this as a chance to publisize BU Basketball and my blog to a recognized blogger. Thanks Mark!

Prediction BU v. Vermont noon ESPN2
I rarely make predictions on the games that I preview.  I made a really accurate prediction back when BU played UConn, hopefully I can have some of that luck rub off on this preview, so here it is.

BU wins in a very physical and grind it out game.  They trail for most of the game but in the last five minutes they pull ahead of Vermont and go the NCAA Tournament. Final score - Terriers 65, Vermont 62.

Player of the game: John Holland
Player of the tournament: Corey Lowe
Apology of the year: Me, for doubting BU and Coach Chambers, obviously I was wrong and should not count on a position in the BU Athletic department anytime soon..

Please check the blog at halftime tomorrow and after the game tomorrow, I will try to blog my thoughts during and right after the game. And as always follow me on twitter (@Terriers_Hoops) during the game for some quick one-liners

__________

BU v. Vermont - The 2010 America East Championship Game

I am really excited for this game, It's the first time the Terriers have been to the championship since 2003 and they are playing for their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2002. How big is this game to me?  Bigger than the Super Bowl. Actually, since Burlington is about six hours from Boston (correction a Vermonter says 3 - 3.5 hours, still pretty far), I am going to have a "Super Bowl" like party, complete with red and white balloons, champagne on ice, and a victory cigar (note to self: download a copy of the BU fight song). I've asked a couple people if they are interested, so far I have not had a favorable response. I sent out an email yesterday pitching the idea to some BU alums and no one has responded so far. Am I the only one who cares? 

So to the 10 people who read my blog in the Boston area, I am inviting you to my apartment on Saturday to watch the game.  We'll probably do some tailgating a couple hours before the game. Email me (jim@terriersbasketball.com) for more details.

On a side note, I also pitched this to a friend who is a Vermont alum, the conversation went down like this (I will protect her name, so we'll refer to her as "T"):

Me: I'm having a party for the BU v. Vermont game on Saturday are you interested?
T: I would but I have yoga at 1:30 pm.
Me: That's lame, I had yoga at 1 but canceled this week because of the game
T: hahahaha
Me: I don't really have yoga, I am just trying to make a point
T: I know, thanks for making me feel like an idiot.
Me: Sure, no problem. BU fans, such as myself, like to point out their intellectual superiority whenever possible
T: die.

Later in the day her Facebook status had something to do with Vermont:

T's Facebook Status: "How long do I have to live here before I'm no longer a Vermonter?"
Me: Vermont sucks, GO BU!
T: Wow Castignoli. Now I really hope UVM beats your foo foo dogs on Saturday.

Some might look at this as harassment, but in sports fandom almost anything goes (violence isn't cool).

3/13 - BU v UVM - Patrick Gym - Noon ESPN2 or espn360.com

The Facts:

• The Terriers last reached the title game in 2003 and last won the title game in 2002.
• Vermont has been the team to beat in the America East ever since, They beat BU in the title game 2003 and also won in 2004 and 2005.
• Rookie head coach Pat Chambers makes his first appearance in a conference championship game.
• By beating Stony Brook on Sunday the Terriers have beaten every team in the America East this season except UVM.
• Vermont blew out the Terriers at Patrick Gym in the first meeting and narrowly edged the Terriers at Agganis in the second.
• Year after year these two teams are close to the top of the America East and since the beginning of the '00s have become big rivals.

What Vermont needs to do to win: Dominate the paint on both sides of the court and limit BU to three points.  With a strong forward like Marqus Blakely, reigning America East defensive player of the year, Vermont will look to get the ball to him to dominate the paint, get easy twos, lots of rebounds, and a few blocked shots.  In any Vermont win over BU, I definitely see Blakely being the player of the game.  They also have to pray that the Terriers have a bad game from beyond the arc.
Vermont's X-factor: Marqus Blakely, the most dominant player on their team needs to have a dominant game.

What BU needs to do to win: Find a way to neutralize Blakely.  It won't be easy because his presence can easily go unmatched at times, but a combination of Jake O'Brien, John Holland and Jeff Pelage will hopefully be able to get it done.  BU's defense has been outstanding lately, if they can continue to play great defense and get most of their three-pointers to fall (Corey Lowe that especially means you), BU should have a great shot to win this game
BU's X-factor: John Holland, so far he has not had John Holland-life performances in the tournament.  He was first team all-conference and the conference's leading scorer, if he performs like he did in the regular season the Terriers are going to be hard to stop on offense.

