Consider, if you will, the circumstances surrounding two different yet related basketball teams. One team has eight seniors and returned four starters from last season; the other graduated four of its starters. The former was unanimously selected to win its conference; the latter was expected to finish in a tie for fourth.
BU’s men’s basketball team has had to navigate a difficult schedule while dealing with several significant injuries. Still, who expected the Terrier women’s basketball team to be enjoying more success than its male counterpart?
After a rough beginning to the season against Kentucky and an overtime loss to Massachusetts, BU coach Kelly Greenberg has led her team back to .500. This, despite the departure of last year’s top four scorers, including three members of the America East All-Conference First Team.
Two of the Terriers’ top five scorers this season came off the bench last season. Two others are freshmen. These players aren’t just contributing in new or expanded roles ‘-‘- they’re carrying the team.
Before freshman Caitlynn Moran fouled out against UMass, her 20 points allowed the Terriers to reach overtime against a quality opponent on the road. When senior tri-captain Aly Hinton scored just two points on 1-of-7 shooting against Rhode Island (the team shot below 30 percent as a whole), a complete defensive effort produced 32 turnovers. And when BU demolished Brown in Providence, R.I. last night, 87-58, sophomore Alex Young was a dominant offensive force, totaling 33 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the field and 8-of-8 shooting at the charity stripe.
It’s tough for preseason projections to tout freshmen as impact players because nobody has seen them play against Division-I competition. Reserves from previous seasons can also be difficult to project if they are expected to fill new roles. As a result, preseason expectations are often based on the idea that returning players’ contributions will be largely similar to their contributions from the previous season. Freshmen and transfers are overlooked or marginalized; backups installed in starting lineups are viewed with some skepticism.
Sometimes these views are justified. There’s a reason why mid-majors who find success in the NCAA Tournament usually feature plenty of age and experience. All else being equal, a senior should be better equipped to succeed than a comparable freshman due to extra years of experience and accumulated knowledge.
Other times, these projections sell a team short. BU might not have the experience of last year’s America East regular season champions, but two items have become clear early on. The Terriers’ freshmen have been ready to play from day one, and just as important, returning players who have been asked to make a bigger impact have done so.
Young displayed an ability to score as a freshman last season, but averaging four points per game off the bench is different than putting up 14 per game. Kat Briggs is probably never going to be a big scorer, but as a distributor she protects the ball while finding open shooters. Caroline Stewart’s post scoring complements Hinton’s nicely. Moran and Chantell Alford have made big impacts in their first year.
The Terriers’ preseason projection remains somewhat accurate, if only because America East has done so well in non-conference play. Vermont is undefeated. Hartford is 4-1 with a win against Louisville, last year’s national runner-up. New Hampshire beat UMass, although the Wildcats were at home while BU had to face Massachusetts on the road. Albany and UMBC also have winning records.
Looking forward, BU’s next three games are against Harvard, Yale and Marist. All three are quality opponents; all three are beatable. BU will get the best of those three opponents, Marist, at home. The last two non-conference opponents, South Carolina and BC, will be stiffer tests. By the time conference play opens with a Terrier trip to Orono, Maine, on Jan. 5, BU’s ability to compete with Hartford and Vermont for an America East title should be even clearer.
But even if the Terriers can’t come close to recapturing the form that produced a 16-0 America East record last season, BU has set itself up well for future seasons. The freshmen and sophomores powering this year’s team are only going to get better.
Don’t think so? When Katie Meinhardt and Erica Kovach graduated in the spring of 2007, few guessed Christine Kinneary and Jesyka Burks-Wiley would bring the Terriers to even greater heights. Before Amarachi Umez-Eronini was the America East Defensive Player of the Year, she was a bench contributor who played in less than half the games her freshman season.
Most players, even some of the best players, start off in smaller roles and only make their mark as juniors and seniors. The Terrier stars of tomorrow are on campus today, and they’re making big contributions right now despite being primarily freshmen and sophomores.
The Terrier women’s basketball team was supposed to take a year or two to regroup after the departures this offseason ‘-‘- yet America East opponents, if caught unaware, will be rudely awakened come January by a potentially startling realization:
BU’s back.
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