n From the viewpoint of the men’s basketball program, how could this weekend be viewed as anything but a disappointment (“Terriers fall in semi-finals,” Mar. 5, p. 12)? Sure, the team won a first-round conference tournament game for the first time in three years.

But the Terriers, the third seed, beat the sixth-seeded Binghamton University Bearcats, whom they had defeated twice in the regular season. It took a second-half comeback to pull out the victory, and the win certainly did not signal the arrival of the Terriers as a threat to win the conference tournament. Did I mention that it was played here in Boston, meaning no traveling and a supportive home crowd? Well, at least it meant no traveling.

I sincerely pity the athletic department. They have done everything possible to try to attract students to the games, especially ones played at Agganis Arena. But the lack of support for the men’s team this weekend was truly embarrassing.

Saturday night’s attendance barely surpassed 3,100. In contrast, Vermont brought nearly 2,000 of its own fans for the weekend, and the Albany faithfuls were similar in number. I have trouble understanding how visiting fans travel three hours for the games, yet the home “fans” turn down free tickets.

On the other hand, the team needs to give students reason to become fans. Sunday’s game did very little to accomplish that. The defense was, as usual, the hallmark of a Dennis Wolff-coached team.

But how about a little offense? Watching the Terriers execute the half-court offense was more excruciating than watching a root canal, and the momentum they carried into the locker room at halftime vanished when they couldn’t score in the first six minutes or so of the second half.

Hope for this team is pinned on a group of three or four players with one season under their belts. Sure, the younger guys provide some optimism for the future. But after last off-season’s fiasco, how certain can we be that they will stay?

Even if they do, the roster lacks a legitimate inside presence, a single senior and a single junior who contributed significantly this season. They will have to live and die by their defense, and it’s been a few years since that strategy has worked.

Perhaps a change in philosophy would kill two birds with one stone. Defensive basketball is boring to the casual fans, and those are the fans that could fill the arena. An offensive-minded game plan would bring an exciting brand of basketball to Boston University and attract more students to games. Also, the shooters on the team — Tyler Morris, Corey Lowe and Carlos Strong — would benefit from a more active offense in the half-court set.

If only that stone could take down a few Catamounts and Great Danes, then we’d be in business (or even better, the NCAA tournament).

Chris Moyer

COM ’09