Other exciting thing to watch: Corey Lowe is having a dominant tournament performance.  In the Hartford and SBU games he was making almost everything from three-point range.  In the Hartford game he scored 28 and versus SBU he scored 26.  If the senior puts up a similar performance in the championship, he will win player of the Tournament regardless what the outcome is.

If this game was a 90's action movie: Die Hard, Exciting from beginning to end, a physical battle between good (John McClain - BU) and evil (Hans Guber - Vermont) the hero comes off the court exhausted from a vicious dogfight.

Prediction: Stay tuned, I'm going to keep you waiting until Friday (this is a BU blog you can probably guess).

Random Note

• I don't want this season to ever end, I have had a lot of fun writing in this blog.  But all good things must come to an end, and after it does end I'll have very little to write about.  When I started writing this post I was watching the celebrity gossip show Extra;  maybe in the offseason, I can write about celebrity gossip.  Does anyone have other ideas, what do you want to see me write about?

_____________

AE Tournament 2010: BU stuns SBU, advance to Final at UVM

3/7 - BU v. Stony Brook - America East Semifinal #1 - BU wins 70 - 63

BU Recap
Boston Globe Recap

I have not been more excited for a game all season than this one, and I was never disappointed (except for maybe the first five minutes of the second half, but I will get into that later). BU is in the final two, they went into Hartford and did what they needed to do - win two games.

The Atmosphere

Let me describe the atmosphere to give you the full flavor of the game.  I went into this game, like I had the day before with my father Vito and in the same BU Basketball shirt I wear to almost every game.  This time instead of sitting behind the basket, we sat at half court about four rows up, surrounded on three sides by UVM fans.  Before the game we went to this tent in the southwest corner of the Gym for a coupe of beers.  (This actually surprised me that there was a beer tent on a college campus connected to the game.  They roped off an area and you could not bring a beer outside of that area, they had TV's set up, some pretty fancy food and a place where you could make your own signs, with very limited profanity retrictions).

Once the game started I started rooting and shouting for the BU Terriers like any BU fan would. But I noticed something else; the Vermont fans were also rooting for BU (not quietly rooting, they were pretty loud for most of the game, they were doing cheers, clapping, standing up and screaming at the ref).  I was shocked.  I immeidiately resented all of the Vermont fans surrounding me, they're BU's biggest rival and they are rooting for us? Then I realized why, because of the format of the America East conference tournament, if BU beat Stony Brook and UVM beat UNH, UVM would host the championship in Burlington, VT, because they would be the higher seed.  Even after realizing this, I still resented UVM fans, I wanted UNH to win in the next game but I wasn't rooting for them.  It's like being a Yankees fan and for some reason, some odd situation happens, where Red Sox fans start rooting for the Yankees because it somehow benefits the Sox if the Yankees beat another team (there has to be some made up word or term for this situation, if not I am fielding suggestions).  This is completely unaccepteable.  They are rooting for something that their team cannot control, it's idiotic and I hate it.  Hopefully, come Saturday at noon on ESPN2, every one of the UVM fans who was rooting for BU will come to regret it.

Another person rooting fervently for BU was my father. As per usual when he came to one of these events he bought a hat of the team he was rooting for. I appreciated the support, it felt like I was watching the game with another BU alumni or BU fan.  He was actually getting more heated than the BU alumni occupying the one side of us that was not UVM fans.  He even got more heated than myself on occaision.  A couple of times when the ref called a bad foul that went against BU, he stood up and started screaming at the top of his lungs at the ref.  And we were four rows from the scoreres table, the ref definitely heard him, a couple of times I had to tell him to calm down.  When Coach Chambers got his technical foul, I was convinced that the ref was T-ing up my dad for something he said not the coach of BU.  This I had nothing against, I loved this, I was so glad he came with me.

Then there were the people that were rooting for SBU.  They came in force.  At one point during the game I tweeted a twitpic (see below) of the SBU student section, the word "Seawolves" all nine people who spelled out the plural form of their teams mascot outnumbered the total BU student section, if you read my blog post on Terriers Basketball attendance and why it was so poor, especially among students, this seemed to be on par.  It was more of a home game for Stony Brook and an away game for the Terriers.  The easiest way to recognize who has more fans at the arena when a game is played at a neutral site, listen to the noise during foul shots.  When BU was taking their shots from the charity stripe the arena was significantly louder than when SBU took their shots (surprisingly though, BU held the advantage in foul shots made, SBU missed more than half of their chances, maybe this was the difference in the game).

