Translating Some Coach-Speak and It's Got Me a Little Concerned

Over the past day or two, it seems as though the clubhouse leader for the Louisville football head coaching job has been Florida defensive coordinator Charlie Strong (not just because I said so).

Well today, Florida head coach Urban Meyer gave what many deemed to be a ringing endorsement of Strong when he said:

"A lot of times, you may not be the best schematic coach, which I think (Strong is) very good, but the thing that makes Charlie such a special guy is the fact that he has impeccable character and is a great leader."




Having heard my fair share of coaches' press conferences, this has me concerned, because based on what Meyer (no relation, by the way) is saying in my opinion is this:

"Charlie isn't exactly the best X's and O's guy out there, and I'm not saying he's bad or anything, but what stands out to me more than anything with him is his character and what a great guy he is."

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but isn't that what Louisville just had? We'll just have to see how all of this plays out.

Now I'm Feeling Bad...

Like a lot of Louisville fans, this blog (in its short existence) hasn't been too kind to Steve Kragthorpe, but after watching his farewell press conference online, I feel really bad for him.




Sure he wasn't able to win too many football games like Bobby Petrino did, but he tried and in many ways accomplished something Petrino never attempted (or probably thought about given his nature): coaching his kids to be more than just football players, raising them to be better men, which in this day and age is truly commendable.

His remarks at the conference make him seem like a coach better fit for an older era, before college football became infused with the money and impatience that have pretty much come to define it today.

He may have not been the best coach when it came to producing a winning record, but it cannot be denied that Steve Kragthorpe is an exceptional human being and I wish him nothing but the best in his future endeavors.

There may not be too many Louisville fans out there saying this, but I'm rooting for you Coach!

Extreme Makeover: Louisville Football Edition!

Gone are the days of Louisville football being Kragthorpe'd with athletic director Tom Jurich's announcement that he has decided to part ways with the embattled and almost universally-hated within the Jefferson County lines coach, who compiled an unimpressive 15-21 record in three years on the job.

With Kragthorpe and his losing ways now gone, Jurich and the Louisville athletic department are handed with a task, a task they've succeeded in tremendously aside from the choice to hire "Coach K": hiring a new coach.

We're talking about a guy who had the cojones to fire a regressing Denny Crum and bring Rick Pitino across enemy lines to lead the storied Louisville basketball program; the guy who brought in John L. Smith and then hit the jackpot with Bobby Petrino. His task will now be to bring someone in to bring this promising program back to where it was before Kragthorpe got there: the top of the Big East and in the thick of the national title hunt.

Below is a preliminary list of who that person could be, placed in different categories based on the likelihood of it actually happening.

The Long Shot

Mike Leach, Texas Tech Head Coach

The Unemployment Line

Tommy Tuberville, former Auburn Head Coach

Phillip Fulmer, former Tennessee Head Coach

Steve Mariucci, former 49ers and Lions Head Coach

Tommy Bowden, former Clemson Head Coach

Any NFL coach that may get fired here coming up not named Dick Jauron or Eric Mangini

The Likely Suspects

Charlie Strong, Florida Defensive Coordinator

Kevin Sumlin, Houston Head Coach

Kirby Smart, Alabama Assistant

Bud Foster, Virginia Tech Assistant

Butch Jones, Central Michigan Head Coach

A Little Off the Radar

Turner Gill, Buffalo Head Coach

Al Golden, Temple Head Coach

In True Honey and Vinegar Fashion...The Prediction

I obviously can't read Tom Jurich's mind, but I'll try my best to go through his thought process with this search:

-Let's just get rid of Leach now. His current Texas Tech contract pays him $3 million a year and the highest paid coach in the Big East doesn't even make $2 million a year (Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano rakes in about $1.9 million a year).

-Think Mariucci may be a bit out of the Cards' range as well, especially with a cooshy job as a talking head on the NFL Network. No where near as ridiculous as those Jon Gruden rumors though.

-Really don't see Louisville going with the rising star mid-major coach, seeing as that's exactly what Kragthorpe was when they hired him a few years ago. That probably eliminates Sumlin, Jones, Gill, and Golden.

-While Tuberville and Fulmer were successful at their previous jobs, there was a reason that they were both fired and it's probably something that would become evident to Louisville fans after a while. Cross both of them off.

-Take a look at who has been the dominant college football program the past few years: it's the Florida Gators. Sure, Tim Tebow gets most of the headlines, but the Gator defense has perhaps been the most dominant aspect of those teams. What this means is that all roads lead to Charlie Strong for me.

Throw in the Florida recruiting ties and the fact that Strong's allegedly had problems finding jobs because of being a part of an interracial couple (Strong's African-American and has a white wife, so Louisville gets a major PR boost), and it sounds almost like a custom fit.

The updates will keep coming throughout this process as Jurich should be announcing a replacement sometime here in the next few weeks, introducing the man who will be handed the task of leading The Ville back to national prominence.

David Thorpe: Certified Moron

Between the two of us, I'm the one who's deemed as Honey, but seeing as Vinegar writes for the blog about as often as Vince Vaughn does a good movie, I'll have to assume the role, because something's got the vinegar boiling up inside of me.

I'm thinking of maybe wanting to get into sports writing as a career, so when you want to get into that kind of a profession, you read a lot of different sports wrtiter and sports journalists. Inevitably, you have ones that you like and dislike.

For me, then there's my lower ring of hell for sports journalists. It's reserved for the likes of Skip Bayless, Jemele Hill, Skip Bayless (yes, he's that bad), Jim Rome (is he even a sports writer?), and a few others, but for the sake of brevity, I'll end the list there.

The point I'm trying to get to is that I'm adding a new name to the list: David Thorpe of Scouts, Inc. whose work is featured on espn.com Insider. I don't actually have Insider because out of principle I refuse to pay for it, but upon seeing a trick you can pull to it, I can now view most Insider article.

Moving on, Thorpe has been posting NBA Rookie Rankings since the beginning of the year, ranking the NBA's crop of newcomers from one to fifty based on a bizarre series of stats.

