What the Hell is a Seawolf?: The Stony Brook Preview

Heartbreak, sheer and utter heartbreak has plagued Terrier Nation (or shall I say the 30% of Terrier Nation that's aware that BU has more than just a hockey team) after the team erased a 10 point deficit to Maine in the final two and a half minutes of the game, only to lose on a put back layup as time expired. Buzzerbeaters are never easy to lose on and can often knock the wind out of a team, but they seem to be taking it the right way, at least if the team's embodying Coach Chambers' attitude he expressed via his Twitter:

"It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get back up." -- Vince Lombardi

Lombardi also said that a college without a football team was doomed to become nothing more than a Medieval study hall, so take that into consideration BU Administration.

BU will be looking to bounce back tonight as they travel to Long Island to take on the Stony Brook Seawolves.

This obviously begs this question to me: what in the hell exactly is a Seawolf? It's certainly not a wolf that happens to live by the ocean that the SB logo seems to imply, but rather it's a few things:

-The USS Seawolf, four US Navy subs
-A Midway arcade game
-A movie with Gregory Peck
-A Jack London novel
-And most commonly and best of all, a marine fish:



This officially puts Stony Brook up on the pantheon of teams with confusing/imaginary mascots, among them the Saint Louis Billikens:



The game tonight tips off at 7, with BU sitting at 11-10 overall and 6-3 in conference and Stony Brook at 14-7 overall and 6-2 in conference.


Game Location: Stony Brook, NY

Projected Starting Lineup

Corey Lowe, G

Los Strong, G

John Holland, F

Jake O'Brien, F

Jeff Pelage, C

Reasons for Optimism

If the buzzerbeater was really that much of a shot to the gut for this team's psyche, they can always take solace in the fact that they had the will and determination to put themselves in that position after being down by double digits with about two minutes to play. That really showed a lot of us something about the character and attitude of this team.

It's also a testament to the team that they didn't play particularly well by any means, but yet they still almost beat the first place team in the conference on the road, although Maine did lose some of their newfound luster today by losing to RPI cellar dweller UMBC. More on those horrid performances later.

In terms of positives, I really can't sing the praises of Carlos Strong enough. As I've said in the past, there's always guys on teams who I like a lot more than the average person. On last year's BU team, it was Marques Johnson. Without a doubt, it's Los this year.

He's a great defender, plays above the rim at time, he comes down strong with rebounds, he takes smart shots, he's great from three point range, and really aside from John Holland, I think he's been BU's most reliable player for most of this year.

Pelage also had a good game against Maine, throwing in seven points on 3-6 shooting and even playing hero for a moment with his game-tying layup with about four seconds left.

The good news for the team as a whole is that I think they've become a much better rebouding team than they were last year and for the beginning of this season, something that I attribute to Chambers' emphasis on going hard after loose balls.

A positive sign for BU tonight is that while Stony Brook has proven to be much more than an early season flash in the pan, they, just like virtually every team in the America East this year, is extremely inconsistent and unreliable. Puzzling losses this year have included:

at Fordham (2-17 overall): Lost 93-77

at Sacred Heart: Lost 78-70

St. Peter's: Lost 67-46

Should be an interesing grudge match indeed.

Reasons for Concern

Despite the inspiring comeback, BU looked pretty bad against Maine. They were below the 50 point mark with less than three minutes left in the game, and even though I think statistics in basketball are far from the whole story in a game, these ones are pretty telling:

Team FG Shooting: 34.5% (lower than their 38.9% 3 pt %)

Team FT Shooting: 58.3%

Team Assists: 4

Team Turnovers: 14

Bench Points: 0

And some individual statlines:

Corey Lowe: 5-17 FG, 2-8 3 pt FG, 0-4 FT Shooting, 3 assists to 6 turnovers

Jake O'Brien: 5-19 FG, 3 turnovers

Needless to say, all of that's going to have to improve if BU wants any chance to win tonight.

Let's also not ignore the obvious here: BU's already lost to the Seawolves this year, falling 84-75 at Case Gym on January 2nd.

Stony Brook's proven itself as one of the best teams in what has been a very bad year for the conference and features a roster that includes such difference makers as likely first team all AE member Muhammad El-Amin, the ever-dangerous three point threat Bryan Dougher, and the very versatile (almost like SB's white version of John Holland) Tommy Brenton. The Wolves are quite possibly the best-coached team in America East, led by Steve Pikiell, a man who has transformed the program in his time there, taking them from perennial conference doormat into the contender that they currently are.

A lot of pieces are in place for this Stony Brook team and it's going to take a lot from BU to come away with a win tonight, but any time you're playing the conference's elite teams, that's going to be the case.

The Bottom Line

A win could go a long way towards setting up BU to be a first place threat for the rest of the season, but a loss could mean that the Terriers' dream of a conference title could die tonight in L.I.

Teddy's Prediction

BU 75 Stony Brook 65

Craig's Prediction

Stony Brook 73 BU 67

Kentucky's Gift to Hockey

Coming up to New England was a little strange to me from a sports perspective. While most of these things involved the many gripes I've developed with the Celtics and their "fans", perhaps the strangest thing for me to get used to was the love of hockey up here.

Don't get me wrong: I knew full well I was going to a school with a rich hockey tradition since February of my senior year of high school, it was just a question of whether it was going to be at BU or Wisconsin. When I ultimately decided to go to BU, I knew the emphasis on hockey would be that much more since we don't have football here, nor is our basketball team in a major conference.

I've really grown to like BU hockey as well as college hockey in general, but my interest ends about there. I think the only NHL games I've watched in the past five years were either Winter Classics or Stanley Cup Finals games.

It's just an adjustment to me because hockey's pretty much nonexistent in Kentucky. We don't grow up with those stories of pond hockey you always hear about and we haven't had a team since the minor league Louisville Panthers left. As a side note, Panthers games were awesome: it was a bunch of angry dudes who knew they weren't going to make the NHL, so literally all they would do was fight (to the tune of like 15 fights a game). In a word- incredible.

Getting to the point, though, there's more to Kentucky hockey than most hockey elitists up here would think. A bunch of my buddies down at the University of Kentucky told me about the club team, the UK Cool Cats (sick name), that plays all of their games at midnight. Again, that's ridiculously cool; in fact, I wish BU could do that every now and then.

Anyhow, I checked out the Cool Cats' website last year (don't know why it took me this long to post it on the blog), and found out that the promotional people behind the team did something that is nothing short of genius.

You see, people can make redneck and incest jokes all they want about my beloved home state, but what cannot be denied is that we produce some very beautiful women.

So what's been done on UK's campus is that each year, a poster is made with the Cool Cats' schedule that season and best yet- a shot of a famous Kentucky native or just a hot student in nothing but a UK hockey jersey. I repeat- genius.

Below are some of the posters, a collection of true Kentucky thoroughbreds. And when I say thoroughbreds, I'm not talking about horses.



UK's most famous fan here for the 1998-99 edition, or at least the most talked about one. Judd was on the verge of movie superstardom about ten years ago, and while some would like to label her a has been, I'm not cruel like that. Even though her basketball rooting alliances are seriously flawed, she grew up in rural Kentucky, meaning that if you're a Louisville fan, you probably get stoned to death. You're a lucky man Dario Franchitti.



Rebecca Gayheart of "Beverly Hills, 90210" fame back in 1999-2000. No Ashley Judd on the fan spectrum, but still another KY native representing the state well.



I had never heard on Leah Lail until I saw her on the 2000-2001 poster, but a quick IMDB search of her just proved I'm just plain ignorant.



Twins



I'm beginning to realize how pointless these captions are. I mean I read Playboy for the articles, but not everyone's me.