Stony Brook Student Section

BU Student Section (to be fair there might be a few more this was taken during the horn malfunction in the first half)

 

The Game

The most exciting game I have seen all season.  The atmosphere was electric and I found myself actually being nervous for all of the players and coached involved.  This was the biggest game Coach Chambers has ever coached and the biggest game BU's seniors have ever played.  Keep in mind, BU has not been to the conference championship since 2003 and has not won the conference tournament since 2002.  A win in this game would bring BU to a game they haven't been to in over half a decade.

I'm dividing this game into five parts.  I'll write a paragraph on each:

• The first 3 minutes of the game
• The rest of the first half
• The first 5 minutes of the second half
• The middle of the second half
• The last 4 minutes of the game

In the first 3 minutes of the game I was discouraged. Right away I was thinking "oh no."   It's going to be one of those games.  I am coming into the game all excited and pumped up and right way the team is deflated, Muhammad El-Amin, this year's America East player of the year hit three straight from the beyond the arc.  He needed to be stopped.  It was evident in order for BU to stay in this game El-Amin needed to be nuetralized for the rest of the game and to a certain degree he was.  in the remaining 37 minutes he only added 11 and finished the game with 20.

The rest of the first half was the Core Lowe Show.  He was making deep deep three-pointers.  All around me I was listening to UVM fans just saying "WOW, how did he make that shot?"  Coach Chambers knew what Lowe was doing, the fans knew what he was doing.  I just smiled and knew, like I mentioned in my preview, if Lowe and others could stay hot from three the Terriers will win this game.  But that was not the only story of this portion of the game, BU's defense did a fantastic job, limiting SBU to only 15 points in the last 17 minutes. I was hoping they would carryover both their defensive and offensive performances over into the second half.

At halftime BU led 37 - 24.

The first five minutes of the second half punched me in the gut.  I was twice as deflated when BU allowed SBU to go on a 16 - 0 run to start the second half and give up the lead that they spent so much time building in the first half.  I and every fan in the Arena was in panic mode, completely in shock that they allowed this to happen and so were Terriers. 

At the start the middle of the second half Coach Chambers decided that he had enough. He called time out and got pissed.  For about a minute, between when the time out was called and the band started playing, one entire half of the arena could hear Coach Chambers yelling at his players, he needed to start a fire or BU was going to see this one slip away.  Whatever he did worked, BU didn't take the lead but they kept it within at least 5 points the entire time.  Still they were getting frustrated, and so was I that we were not able to pull closer. 

In the last five minutes of the game, all of that frustration culminated with a stupid foul called against BU.  Coach Chambers got emotional and got a technical foul right away.  He was saying to his team" "I'm doing everything I can to win this game, I want it bad, how much do you guys want it?"  The players responded, they went back to finishing the easy baskets and playing great defense.  To end the game they went on a 9-0 run to lock up the win, and advance to the final Saturday noon ESPN2 at Burlington against the only America East team they have not beaten so far this season: The Vermont Catamounts.

Random notes and thank yous

• Thank you to the Albany fan who sold us his $300 worth of tickets for $20 because Albany made an early exit, the seats were awesome, I even ended up selling one for $10. 
• During the Stony Brook game, Tina Charles of the UConn Huskies women team, came in halfway through the first half, just after her Huskies beat Syracuse for their 70th straight win an NCAA women's record.  Thanks for your interest in America East basketball Tina!
• Thank you to my father Vito, for providing me with transportation to and from all of the games this weekend.

That about wraps up this post.  I'm going to add some pictures to this post later tonight.  Also, stay tuned later this week for mor posts leading up to the much anticipated BU v. UVM face-off on Saturday.

___________

Holland-Lowe score a quality win versus the Hartford Hawks

BU wins what will forever be known as the "Holland-Lowe Show."  The junior and the senior put up a ridiculous display.  Holland scored 32 points and Lowe scored 31.  As the recap on the BU site notes this is the first time in the entire history of the Boston University Basketball program that any two players have scored above 30 points in one game.  The amazing part, BU scored 84 points which means everyon else on the Terriers scored only 21 points.  The Holland-Lowe dynamic duo had only 7 points less than the entire Hartford Hawks team.

Both Lowe and Holland were impressive, the rest of the team was pretty pedestrian (except for Carlos Strong who added 14 points).  With Tyler Morris out it's pretty apparent that the Terriers are going to rely on their two best players Holland and Lowe to carry the team when they are playing lesser opponents.  I was disappointed by Jake OBrien's no show in this game.  And the bench scored 3 total points when Valdas Siruitis hit an early three.  The thing that this team lacks the most is depth.  They've returned a lot of seniors but with injuries almost all of them are accounted for in the starting five.  It's terrifying to say this, but BU is just one more injury away from becoming a bottom-dweller in the America East.  When they are good it shows, but only versus the lowly teams, versus mediocre or good teams they struggle.