Don't call me a Louisville homer for being mad about this, but he currently has New Jersey Nets guard-forward Terrence Williams ranked 24th among fellow rookies.

While 24 may not seem too bad on paper, Williams is a guy who's averaging about 11 points and 6 rebounds a game. If there are 23 rookies doing better than those stats, then we should be talking about a historic class here.

But it's not. Do I think Williams is the best rookie? Absolutely not, I'd put Brandon Jennings, Tyreke Evans, Johny Flynn and probably Stephen Curry ahead of him, but after that, I don't see anyone who's putting up better numbers than Williams.

But far be it from Thorpe to let his series of obscure stats tell him that, for he has Williams ranked behind the likes of these people:

Jeff Teague: 2.5 ppg
Serge Ibaka: 3.8 ppg
Austin Daye: 4.2 ppg
David Andersen: 5.9 ppg
Derrick Brown: 4.7 ppg
Jonas Jerebko: 5.0 ppg

Again let me reiterate: Williams 11 ppg

I know that his shooting percentage isn't the greatest thing on Earth, but he's been producing and showing some great signs of promise on top of putting up some very good stats.

I believe that statistics are a very valuable tool to use in sports analysis, but sometimes when you dig deep to find the most useless, obscure numbers a la Mr. Thorpe and his comrades at Scouts, Inc., there is this conclusion, evidenced by these rookie rankings:

Statistics obscure common sense, so therefore Mr. David Thorpe (I usually don't revert to this kind of name-calling), you are a moron.

Don't Ask for Any Favors: A Brief Georgia Tech Preview

I was going to do a typical preview for the BU basketball game today against Georgia Tech, but I think a team who's ranked in the top 25 in the country and has the added motivation of playing for their coach's (Paul Hewitt's) employment is probably enough of an indication that the Terriers don't have much of a chance in this game.

But wait, there's more! It comes in the form of the the No. 2 rated freshman in the country, big man Derrick Favors out of Atlanta.




Try picturing this guy posting up against Jeff Pelage, Jake O'Brien, and Valdas Sirutis. Ouch.

BU's done great in this tournament and shown some real signs of progress under Coach Chambers, but I think it's safe to say that you can put this one in the loss column.


Teddy's Prediction

Georgia Tech 74 BU 67


Craig's Prediction

Georgia Tech 87 BU 61

Hoosiers, Minus Norman Dale and Jimmy Chitwood: The Indiana Preview

In all honesty, BU matching up against Indiana is a little weird for me. I grew up only about an hour and a half south of Bloomington, a lot of my buddies are students there, and about half of my family including my mom graduated from there.

Growing up with these kind of IU influences, I kind of adopted the Hoosiers as my second favorite team behind Louisville, a spot that has now been claimed by BU and re-assessed in a 1A, 1B format with Louisville. Then there's IU and of course my dad's alma mater, the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, home to this proud mascot:



It's also a little strange (and strange in the best possible way) that BU has gotten a chance to match up against one of the true "blue bloods" of college basketball, a program whose history of success puts it up there with the likes of UCLA, Kentucky, and Kansas.

Game tips off at 6 PM (Eastern time, PR's on Atlantic time), so here's the run down:

Game Location: San Juan, Puerto Rico

Projected Starting Lineup

Corey Lowe, G

Tyler Morris, G

Carlos Strong, G

Valdas Sirutis (I'm guessing Chambers goes with this again, maybe mad at Holland?), F

Jake O'Brien, F

Reasons For Optimism

Anything positive has to start with that Kansas State game. It was a game that I thought BU was going to get killed in, but despite being over-matched talent-wise and size-wise, BU still managed to only lose by 10 points and was hanging tough the whole game. And the Terriers played about half the game without Corey Lowe, who fouled out very early on.

If that was a full strength BU team that took the court, who knows, that may have just been an upset.

John Holland is really asserting himself as the star of this team, all apologies to Lowe, and he came out with another great performance against the Wildcats. Tyler Morris bounced back from a poor game against GW with a monster effort, making a lot of us think that he can become a star on this team, ending his career with a bang.

Same goes for Carlos Strong, who is quickly replacing Jeff Pelage as my favorite guy on this team with his grit, determination, and production. He's by far been the best rebounder on the squad so far this year, something that the Terriers desperately need. Jake O'Brien even had a pretty good game.

Based on what I could hear on the radio, it sounded like BU were playing like a group of mad men, diving for loose balls (no comment on that, let's be mature) and playing somewhat of a frentic style of play. Maybe this team's starting to embody its coach's values and traits?

Looking over to the other side, IU is a team BU can compete with. Due to Kelvin Sampson's disregard of NCAA rules and the university's bone-headed decision to hire him in the first place, the Hoosiers are in the second year of full-scale rebuilding mode under Tom Crean.

The team that's going to take the court opposite the Terriers isn't one that features the likes of Scott May, Kent Benson, Quinn Buckner, Isiah Thomas, or even A.J. Guyton or Jared Jeffries, so just for the mere fact that IU isn't quite yet in a position to be a serious national contender yet, BU just may have a chance.

Reasons for Concern

Again, the bench is a big problem here. Last game, the guys off the bench played pretty well, but the overall lack of depth showed with many of BU's top players playing with four fouls and of course with Lowe fouling out.

For a team that plays a very up-tempo style of basketball, they're going to draw a lot of fouls, especially their guards for things like handchecks and what not.

Turnovers are still a problem for this team, particularly guys like Lowe, but seem to be dwindling with this team's increased comfort in Chambers' system.

Also, the team that they're playing isn't the same IU team that only won six games last year: they're much improved. Crean brought in a very good freshman class and he is starting to build the the team and program in his own image. In the same way that I think Chambers is the right guy for this BU program, Crean is the same for Indiana: a hard-working, intense guy who plays by the rules (say what you want about Bobby Knight, but he'd choke a player before he committed an NCAA violation...no seriously, he actually did), and most of all, the guy's a winner as evidenced by his resurrection of the Marquette program, with a little bit of help from one Dwayne Wade of course.