2004-2005 with Amy Hayes, who's evidently a Pro Boxing Ring Announcer. Erin Andrews- you've been de-throned.



No caption here, don't know who Alison List is. Just enjoy the picture...although nothing sexual, keep that to yourself.



The incredibly beautiful, albeit controversial, former Miss USA winner and Kentucky native Tara Conner graced the cover of the last one I could find online, but hey, way to save the best for last here.

I was expecting a 2009-2010 one to come out with John Calipari, John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins all gracing the poster wearing nothing but the jerseys, given Big Blue Nation's affinity for those three men, but alas, it didn't come to fruition. Besides, if the way that Cousins plays basketball is any indication, he'd be cut out to be a pretty decent hockey player.



Even Eric Gryba would cower in fear of that.

This presents a very serious question to me, though: why hasn't BU followed UK's example and done something like this? There are plently of very attractive women with BU connections, who would probably be more than happy to don nothing else than just a scarlet and white home jersey.

Best to start where UK did and go with a famous actress and BU alum to do it. Even though some may be turned off by the fact she's over 40, I say who better than Marisa Tomei? Anyone see "The Wrestler"? She looks nothing like her age and in a hockey jersey?



Hell yes. Plus there's plenty of other BU/Boston people we could dig up for this for coming years.

This idea would also work for a place like BC who has plently of alums and students that'd qualify: Elizabeth Hasselbeck so long as she doesn't open her mouth, Scott Brown's daughters, and their far more attractve female student body.

The main point of this all is this: BU needs to mimick this in any way they can, the golden gift that has been presented to college hockey by the Kentucky Cool Cats. Contact Mike Lynch, Jack Parker, or whoever for this thing to get some traction.

After all, this is America, and what can be more American than women in nothing but a sports jersey? Not too much and for that reason alone, this has to happen.

James Harden's Waterboy?: The Maine Preview

Things are starting to really heat up and get good in America East conference play, as the fates of many of the conference's teams will likely be decided in this next three week stretch.

A crucial game for the Boston University Terriers begins tonight as the team travels north to take on the Maine Black Bears.

BU's standing at 11-9 overall, 6-2 in conference, while Maine's at a surprising 13-6 overall, 5-1 in conference play. Game tips off at 7:30, so here's the preview:


Game Location: Orono, Maine


Projected Starting Lineup

Corey Lowe, G

Carlos Strong, G

John Holland, F

Jake O'Brien, F

Jeff Pelage, C

Reasons for Optimism

Things couldn't be much better here on Commonwealth Avenue, not only for BU, but after BC shelacked a top 25 Clemson team last night, things seem to be looking up for them too. Alas though, this is a BU blog, so focus is back on the Terriers.

The team is riding a two game winning streak, with victories over cellar dwellers Albany and UMBC, and perhaps most importantly, the team is sitting at a season high two games over .500 and looking damn good doing it.

Some might say that it's easy to look good against bad teams, a sentiment which I agree with, but these games have exhibited some immense progress.

John Holland continues to play like a star, posting 25 points and 12 rebounds in the 79-61 over UMBC on Sunday. Marqus Blakely undoubtedly deserves the love that he gets, but as of now, Holland's my AE POY. Lots of basketball left to be played though, so well keep that subject to change.

Inconsistent as he is, Jake O'Brien has been scored in double figures since his Patrick O'Bryant esque showing against Vermont. His production down low does need to pick up though; Junk and Raskolnikov (new moniker for Sirutis, compliments of E.F. Frost) can't be the primary sources of interior scoring.

Hell, we've even seen some statistical progress from Mike Schulze.

Much of this renewed optimism on my part has come from the elevated play of Los Strong. I've always been partial to Los because I've always seen him as a smaller player in the mold of Tayshaun Prince (I mean way, way smaller, like cut a solid foot off each arm).

One of my two favorite Kentucky players of all time along with fellow Meyzeek Middle School alum Rajon Rondo. I won't hold it against him that he's on the Celtics and the Boston fans pronounce his name incorrectly.

Anyways, Los has always been a strong (no pun intended) defensive force and is an extremely capable shooter (the guy's going for 47% from beyond the arc this year, tops in AE), but he's really not too much of a playmaker so he's often been limited in terms of touches. Now with so many people out, he's assumed a bigger role and he's responded perfectly.

The team seems to be getting comfortable with the guys that they have, cutting down on turnovers, improving shot selection (and subsequently FG %), and you can only assume the team's going to be that much better when Tyler Morris comes back. In fact, not looking too far ahead here, but when Morris does come back, this would be an ideal lineup for me:

Morris, G
Lowe, G
Strong, G
Holland, F
O'Brien, F

We'll see what happens when that time comes, but for now, there's good reason to be confident heading into this contest.

Reasons for Concern

Despite the good play of recent, BU's not immune from what can plague most teams: laying a big goose egg in a game. It's something the Terriers have done a few times this year: the GW game, the conference opener against Stony Brook, and most recently, the travesty that happened a week and a half ago in Burlington.

All that aside, much of the concern comes from the fact that Maine's pretty good this year. Scratch that- based on their record and the way that they've played in most of their games, they're very good, and the success that the Black Bears have experienced thus far is really nothing short of astonishing.

While I haven't been quite as critical of Maine coach Ted Woodward as many others have, I didn't see the program accomplishing much under him, but based on how his team has fared this year, maybe UMaine brass was on to something by keeping him. If Mark Macon weren't pulling a Norman Dale type coaching job in Vestal, Woodward would probably be my AE Coach of the Year at this point.

Maine's record is obviously impressive, but the team's had some very impressive wins this season, highlighted by a road win against BC on January 2nd in Chestnut Hill.

The team's got some true difference makers on its roster in Gerald McLemore at guard and Sean McNally at forward, so stopping them could very well be a key to a crucial W on the road tonight.

That task may be harder because of an injury to BU that I never thought I'd even have to lament over: Brendan Sullivan dislocated his shoulder after his best performance of the season against Albany (he made a corner three early on in the contest).

In a pretty swift move, a new player has been added to BU's roster: Chris Kurz, a 6'8" sophomore walk-on from (here's a shocker) Philadelphia. Kurz's brother, Rob, was a star player on a really good Notre Dame team a few years back and played for a little while in the NBA with the Golden State Warriors.

The younger Kurz is obviously not as good, but hey we need the bodies and who knows, he could turn out to be a hidden gem. Kurz transferred to BU from Arizona State, a place where his identity as a basketball player seems to be somewhat incognito, so my guess is he was on the Sun Devils' bench doing chores for James Harden in a rare moments when he was on the bench last year.

Welcome to the BU team, Chris. Best case scenario: he becomes a reliable guy off of a thin bench. Worst case: he's another body that can be used every now and then. Sounds like an okay gamble to me.

The Bottom Line

Not really a must-win, but if BU wants to win the regular season conference title, a win in Orono could sure go a long way towards accomplishing that.

Teddy's Prediction

Maine 62 BU 60

Craig's Prediction

BU 70 Maine 66

From the Free Press: Attendance Woes Continue to Plague BU Hoops

Planning and building a successful college basketball program is truly something that is an intricate process, one that spans over years of hard work, assuming it even comes to fruition at all.

At the center of a program’s construction is the head coach, the man who goes out and recruits the players he feels give him the best chance to win games, the person who makes sure NCAA rules are being followed, as well as the person who is the ceremonial figurehead of a brand.

However, a coach can really only do so much- there’s also got to be help from the fans of a school. You can go down the list of the most successful college basketball teams- Kentucky, Kansas, North Carolina, and so on- and all of them routinely play in front of packed houses and have been for decades.