What It Means

• BU wins it's second in a row versus a inferior opponent and doesn't show the kind of all around depth you would see from a champion
• BU is still growing as a team, they are getting better and are a long way from the ever elusive NCAA tournament berth.
• The schedule makers made it pretty easy for the Terriers to win three straight, next up is the worst team in the conference UMBC.

Random Notes

• This was my first time going to watch a BU Basketball game on the road, I want to especially thank my roommate John Lewis for the ride there and my father Vito Castignoli for the ride back to my home in CT.
• Reich Family Pavilion is a great place for a mid-major College Basketball game.  It should be a great place for the America East Championship, I can't wait.
• This was the first time used my camera extensively in the game, see how the pictures came out below. Unlike last time there were no technical difficulties with the twitter.  I might even get up a video soon.

View from outside the arena

John Driving to the game

The empty Hartford student section

Corey Lowe brings it up the floor as Coach Chambers Barks out a play.

The Holland-Lowe duo leads BU to victory 84 - 70

Next up:

Boston U. v. UMBC

Case Gym 1/12/2010 7 PM

Listen: 1510 AM

______________

JC's Preview: "The Mount" vs. Boston U

After over a week hiatus because of exams the Terriers are back in action tomorrow at Case Gym against the Mount Saint Mary's Mountaineers, or the small school located in the Maryland Appalachians that refers to themselves as "The Mount." That is a pretty hilarious name.  Why can't other school's have nicknames like this? For example because of BU's diverse student body; fans, students and alumni could refer to BU as "The World."  Or because BU is a very expensive private university in a conference with a bunch of state schools, BU could refer to itself as "The Upper Class." I could see the headlines in the Daily Free Press now: "The Upper Class beats Vermont" in other news "BU raises tuition another $10,000 per year." Onto the preview....

JC's Preview  

Last time out

• Boston University (4-6) went to Poughkeepsie and beat the Marist Foxes 88 - 72 in a game that was almost no contest.  Corey Lowe scored 27 points and John Holland added another 21 of his own.  The big story, however, was the Terriers program record-tying 15 three point field goals on 60% shooting from beyond the arc.
• Mount Saint Mary's (3-7) went to Pitt and lost their fifth straight game to the Pitt Panthers 66 - 48.  The Mountaineers were horrible shooting from the floor in the Pitt game making only 31.6% of their shots from their field and 56.3% from the charity stripe.   In their last two times out The Mount scored 48 and 38 points against lower tier major school Pitt and mid-major Old Dominion respectively.

Analysis
Both teams were in a very similar place at the beginning of the season --both picked to win their conferences.  However,  entering the conference slate, the teams could not be on more opposite sides of the spectrum.  BU is coming off a dominating win over a mid-major opponent in which it tied a program offensive record but still gave up a lot of points on defense. For BU, it's 15 three-pointers was a huge confidence booster.  Fans and conference opponents are beginning to see the team that was picked to win the America East.

On the other side Mount Saint Mary's, "The Mount," is still on a five game losing steak coming into the matchup tomorrow.  During that stretch they have had trouble on offense, only scoring above 60 points once. However, they have limited some good teams, from major conferences, to low point totals (Pitt scored only 66).  Their inability to score points and adeptness to turn the ball over has some scratching their heads about the team that was picked first in the NEC preseason poll.  The Mount have already started conference play and are already in the cellar with disappointing 0-2 record versus conference foes.

Prediction
On paper it looks like an easy game for the Terriers.  The Terriers are on the up and up and starting to play to their potential as a an experienced and talented team. The Mount is seeing why preseason rankings mean nothing and are beginning to become frustrated with their performance.  However, The Mount still have the same talent that they started the year with, it could at any moment awaken, all it takes is that one motivating pep talk or team meeting. The Mount is going to be anxious to end their 7 game road-trip with a win over a non-conference opponent.  I think Mount Saint Mary's will be a tough opponent, this has the feeling of a trap game for the Terriers.  Ultimately, I think that the Terriers are more of a well-rounded team at this point in the season and will win the game, but it will be close. The Terriers take it in a close one 63 - 58.

"The Game"
Boston U v. Mount Saint Mary's
12/22 7 PM at Case Gym
Listen: 1510 am
 

Other Housekeeping Items

• I'm borrowing my roommates digital camera tomorrow for the Mount Saint Mary's game, so get ready for some much higher quality pictures than the ones I have been taking on my crappy cell phone.
  
