Rock Chalk Terriers: Upset City Baybay!

I'm still a bit in shock after seeing our Terriers basketball team pull of an immense upset in Burlington against the Scat-amounts, winning 66-64 in OT. Granted, Evan Fjeld went down in midgame with what's turned out to be only a sprained ankle (I'm glad it's only that, it looked fucking gross when they showed the replay of his ankle Theismannesque-ally bending in twain) Still, they were highly competitive even with Fjeld on the floor and the still-injured John Holland riding the pine cushioned seating with Jake. Darryl Partin took over the leading scorer role that he's verged on at times this year, scoring 23 for the Terriers.

The main thing I got from this game on TV was just how good D.J. Irving is and will continue to be as he grows within the BU program over the next three years. He scored 18 points in addition to running the offense very efficiently and effectively, particularly in the second half of the game. When Holland comes back, I see this team as certainly being a threat to Vermont for the AE tournament title. If Fjeld doesn't come back, the Terriers are the odds-on favorite right off the bat. With Fjeld and Holland both back, we could be in for another mighty interesting championship game in a couple weeks.

I also have to own up to totally blowing my picks for the AE over the weekend. Glad that BU won, but I didn't see at all that UNH and Maine would lose. Definitely gives me some pause as far as looking at the AE Bracket. Of course, that's when I'll make up my mistakes now with a perfect bracket there, but that's a story for another day.

Rock Chalk Terriers/America BEasts: Season Finale(s)

With little to lose or gain (except perhaps confidence), our Boston University Terriers head into their regular season finale against the Vermont Cat-mounters Catamounts at Burlington's Patrick Gym. Unfortunately, the Terriers may be without the services of team leader John Holland as he injured his ankle in the recent game at Binghamton, leading to the rest of the Terriers having to barely gut out a 53-51 victory. Given Holland's absence, tomorrow's game won't really be an adequate preview of the possible AE title game as one of the best players for either team will almost definitely not make an appearance.

Prediction: Vermont 68-58. Neither team has much to gain and Patrick is a tough place to play, especially with not John Holland. With him back it could be a very different story if the teams meet in the conference championship game, though.

Elsewhere in the AE tomorrow:

Albany at Maine: Maine and Albany are locked in at the 3 and 4 seeds in the tournament so neither really has anything to gain or lose no matter the outcome other than as perhaps with BU and UVM, confidence. That being said, Maine is still looking to recover from their massive tailspin that they only recently ended against UNH so perhaps the Black Bears will feel the have more to prove tomorrow Verdict: Maine 65-57

Binghamton at Stony Brook: Stony Brook has 5th locked up and will be playing Albany no matter what happens whereas Binghamton is gonna be playing UMBC in the 8-9 opening round game at the AE tournament with or without a win. Neither team's been good lately but SBU has been at least good enough to pick up a couple wins lately against decent AE teams (Maine @ UHart). Verdict: Stony Brook 65-55

New Hampshire at Hartford: Given their injury situation this year the Wildcats could've been forgiven for falling to the conference cellar but they've hung tough to fight their way to what could be an almost-.500 record for the conference season. (Plus Binghamton and UMBC set the bar very, very low for the cellar) UNH also hasn't been terrible on the road while Hartford has done a terrible job defending their homecourt despite home wins against Maine and BU. However, both teams will be playing very intensely as they fight for 6th and 7th place in the conference and matchups against either Maine or BU. Verdict: UNH 65-60

Rock Chalk Terriers: BU Beats Canisius For Fourth Straight Bracketbusters Win

Photo by Junhee Chung, Daily Free Press

The BU men's basketball team overcame a 3-point halftime deficit and a slow shooting start to defeat the Canisius Golden Griffins on Saturday in ESPN's yearly Bracketbusters event. Down 32-29 at the end of the first, the Terriers pulled away to a 70-62 victory on the shoulders of (once again) 48 combined points by John Holland and Darryl Partin. Solid defensive efforts in both halves allowed the team to take over once they found their shooting stroke and for much of the second half it seemed like the Terriers would be in good shape. This win makes six straight for the Terriers and is encouraging in that it showed the team's ability to play from behind as well as take care of business against the teams it should beat, which will be very important both against Binghamton and in the first round or two of the AE tournament. All in all it was a much more composed team than the one that lost in the fairly recent past to Hartford, UMBC and Quinnipiac. Still though, Coach Chambers called the win "ugly" and said that the team failed to keep Canisius from executing the game they wanted to play while crediting Partin ad Holland with carrying the team to the W. The Terriers are putting themselves in a good position to beat Binghamton and perhaps Vermont in their last two games of the season. This may be a team capable of making an AE tournament run and qualifying for the NCAAs.