I’m not saying that it’s impossible to mold a prominent hoops power without fan support, but it sure as hell goes a long way to the point where the two entities are mutually exclusive.

What this all brings me to is this: Pat Chambers is a man with a vision, a vision that played a large part in his hiring here at BU. His conception of what this program can become was summed up when he said he wanted to make BU “a Gonzaga or Xavier of the East” in his introductory press conference. All hyperbole aside, Chambers sees potential with this basketball program and what it can aspire towards, namely NCAA Tournament berths year in and year out, all while generating excitement and overwhelming fan support along the way.

He’s alluded to changing the attitudes and perceptions that surround BU Basketball, conjuring up images of raising America East Championship banners and filling up Agganis Arena on a routine basis.

Now almost ten months into Chambers’ tenure, the team and their stye of play has certainly changed, but something else has remained stagnant: the attendance at the games.

As the great Yogi Berra once said, “If people don’t want to come out to the ball park, nobody’s gonna stop ‘em”.

The thoughts of habitual sellouts and an imposing home court atmosphere seem like nothing more than premature daydreams at this point in the season, and even if this team continues to win, sadly not too much is going to change for now.

There have been giveaways and promotions of all kinds this year, ranging from free beanie hats to photo ops with championship trophies, even to the recent gimmick with the free jerseys. Some like myself take these somewhat embarrassing pitches with a grain of salt, hoping that these events may open eyes and fill up seats, yet attendance this year at basketball games has averaged about 1,641 people at Agganis (capacity around 6,000) and a paltry 545 at Case Gym (capacity around 1,800).

Free gear and clever advertising can only go so far, and while Chambers displays the kind of enthusiasm and determination that this program needs from its head man, energy and excitement can only go so far if your audience doesn’t really care about what you’re trying to sell them on. For example, certain professors here are excellent speakers, but I don’t even think the late Billy Mays could get me amped about reading Plato’s Republic.

Overall student apathy towards BU Athletics is certainly somewhat responsible for this perpetual trend, but the problem of getting people to games is far more fundamental than that, and quite frankly pretty understandable.

Boston, with its MLB, NFL, NBA, and NHL teams, is a pro sports town at heart, a city in which college sports (even hockey to a point) take the proverbial backseat. When it does come to collegiate sports, BC tends to get most of the publicity, which is easy to fathom considering a) they have a football team and b) they’re in the ACC as opposed to America East. BU, with its five national championships in hockey, is a hockey school and will remain that way likely for as long as I’ll be alive.

Thus, BU Basketball is not only a low priority in its own town, but really isn’t much of anything to the casual fan at its own school.

Additionally, a fair share of people get turned off by the lack of a highly-charged atmosphere that is seen at most hockey games; not too many people want to spend two hours sitting in a non-air conditioned, glorified high school gym like Case, nor do they care to experience the sterile environment at Agganis, a place that I’ve never seen more than 75% full for a game.
BU certainly has some great fans at basketball games, but there just simply aren’t nearly enough of them.

Consider the last part of this column as a plea of sorts: come out to the games. The early part of the season has been a struggle for this team with injuries, transfers and some bad luck overall, but things have now gotten back on track and the squad seems poised to make a run, all while being led by a charismatic, likeable man who wants nothing more than some genuine student support.

Don’t give me the excuse about how you don’t think it’s good basketball- I grew up in an area where Kentucky, Louisville, and Indiana were the main teams. That’s a combined 14 national championships between those three schools- I know good college basketball and there are guys on this team and in this conference who can play.

It’s this kind of play from talented guys, though, that could lead to what can fix any sort of attendance woes: winning. Otherwise, we will continue to stare down the triple digit attendance figures and widespread apathy that have come to define this dormant program and have kept it from truly reaching the potential that it has.

UMBC, Part Deux

This time tomorrow, the BU Terriers men's basketball team will be facing off against America East's last place team in UMBC down in Baltimore.

BU's coming off of what I consider to be their most impressive performance of the year, albeit against a disappointing Albany team, a game in which the Terriers notched a program record with 16 three point field goals made. Everyone and their mothers on the team were on fire.

Jake O'Brien recovered from perhaps the worst game of his relatively short BU career against Vermont just two days prior by knocking down open jumpers and playing some solid defense. Good to see that kind of mental fortitude from JOB, that's the kind of indication of his increasing maturity.

Corey Lowe had a very un C.L. Smooth-like six assists with only one turnover, notching double digits in points as well.

John Holland played extremely well, throwing down some of his patented jams even if he also missed one in the process. No worries though, John, not everybody can be James White or Terrence Williams when it comes to college dunking.

While Holland was awarded player of the game, my vote goes to Carlos Strong, a guy who drained six of his eight three pointers (even if it's just one game, going 75% from beyond the arc is absolutely insane, unless you're Reggie Miller or Kyle Korver or something) en route to an 18 point, seven assist showing. Then again, I like Los more than the average BU fan, so take that with a grain of salt if you wish.

Moving on, the Terriers tip off tomorrow against the Retrievers in what will be the team's eighth game in America East play. I for one feel it's a little unnecessary to go into too much detail for a game against a team with only one win to it's name, even if you're in the rooting corner of a mercurial team that's been over the .500 plateau for all of eight days this season.

Just some brief advice for the team: enjoy the Inner Harbor, get some delicious crabcakes, don't venture into West Baltimore after 8 PM, and for God's sake, pick up a W. Forget what teams may lie ahead for you in the coming weeks, it's this kind of game that you absolutely have to win if you want any shot of partaking in some postseason play.


Teddy's Prediction

BU 73 UMBC 66


Craig's Prediction

BU 81 UMBC 64

Fist Pump All Day Seton Hall

Louisville was down early and often and almost pulled out a win against one of their traditional Big East punching bags, Seton Hall. In my mind, this loss all but solidifies their status as an NIT team this year, but as much as I want to bash my Cardinals, gotta credit Seton Hall with the win; in fact, what better way to celebrate their accomplishment than giving the Jersey school the green light to do what people in their state do best.



Fist pump like champs, baby, you've earned it. Even you can join in Bobby Gonzalez, considering you earned the rare honor of not getting T-ed up in the game.



Don't even have to say it twice, guy beat me to the punch. For more lame puns, check into the blog on Sunday for what should be a brief preview for BU's upcoming game against UMBC.

Free Jerseys, Huzzah!: The Albany Preview

In hindsight, not doing the a full blown preview for BU's game against Vermont was a great idea, seeing as I didn't waste time and energy on a game in which the Terriers got manhandled 78-58 up in Burlington.

But alas, a new day is upon us and tomorrow the Terriers will be facing off against the Albany Great Danes at Agganis Arena in a game that is gaining some serious attention here on campus.

The pregame hype's not really because of the actual basketball, but because the first 1,000 fans at the game get a free BU Basketball replica jersey, aka a cheap penny that the team probably wouldn't even use in practice. Who am I to complain though, it gets people to the games and nothing really better than free stuff, it's what makes America great; in fact, if you hate free givaways, you're probably a facist or communist.

Enough of that, here's the preview:


Game Location: Boston, Mass

Projected Starting Lineup

Corey Lowe, G

Carlos Strong, G

John Holland, F

Jake O'Brien, F

Jeff Pelage, C

Reasons for Optimism

Even after Patrick Gym was turned into a prison community shower, with BU playing the part of Andy Dufresne in Shawshank, there are some definitive positives coming into this contest.