• I am planning out my posts for 2010.  I want to incorporate more weekly/daily features into the blog.  I plan to do some top fives, maybe a mailbag. If anyone has questions, comments, or suggentions for me please send a message to jim@terriersbasketball.com.
  

_____________

Finally, A New Post

Sorry, I know I have not been keeping up on the blog.  I hope that you my devoted readers can find it in your heart to forgive me.

The Marist Game
I was not able to watch or listen to the game, but I did read about it afterwards.  I think the most encouraging thing was the score.  Finally we blew out an inferior opponent.  When I first looked at the score I knew John Holland and Corey Lowe each scored more than 20 (I actually made a bet and won some money because of this).  There's really not that much to write about this game.  I wasn't there so I can't give you anymore insight than the recap on the BU website.

I promise I will write a preview and a recap of the Mount Saint Mary's game.  Especially if my publicity stunt works tonight.

UMass v. Memphis Tonight 6 PM ESPN2
Look for me in the stands tonight. I will be in attendance with a "UMass: 0 Final Fours, Memphis: 0 Final Fours" sign to try and create some publicity for my blog.

And yes I do agree with Coach Knight's comments the other day.  As a fan of the sport, I know not every coach is perfect, but I think it's disgraceful that a coach who had to vacate two final four appearances at two different programs is still allowed to coach and does not have any blemish on his NCAA record.  If you think that John Cal didn't know anything in either situation you are being naive.

___________

Boston U beats Bucknell 63 - 53.

Read the BU recap.

In what looked like a blow out in the first half turned into a close game later.  However, the crowd still left happy as the Terriers scored over 60 points (Right: Strong hits a foul shot to make it 60), beat Bucknell and got a two for one deal at Raising Cane's after the game.


Boston University played high quality basketball in the first half.  They scored 32 points with 43% shooting and held the Bison to 16 points and 19% shooting.  Everything indicated that this would be a blowout.  Wrong.  Bucknell had a very strong second half  -they pulled to within three at one point-  but were not able to completely erase the Terriers early lead.

During the past few weeks there have been two Terrier teams.  The First Half Terriers and the Second Half Terriers. I refer to this as the "First and Second Enigma." The First half Terriers are aggressive, play hard, don't sit on an early lead or get discouraged when they are behind, they keep battling.  The Second Half Terriers show an early effort, then fade.  They sit on a fat lead and then lose it.  I'm not sure why this happens, it may have to do with injuries and foul trouble.  The Terriers continue to show signs of greatness but cannot play a complete game.  This team is still not living up to preseason expectations.    All Terrier fans hope that the team can find a solution to the enigma by the January 2nd matchup against Stony Brook, their first in-conference game.

Game Notes:

• Player of the game: Jake O'Brien led the Terriers with 17 points.
• Corey Lowe was back and hit a really long three in the first half.
• I attended this game with a few friends, we all got free tickets from a student outside the of the arena.  Apparently there were a few promotions that were designed to lure more people to the game.  This was all a part of a "final project" for a  marketing class, they had to get as many people to attend the game as possible.  I don't think they received an A.  The attendance at Agganis games continues to be disappointing.  Pat Chambers promised better attendance when he interviewed for the job, I am not seeing it so far.
•  I felt bad for the Dance Team, they were having really bad luck with the PA system a couple times.
• One guy mentioned UConn football, I tried to high five him but was denied because I was wearing a Yankees hat.  
• Also, when I got my picture taken next to the BU Hockey National Championship trophy I think the person purposely cut my hat out of the picture because I made a snippy remark about not caring about the Red Sox and Celtics tropy (judge for yourselft, see the picture below).

Yankee hat cut out purposely?

Next Up:

Boston U at Marist

December 12, 2 PM

Listen: 1510 am

_____________

UConn 92 BU 64: BU gets clobbered.

Recap from the BU website.
Recap from the UConn website.

Boston University will have to wait another year to break their 50 year winless streak when facing ranked opponents.  UConn beatdown BU like a 2 seed playing a 15 seed.

There is not much to write about this game.  You could read the preview that I posted yesterday and think it was was a recap.  Yesterday I guessed the score would be 90 - 64 UConn. The actual score was 92 - 64 UConn. I was off by two points!

The game played out exactly as I expected.  UConn was way too physical for the Terriers, they out rebounded BU 54 - 29 and blocked six Terrier shots..  BU tried a lot of three pointers to try to keep up with UConn, but no amount of threes could've kept the Terriers in this one.  When all was said and done a more athletic UConn team was just better than the Terriers. The Terriers didn't play as awful as they did in the Harvard game, it was just a mismatch.

