The Boston University women’s basketball team plays the first of two exhibition games tonight at Case Gymnasium against the Basketball Travelers.
This game gives the Terriers an opportunity to see just where the team stands entering a season where the BU is looking to improve on its second-place finish from a year ago and challenge for the America East Championship. Exhibition games such as this give BU Coach Margaret McKeon and the BU coaching staff an excellent chance to identify any possible problem areas and the players get a chance to make their case for playing time once the regular season begins.
‘This is really a game [for] looking at different lineups, giving some players opportunities to see if they’re going to get some more playing time where we can fit them in,’ McKeon said.
As this is the first game of the season for the Terriers, McKeon expects the team to be a little rusty. However, with a veteran team like the one McKeon has this year, any early season jitters will likely be short-lived.
‘[We’ll work on] just really trying to get some of the kinks out, and obviously [overcoming] the nervousness,’ said McKeon.
The Terriers are anxious to play in their first game and have been practicing hard all week in preparation for tonight. The aura of excitement is from the sense of great things to come for this year’s Terriers, who have been named by WomensCollegeHoops.com as a potential Cinderella team. McKeon shares in the excitement.
‘I’m really looking forward to the game,’ McKeon said. ‘I’ve been looking forward to it all week and the ladies are ready to play a game.’
The Terriers are led by junior guard Katie Terhune, who led all of the America East Conference in scoring and was a First-Team All-Conference selection. Terhune heads a cast of players that is widely considered to be one of the best teams BU has ever seen. Added to that is the energy and experience that McKeon and new assistant coaches Glenn Senecal and Kathryn Otwell bring to the team.
While everything seems to be in order for the Terriers, McKeon still believes tonight’s game will tell a lot about what changes the coaching staff will have to make.
‘We have a lot of things in place right now, so it will really be a good gauge for us just to see where we’re at, how we’re doing, if we know all our sets and defensively what we need to work on to clean things up,’ McKeon said.
The Terriers’ opponents in tonight’s game are part of an organization that allows European teams to come to the United States and tour the country, playing exhibition games against colleges and universities along the way. The Terriers faced a Basketball Travelers team in an exhibition game last year, winning 44-43. McKeon and the Terriers want to win, but they understand that this is an exhibition game and things like getting everybody involved and staying healthy are the biggest concerns.
‘Obviously we’d like to win these games, but that’s not the most important thing,’ McKeon said. ‘We’re looking to come in and really be concerned with us, more so than being concerned with them.’
This is the first of two exhibition games for the Terriers before they meet up with No. 10 Vanderbilt University in their regular season opener at ‘The Roof’ on Saturday, Nov. 23.
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