The Hoosiers have the depth advantage, one of the few times this year that they will, and let's be serious here: this isn't some cupcake, consolation opponent: we're talking about a proud program with five national championships (I guess making them to college hoops what BU is to college hockey).

It also happens to be in the same state and happens to share the same nickname with the standard of basketball movies, Hoosiers.


If you haven't seen the movie before and you consider yourself a basketball fan, you need to get on it immediately seeing as it and the oft-overlooked "He Got Game" are probably the two best hoops movies ever. Although, the whole upset story thing never completely resonated with me seeing as Hickory High star Jimmy Chitwood would have easily been an All-American. Just saying.

Bottom Line

A toss-up in all senses of the word, with BU's foul situation having a huge bearing on the game, to the point where it could be the deciding factor.

Teddy's Prediction

Indiana 67 BU 59

Craig's Prediction

Indiana 76 BU 74 OT

Let's Try Not to Get Killed: The Kansas State Preview

Earlier this summer when the field for the Puerto Rico Tip-Off was announced and Terrier Nation found out that BU was going to be playing Kansas State, I texted Teddy (the only other BU Hoops fan I could think of), to ask him what he thought of the draw. He sounded very excited, but almost came off as a little too confident for me, saying something along the lines of "Yea, that should be a win right?"

Wrong. Wrong in so many ways is what I replied at the time and any sort of reason that I threw at Teddy wouldn't sway him. Fast forward four months, and now who looks like the better man in that argument? Goes without saying it's this guy pictured below...



(Me after Louisville's win over Syracuse in the Big East Tournament Championship game. Being like one of three Louisville fans in a crowd of 20,000 Cuse fans, I walked out of the Garden that day like I was Spartacus)

Without further ado, here's the preview, coming out just about a half hour before gametime no less...



Game Location: San Juan, Puerto Rico

Projected Starting Lineup

Corey Lowe, G

Tyler Morris, G

Carlos Strong, G

John Holland, F

Jake O'Brien, F

Reasons For Optimism

Hate to kick them when they're down, but sort of few and far between for the Terriers here, who currently stand at 0-2 despite having played against two teams they were supposed to beat.

A big problem for BU in their loss to Iona was defense, even to the point where I got to provide constructive criticism for the Terriers while bashing Villanova at the same process (Nova has produced two things I like: Coach Chambers and Brian Westbrook, other than that, I don't like a single thing about Vanilla-no-fun...sorry).

The defense picked it up against George Washington, forcing them to shoot around 30% from the field, even though GDub did end up with 69 for the game, largely because of their phenomenal free throw shooting.

John Holland looked like an absolute stud last game, creating plays for himself and for teammates while playing relatively mistake free ball.

It also looks like we have a coach now who's willing to foul with two minutes left in the game when the team was down ten, which is always a plus considering all the times Dennis Wolff passed on doing the same thing last year.

Reasons for Concern

Ah, where to begin here. I'll start off by saying this, that BU is not going to win this game, just don't see how and it's really no discredit to this team because at full strength, I'd maybe give them a fighting chance.

But therein lies the problem of their season thus far: they're not healthy. And for this game, they're not going to be playing some mediocre mid-major team; they're matching up against a team that figures to be top five in the Big 12 and who is all but penciled in to make the NCAA Tournament.

K-State coach Frank Martin may be widely regarded as a shady figure when it comes to following NCAA rules, but this much is for certain: the man can recruit. He's the same guy who helped bring in Michael Beasley and Bill Walker a few years ago and was the person that kept them on board after Bob Huggins left Manhattan for the job at his alma mater, West Virginia.

The Wildcats got a key transfer in the form of big man Curtis Kelly, who should provide the team with some much-needed front court help along with freshman big Wally Judge.

When talking about K-State players, though, the conversation has to revolve around superstar point guard Denis Clemente, a man whose electrifying playmaking ability make many wonder whether he can be a successful player on the next level.

This past year, the Miami transfer became something of a YouTube sensation with this shot:

Wow, and before anyone asks, no that was not tampered with- it actually happened. With BU's thin bench for this game, a possible Clemente-Sherrod Smith matchup could be an all-time mismatch.

Again, BU fans, be patient, this is going to take some time...

Bottom Line

This wasn't a game BU was going to win anyway seeing as they don't have the horses to run with K-State aside from Lowe and Holland, and with an eight man rotation that includes Smith and Valdas Sirutis...let's just hope this doesn't get ugly.

Teddy's Prediction

Kansas State 74 BU 58

Craig's Prediction

Kansas State 87 BU 61

Kudos to The Boston Globe: A Great Read

Someone gave me a heads up on this article on boston.com about Coach Chambers and I just finished reading it, and by putting the link on the blog, I give it my full endorsement:

http://www.boston.com/sports/colleges/mens_basketball/articles/2009/11/18/sharp_turn/?comments=all

A fantastic read for any BU Basketball fan or any fan of perseverance and overcoming odds in general. The 0-2 start has been tough, but this article is just a small anecdote as to why Chambers is the right guy to lead this program, confirming what many of us BU Hoops afficionados already know:



This guy's the man

Postgame Notes: Handing Out Grades vs. GW

Tonight at Agganis Arena, the Boston University men's basketball team stumbled to an 0-2 record with a 69-59 loss against George Washington in the home-opener.

Just like the Iona game, it featured a subpar performance against what many thought to be an inferior opponent from a Terriers team that has disappointed thus far in a season in which so much was expected from them.

So for the postgame notes, opinions, and overall impressions, we're going to break with our long-established (long-established meaning one) tradition of evaluation and instead I'm (Craig here, like every other post) going to give grades to the starting five players, the bench, and to some other intangibles from the second game of this young season.



John Holland: A-


In a move that was supposedly fueled by Coach Chambers' opinion that Holland played selfishly against Iona, JH23 made a rare cameo from the bench in the game tonight. Holland was by far the team's star tonight, tallying a double-double with 24 points and 11 rebounds to go along with three steals and an 8 of 9 showing from the free throw line. With aboslute certainty, would have gotten an A had it not been for a 7-16 shooting performance.