Random thoughts from this game:

• John Holland and Jake O'Brien are legit and could probably be pretty decent if they played for a school in a major conference. Right now they are the best two players talent wise on the team.  Holland had 23 points and O'Brien added 18 points and 10 rebounds for his first career double-double.  That's pretty impressive especially against a team of UConn's caliber.
• Why did coach Pat Chambers take his players off the floor before the half was over?  Yes, there was only .2 seconds left on the clock, but seriously you can't wait?  The ref should've allowed them to stay in the locker room, it would've been funnier if BU came out of the locker room and UConn was up by three more points than they remembered.
• The Terriers were banged up tonight and didn't have a very deep bench. In addition to Valdas Siruitis and Scott Brittain being out, Corey Lowe sat out his first game because he is suffering from plantar fascitis. As a result, O'Brien led the team with 39 minutes played, Morris played 38 and Holland added another 37.  When your players log that many minutes they are going to be very tired. The Terriers need someone to get healthy soon.

Next Up:
Boston U v. Bucknell
Sunday 12/6 2:00 PM Tip at Agganis Arena
Listen: 1510 am

____________

JC's Preview: Connecticut v. Boston U (12/2 XL Center 7 PM)

As I watch a rematch of the 2008-09 national championship game, I'm thinking the same thing everyone else is thinking. When will a team from the America East or a mid-major conference finally win the National Championship?  It has to happen eventually, right?  In College Basketball there is tournament so every team has an equal shot once they get there, right? What if a team like BU made a George Mason like run to the Final Four?  No, wrong, it will never happen, don't get your hopes up.

JC's Preview

Here is the preview from the BU website. Also, see my post about why I am rooting for my alma mater (BU) over the team I gre up rooting for as a kid (UConn)

I don't think there is any question who will win this game.  This is a match up nightmare for the Terriers. The Connecticut Huskies will win and win big.  

What did the Harvard game show?  BU still has a lot of work to do.  Pelage and O'Brien combined for only eight rebounds, that worries me.  Versus UConn's more physical and more athletic forwards (Stanley Robinson, Gavin Edwards, and Alex Oriakhi) that is not going to cut it. The Terriers inability to be consistent in any game they have played all season, that worries me.  They do not have a complete win all season. 

The strength of BU's team is undeniably their guard play.  But BU does not have any advantage in this aspect of this game.  Jerome Dyson and Kemba Walker are quick and talented, they will go right by you.  The two players that matchup against Dyson and Walker the best are probably Lowe and and Strong. 

How does BU stay competitive with a more athletic, physical and bigger team? I don't know, it's probably not possible. I really don't see any phase in this game which the Terriers can exploit, especially since they are so poor from the field and from three so far this season.

Terrier Keys to he Game:

• Have an outstanding game shooting the three
• Take advantage of loose-balls and turnovers
• Don't commit a lot of turnovers
• Make all of your free throws
  

If they can do that they might have a chance.  It's basically the four things that any coach at a mid-major school tells their players, "if we make very little mistakes and we can force them to make a few, we can win this game."

So to reiterate, BU has little to no chance.  This game will not even be close.  The question is not if BU will lose, it's by how much.  I predict UConn 90 - BU 64. UConn will clobber BU.

Notes:

• The game will be broadcast on espn360.com.  Anyone with comcast internet can go online and watch for free.
• The last time BU beat a ranked team was in 1959. 
• Calhoun used to coach for the Northeastern Huskies when they were in the same conference as BU. 

 ____________

BU loses to Harvard 78- 70: First Loss to the Crimson at Case Gym in 37 years

The last time that Boston Univeristy lost to Harvard at Case Gymnasium was December 13, 1972. Twelve years before I was brought into life on Earth. This was a disspointing loss. The Terriers were as flat as a 2 day old PBR keg. Instead of getting better they got worse.

Let's revisit my preview and the keys to the game I laid out.