To begin with, Albany is widely considered to be the biggest disappointment in America East thus far: they were supposed to be a top three team with BU and Vermont, but as of now, the Great Danes are sitting at 6-13 overall and 1-3 in conference. With a great duo of Will Harris and Tim Ambrose, Albany was expected to contend for the conference title, but let's run down the line of some of their losses thus far:

Morgan State: Lost 69-65

Detroit: Lost 66-54

at Florida Atlantic: Lost 81-65

at Central Connecticut State: Lost 70-68

at Loyola (Illinois): Lost 68-56

Binghamton: Lost 62-57

at New Hampshire: Lost 67-59

Sure, there have been some understandable losses to teams like Syracuse, North Carolina, and Siena, but still, this has been an underachieving team to say the least and they haven't shown any reason as to why they can improve as the season goes on.

If there were two positive performances to take away from the Vermont game, they were by these two guys: John Holland and Jeff Pelage. Actually make that three: Tunde buried a deep three in garbage time. Holland shot an even 50% from the field en route to recording a game high 21 points in the loss. The Junkyard Dog, for his part, was a very efficient 4-6 on field goals, tallying eight points and eight rebounds. Say what you want, but that's a highlight of a game for Junk, especially the way he excelled on the boards against a talented UVM frontcourt.

As a final note, I'm excited to see this team come out against UAlbany after laying that egg yesterday, don't see them having a repeat performance, especially considering the fact we've got a guy like Chambers at the helm: can't see that sort of loss sitting too well with him.

Reasons for Concern

Not going to dwell too much on that Vermont game, so just check the highlight reel on that one.

BU had 11 turnovers in that game, which doesn't seem all that bad, until a closer look at the box score and realizing that over half of those givaways came from Corey Lowe (one assist, six TOs, just like old times, that's the C.L. Smooth assist to turnover ratio that we all know and...well, not love).

Corey was far from the worst on Sunday; alas, that honor belongs to Jake O'Brien who amazed us all with this Michael Olowokandi-esque statline:

36 minutes (unlike the Kandi-man), 8 rebounds, 1 assist, 0-8 FG, 2-4 FT, 0-4 3-point FG, 3 fouls, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 1 block, with all this leading to.............2 points

The rebounds are really the only lone bright spot in that mess of numbers. A frontcourt player going 0-8 from the field is absolutely inexcusable. Don't need to say anymore than that.

For whatever it's worth, the game is being placed at Agganis, a place where BU, or at least this group of seniors, has perpetually struggled, so really anything can happen. I've always been of the mindset that even NJIT could beat BU in The Greek. Do I believe in a curse surrounding this? Hell no, but as an opponent would you be very intimidated playing in front of this sort of atmosphere?

The Bottom Line

A great chance for BU to rebound and gain some momentum heading into a slate of weaker opponents...if "The Agganis Curse" doesn't set in that is.


Teddy's Prediction

BU 71 Albany 61


Craig's Prediction

BU 78 Albany 63

Just the Bullet Points for Today: The Vermont Preview

Out of sheer laziness or neglegence, or maybe just being out late last night for ?uestlove, this game's kind of snuck up on me, some I'm gutting the normal preview format for today's game against Vermont at 2.

It's going to be a few quick bullet points, but many of you reading this know that this game means and what it entails: it features the first and second place teams in the conference squaring off in a game that could go a long way towards determining the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament, as well as being a contest that has potential ramifications on who ends up winning America East Player of the Year.


Game Location: Burlington, VT


Projected Starting Lineup

Corey Lowe, G

Carlos Strong, G

John Holland, F

Jake O'Brien, F

Jeff Pelage, C

Reasons for Optimism

- Team's on a season high four game win streak. Having momentum going into the game's gotta count for something, right?

- Corey Lowe has been on absolute fire lately. Right when we were all ready to annoit John Holland as the unquestioned star of this team, Lowe has stepped up and reminded us why we have more of a dynamic duo than a one star system.

-Vermont's backcourt is terrible. Coincidentally, our backcourt is our strength. If BU can't win that battle, consider this game a lost cause.

- Carlos Strong's been playing well lately and he's going to have to keep that up if BU stands any chance today. We all know Holland, Lowe, and probably O'Brien are all going to put up double figures, but Los remains the quintessential X-factor today.

- Vermont's been the best team in conference thus far, and yes, they do have perennial BU-killer Marqus Blakely, but after facing much better big men in Derrick Favors, Gani Lawal, and Chris Wright, Blakely may not be quite as imposing as he has been in the past.

- The last time BU visited Patrick Gym, we can all remember this happening:

Reasons for Concern

- This is still a thin team. Playing a big, physical, talented guy like Blakely down low could potentially overwhelm the big men and force this depleted team into some lethal foul trouble.

- As hot as BU has been, Vermont's on a roll of their own.

- The Catamounts are far from a one man team, having a very talented player in Maurice Joseph to complement Blakely.

- UVM swept the season series last year and while we're being honest here, BU's always struggled against them. A new coach and a new era now, though, so we'll keep that judgement on hold.

- Despite Holland's Sportscenter Top 10 dunk, UVM crushed BU in that game and Patrick Gym's easily one of hardest venues for a visiting team in the conference.

- Oh, and they do have that Blakely guy.





The Bottom Line

Essentially BU's backcourt versus Blakely and UVM's frontcourt. If BU can contain Blakely to having an average game and Lowe, Holland, and O'Brien all show up to play, this could very well emerge as a signature win for this team.

Teddy's Prediction

Vermont 78 BU 73

Craig's Prediction

Vermont 76 BU 69

Congrats, John McCarthy

A true tip of the cap from Honey and Vinegar as we give a somewhat belated "Congratulations" to former Terrier captain John McCarthy who very recently made his NHL debut with the San Jose Sharks.



Aside from his stellar play and great leadership for the Terriers' championship squad last year (plus he was a TA for a class), I'll always remember John to be a very stand-up guy who at the post Frozen Four poster signing said "Hey, how's it goin?" with a big smile on his face even if it was the like 2,500th person he had dealt with in that hour. A class act and very happy to see him make it to the next level, the man truly deserves it.

Insert Crack Joke Here: The Binghamton Preview

Beating a UMBC team that's 1-14 and currently sitting in the cellar of America East may not seem like much of an accomplishment, but in this way it is: BU, for the first time this whoel season, is at .500 or better (unless you're a smart ass and count before the season started when the team was 0-0).

Tonight, BU is being given the chance to vault over the .500 plateau for the first time this season when they take on the Binghamton Bearcats.

That or they could just fall back to a losing record, but for now we'll try to focus on the positives.


Game Location: Vestal, NY


Projected Starting Lineup

Corey Lowe, G

Carlos Strong, G

John Holland, F

Jake O'Brien, F

Jeff Pelage, C

Reasons for Optimism

Not only is BU presented with the somewhat remarkable chance to reach its first winning mark of the season, but they can also make a little more history by extending their winning streak to four games, a high for the season.

A basketball team always is at its best when the stars and leaders of the team are putting up big numbers (unless of course you're a case of the ever-popular Ewing Theory), and right now, the stars (pun intended, thank you I'll be here all week) are aligning for this Terrier team. History was made in the Hartford game when C.L. Smooth and Holland each put up 30+ points, and a few nights ago against UMBC, the team's theoretical "Big Three" of Lowe, Holland and Jake O'Brien each put up 20 points or more, with Lowe and JOB each scoring 20 and Holland leading the way with 25.

Of course these performances happened against the conference's two worst teams, but hey, as a wise man once said "Buckets is buckets".

The players seem to be cutting down on their turnovers, the field goal percentage has certainly improved as well, and the foul situation seems to be getting less and less problematic. Again, take all of this for what it's worth since many of the teams BU has faced in conference play quite frankly suck, but it's progress.