Corey Lowe: B-

At first glance this mark may seem a bit low (no pun intended...seriously, that'd been lame) given his 21 point output, but most of those point came in garbage time. Plus, Lowe has continued to show why he is not a true point guard, and why until B.J. Bailey comes back, this team will not have a true point guard on its roster: his six turnovers with only one assist and an overall inability to help control the pace of the game.

Tyler Morris: D

Morris followed is strong showing against Iona with a clunker in this game, going 1-7 from the field (0-2 from 3 pt. range) for four points and turning the ball over four times as well. His three steals are probably the only thing keeping him from getting anything lower.

Carlos Strong: C

Los didn't play poorly per se, but he certainly didn't play that well, so we settled on a C for his performance. His shooting (2-6 FG, 1-2 from deep) wasn't phenomenal, but his nine boards are furthering the evidence that he may be the only guy on this team who can actually rebound the ball well.

Jake O'Brien: D-

It felt awkward cheering him on in the beginning of the game considering the fact he tried to leave BU after last season for a school that he thought was more on par with his perceived skill level. And tonight we saw why no bigger program wanted him: he's got a lot of holes in his game. He's a big man who isn't a particularly good rebounder and who has not developed a low-post game to speak of on offense. A frontcourt player going 2-12 on shooting is pretty pitiful and that about sums up JOB's performance last night. His five blocks are the only (literally, the only thing) keeping him from an F

Bench: F

Speaking of Fs, we know that the bench is thin and everything, but a collective stat line of this just doesn't cut it: 0-7 shooting (with a Valdis Sirutis shot off the side of the backboard and a Sherrod Smith airball trey being the highlights), four rebounds, one assist, one steal, zero blocks, and most notably, zero points in a combined 29 minutes of play. For those of you doing the math at home, that means that the Terrier bench hasn't scored a single point this year. Scott Brittain and B.J. Bailey cannot come back soon enough.

Dance Team: F

I know that "Chillin'" is an awesome song, such a good song in fact, that it made it on the blog. That being said though, you all wait for the one time this year that we play a Washington team to play a song by the District's only famous MC who repeatedly says "DC Chillin'" throughout the song. Couldn't it have waited a few games?

Crowd/Atmosphere: C-

My heart tells me this was a huge disappointment to the tune of an F, but my head keeps me from doing it. For months on end, I had this date circled on the calendar and was in all seriousness expecting a huge crowd for the home-opener, especially after Coach Chambers' showing at the Terrier Tip-Off and his passionate plea for the student body to show up to games.

When we met with him over lunch last week, I told him that last years' GW game had a turnout of around 4,000 or so people. Coach immediately shook his head and said, "No, no, I want more than that". It was clear that he hoped for a sellout, or if not a sellout, something damn close to it.

Last night's game was neither one, but there has to be some room for understanding here. The GW game last year was on an uneventful Friday night and forwhatever this is worth, was followed by a Coolio concert. The game this year was on a Tuesday night and I more than understand if some people couldn't make it: this is a busy time of the year for work and unless you're in CGS or COM, the prototypical "potential BU Hoops fan" probably was swamped with papers or midterms. And for the sake of credit where credit is due, the people who did show up were loud and passionate, hence why this grade isn't any lower.

What BU did fail in was this: when BU fired Dennis Wolff, a key reason for the move was that basketball attendance under Wolff was not very good and he had not been able to generate an interest in the team/program around campus. So they bring in someone who they believe can not only win, but also fill seats, and all signs pointed to Chambers being able to do that with his energy and enthusiasm. I for one can vouch for it: he's a very cool guy with an affable personality who I believe is the right kind of guy for this program. He has promised an up-tempo style of play that would make people want to keep showing up for games and it was something he planned on proving beginning with the home-opener.

But the team didn't prove that, as is evident with the 69-59 final (trust me, it wasn't even that high scoring), and now I would venture to say that BU's apathetic when it comes to all sports aside from hockey student body will not show up to as many games and we'll be staring down another season with games in the 400-500 people range in Case and the 800-1,500 range in Agganis.

It's a sad, unfortunate reality, but alas, it's a true one, one that we're going to have to deal with for the rest of the 2009-2010 campaign.

"Chillin'" Meets "Jump Around": The George Washington Preview

Tomorrow night is the long-awaited home opener and the formal introduction of the BU home crowd to the Pat Chambers Era of Terrier Basketball.

The opponent is a familiar foe, one who has given BU basketball trouble in the past: the George Washington Colonials.

Game Location : Boston, MA

Projected Starting Lineup

Corey Lowe, G

Tyler Morris, G

Carlos Strong, G

John Holland, F

Jake O'Brien, F

Reasons For Optimism

It's probably a little premature to say that all hope is lost for this BU team and for Pat Chambers' coaching tenure based on the season opening loss, so we're going to search for plently of optimism from the Iona game that could go a long way towards helping BU finally take down GW.

First off has to be the phenomenal play from Tyler Morris (21 pts.) and Carlos Strong (12 pts., 11 rbs.) in the last game. The play from both of these guys was very much so up in the air going into the season because of each of their season-ending surgeries last year. Both players are strong (no pun intended) veteran presences on this team and each of them possess unique abilities on the court that could really help out BU long term this year (Morris' jumper, Strong's inside-out ability to stretch the floor).

I'm going to try not to repeat my mistake with Iona last week when I said they were picked to finish in the bottom of their conference, but I can't ignore it: GW's just not a very good team, with Karl Hobbs & Company being picked to finish second to last in the Atlantic 10 (hopefully BU's conference in 5-10 years), ranked only ahead of a Fordham program that finished with an overall record of 3-27 last year.

So far, GW is 1-0 this season compared to BU's 0-1 record, but it has to be taken into consideration that they were playing against a UNC-Wilmington team that was 7-25 last year and hasn't been good since Jerry Wainwright left for UNCW for DePaul. Funny enough, Wainwright hasn't done all that well since that move either.

