Welcome to Boston, the heart of Massachusetts and home of America East co-champions Boston University.
The BU men’s basketball team won’t have to say it, but when the America East conference playoffs begin Saturday at Northeastern University, the Terriers want every team to know exactly where it is and who considers it home.
BU closed out the regular season Sunday with a win against the University of Maine, its sixth-straight win, to finish 19-9 overall and 13-3 in the conference. It was the Terriers best regular season performance since the 1996-97 season, when they went 17-1 in the conference en route to the NCAA Tournament.
BU has not returned to the Big Dance since then, and if this season’s romp through the conference is any indication, it may very well join the party this year.
But as dominant as the Terriers were in league play, losing to only two teams (the University of Vermont and the University of Hartford), it has also been a surprising run.
When assistant coach Jason Williford was asked if he thought before the season started that BU would post a 13-3 conference record, he replied, “No. We knew we had good players and good kids who played hard, but if you told us we’d be here, I don’t know if we honestly thought we would.
“To be where we are speaks volumes for the players that we have.”
The Terriers garnered their first regular season title since 1997, as well, on Sunday, and enter the playoffs Saturday as the No. 2 seed. Co-champion Vermont, 13-3 in the America East, earned the No. 1 seed because of its two wins against BU this season.
Though the difference may seem miniscule, BU drew Northeastern University, the seventh seed, as its first-round opponent, while Vermont will play Stony Brook in a huge mismatch.
Northeastern won just seven games this season, including five in the America East, but it is the most underrated team in the league and is capable of postseason shockers.
That, and the Huskies are hosting the America East tournament.
So while BU will be in Boston defending a regular season title, Northeastern will be truly on its home court and anxious to pull off a win with dividends that are two-fold: a victory against its city rival and a ride to the second round of the playoffs.
All this on top of the fact that BU was barely able to escape with a win at Northeastern just more than a month ago, a come-from-behind 95-88 overtime Houdini act over the feisty Huskies. The pressure is surely on the Terriers, then, who must be dreading a return to Matthews Arena against a team that always seems to play infinitely better when BU is on the floor. And they must be concerned about Northeastern’s home crowd. Right?
“It doesn’t really matter where [the game] is at,” said senior guard Mark Michalek. “It’s been nice so far. We’ve never done this well since I’ve been here and obviously we’d like to be the No. 1 seed, but we’re hopeful and confident that we can take care of our business and the tournament will go well.”
The Terriers offense this season was consistent, but they aren’t the Dallas Mavericks. BU’s 95 points in its last game against Northeastern was the most of the season by far.
But if the credo “offense wins games, defense wins championships” is true, maybe the Terriers should be crowned kings of the America East right now.
No team in the conference put up more impressive numbers on defense than BU this season. The Terriers were first in scoring defense, giving up 63.8 points per game, and field goal defense, as their opponents averaged just 38.1 percent from the floor.
Furthermore, aside from a loss to Vermont Feb. 2, BU had not given up more than 59 points from Jan. 5 until Feb. 16. Adding to its high-pressure field goal defense was defensive rebounding, maybe BU’s best facet of the game this season. The Terriers were second in the America East, averaging more than 25 boards a game under their own hoop.
“We’re always going to play good defense,” Williford said. “We get after it, we’re physical. There are nights when we struggle putting the ball in the basket, but defensively we’re going to bring it every night.”
Michalek agreed, saying, “We’ve come together and a lot of guys just stepped up their defense. We started to play a little better team defense, and that’s part of the reason we’ve been successful.”
Should Chaz Carr be the America East Rookie of the Year?
“I’ve seen Chaz the whole season and I haven’t had a chance to see any other rookies in the league as much as him, but in my mind, for sure,” Michalek said.
Carr was named America East Player of the Week for the fourth time Monday, after the guard averaged 14.5 points, going 11-for-20 from the floor with five three-pointers.
Carr should have no problem sealing the deal on the conference Rookie of the Year award. The rookie is the Terriers’ leading scorer this season with 13.4 points per game, he is second in assists (2.7) and he finished eighth in scoring and field goal percentage overall in the conference.
“[Carr has] had a phenomenal year. Whoever gets it is deserving of it, but [Carr] has definitely been our rookie of the year at BU,” Williford said.
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