The defensive effort seems to be improving and as a very good column in todays Free Press pointed out, with the absences of Morris and Brittain among others, this team has been doing much better by slowing their play down, with the article stating that maybe Chambers' up-tempo offense has been slightly exaggerated (lately, I'd definetly agree with that).

Binghamton won America East last year, granting them the opportunity to get molested by Duke in the Big Dance, and had a very good group of players returning. Based on how things have shaken out in AE play thus far, I'd say it'd be a safe bet that the Bearcats would have repeated as conference champs.

However, as many people reading this blog know, Binghamton's shady methods of picking up problem players eventually caught up to them with the arrest of Tiki Mayben and his eyebrow for the selling of crack cocaine.

Making a joke here about it would be a little too easy, so I'll pass, but it led to many of the teams dubious star players, most notably DJ Rivera (the guy who for all intents and purposes won AE POY last year), and ultimately the move to put coach Kevin Broadus (think a poor man's Bob Huggins) on a paid leave of absence, a cheaper alternative to firing him, which given this current economic climate makes some sense. AD Joel Thirer also stepped aside amidst all of the chaos, and just a few days ago, the school president also retired in a move that many have speculated was caused by the incident with the basketball team.

Although all of those events were unfortunate for the good people at Binghamton and for the conference as a whole, it helps the Terriers in terms of their game tonight considering the Bearcat team that they're facing tonight is not nearly as good as the one that they would have faced had all of this not gone down.

Reasons for Concern

The flip side of all this is that the 2009-2010 Binghamton Bearcats are not remotely close to being as bad as most people figured they would be heading into the season. The team's still got a few scholarship players left, but a considerable amount of guys on the team are walk-ons.

I was among the many people who thought that Binghamton was going to be potentially winless at this point in the season and even after a few wins, I still held firm to this viewpoint. My girlfriend at Pittsburgh saw Binghamton play Pitt down there and all she really had to say afterwards was how bad the Bearcats were. Bing didn't lose that game by too much, but she and I both largely credited it to the fact that Jamie Dixon's too nice of a guy to blow anyone out, especially a team trying to recover from an incident most of the guys on the floor had absolutely nothing to do with.

But my, how everything's changed, and a big reason for that could also be that Pitt's proven to be much better than people thought, although their fall was from losing DeJaun Blair, Sam Young and Levance Fields, not from scoring Tyrone Biggums some crack.

OK, maybe one joke, no more.

The Bearcats have seemed to progress since the 71-46 loss at Pitt, and as the season has gone on, Binghamton's gotten better and better, something that you would expect from what is an entirely new team, but not to the tune of what Bing's accomplished.

They, like BU, took down Bucknell in early December and has gone on from there pretty well. From what I heard, they got screwed out of a win at Drake by the refs, but have moved on to beat Marist, another common opponent with BU, and posted what's really been their signature win of the year against La Salle to kick off the New Year.

Conference play's been pretty good for the Bearcats too, having blown out Albany, narrowly lost to an equally surprising Maine team and are coming off of an upset at home against Stony Brook.

With a better Binghamton team playing against BU at the Events Center, arguably the best home court in the conference, this could be a tough game for the Terriers, a matchup that could tell us a lot about what this team can accomplish with a short-handed roster for the rest of the year.

The Bottom Line

A much tougher game than any of us imagined going into the year, but if BU keeps playing like they have for the past week and a half, this should be a W.

Teddy's Prediction

BU 71 Binghamton 66

Craig's Prediction

Binghamton 69 BU 67

Corey Lowe a.k.a C.L Smooth

Nicknames are an increasingly popular thing in sports, particularly basketball. It used to be only the greats would receive them, but when someone was given a moniker, it was awesome and best yet, original.

You had Wilt the Stilt (Wilt Chamberlain); The Round Mound of Rebound (Charles Barkley); Pistol Pete (Pete Maravich); The Ice Man (George Gervin); His Airness (Michael Jordan); The Reign Man (Shawn Kemp); The Glove (Gary Payton); The Admiral (David Robinson); The Mailman (Karl Malone); the million nicknames that Shaq has given himself; Magic's considered a nickname, right?

Obviously the list is limited for the sake of clarity, but you get the point.

Over the past decade or so, though, nicknames have taken a turn for the worse as many people have developed the formulaic strategy that was born with the advent of A-Rod, taking a person's first initial followed by the first syllable of their last name. It's terrible and quite frankly, it really rubs me the wrong way, especially after four years of having to hear Terrence Williams referred to as T-Will.

What I'm trying to get at here is that in the months leading up to the BU Basketball season, I came up with a nickname for Corey Lowe that admittedly has some of the lack of creativity that I alluded to earlier (just because his initials are in the name), but is something that I think that works:

C.L. Smooth of Pete Rock and CL Smooth fame, throwing some true 90's hip-hop at you.



I really wanted to implement it right away, but Lowe got off the year to a really slow start, so the Smooth part (alluding to his three point stroke) didn't really fit. Not trying to play God here, but I felt like it needed to be set into motion at the right time, and after three consecutive games against UNH, Hartford, and UMBC in which he put up 28, 31, and 20 points, respectively, I feel that no time may be better than now to bestow this thing and make it official.

Corey Lowe = C.L. Smooth

Ideas and thoughts below, comments appreciated as always, unless of course you express your desire for me to be dead like someone did after the Dayton post.

'The Wire'...Kind Of: The UMBC Preview

Tonight at Case Gym, BU men's basketball jumps back into home action with an in-conference game against the University of Maryland-Baltimore County Retrievers.

The last time that these two squads faced off, UMBC came back against BU and escaped with an ovetime win in the quarterfinals of the America East Tournament, a game many felt was what ultimately sealed Dennis Wolff's fate as the coach of the Terriers.

Things are a little bit different this year with BU currently under a new coach and at 7-8 overall and UMBC at 1-13.


Game Location: Boston, Mass



Projected Starting Lineup





Corey Lowe, G



Carlos Strong, G



John Holland, F



Jake O'Brien, F



Jeff Pelage, C





Until Tyler Morris comes back from his hand injury, expect this to be the starting lineup from here on out, unless Chambers opts to go with Sirutis over Pelage at some point.





Reasons for Optimism



Here we are again, with BU presented with the opportunity to match its season high three game win streak, having rebounded from the Stony Brook loss with wins over UNH and Hartford, both games on the road.



For what I'm figuring was a first in the history of 101 years of BU Basketball, two players (Lowe and Holland) both scored 30+ points in the same game, an 84-70 road win at Hartford. For those of you doing the math at home, that means that roughly 75% of BU's scoring that game was done by two players. A nice accomplishment, no doubt, but take it for what it's worth.

We've almost come to expect great performances from Holland this year, as he is the team's leading scorer and is widely considered to be among the frontrunners for America East POY, but it's especially nice to see Lowe finally coming on, having posted back-to-back high scoring games. Not coincidentally, both of these games were on the road, because for reasons unknown to me, Lowe has not played well at home this year.

Pick it up at Case and Agganis, Corey, we love you man, no reason to be tense.



Little known fact here: something like half of the pictures on Google Images of Corey Lowe are shots of him shirtless. I don't know about Teddy, but I'm not down with homoeroticism on this blog.

Even in Tyler Morris' absence, the team has been playing well, largely due to some great performances by Carlos Strong. Los may not overwhelm you with his stats, but the man's a solid shooter and defender, not a star, but I feel like it's almost offensive to label him a "glue guy". Besides, the guy's got a bad ass name.

The other excellent news is that UMBC has proven itself as not only the worst team in a weak conference, but also as one of the ten or twenty worst teams in the country, as evidenced by the RPI, Pomeroy and Sagarin rankings.