Speaking of embattled coaches....

Hobbs, once a hot name for higher profile jobs as recently as a few years ago, now finds himself on the hot seat and unless the Colonials exceed their very low expectations this year, expect Hobbs to be fired.

There should be an energy to Agganis Arena tomorrow night that I haven't seen, well since, uh....ever at a BU men's basketball game. You hear people talking about it on campus, it's being promoted well, and there's just an overall genuine excitement about the program, especially since this first home game is the first chance many of us have gotten to see the Terriers play live since Senior Day against Hartford last year. Expect the players to feed off of what should be an uncharacteristically enthused crowd at The Greek.

Also, the season premiere of The Whiteboard is going to be tomorrow. Got some good stuff planned to write on it, hopefully it goes over as well as it did against Hartford in its trial run last year...then again there were maybe 500 people at that game and that might be a stretch.

Reasons for Concern

The injuries to Scott Brittain and B.J. Bailey still loom large over this Terrier team, with Brittain for sure out for the game tomorrow and Bailey listed as a game-time-decision. Regardless of whether Bailey suits up or not, BU is still left with a very thin bench that will consist of these few players getting key minutes: Sherrod Smith in the backcourt, Valdas Siruitis at forward, and Jeff Pelage down low. Even with Bailey, this is a very, very thin bench. The prospect of the eight man lineup worried me going into the Iona game and my doubts were proven to be justified as the Terriers got little to no production from either one of those three players.

A big concern for BU in this game has to be their turnovers. They committed 22 turnovers against Iona, many of which led to baskets for the Gaels and proved to be a thorn in the side for BU. Many of these turnovers can be attributed to the fact that the Terriers are still adjusting to Chambers' up-tempo offense which has proven to be a rougher transition than most people thought. I can understand what kind of an adjustment period this might be for these guys who were used to Dennis Wolff's slow-paced half court offense. A lot of us are just wondering how long these growing pains are going to last, especially for a guy like Corey Lowe, who ideally should be at the shooting guard not at point guard.

Shot selection also has to be a concern for Terrier fans, especially considering BU's horrid 38% shooting performance against Iona a few days ago.

The dismal eleven assist total also needs to be improved or else I guarantee that the Chambers Era will get off to an 0-2 start.

Last but not least, let's try to play some defense, gentlemen. Giving up 82 points to Iona is a sign that this is a very defensively weak team right now and that a fast-paced, full-court offense cannot be utilized to its full potential if the defensive end is lagging.

Bottom Line

Easily BU's biggest game of the season, something that would ideally serve as a shout out to America East and to BU's own apathetic student body that this team is for real and that this momentum that Chambers has brought in needs to be built on by making Agganis Arena and The Roof some of the hardest mid-major venues in the country.

BU may have that motivation going for them, but hopefully GW won't channel its inner Wale and bust its ass for DC. If we start seeing the Colonials showcasing the basketball equivilent of the "I remain a Giant and you Jeremy Shockey" line, we're screwed.

For pretty obvious reasons that I really don't need to get into, Boston hasn't produced much hip-hop talent, so even though these guys are actually from Valley Stream, NY, we'll turn to the most beloved hip-hop song in The Hub:



This is a game that BU should be able to win, but then again, that was the same case last Friday, so until we get a firm grip on what this team's capable of and how good they actually are, it's really anyone's guess.


Teddy's Prediction

BU 81 George Washington 68

Craig's Prediction

BU 76 George Washington 69

Four Strikes and You're Out

On tonight's slate were four games for BU Athletics: the women's basketball team traveled to My Old Kentucky Home to take on the Wildcats, women's soccer had a first round NCAA Tournament game against UConn out at BC, men's hockey was just about a half an hour north of The Hub taking on Merrimack, and the Pat Chambers Era officially got off to a start tonight with men's basketball taking on Iona.

In a day that some thought could very well produce a 3-1 Terrier record, all four teams fell, some in more embarassing fashion than others.

We'll run down the list, like a roll call of sorts...


Women's Basketball

Of the four teams playing, this was the squad most of us figured would fall and this is really no discredit to them, falling 92-58.

While the UK women aren't exactly John Wall and their male counterparts, they have a good squad this year who should make some noise in the SEC. They're a very good team who plays in a major conference and the game was on the road (along with a bizarre 11 AM start time).

The BU women are also in the midst of a full-scale rebuilding year, having lost reigning America East Player of the Year Jessyka Burkes-Wiley and many other key players from a team that went undefeated through AE play until dropping the championship game to Vermont.

No shame in this loss, even if the final score is kind of cringe worthy; after all, this is a rebuilding year, these sorts of things happen.

Women's Soccer

This was a game that I had the honor of attending tonight at BC's Newton Complex, with the BU women taking part in the first round of the NCAA Tournament against a very good UConn team that beat them in a 1-0 OT game in the regular season.

Unfortunately for the Terrier women, it was the same result, dropping a 1-0 decision to the Huskies with only a couple of minutes left in the overtime period. Had the game gone into a shootout, anyone's guess who'd have won that.

The team played their hearts out all the way until the very end, with some incredible play from the defense led by Casey Brown and a superb game in goal from Janie Reilly, both of whom were seniors playing in what would be their last collegiate game.

No shame in this loss either. This was a phenomenal BU team that ran through conference play and had some very good non-conference showings, all in all having one of the best seasons in the history of the program.

Hats off to coach Nancy Feldman and the seniors, Brown, Reilly, Mara Osher, Taleen Dimirdjian, Emily Pallotta, Laura Schwartz, Farrell McClernon, and Mikaela Hansen who've given four great years to this program. Fantastic job.

Men's Hockey

I honestly can't believe I'm writing this, but the BU men's hockey team dropped a 6-3 decision on the road against Merrimack. Scratch the dropped in the previous sentence, actually- they were routed. I'm honestly convinced that Charlie Day was the only Merrimack-affiliated person who didn't record a goal against the Terriers.

