AE Tournament 2010 - BU beats Hartford to play SBU in the Semis

3/6 - BU v. Hartford - Terriers win 87 - 46.
In the program people will forever wonder why BU played Hartford in the quarterfinal instead of Binghamton.  On Monday night, apparently after all of the AE 2010 Tournament programs were printed out, Binghamton withdrew from the tournament because of their off the court issues.  So instead of playing Binghamton like initially planned BU played Hartford.  This seemingly odd but very understandble event sparked a couple of thoughts in my mind:

1. What happened to all of the Binghamton fans who bought tickets to the men's tournament?  Did they get a full refund? Did any of them already have the hotel booked so they decided to go anyway?
2. BU will now have to play the University of Hartford in the quarterfinals, seemingly a worse matchup than Binghamton, who just a week and a half earlier we beat by 43 points.  The last time we played Hartford we won by only 3 points on the back of a Jake O'Brien three pointer.

My concerns about the matchup were unfounded.  The Terriers were led by not just one three pointer, but a very strong performance from Jake O'Brien who scored a career high 28 points.  The Terriers continued to hit threes galore, setting yet another three point related record in Reich Family Arena, most threes in one half of an America East Tourament game (the other was the BU program record for most threes, which they broke again later in the season when they played Albany at Agganis).  The Terriers dominated Hartford from beginning to finish and won by an astronomical differential of 41 points.

This win seems to continue the trend of how BU has performed thus far all year.  Versus the lowly teams in the conference they will dominate play from almost beginning to finish. Very rarely have they been in a close game and they always win versus the inferior opponent.  As a fan tracking BU all season, I noted many times that they are undefeated versus teams below them in the standings and 1 - 5 versus opponents above them in the standings (the only win coming against Maine on senior day).

3/7 - 5:00 PM EST - BU v. Stony Brook - Reich Family Arena 
Today they can completely negate that 1 - 5 record versus superior opponents by knocking off the best team in the conference: The Stony Brook Seawolves (which is not an actual animal).  The Terriers have been mandhandled by the Seawolves both times they have played.  The Terriers were never able to find a rhythym in both games and would go prolonged periods of the game without scoring a field goal.

The big stat in both of the previous BU v. SBU contests and what I expect to be the huge difference in this contest is how hot the Terriers can get from 3 point range.  In the first game they shot about 35%, shooting 12 of 37 from beyond the arc.  In the second game they made a paltry 4 of 22 from beyond the arc about 18%.  Both of these percentages are unusually low for the Terriers.  If they can shoot like they did yesterday in the Hartford quarterfinal, the Terriers will win this game and upset Stony Brook to advance to the AE Final for the first time since they won the tournament and advanced to the NCAA tournament in 2002.

Random Notes:

• If BU wins hope for a New Hampshire upset of UVM, that will put the AE Title game either in Agganis Arena or Case Gym, which is guaranteed to be a huge event for the BU Basketball program.

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JAAAKE OOO'BRIEENNNN leads BU past Hartford.

2/13 - Boston U. v. U of Hartford - The Roof -  BU defeats Harford 58 - 55
I could only imagine how the Roof erupted in cheers when hearing Jake O'Brien's name shouted over the PA system after he hit a tie-breaking, game winning, three pointer with five seconds left in regulation.  Well, there probably weren't that many people in the stands, so maybe it didn't erupt, but I like to think it got moderately loud at the very least. But for what, a buzzer-beater versus a conference bottom-dweller?

I followed this game closely on my phone between 4 and 6 on Saturday.  It was a close game throughtout, too close for my liking.  But one question lingered in my mind, how in the hell were we playing a close game with Hartford?  BU's MO this season has been to lose narrowly to better teams and blow out the bad ones.  This one was too close.  BU blew Hartford out at Reich Arena in January, but when they come to the Roof we barely slip by them?  It just doesn't make any sense.  This season has just been an up and down rollercoaster, for the playters, for the fans, and for the coach.

The Vermont game, even though the Terriers lost, was probably one of the strongest games BU has played all season. The Hartford game, even though the Terriers won, was probably one of the worst games they have played all season.  That is the enigma that is the '09-'10 Boston U Terriers Men's Basketball Team.  One week you are satisfied with a loss against a good team, the next you are unsatisdfied with a win to a bad team.

I saw this article on the America Least blog the other day.  They claim that it is a "bold" prediction that BU is not going to win the America East this year.  Umm, DUH!  I hope this is them being sarcastic.  BU's chances are good if all of their talent performs well, but they haven't shown us that in a single win this year.  They have been the embodiment of inconsistent, they have been sloppy, they have been really good at times, they have been really bad at times.  This team has about 50 different faces and every time you see the Terriers play you never know which one is going to show up (I'm willing to take the Jekyll and Hyde analogy that America Least uses a step further and say that they have many different personalities, not just two).

2/17 - Boston U. v. Binghamton - Agganis Arena - Preview Here
Considering the hardships and controversy the Binghamton team faced before the season and in the previous seasons, I am very impressed with their in conference performance this season.  The Bearcats have beaten Stony Brook and UVM, the two teams on top of the conference and then lost an OT thriller to Maine, the third place team.  They enter this game on a 3 game road skid so they will be desperate.  They certainly won't be a pushover for the Terriers or will they?  I really don't know, I am done trying to predict the Terriers performance.


Quck Random Notes: 

• I will be attending this game with a Northeastern alum, weird I know.
• I'm getting hooked up with free tickets from a BU employee (you know who you are, thank you!). 

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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

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