• Shoot better from three than Harvard. - Fail. The Crimson and the Terriers had the same exact stat line from three point range: 5-20.   There's no reason with as many great shooters as the Terriers have that they shouldn't be shooting better from three than the Crimson. 
• Play a strong and consistent 40 minutes. - Fail.  They played well for maybe a 10 minute period in this game.  At 5:37 left in the first half they were down by 13 but somehow went into the locker room down only 2 at the half.  Then took the lead early in the 2nd by as much as 9 at the 13:25 mark. They would blow that and lose by 8.  The Terriers only seem to score in spurts, they had one big spurt in this game and that was it.
• Play as aggressive as they have all season.  - Fail.  I think it was obvious to everyone there that the Terriers were getting dominated down low.  The stats from the game are kind of deceiving, the Terriers out rebounded the Crimson by one but couldn't finish any of their second chance opportunities.  BU's two big men Pelage and O'Brien combined for 8 rebounds, Holland had 9.
• Neutralize Lin and McNally. Fail.  This was a big fail.  Lin had 19 points and McNally added 14 of his own.  Lin had 4 assists and 4 steals and went 7-8 from the line.

Other notes:

• Player of the game: Jeremy Lin
• BU Player of the game (if I had to name one): John Holland 18 points and 9 rebounds.
• Carlos Strong looked really good, but only in the ten minute Terrier spurt.
• Corey Lowe was forcing hail mary threes and went 0-7 from the beyond the arc, not his best performance.
• The Terriers scored only 2 bench points.
• The Crimson blocked 8 Terrier shots.

You really have to look at the stats hard to figure out why the Terriers lost this game.  But it's there, compared to the Crimson's 47%, the Terriers shot only 38.5% from the floor .  Even that number is deceiving; during the Terrier spurt they were making everything.

I can't pull any positives from this game other than John Holland.  He was the only consistent person for BU on the floor.  The defense for the Terriers was pretty bad as well.  Usually when you score 70 points and have 5 more offensive rebounds than your opponent you expect to win the game.  That was not the case tonight at Case. Terriers lose and lose bad.  They need to get better in a hurry if they want to at least be competitve with UConn on Wednesday.

One of Lowe's 7 misses from beyond the arc (I will get a digital camera soon I promise).

Next Up:

BU at UConn

Wednesday 12/2 7:00 PM at the XL Center in Hartford, CT

Listen: 1510 am

Watch: SNY, WCTX9, ESPN Full Court

___________

JC's Preview: Boston U v. Harvard (Case Gym 11/29 5 PM)

Before I begin the preview, is it me or does Coach Pat Chambers sound like a broken record? Look at the last paragraph of Dan Duggan’s recap of the Northeastern game:

“We got better today, we’re going to practice (tomorrow) and we’ll continue to get better,” Chambers said. “As long as we’re getting better and we’re headed in the right direction, we’re going to be OK.”

This is what Chambers has been preaching after every game this season. He just used the form of “to get better” three times. I have no problems with what the coach is saying; I want the Terriers to get better too, so do all Terriers fans. But it’s just stating the obvious. It’s like saying “I get better at my job every day.” I think Coach Chambers needs to say something a little more inspirational. For example what if he said this instead:

“We’ll be on the same level as UConn by the time we play them next week.” Or….
“This is a great team with determination, they won’t quit and neither will I, we could be down 50 to the Celtics and still not quit.”

Maybe, those examples are a little over the top, but I think you get my point. Also, I don’t like the last part of the last sentence: “we’re going to be OK.” As a fan I hope BU is going to be more than “OK,” I hope BU is going to be great. Pat Chambers may be doing well on the court directing his team but he needs to show a little more passion in post game interviews if he wants to attract students and fans to the game and recruit great talent to the program. He’s got my $10, but I don’t think he is convincing many more than that right now. Now, onto JC’s preview.

JC’s Preview

BU v. Harvard, Sunday 11/29 5 PM, Case Gym

Radio: 1510 AM

Harvard:


Harvard comes into this game fresh off of a 78 – 60 schlacking of fellow America East member New Hampshire. In that game and the previous game against Bryant, Harvard played 10 different players for 10 or more minutes and not one player was on the court for over 27 minutes. Look for Harvard coach Tommy Amaker to make frequent subs. Also, considering that stat, senior guard Jeremy Lin’s 18.1 points per game is pretty impressive. Harvard is a team much like the Terriers that likes to shoot the 3 often. Lin and sophomore guard Oliver McNally are 35% and 44% from beyond the arc respectively. They should match-up pretty well in the guard position with the Terriers. Look for Harvard to shoot a lot of shots from beyond the arc.


Boston U:

BU comes in fresh off of their 69 – 64 OT win over Northeastern. So far the Terriers have gotten outstanding play from their forwards sophomore Jake O’Brien and senior and leading scorer for the Terriers John Holland. Of course we could not forget, Corey Lowe’s remarkable performance against Northeastern, which was probably the most inspired of the season. He aggravated a foot injury in the last few minutes of the game and stays in the game. That’s the heart and will of a true leader and captain. The Terriers have an arsenal of shooters from beyond the arc, five players are shooting 30% or better from three (Holland, Lowe, Strong, O’Brien and Morris).