We've known for at least a few weeks now that there wasn't going to be any sort of repeat for this BU team- no Frozen Four, no National Championship, and even no conference championship. This team was extremely over-rated coming into the season, possibly still living off of its reputation from last year, and hope is virtually non-existent from this current squad and what they can accomplish.

Kieran Millan hasn't shown any glimpse that he's ready to follow up his stellar freshman season between the pipes, sporting a rather impressive 3.14 goals against average, only slightly better than third stringer Adam Kraus' 3.52 mark.

The defense (until tonight I guess) has shown signs of improvement, but the offense has been non-existent aside from freshman Alex Chiasson.

The team has been plagued extensively by injuries to key players like Nick Bonino, Kevin Shattenkirk and others, so maybe there's still some room for a turnaround this season. Sure doesn't look good as of now though, 2-6 and staring down what looks to be a bleak year.

Men's Basketball

Traditionally at BU, the hockey team would be saved for the honors of being the feature mention, but tonight was a special night for men's basketball. After a long offseason that featured a coaching change and some newfound excitement surrounding the program, the Pat Chambers Era here at BU got off to an official start tonight, with the Terriers on the road against Iona.

With the thin bench and being on the road in a season-opener under a new coach, maybe we should have anticipated this happening (I did pick them to win, finally getting one right that Teddy gets wrong), but it still comes as a sort of unsettling surprise, with BU falling 82-73 against the Gaels.

It may be hard to shed some positive light on this loss, but I'll give it my best shot, especially before I go over all of the negatives.

Tyler Morris and Carlos Strong both presented big question marks coming into the season with both of them having just come back from season-ending surgeries, but tonight they both impressed. Morris had a team-high 21 points on 5-9 shooting (3-7 3 pt FG) and 8-10 from the charity stripe. Strong was just as good, finishing with 12 points on 5-10 shooting (2-5 3 pt. FG) with 11 rebounds, his first career double-double.

If those two can sustain that kind of production and their teammates can turn things around, BU could be poised for an excellent season.

Rebounding, a weak point for last year's squad, looked much-improved with the Terriers outrebounding Iona 39-33 despite the absence of Scott Brittain.

And scoring 73 points is probably something of an accomplishment; did BU ever record that many points in regulation last year?

That's honestly about it with regards to positives to take away from the game, though. Everything from here on out takes a turn to Negative Town.

Here's a laundry list of problems from tonight's game that can hopefully be improved or avoided as the season goes on:

Shooting: Putting up 38% shooting from the field will hardly ever win you a ball game and it sure didn't tonight. That's a dreadful number that really needs to be picked up. I don't know whether they were just off or if they had problems with shot selection or what, but that's point No. 1 to work on before Tuesday's home opener.

Distributing the ball: BU only had 11 assists tonight, something that may be more of a formality with a four guard offense in which the person bringing the ball up court could very well score right away, but really? Eleven assists in a 40 minute game? Cringe-worthy.

Free Throw Shooting: In this writer's humble opinion, a team centered around guard play should be able to shoot at least 80% from the line. Tonight, the Terriers shot about 68% from the stripe, which granted isn't a bad number per se, but it's something that can be improved for sure, especially when the guards shot 72%.

Turnovers: I was a little worried about this category going into the season, especially with the team lacking a true point guard aside from a freshman, but it didn't think it would be this bad: BU turned the ball over 22 times tonight. I think that stat speaks for itself.

Defense: Nobody ever likes to give up 82 points, but when it comes against a team you were favored against, a team that only scored 57 on you last year, a team picked to finish near the bottom of its conference, it makes it that much worse. People kept talking about a Villanova style offense- well, what we saw tonight was a Villanova style defense for you.


Despite this long list of criticism there is still room to improve and it's very much so premature to panic or judge this team. After all, it was just the first game of the season, so there's the inevitable rust to deal with. Compounding that was that BU was playing on the road. And all of this is under a new coach trying to implement a new system, which can always have it's growing pains especially for the guys who've been here for three years (see Lowe, Corey and his 5 turnovers).

Put injuries to two key players and a thin bench into the equation, and this really shouldn't be that big of a shock. Good news is that from here, you can only go up, so please refrain from launching firecoachchambers.com, PLEASE!

Get Your Game Face On: The Iona Preview

At long last, basketball season has officially arrived for the BU Terriers. Throughout the year, what we'll be doing here at Honey and Vinegar is doing previews for as many games as we can, meaning as much as class, papers, and midterms allow us to.

We start the season with BU's season-opening opponent, the Iona Gaels.




Game Location: New Rochelle, NY

Projected Starting Lineup



Corey Lowe, G

Tyler Morris, G

Carlos Strong, G

John Holland, F

Jake O'Brien, F



Reasons for Optimism


We're going to start with the pretty obvious point here in that Iona isn't all that good. The Gaels were picked by many "experts" and preseason publications to finish towards the bottom of the MAAC, with many people believing that this year's team is actually worse than the 12-19 squad from last year, having lost two of the top three scorers from the 2008-2009 team.

Iona coach Kevin Willard enters his third season with a 24-39 career record, and has largely failed to live up to the high expectations that he brought in with him, coming in as a highly-touted assistant under Rick Pitino at Louisville.

His Gaels lost two of their top three scorers from last season's 12-19 squad, a team that was marred and ultimately brought down by injuries.

There may also be a little extra motivation for this team to get new coach Pat Chambers a win in his first game.

Let's also remember that BU and Iona matched up last year in ESPN's series of Brack Buster games with the Terriers notching a 63-57 win at The Roof. Logically, BU is a better team than they were last year and Iona is supposedly worse, and if BU won last year, then this year's game shouldn't be as difficult to collect a W in.

Reasons for Concern

Rather surprisingly, BU enters this game with far more doubt than uncertainty, much of which can be attributed to concussions to both Scott Brittain and freshman B.J. Bailey that will sideline them not only for tonight's contest but also for a few upcoming games.

This obviously shortens BU's bench considerably, limiting the Terriers to most likely eight players (five starters, three off the bench).

Because of these unforeseen circumstances, BU will be going with an alteration of the four guard offense (yes, a la Villanova), but it's really more out of necessity than anything, at least based on what Coach Chambers told us when we met with him on Wednesday.

