There’s no question this season has been a different one for the Boston University men’s basketball team. After being tabbed to finish first in the conference, the Terriers were hit with debilitating news (season-ending injuries to two of the team’s top scorers) amidst a season-worst slump that looked to spell the end for BU’s campaign before it really began. Then, in an unexpected turn of events, the Terriers reeled off eight-straight wins and finished the season with 17 victories.
The evolution of the veteran group, however, is a distant afterthought based on the upcoming events this weekend. In a one-bid mid-major conference, a team’s only shot at making the NCAA Tournament is to win the conference title. BU’s quest for its first America East championship since 2002 begins Saturday afternoon against the University of Maryland-Baltimore County (13-16, 7-9 AE).
As turbulent as the last two years have been – this was BU’s first winning season since 2004-05 – the Terriers have been victorious in their first-round tournament game in two consecutive attempts after getting ousted in the first round three years in a row before that.
Although finishing with a winning percentage above .500 is an accomplishment for a program that began rebuilding in 2006-07, it won’t mean much should the Terriers (17-12, 11-5) falter in Albany.
‘I think we’re going to be judged, to a certain degree, by what goes on this weekend,’ BU coach Dennis Wolff said of this weekend’s tournament at SEFCU Arena. ‘I think that we had a pretty good regular season, but we’ll be judged on this weekend.’
BU, which left for Albany on Thursday afternoon, will tip-off at 2:30 on Saturday against a team it defeated twice this season – 80-77 in double overtime at Case Gymnasium and 82-65 at the Retriever Activities Center in Baltimore.
Additionally, the third-seeded Terriers have won 11 of their last 14 games and are riding a three-game winning streak entering the tournament. Conversely, the defending champion Retrievers have won four-of-seven and clinched the six seed with a victory against the University at Albany last Sunday.
‘When we’ve been good against UMBC, we’ve been good in transition,’ Wolff said. ‘[Junior guard Corey Lowe’s] done a good job of recognizing when we have something or when we don’t. You can tell whether he’s having a good game when he’s not trying to make something out of nothing, and we end up turning the ball over.’
As has been the case all season, the game could come down to the performances of Lowe (16.6 points per game) and sophomore forward John Holland (18.0 ppg). In last year’s semifinal game against the University of Hartford, Lowe lost his shooting range from beyond the arc and
Holland didn’t play the entire second half. The two can’t afford any off nights in this year’s tournament because the conference is the most balanced it’s been in years.
‘When it’s not going good for John, he’s a self-check. I don’t think John gets stopped as much as John stops himself by being totally out of it,’ Wolff said.
With another season of experience and on the heels of one of the best offensive seasons anyone’s ever had at BU, Holland could be primed for a big tournament if his head’s in the right place.
For seniors Marques Johnson, Sam Tully and Matt Wolff, this will be their final opportunity at a conference title. After suffering a severe concussion against Hartford on Sunday, Wolff practiced with the team Wednesday afternoon and will play in BU’s first-round tournament game. Junior guard Sherrod Smith will also receive more minutes after performing well against the Hawks in BU’s season finale.
‘I think the kid deserves a lot of credit,’ Dennis Wolff said of Smith. ‘You don’t get used a lot during the year and then get called upon. He had practiced better, and we had been working him in some during practice.’
The Retrievers are perhaps one of the few teams with less depth than BU, but boast two of the conference’s top players to make up for it. Seniors Jay Greene and Darryl Proctor (a top candidate for Player of the Year) have propelled UMBC to the majority of its 13 victories this year. Proctor fights double- and sometimes triple-teams on a nightly basis and is still averaging 20.0 points per game and 8.6 rebounds per game.
Greene is the conference’s best point guard and reigning tournament MVP. His 6.0 assists per game lead the conference and are a large reason why the Retrievers are fourth in the nation in offensive turnover percentage (15.1).
‘We have a lot of respect for them. When the all-league stuff comes out, I would imagine that those two would be at or near the top,’ Wolff said of Greene and Proctor.
With talks of fatigue swirling around the regular season, the weekend in which it may make a difference is here. What has happened beforehand now seems a formality. The Terriers don’t have an easy draw, given that a defending champion with two top-caliber seniors is never a welcome sight. But if BU hopes to advance, it’ll need to down the Retrievers for the third time this season.
Note: Be sure to log on to www.dailyfreepress.com/hoops for comprehensive tournament coverage, an announcement of the end-of-the-year awards and live blogs of every tournament game.
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