In their last matchup against Northeastern the main concern was their streakiness. BU’s fanbase (including myself), was put on the emotional rollercoaster versus Northeastern. The Terriers were down by 10 early in the first but battled back within 2 at the half. They then went on a 13 – 0 run and took an 11 point lead only to blow that and have to come from behind again to force overtime. Then after that my emotions took over and I blacked out.


BU Keys to the game:

• Shoot better from three than Harvard. 
• Play a strong and consistent 40 minutes.
• Play as aggressive as they have all season.
• Neutralize Lin and McNally

BU should beat Harvard extending their streak to nine consecutive wins against and not allow Harvard a win at BU since the 1975-76 season.

__________

BU topples Northeastern in OT 69 - 64

Wow, great game (short recap). Very frustrating at times, very exciting at times, very similar to the BU v. Harvard hockey game I went to last night.

Quickly some thoughts:

• Co-players of the game: Corey Lowe and Jake O'Brien
• Most Frustrating part: BU went on an 13 - 0 run to take an 11 point lead to start the first 5:30 of the second half. The rest of the second half they only scored 13 points.
• Most exciting part: John Holland's dunk in the last seconds of the game to seal it.

I have to go back to Connecticut now for Thanksgiving. More thoughts on the game later. In the meantime, I leave you with a few pictures.

Yours Truly

Jake O'Brien sinking a foul shot

UPDATE:


Finally some time to sit down and write about this game.

It was probably one of the more exciting games you will see at Case Gym all year. The Terriers were down by 10 early in the first half but battled back to make it a 2 point deficit going into the locker room.

Pat Chambers must have said something at halftime to light a fire under these guys asses. When they came out they looked stronger than they have all season. In the first 5 minutes they went on a 13 - 0 run to take the lead by 11. I thought after we took the lead we might be in the midst of a blowout. But after a tactical time out by Northeastern, the Terriers cooled down and only scored 13 points the rest of the half.

Overtime was scary. The Terriers came out of the gate with two threes to make it a six point game and they even blow that. But after a few turnovers on both ends, but more turnovers for Northeastern, BU is able to grab the lead with about a minute left and keep it for good. The exclamation point was a sweet dunk by John Holland at the end of the game that could've made Sportscenter.

Overall, it was a great win against a bitter crosstown rival. However, the Terriers looked very streaky at times especially in the second half. They came out of the locker room very strong and then faded. It may work versus Northeastern but against Harvard and Connecticut they are going to have to stay consistent across the whole 40 minutes.


Other things I noticed:

• There was more of a Northeastern following at the game than BU. Perhaps because of Thanksgiving break, but still I didn't like it.
• Northeastern fans are assholes, they were screaming at Corey Lowe as he was limping off the court during overtime.
  
• BU is still fouling a lot. Jake O'Brien had 4 fouls for most of the second half; as a result, he had less playing time and probably less points.
• Tyler Morris fouled out again.
• Did I already mention Corey Lowe and Jake O'Brien were amazing?
• Coach Chambers has a weird way of coming up with set plays. Before that Corey Lowe jumper to tie the game with 18.1 seconds left in regulation, Coach Chambers had all of his players go to the bench while him and his coaches deliberated in the middle of the court for 75% of the timeout. Then he went back to the team and explained what the came up with in the span of 20 seconds. Shouldn't he have plays like this in his pocket before the game, just for these situations? Hey, I'm not complaining, it worked.
  

Next up:
BU v. Harvard
Sunday 11/29/2009 at Case Gym 5 PM Start
Listen to it on 1510 The Zone

___________

Kansas State 80 - BU 70

Here is the recap.

I only listened to part of the game on 1510. I was impressed by how well the Terriers did in this contest against a team that they were outmatched by, both physically and athletically. The only problem so far is that their aggressive style of play is costing them a lot of fouls. Corey Lowe fouled out last night with 15 minutes left in the game.

So far three losing games into the schedule, John Holland is the the MVP. He is averaging 18.1 points per game.

Overall, I'm impressed by the level of play by the Terriers. They're playing up to their superior opponents, something that is tough for mid-major teams to do on the road. If BU can keep games close with teams from superior conferences such as the Big 12, then the Terriers should be able to dominate teams from equal or lesser conferences.

Next up, Indiana Today 11/20/2009 6 pm Eastern from San Juan. Listen to the game on 1510 the zone.

__________