People remember the four guard offense as being so successful, but a big reason for that was that Villanova had the horses to do it: they had three players drafted into the NBA and had a deep bench to fall back on, both things that BU obviously will not have tonight.

The depth of the bench has to be concern number one for the Terriers. The frontcourt should be alright with a reliable player in Jeff Pelage being able to sub in, but key minutes are going to have to be logged by guys like Valdas Sirutis and Sherrod Smith (we're assuming that Michael Schulze and Tunde Agboola aren't going to be playing) and how they play in that time could very well determine the outcome of the game.

A lot of variables are going to be in play for BU, and if some of these don't go the right way for the Terriers like foul trouble from one or multiple starters or God forbid another injury, this may not be too pretty.

Bottom Line

BU has by far the more talent on paper, but with a thin bench and playing on the road under a new coach (which undoubtedly has a few growing pains associated with it), don't be too shocked if the Chambers Era starts off with a loss.

Time to get the game faces on (just don't tell Bobby Knight), the season is now officially underway.

(It's at about the 2:45 mark of the video, even though the rest is completely entertaining, it is Bobby Knight after all)

Teddy's Prediction:

BU 66 Iona 61

Craig's Prediction

Iona 68 BU 67

Merrimack's #1 Alum...Greenman!

Tonight, the BU men's ice hockey team will attempt to curb it's losing ways with a home-and-home series against Merrimack College that begins tonight on the Warriors' home ice.

Merrimack is traditionally the worst team in Hockey East, so BU usually has little if any trouble beating them, although with BU at 2-5 so far this year, and with Merrimack at 5-3, it could very well be a different story in this series.

What this brings me to is this- I didn't know where exactly Merrimack was, so I turned to the most trusted source out there for information: Wikipedia. After finding out it's location, I browsed through the article and caught some of the notable alumni, one of which made me catch my breath- I didn't know how to react:

Charlie Day, more commonly known as Charlie Kelly on "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia".



Funnier thing may actually be that he played baseball there. If someone can ever find his career stats, send them to me pronto.

This really has nothing to do with hockey or the upcoming games at all, but hey, it gives us all an excuse to watch this:



Or this:



Or this:



Or this:



Or this:



Or this:



Well, I think you all probably get the point by now...someone really needs to go on YouTube and make a "Best of Charlie" video, it would probably go a long way towards helping mankind

From The Free Press: An Unofficial BU Basketball Preview

Being restricted on words and relatively short on time, this column won’t have any long-winded introduction or fancy wording, for I need almost every single word available to me in order to get to the heart of a matter that I’m beyond excited for: the upcoming BU men’s basketball season.

As it has been discussed ad nauseam, a new era is here for BU basketball with the arrival of a new coach, Pat Chambers, along with a new style of play and a brand new attitude.

All of the energy and excitement surrounding a perpetually over-looked program wouldn’t be here without some sort of justification, with the anticipation for the season coming in the form of a star-studded basketball team that’s got as good of a chance as they’ve had this decade to make the NCAA Tournament.

It all starts with the guys on the team; the 2009-2010 edition of Terrier basketball is built around what is almost unanimously considered to be the best one-two punch in the league in John Holland and Corey Lowe.

As things look right now, Lowe is probably going to be starting the season as the team’s point guard, something with its upside and downside. Lowe’s probably one of the more accomplished players in the history of the program, so it’s fantastic to have the offense run through him, but he’s also has to cut down on his 97 turnovers from last year. That being said, though, there’s really nobody else who I trust handling the ball more than Lowe.



Like Lowe, Holland is a reigning first-team all-conference member and is arguably the most dynamic player in America East. Many of us have seen highlight reels of Holland dunking (especially his slam at Vermont last year), but he’s far from a one trick pony. He is a consummate small forward, a versatile player who can stretch the floor with his ability to shoot from the outside, but who can also penetrate and play above the rim with the best of them (mid-major wise, at least). Both he and Lowe are among the early favorites to take home conference player of the year honors.



A major question mark for the team coming into the season will be the play of Tyler Morris and Carlos Strong, both of whom are coming off of season-ending surgeries from last year. One of the two (my guess is Strong) will be starting, while the other will be playing key minutes off of the bench, being the prototypical sixth man. As evidenced in the dunk contest at the Terrier Tip-Off, Strong can certainly throw down, but he’s a better fit for this team at shooting guard (same goes for Morris). Both players have a lot to prove coming into their senior years, and their performances could very well have a large bearing on the success of this team.

Scott Brittain returns at center, and perhaps more surprisingly, Jake O’Brien returns at power forward after a failed, drawn-out attempt to transfer to a bigger program. Brittain puts up solid averages in points and rebounds last year, which is really all you need in a league devoid of dominant big men. O’Brien will hopefully demonstrate an improved low-post game along with a better ability to collect boards, but he presents a unique matchup problem for other teams due to his ability to shoot from long range.

Jeff Pelage showcased significant improvement throughout last season and has shed a lot of weight in the off-season, but he’s still very much a work in progress. He could be a very useful reserve for the Terriers if he continues with his trend of progression.



Also in the fold is highly-touted freshman point guard B.J. Bailey who, like Pelage, should get considerable minutes off of the bench. Freshmen are typically wild cards, though, so there will inevitably be a learning curve for Bailey, but his upside is extremely high.



How does all of this translate to the schedule? The non-conference slate is a very challenging, but not overbearing, one for BU this year. After glancing over the schedule, there are really only three games that I give the Terriers virtually no chance to win: on the road against Connecticut, at Atlantic-10 favorite Dayton over winter break, and against Dennis Clemente and Kansas State in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off.

Other than those few games, the team should be favored and/or at the very least competitive with any other team that they square off against.

With the well-documented implosion at Binghamton, the BU men have a clear path to an America East Conference title and an NCAA Tournament berth. Marqus Blakely and Vermont have always been trouble for BU, and Albany, Stony Brook and New Hampshire should all be challenging to fend off, but there’s a reason that this squad was the overwhelming pick to finish first in the conference: they are far and away the most talented team.

