NBA philosophy states that, if near the end of a given season a team has clinched the No. 1 seed heading into the playoffs, a team shall rest its starters in favor of staying healthy heading into postseason play.
Boston University coach Kelly Greenberg respectfully disagrees.
The Terriers (20-6, 14-0 America East) clinched the top spot in the America East Tournament with Sunday’s 71-57 victory over the University of Maine. Thus, with senior Jesyka Burks-Wiley, a five-time conference Player of the Week in 2008-09, suffering from both an achy right knee and a broken nose and with only two games left on BU’s regular season schedule, the aforementioned philosophy mandates that Burks-Wiley be rested.
According to senior guard Kristi Dini, Greenberg said Burks-Wiley, along with the rest of BU’s usual starting five, will play as many minutes as necessary to win when BU tips off at 7 p.m. at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County tonight.
‘I think that we want to treat every game the same way,’ Dini said when asked about Greenberg’s plan regarding playing time. ‘[Greenberg’s] going to treat this game just like every other game, even though we have the first seed locked in. She’ll play Jes so long as she’s not in foul trouble.
‘I definitely think she’ll play as many minutes as we need her to play.’
Greenberg’s decision to stick by her starters, who have carried the majority of the weight during BU’s program-record 15-game winning streak, doesn’t bode well for UMBC (14-14, 6-9). Before the teams’ last meeting ‘-‘- an 84-57 BU home victory ‘-‘- Greenberg said she thought the Retrievers were absolutely the fourth best team in the conference.
However, UMBC, coming off consecutive losses to the University at Albany and Binghamton University, has dropped to sixth place in the conference and desperately needs a win to help avoid a tough first-round matchup with the third-seeded University of Vermont.
UMBC junior guard Carlee Cassidy is arguably the best guard in the conference, averaging a conference-best 20.7 points per game on the season. Cassidy loves to shoot, evidenced by her league-leading 173 field-goal attempts, and also loves getting to the free-throw line, where she’s converted 80.9 percent of her conference-best 194 free-throw attempts.
‘She can do everything,’ Dini said of Cassidy. ‘She can shoot lights-out . . . You really have to stay up on her and stay with her because she’ll shoot anything.’
The UMBC backcourt is further strengthened by the play of freshman Michelle Kurowski, who was honored Monday with her fourth America East Rookie of the Week award. Kurowski has quickly become one of the conference’s most complete guards, averaging 13.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game. Additionally, the 5-foot-9 guard is shooting at a .819 clip from the free-throw line, second best in the conference, and has made 37-of-118 attempts (.314) from beyond the 3-point arc.
Kurowski’s star has shone particularly bright of late, averaging 20 points, eight rebounds, four steals and two assists in the Retrievers’ last two contests.
With a win tonight against UMBC and Saturday against Albany, BU would become just the fifth team in America East history to run the table during regular-season play.
For Dini and the Terriers, though, the undefeated season would be nothing more than a nice addition to what they hope will be a much bigger goal realized. The goal, Dini said, is to win the conference tournament and get to the NCAAs.
‘It’s really exciting,’ Dini said about the opportunities presented to the Terriers. ‘It’s something that none of us have ever really been a part of.’
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