With the second week of March rapidly approaching, many students are finalizing their travel plans. Some destinations lie north of the border, others south. And then there are those of us who will be traveling domestically.
While classmates depart from Boston in all directions, the men’s basketball team will be taking the court at Binghamton University’s Events Center. Women’s basketball and both ice hockey teams will also begin their postseasons while classes are on hiatus. It’s March Madness. Times four.
Postseason, of course, is also prediction season, a chance for clueless analysts like myself to take a chance with the crystal ball. Here are my best guesses:
Women’s ice hockey travels to Storrs, Conn. for a semifinal matchup against top-seeded New Hampshire Saturday afternoon. The Terriers came up short in all three games against the Wildcats this season. Although BU played well at times, UNH’s sterling record against Hockey East competition cannot be ignored. It’s been a season of milestones for the Terriers, but don’t expect them to reach the final. 4-1, Wildcats.
Women’s basketball has its tournament at Hartford’s Chase Arena. The Terriers have one home game remaining against Albany, and given BU’s undefeated record at Case Gym, expect a win and the third seed. After UMBC loses to Hartford and Maine defeats UNH in Orono this weekend, Maine will grab the sixth seed and draw the Terriers in the first round. BU will then defeat the Black Bears in the quarterfinals.
In the conference semifinals, BU will face a strong Vermont team that split its regular season games with the Terriers. Despite Player of the Year candidate Courtnay Pilypaitis’ best efforts, BU will upset Vermont in the semis to reach the conference final. In a rematch of this year’s most exciting game – Kristi Dini hit a halfcourt shot at the buzzer to beat Hartford Jan. 5 – BU will play the Hawks in the final. Hartford will prove to be a little bit too much, winning by an eight-point margin.
Men’s ice hockey finishes up its season this weekend against the Providence Friars. Look for the Terriers to earn a tie at Schneider Arena tonight before winning tomorrow’s season finale at Agganis to earn the second seed in the Hockey East Tournament. After Northeastern splits with Boston College and UMass-Lowell takes three points from Maine, the Terriers will draw the Huskies as their quarterfinal opponent. BU will then defeat Northeastern in two hard-fought games at Agganis Arena.
After Vermont wins its opening series, the Terriers will face the Catamounts in a semifinal clash at The Garden and emerge victorious. After extending its strong regular-season performance against BC into the postseason, Providence will catch top-seeded UNH off guard and the upset will be complete.
Those results will set up the first BU-PC conference final since the Terriers’ last NCAA title in 1995. Similar to that year, Providence will be the underdog that defeated two higher-ranked opponents to meet second-seeded BU in the final. But unlike that year, Providence will finish the job, defeating BU in overtime to win the Hockey East Tournament.
With their 11-2-1 record since last month’s Beanpot semifinal loss to BC, the Terriers’ PairWise Ranking will rise high enough to qualify for the NCAA Tournament, where BU will lose a high-scoring affair against a quality WCHA opponent.
Despair not, BU fans. There is one more team with a chance to take home conference hardware. The men’s basketball team is the sixth seed heading into its conference tournament, but it’s also one of the hottest teams in America East.
BU draws Albany in the quarterfinal round of the tournament. Yes, Albany beat BU last weekend, but the Great Danes were at home, it was Senior Day and Tyler Morris was sitting out for BU. Call it a close win for the Terriers, perhaps involving some late-game heroics.
In the semifinal, BU will draw Hartford, a team that had no idea how to defend the Terriers in their last meeting. For the Hawks, BU in the semifinal is something straight out of a nightmare. John Holland will gladly show Hartford the door and BU will advance to the final.
UMBC is the top seed in the tournament, but the Retrievers lack depth and haven’t won convincingly against a strong opponent in more than a month. This offers a window of opportunity for their likely semifinal opponent: UVM. After Vermont wins its quarterfinal game against Binghamton, Catamounts star Marqus Blakely will drop the hammer on the Retrievers, singlehandedly carrying his team to the conference final – where, similar to the last two years, Mike Lonergan’s squad will choke.
After years of disappointment, transfers and general disinterest from most of the student body, Dennis Wolff’s team will make it back to the NCAA Tournament and win the play-in game. After that surprise, being blown out by Memphis in the Round of 64 won’t hurt so much.
For all I know, these predictions could be completely wrong. Albany might blow out the men’s basketball team. Women’s ice hockey could win a national championship. The only thing anyone can be sure of is the level of excitement.
It’s the most thrilling month in college sports. Will you be watching?
Matt Whitrock, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, is a weekly columnist for The Daily Free Press. He can be reached at [email protected].