This now brings us to the coaching factor. Chambers has been brought in to do what Dennis Wolff could not do: consistently win conference titles and generate interest in the team around campus. He is walking in to an almost ideal situation, with a veteran-laden roster that is hungry for a berth in the Big Dance, and he has done everything right so far, displaying an enthusiasm that is necessary to truly catapult this program out of the neutral gear it’s been in for quite some time.
Chambers brings with him a new coaching staff, an impressive resume, and what promises to be a new style of play for fans long accustomed to the anemic offenses of Wolff’s tenure. People keep talking about the implementation of a Villanova style of play.



(Nova coach Jay Wright, who as a side note, my dad always makes fun of when Nova and Louisville play, calling him "Pretty Boy", "Wannabe Pitino", and some names that aren't exactly appropriate to be published, even for this blog. And Chambers is in the bottom right of the photo, to right next to Wright's left arm, HUZZAH!)


I’ll ignore the fact that there’s technically no such thing as a Villanova style of play, but I get what’s being implied: BU will be running a high-scoring, guard-oriented offense (not a four-guard offense, sorry to curb any potential giddiness) that will truly highlight the playmaking abilities of guys like Lowe and Holland. Don’t expect the kind of jumpstarted production you’re going to see at Kentucky with John Calipari’s dribble-drive offense, but this BU team is undoubtedly going to rack up some impressive offensive outings throughout the year.

How this team responds to a new offensive set and a change of culture with a coaching overhaul will likely be what will define this season.

Thus, the wait is finally over for the college basketball season, with the Terriers taking to the court on Friday for the first official game. With a newfound passion for BU basketball emerging and with the hockey team floundering, the pieces are in place and the stage is set for what could very well be a benchmark year this program.

Two Booms and a Bust

Some may like to scoff at them, but winning a conference championship can be a pretty big deal, especially in a conference like America East where NCAA Championships don't usually come to fruition.

Yesterday was a busy day for Terrier Athletics, a full slate with men's and women's soccer as well as women's field hockey all playing in the America East Tournament.

The women's soccer team followed a thrilling OT victory over Stony Brook in the semis with a blowout 4-0 over Binghamton.



Women's field hockey pulled an equally impressive feat with an upset over a national top-20 team, Albany, by a 4-1 score.



The men's soccer team continued their run of ineptitude with an opening round loss in the America East men's tournament. Typical.

Congrats to women's soccer and field hockey and the men, well, you're just a disappointment.

Well, Let's Look at the Bright Side

With Teddy being a diehard fan of the World Series runners-up in the Phillies, and with me being a devout Red Sox fan, it was pretty hard to find any upside in the Yankees winning the World Series last night.

But for the sake of being upbeat, I realized that there are two very important people out there who are probably beyond excited by the win.

First is Brooklyn native and passionate Yankees fan J-HOV, the legendary Jay-Z.....




The second, and admittedly less important of the two is none other than The Comm Ave Runner, who always sports a Yanks hat while running down the sidewalk, carrying 80 something pounds of weight on his back and telling anyone in his way to go f*$% themselves.



For the sake of those two fine gentlemen being happy, it may be a little easier to come to terms with what is a cold, bitter reality for me

In Honor of the World Series, Let's Talk Hats

We here at Honey and Vinegar are big on the aesthetics of the game, not to the point where they are more important than the games themselves, but it's always an interesting point of discussion.

With the World Series nearing an end, Teddy and I have taken it upon ourselves to rank a baseball-related aesthetic: hats.

Team hats can be seen on the heads of fans all around the world and they are at many times a stylistic indication of an organization and what they stand for.

Both of us have taken each team's home hat and ranked them, by normal division, and selected all of the division winners and a wild-card to make the playoffs:

Teddy's Picks

NL East

1. Marlins

2. Phillies

3. Mets

4. Nationals

5. Braves

NL Central

1. Cardinals

2. Pirates

3. Cubs

4. Brewers

5. Astros

6. Reds

NL West

1. Rockies

2. Dodgers

3. Diamondbacks

4. Giants

5. Padres

AL East

1. Orioles

2. Yankees

3. Red Sox

4. Blue Jays

5. Rays

AL Central

1. Indians

2. White Sox

3. Royals

4. Tigers

5. Twins

AL West

1. Mariners

2. A's

3. Angels

4. Rangers

Teddy's NL Playoff Teams: Marlins, Cardinals, Rockies, Pirates (Wild Card)

Teddy's AL Playoff Teams: Orioles, Indians, Mariners, Yankees (Wild Card)

Craig's Picks

NL East

1. Phillies

2. Mets

3. Braves

4. Marlins

5. Nationals (the road navy blues are way cooler)

NL Central

1. Pirates

2. Cardinals

3. Reds

4. Cubs

5. Brewers

6. Astros

NL West

1. Dodgers

2. Giants

3. Rockies

4. Diamondbacks

5. Padres

AL East

1. Yankees

2. Red Sox

3. Blue Jays

4. Orioles

5. Rays

AL Central

1. Tigers

2. Indians

3. Royals

4. White Sox

5. Twins

AL West

1. A's

2. Mariners

3. Angels

4. Rangers

Craig's NL Playoff Teams: Phillies, Pirates, Dodgers, Giants (Wild Card)

Craig's AL Playoff Teams: Yankees, Tigers, A's, Indians (Wild Card)

Teddy's Playoff Picks:

NLDS



Cardinals over Marlins





Pirates over Rockies





ALDS



Orioles over Indians





Mariners over Yankees




NLCS



Cardinals over Pirates




ALCS



Mariners over Orioles




World Series



Mariners over Cardinals






Craig's Picks

NLDS

Pirates over Giants

Dodgers over Phillies

ALDS

Yankees over Indians

Tigers over A's

NLCS

Pirates over Dodgers

ALCS

Yankees over Tigers

World Series

Yankees over Pirates

At long last, the merits of the hats have been debated, and they have been decided.