The Retrievers are coming off of a home loss to a previously winless Penn team...seriously?! I feel bad for Penn and all seeing as they used to be Elite Status in the Ivy League under Fran Dunphy, but man has that program fallen. The positives, though: the Quakers do play in The Palestra, arguably one of the top five college arenas in the country, and Denzel Washington's son plays on their team this year.

Regardless, if you lose to a winless team at home you probably suck, and here you have it- this is not the Darryl Proctor-Jay Greene Retriever team- it's safe to say UMBC's terrible this year.


Reasons for Concern

When you're playing a 1-13 team it's kind of hard to be too pessimistic, but there are some sources of concern for BU.

The depth of this team is a problem and will remain one for the remainder of the season, so if the zebras are calling as close of a game as the crew did last night with the Louisville-Villanova game (it sucked both ways), the Terriers could be forced to play a lineup with the likes of Sherrod Smith, Tunde, Mike Schulze, Brendan Sullivan, with the stars being V and Junk if fouls take their toll. I'd give UMBC a pretty good chance against that lineup.

If we're going to be nitpicky here, I'll take a shot at Jake O'Brien. Right when everyone was falling in love with him as a star for this team, he comes out with a dud of a game like he had against Hartford, bringing me to this: Jake's never going to be a true star here at BU so long as he does not begin to play consistently. Undoubtedly, everyone's granted a bad game here and there, but this has been something that's gone on for his entire career here on Comm Ave.

Then again, if he was even remotely consistent, he would have gotten his wish and been able to transfer to BC, Providence, Xavier, St. Joe's, William & Mary, and whevever the hell else he tried to escape to this past summer. Yes, believe it or not, I am still bitter about that whole little ordeal.

And if we're gonna dig deep here, I've got this going for UMBC: as the sole representative of the city of Baltimore and the state of Maryland in America East, it makes UMBC a representative of what I consider to be the greatest TV Drama of all-time: The Wire, a groundbreaking HBO show that examined the relationship between cops and the drug trade in Baltimore.

UMBC basketball and The Wire actually share some similarities; in 2008, UMBC won America East and earned a No. 15 seed in the NCAA Tournament, but since then, it has been a rapid decline to the basement of the conference (again, this is a 1-13 team, but then again, it's a rebuilding year).

The Wire had been on HBO since like 2002 and many people like myself knew what a great show it was and had been watching it, then going into the final season of the series, a bunch of artsy and uber-intellectual types jumped on the bandwagon and tried to make it out to be something that it was not. The show didn't get any worse (far from it, the last season may have been the best), but the show's fanbase and subsequently its perception to the general public took a hit, kind of in the same mold of what's happened with Entourage, only Entourage has collected a progressively douchier following and the show itself actually has gotten far worse over the past few years.

Don't be fooled, though- UMBC the school is really not like The Wire at all, seeing as the school looks like this

and not this

The Bottom Line

If BU loses this game, it will only add to my looming depression of Louisville blowing a 17 point lead last night against Vanilla-nova and I may be pushed to the point of castrating myself...not really, but you get the point.

Teddy's Prediction

BU 87 UMBC 61

Craig's Prediction

BU 82 UMBC 63

My Offseason Plan for the Philadelphia Eagles

After getting throttled by the Dallas Cowboys 34-14 last night, the team's third loss in as many games to the 'Boys this year, many glaring weaknesses became painfully obvious for us Eagles fans that will need to be improved quickly.



This is no doubt a very good team with a lot of good pieces in place: Andy Reid's a good coach who's locked down with an extension (Teddy doesn't like him, though), you've got young playmakers in DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin at receiver, as well as a promising rookie in LeSean McCoy at running back, just to name a few positives.



While injuries to key players like Stewart Bradley certainly hurt the team this year, this team's window to potentially win a Super Bowl, one that's been open for the greater part of the last ten years almost, is quickly closing, so expect this offseason to be a more-crucial-than-normal one.



Here are a few things that I think Eagles brass should maybe look to do:





1. Do Not Trade Donovan McNabb

It really must be that time of year again- Eagles lose a big game, fall short of a milestone of some sort, and BOOM- the cries from about 95% of the Philly faithful are calling for McNabb's head. Ever since his infamous draft day shower of boos, McNabb and Eagles fans have had something of a love-hate relationship so this is something that is to be expected. Where else in the league will you find a more detested franchise quarterback?

Nowhere, that's where.



Sorry, Donny Mac, I believe in you, if that counts for anything.

The rallying cry to blow up and start over by trading McNabb will possibly ring louder than ever after his performances the past couple of weeks. Did McNabb play poorly? Yes he did and I'd be naive to think anything else. But on the same hand, it's also ignorant to blame the Eagles' final two losses to Dallas entirely on him. You can point fingers at the offensive line for its pitiful pass protection. How about the defense's inability to slow down Tony Romo, Miles Austin, and Co.?

This is my main point with McNabb: franchise quarterbacks don't grow on trees, so it's best to hold onto them while you have them, unless they're over the hill which Donovan clearly is not seeing as he put together his best statistical year since the Super Bowl run in 2004-2005.

The pieces are there for this team to be a Super Bowl contender for the next couple of seasons and I still don't trust Kevin Kolb with the offense. People can point to his high yardage totals in his two starts this year, but you've also gotta look at his high number of interceptions and pass attempts (55 passes against the Saints stands out).

So please don't buckle now, Eagles management, McNabb's still a top ten QB and you're not going to get anyone better for the time being. With that being said though...



2. Trade Michael Vick



It was an experiment, no doubt, and while I won't label it a failed experiment like some have rushed to proclaim, I wouldn't call it a sort of success that would merit all of the hype that it received.



For all I care, PETA can go off itself- I was very proud of the Eagles when they proved to be the only team in the No Fun League that had the balls to sign Vick and provide him with that second chance that he deserved. The guy lost millions of dollars from his contract with Atlanta, lost millions more in endorsements, and oh yea, let's not forget, 18 months of freedom. What he did with those dogs was undoubtedly horrible, but after going through all that he did, Vick deserved a shot a redemption and he ultimately got it.



I haven't seen the official figures or anything, but I know Vick got a one year contract at about $2 million for the first year, with a club option of a second year at $5 million. Unless there's something greater at play here, I really can't see spending five million on a backup/gimmick play QB.

Plus there's some added incentive to do it now: Vick was virtually non-existent for about the first half of the year, but emerged as the season went on, scoring touchdowns, especially the TD performance in his return to Atlanta, something that I think was Andy Reid's big eff-you to the Falcons. Why this happened, I don't know.

Regardless, Vick went from a decoy to becoming a true offensive weapon, as evidenced by his 76 yard touchdown pass to Maclin last night. Sure there was the fumble later on, but I think that was equally Leonard Weaver's fault too.

With this being the lasting impression in most teams' heads of Vick, you've got some teams desperate out there for a potential star QB:

(Note: Excluded from this list are teams with no QB problems or teams that are heavily invested in a QB, i.e. grooming a young QB like Stafford with the Lions, Freeman with the Bucs; and the Redskins- not gonna be an divisional foe, barring some sort of crazy offer)

St. Louis Rams, Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars, Oakland Raiders, Carolina Panthers, Seattle Seahawks, San Francisco 49ers

Throw in a pretty underwhelming draft class for QBs in which the alarmingly injury prone Sam Bradford will probably be the first person off of the board, and there's certainly a market out there for Vick, a market that could swing an enticing package back at the Eagles.