Elsewhere in the AE, Vermont got crushed by Charleston 85-70, Hartford beat UMBC 64-57, Manhattan squeaked by Stony Brook 64-63 in overtime, Siena beat Maine in Albany 71-60 and UNH suffered an embarrassing 58-49 loss to Marist. Overall a bad weekend for the AE as at least SB and New Hampshire should have been able to pull off wins, with SB playing at home and both teams facing horrible opposition. The conference really showed itself deserving of it's 29th place Pomeroy rating (out of 32 conferences and the independents) with only one BB win and the marquee team suffering a blowout on ESPNU. Not goo for my predictions record either as I now move to 5-4 by splitting on the weekend (I got the BU, Vermont and Hartford/UMBC games correct)

Also yesterday's game that I didn't get a chance to preview/predict went to Albany over Binghamton by a score of 57-54 in Vestal. Makes me feel better with BU paying the Bearcats a visit in the next few days to know that the lesser bu (lower-case intended) is eminently beatable at home. I don't think anyone's arguing that Albany is a better team than the Terriers.

ESPN recapped the BU win on Saturday, while Full Court Press grades the Terriers against the Griffs, posts some cool pictures and put up video of PChamb's presser. They also break down the state of the AE, prior to some games this week with immense conference tourney implications. (Albany/Maine, BU/Vermont, Hartford vs. UNH/Stony Brook)

RCT Links 2/19

From the Full Court Press Blog:

Toughness Key For BU Down Stretch

Partin, Holland Scoring Duo One Of AE's Best

Rock Chalk Terriers: Bracketbusters BU vs. Canisius

BU played one of their best games of the season last Tuesday against UMBC at the HAA, and riding a 5-game hot streak there is utterly no reason to think that they shouldn't run train on the Golden Griffs, or at least pull out the victory tomorrow (well, today at this point). The teams are very close in Pomeroy Ratings (BU at 173, Canisius at 175) and Canisius has played a mildly tougher schedule, but the Terriers are just too good at home. The UMBC game pushed their winning streak in Boston to 7 games. Although they are the 311th team in division 1 basketball for FG% and that has proved their undoing at times, this BU team has had far less trouble finding their stroke at home. And when they do, the team just ends the game, boasting a 10-1 record in conference when they score more than 60 points. I just don't see Canisius being good enough to hold the team back on such a hot streak, especially given the multiple threats that BU possesses. BU also has not given up more than than 55 points in 6 of their last 8 games, so the Griffs probably won't beat them by putting up a ton of points.

My Verdict: BU beats Canisius 70-60

RCT: BU vs. UMBC Links

Forgot these at the bottom of my article--all good reads esp. the DFP/FCP ones

ESPN

Holland, Partin Lead Way as BU Blows Out UMBC

The Daily Free Press/Full Court Press

Retrievers Heeled

BU-UMBC Press Conferences

Grading The Terriers 2/15 vs. UMBC

Partin, Holland Scoring Duo One Of AE's Best

Rock Chalk Terriers: Terriers Victorious Over UMBC

BU basketball took a huge step last night towards securing the #2 seed in the America East conference tournament by soundly defeating UMBC and their obnoxious asshole fiery coach Randy Monroe at Agganis Arena, 85-53. The Terrier defense was certainly more than adequate holding UMBC to such a low point total (both a function of UMBC's ineptitude as well as BU's coverage), but it was their offense, particularly that of Darryl Partin and John Holland, who combined for a total of 47 points, which won the game. The team played a fast-paced game game marked by quick, sharp passes and transition points that are the essence of well-executed Pat Chambers basketball. They also penetrated well, outscoring the Retrievers 40-14(!) in the paint. Finding open shot after open shot, the hallmark of their game last night can't have helped but spread the defense and make the paint way more accessible. Solid leadership at the point by D.J. Irving helped find the open man again and again, for 17 assists in all. Like BU's hockey team, this squad looks like one which will only get better next year. But for now with the hot streak they're on, this could very well be a tournament team for the AE. All in all a great and encouraging night for the Terriers.

My 2010-11 AE predictions record: 1-0

Rock Chalk Terriers: BU vs. UMBC @ The Greek 2/15

Yes, they beat us once at home. Yes, they're coming off a win against Maine in Orono (a win that looks less and less impressive by the day). Still, this game is all the Terriers' to lose. I just do not see the Retrievers shooting 10% better than the Terriers from the field and hitting 47% of their threes again. Beyond Chris de la Rosa, the Retrievers boast no other scorers averaging double figures on the year, whereas the Terriers have two clear scoring threats in John Holland and Darryl Partin, as well as numerous complementary pieces around the two of them. Remember, the Terriers would have won that last one save for a late scoring drought in the final five minutes, so it's not like they got blown out. I say the Dogs (our Dogs) easily win this game to put themselves in great position to lock up the two seed after UVM beats Maine tomorrow (more on that game later tonight/tomorrow as well as a game recap of the Terriers).

As usual, a good preview of the game also can be found at the Daily Free Press' Full Court Press blog.