3. Draft an Offensive Lineman or Safety in the First Round

Anyone who watched the Eagles' past two games could see plain and clear that Philly's offensive line was downright awful, giving Donovan McNabb next to no time to throw in many instances, which is really a dangerous thing since the receivers, Jackson and Maclin, are deep threats.

Obviously part of this can be attributed to playing a second string safety in each of those games, a guy who had trouble getting off a respectable snap, let alone showing an ability to block in any way, shape or form.

Jason Peters was added in the offseason in a trade with Buffalo, and while he hasn't completely lived up to his Pro Bowl billing, he's been a nice addition. Shawn and Stacey Andrews are both solid, but once you get past those select few, it's not so pretty, especially when you look at a guy like Winston Justice, who granted has improved a lot (hard to do much worse than giving up 6 sacks on Osi Umenyoria), but still does not look like a reliable outside lineman.

The safety problem goes back to letting Brian Dawkins go to Denver in the offseason. I know that football's not a sentimental game, but you have to hold onto a guy like Dawkins, even if he is in his mid-thirties. The guy was coming off of a freaking Pro Bowl, so you let him walk? Never mind the fact that he put his all into making that team better in his time there, and that he was the heart, soul, and motivation behind many of those stellar defenses.

A safety is a great building block towards building an elite secondary, and seeing as Philly's already got great corners in Asante Samuel and Sheldon Brown, plugging in a phenomenal young safety could really put this team over the edge.

This team's not going to get Ndamakang Suh or Eric Berry or anyone of that caliber, but there are some tremendous players to be had in this draft, with safety and O-Line being no exception.


4. Hold On To Sean McDermott for Another Year

I wasn't entirely pleased with McDermott's first year as defensive coordinator, largely because it appeared pretty obvious that the defense had taken some steps back from years past, but it can't be solely placed on the DC's shoulders.

Stewart Bradley got hurt in training camp with a torn ACL and anytime that you lose you're middle linebacker, there's going to be some noticeable regression.

Also, McDermott had the unappealing task of filling in for the late Jim Johnson, long-time Eagles DC and a man who was a true innovator and defensive guru in every respect of those words and phrases. There was some turnover and McDermott was pretty much put in a no-win situation with having to take over for a legend, but he's a Johnson disciple and I think with one year under his belt as a DC (along with Bradley being back), we may see the Eagles defense get back amongst some of the elite in the game.


There are my suggestions. Will Eagles management even look at them or take them into consideration? Hell no, but hey, it gives me a chance to vent and maybe look for some solutions that could lead to my Eagles finally delivering that long-awaited Super Bowl.

Laziness or Reality: The Hartford Preview

This preview's going to be short and sweet: Hartford's currently at 2-12 and aside from UMBC, they're by far the worst team in the conference. A preview's not really worth it for a team we're going to most likely beata by double digits.

Game's in Hartford at 2. If they do lose, I'm waving the white flag on this year.


Teddy's Prediction

BU 74 Hartford 69


Craig's Prediction

BU 77 Hartford 63

Kitten Mittens: The New Hampshire Preview

Don't know exactly how it happened (I'm blaming New Years), but the Stony Brook game on January 3rd seemed to pass me by, so my apologies for no game preview. Better late than never's going to take on a whole new meaning with this preview for BU's upcoming game against the New Hampshire Wildcats.

UNH, like a ton of other schools like Kentucky, Arizona, Villanova, has gone with the Wildcat as a mascot. If BU and Pat Chambers know anything, there's an obvious way to stop them.



BU's currently at a mildly disappointing 5-8, 0-1 in conference, while New Hampshire's at 5-6 with zero conference games under the belt.


Game Location: Durham, New Hampshire


Projected Starting Lineup

Corey Lowe, G

Carlos Strong, G

John Holland, F

Jake O'Brien, F

Jeff Pelage, C

Reasons For Optimism

Back to the few and far between realm here, but c'mon, that's got to be expected after a nine point loss to an inferior team to open conference play.

The team continues to show it's ability to score and the field goal percentage has improved from the early part of the season.

Even though the past few games haven't been some of the Terriers' best, Jake O'Brien has really emerged in those games, capped by his career high 27 points in the losing effort against the Seawolves last week. If O'Brien can continue to play at the level that he has been, a combination of Holland, JOB, and a hopefully soon-to-improve Corey Lowe is easily the best 1-2-3 combo that any America East team could offer.

Reasons for Concern

We'll begin this laundry list with the news about Tyler Morris breaking his shooting hand, something that we've now learned will keep him sidelined for at the very least one month. Morris' absence will obviously be felt, something which I go a little more in depth on in the previous post, but the main point is this: it makes an already thin team even thinner, and unlike BJ Bailey, the loss of Morris hurts even more since Tyler was one of the team's leading scorers and more reliable players.

The loss to Stony Brook looms large still for this team. Wasn't the point of the tough non-conference schedule, one that Chambers proclaimed to be "the hardest in the country" (that still seems like a lie to me) at the Terrier Tip-Off, to prepare BU to dominate America East? Stony Brook's three point shooting effort was unreal, and it's going to be tough to beat a team that shoots better than 50% from beyond the arc, but still....you've gotta win those home games, especially a team that's probably not going to win the conference this year.

The bench will continue to be a problem, seeing as there's going to be a seven man rotation for the foreseeable future, and even against America East competition, that's going to be a problem.

On a more individual level, Corey Lowe has got to step things up if he wants to end his career on Comm Ave with an NCAA Tournament appearance. It's very reasonable to infer that a big reason why BU hasn't lived up to expectations is because arguably the team's best player has tremendously underachieved thus far.

John Holland's also been a little subpar the past couple of contests, and BU's going to need at the very least solid contributions from Sherrod Smith and Valdas Sirutis the rest of the year if there's even going to be a fleeting thought of crashing the Big Dance.

UNH isn't going to make things any easier. The Wildcats are one of the top five teams in the conference and are perhaps the best coached, led by Bill Herrion, whose brother Tom is an assistant at Pittsburgh and was at one time considered to be one of the leading candidates to take over at BU earlier last year.

The Wildcats, although somewhat offensively inept, are probably the best defensive ballclub in the conference, so BU better bring a good offensive performance if they want to stand a chance in this one.

The Bottom Line

New Hampshire's a good team, don't get me wrong, but even an injury-plagued BU team can't afford to start off conference play against two teams that they're better than on paper.

Teddy's Prediction

BU 69 New Hampshire 66

Craig's Prediction

BU 64 New Hampshire 56

Another Day, Another BU Basketball Injury

Even though the BU men's basketball team came into this season with lofty expectations with a lot of returning talent and an enthusiastic new coach, the season has been quickly derailed by a series of injuries and unforeseen setbacks.

Scott Brittain has yet to play a game this year due to concussions, and he may never lace up for the Terriers again; one can only suffer so many concussions before your health and stability becomes a serious concern to the point that you just have to quit.

Corey Lowe's been hobbled as has Valdas Sirutis this year, and of course, freshman guard BJ Bailey left the program due to homesickness and will probably be suiting up for another DI program next year, most likely somewhere closer to his Jersey home.

Today, the news broke (no pun intended) that senior guard Tyler Morris will be sidelined for an undisclosed period of time because of a broken hand.



Morris, a former America East Rookie of the Year, has been a solid force for the Terriers this year, averaging 11.2 points per game and 3.1 assists per game, all while shooting about 40% from three point range.

The team will certainly miss his talent and senior leadership, but Morris is yet another casualty in what has been a season long affliction for the BU men- injuries, which have subsequently hurt the depth of this team.

With Brittain still out, Bailey gone from the program, and with Morris now sidelined, here's how things look for the Terriers for this next month or so:

Starters:

Corey Lowe, G
Carlos Strong, G
John Holland, F
Jake O'Brien, F
Jeff Pelage, C

Bench:

Sherrod Smith, G
Valdas Sirutis, F
Tunde Agboola, G
Mike Schulze, G
Brendan Sullivan, F


The bench doesn't look too thin on paper, but let's take into account the fact that three of those guys are walk-ons who you would much rather not give significant playing time. Let's also take into consideration that this is a team that has routinely gotten into some foul trouble this year- one need not look further than the Kansas State game in Puerto Rico to realize that.

Say Lowe or Los get into foul trouble- that means that BU's going to be relying heavily on Sherrod Smith, which really isn't too intriguing of a prospect. For the next month or so, the BU men's basketball team will be featuring a seven man rotation, so that conference opening loss to Stony Brook may be a sign of things to come.

Blame has been thrown at Chambers based on BU's 5-8 start. People were very understanding about BU's 5-7 conference record given the injury situation and the sheer strength of schedule, but all of that stiff competition was supposed to prepare them to manhandle America East foes.

I'm far more understanding than most in this situation: the expectations going into the season were far too high, all with a team adjusting to a new offensive system. I played ball in high school, so I can't really relate to what it's like for a DI basketball player, but when you have to go from Dennis Wolff's offensive schemes to Chambers' up-tempo philosophy, it's pretty damn tough. I compare it to having 30 lb weights tied to your legs for so many years, causing you to not only play slower, but get adjusted to that. Now, imagine having those weights suddenly taken off; sure, you play much faster, but you're not used to playing at that sort of speed and you're out of control. There's an adjustment period with that kind of change, and the people who came into the season with such lofty expectations are the kinds of people who don't understand college basketball all that well, the same kinds of people who get wooed by someone from Villanova, thinking it's some sort of all-world program (seriously folks, it's maybe the eighth best program in the Big East from a historical perspective).

This is where Chambers probably needs to accept some responsibility: when he first came in, he knew he was inheriting a pretty thin group of players and an incoming freshman class that only featured one player, a player who wasn't even his own recruit meaning he'd be much more liable to leave.

Instead of filling the open roster spots with JuCo players, Chambers opted to take on three transfers in Matt Griffin from Rider, Daryl Partin from La Salle, and Patrick Hazel from Marquette. These three guys all fill roster spots, but they can't play this year because of NCAA rules regarding transfers.

Playing with such a thin team was undoubtedly a gamble on Chambers' part and with injuries and everything, it's proven to be a gamble that hasn't payed off. In my eyes at least, this has been his first major blunder as a coach from a short term perspective. I don't want to be premature here, but I think that with everything that has transpired thus far, I don't see BU making the NCAA Tournament this year.

What has been done though by Chambers is something of a long term solution to helping build the program he wants, even if it means sacrificing the success of the team this year though, something which may not be that horrible given the inevitable growing pains.

Next year, he'll bring in veteran experience in the transfers to combine with what looks like a stellar freshman class of talented Philly players. From what I've heard, Partin is a great shooter from three point range, Griffin's a solid guard who should be a good player off of the bench, and that Hazel is a monster down low with the kind of talent you would expect from a guy who was recruited to play at a program like Marquette.

So while the short term doesn't look so good for BU basketball right now, Chambers is just maybe the forward thinking kind of coach to build the sort of basketball program that Mike Lynch had in mind when he first hired him.

Why Does the Nickname "Thuggins" Already Have to be Taken?

Anyone who ever reads this blog knows very well that although I'm a BU student and Terrier athletic afficionado, I was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky as a Louisville Cardinals fan. This past Saturday, Louisville and Kentucky squared off in what is the best rivalry in all of college basketball (I wrote an article about this on Bleacher Report this summer about why I thought U of L/UK is a better hoops rivalry that Duke-UNC and got my ass chewed out about it, evidently it was featured on a UK blog as a reveared piece though, so kudos to that...here's a link to it- http://bleacherreport.com/articles/233611-why-duke-north-carolina-isnt-necessarily-the-best-college-hoops-rivalry).

It was quite possibly the most anticipated college hoops game of the year aside from the yet-to-be-played Kansas-Texas matchup, but there wasn't too much to salvage over post-game when it comes to X's and O's. The first half would have been the ugliest display of basketball I've ever seen had I not been watching America East basketball for the past year and a half, with the halftime score at 27-19 UK. Even the hotly-anticipated Rick Pitino-John Calipari faceoff was relatively tame and civil.

As most reasonable people anticipated Kentucky ended up winning the game 71-62 at home, but by far the postgame story was what ensued in the game's first minute. Less than ten seconds into the game, there was some verbal jousting between Kentucky's Eric (I kept calling him Drew to try to bug my UK buddies) Bledsoe and Louisville's Reginald Delk that almost created a skirmish. The powder keg then exploded when UK's DeMarcus Cousins and U of L's Jared Swopshire battled for a loose ball about thirty seconds later, when in the tussle for the ball, Cousins threw what looked like a blatant forearm to Swopshire's face, which then prompted Delk to intervene and shove Cousins away.



I would have done this post sooner, but for whatever reason, it took me this long to find a picture of Cousins in the act.

Players were assessed techincals and it was by far the moment that stood out from an otherwise poorly played game. CBS' Clark Kellogg and Tim Brando both publicly stated that they felt that Cousins should have been ejected from the game and many Louisville fans have echoed that sentiment. Kentucky fans have obviously stood on the opposite side of the fence and stories have ensued. There have been rumors floated about that the teams were fighting in the hallway before the game, that they refused to shake hands before tipoff and that Calipari told Delk that Bledsoe would kick his ass after the game.

The two fan bases have been taking opposite sides on the issues, which to me means this: the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

The hallway conflict, if it even happened, was probably mutual, same goes for the pregame handshake snub. Some people swear that they rewound and closely read Calipari's lips and said that he did indeed threaten Delk, but I really couldn't see someone as PR-conscious as Calipari doing something like that. Besides, he's usually on the opposite side of these kinds of violent threats.



Between this and the "Goon Incident", John Chaney's one of my favorite all-time college basketball coaches (sorry Teddy).

For Cousins, I think most UK fans can't deny that it was a blatant forearm. Whether it was triggered to alleged heckling and physical contact before the game or a knee to the head in that pile, the fact remains that he should have kept his cool and not done what he did. I think an ejection would have maybe been excessive given that it seemed like both teams seemed to be at each other's throats, but a flagrant foul would have certainly been merited.

And this is coming from a guy who doesn't like DeMarcus Cousins one bit. I think he's a kid who needs to learn to be more of a team player and pass the ball every now and then when it's thrown to him in the low post. Seriously, you play with future first round picks in John Wall and Patrick Patterson, both of whom are better than you.

He's someone who I've seen lose his cool multiple times in games and if UK continues to rely on someone like Cousins who's not mature enough to keep his composure when provoked, they're not making it to the Final Four, let alone the National Championship.

I thought the forearm was a bush-league move and what was possibly more concerning to me was how Cousins seemed to shrug it all off after the game, feeling as if he did nothing wrong and that his actions were somehow justified.

Even Louisville PG Edgar Sosa went as far to call him a "nut case". When Edgar Sosa calls you crazy, you've got some serious problems.

Nobody can deny Cousins' skill and his imposing physical stature and tools, but unless he can clean himself up, he'll never be able to shake his thug image and in ten years, it won't be a question of if he'll be in the NBA, but rather he'll stand as just another case of an immature kid who wasn't ready for the demanding life of being a professional basketball player...or he'll be in the WWE. The combination of the last name "Cousins" and having played at a school like Kentucky could spawn a bevvy of incest-inspired names.