WHITROCK: Waiting for the starting gun

Like a late-March-in-Tokyo beginning to the Major League Baseball season, the college basketball schedule starts not with a bang, but with a whimper.

Wait, you didn’t know the season was already underway? Eh, it’s not your fault. Houston-Georgia State isn’t a compelling matchup for most potential viewers, nor is Duke-Presbyterian. Maybe if you’re a Blue Devil fan you watched the latter. Maybe you even spent some time wondering whether Nolan Smith will continue to start in front of Greg Paulus. Controversy!

But with all save 13 of 341 Division-I teams ‘-‘- two of the 13 being Terrier rivals Northeastern and UMass ‘-‘- still waiting to embark on their annual quest for basketball immortality, it certainly doesn’t feel like college basketball season. Not yet, anyway.

All of that changes Friday. If you’re a veteran Terrier basketball fan, you know the drill. It’s not time to ball until G-Dub’s out on the floor in the road buff and blue unis.

For BU, this is the fourth consecutive year featuring George Washington University on the schedule and the third straight November meeting. In what has become an annual event, coach Dennis Wolff and friends hope to reverse recent fortune against their D.C. foe.

Reversal is the goal because recent history has not smiled on the Terriers. Given the rapidly changing rosters of both teams, the consistency of previous results is rather surprising. George Washington has won the past nine contests against BU ‘-‘- each of the last four victories has been by exactly 13 points.

If the last two season openers afforded GW the opportunity to demonstrate everything wrong with the Terriers ‘-‘- youth, inexperience, inconsistent interior defense and dependence on streaky perimeter shooting ‘-‘- then this is an opportunity to show why the 2008-09 campaign will be different.

It needs to be different if BU hopes to end a six-year drought and return to the NCAA Tournament. The Terriers’ last trip to March Madness began auspiciously with a season-opening home victory against New Orleans (the Privateers, not the Hornets). Since then, BU has stumbled out of the gate five out of six times.

Not that BU can strictly follow the model that last brought an America East title, of course. Back then, Northeastern was still a conference opponent, Maine managed to make a championship game appearance and John Holland was in the eighth grade. Times have changed.

With changing times come changing rosters. This, perhaps, is where fortune smiles on the Terriers. Every significant contributor from last season returns for BU except for Max Gotzler, who was playing limited minutes at season’s end. Newcomers Jake O’Brien and Jeff Pelage hope to add interior depth, perhaps the Terriers’ single greatest weakness last year.

If the Terriers expect improvement down low, Friday’s game should offer a good early test. Senior forward Rob Diggs is one of the best forwards BU will face all year, averaging nearly 14 points and eight rebounds last season while playing in arguably the toughest Atlantic-10 Conference in recent memory.

Last year, while Scott Brittain and the Terrier defense managed to contain Diggs’ partner in crime, Wynton Witherspoon, Diggs’ 6-foot-9 frame posed problems as the skilled forward posted 20 points, 12 boards ‘-‘- seven on the offensive glass ‘-‘- and three blocks. Brittain will have to exceed his relatively meager totals from the last meeting (9 points, 3 rebounds) and stay out of foul trouble.

Yes, the recipe for BU success really should be that simple. The Colonials may have an interior edge, but as long as the Terriers can keep opposing forwards under control, BU’s combination of talent and depth on the perimeter trumps whatever GW has to offer. No returning guard on the Colonials’ roster averaged more than six points per game last season. Stop GW in the paint and let them struggle to keep up from beyond the arc.

Some may wonder if the deeper 3-point line ‘-‘- a full foot farther back than last season ‘-‘- will pose a problem for the Terrier shooters. The answer? Probably not. Unlike some other teams, BU’s shooters rarely toe the line for a shot. More often than not, several feet separate Corey Lowe or Carlos Strong from the arc. Marginal 3-point shooters may hesitate before firing away, but the Terrier sharpshooters need not worry.

The Terriers have had eight long months to think about last season’s disappointments. Non-conference struggles, a dismal beginning to the conference slate and the frustrating, season-ending loss to Hartford can’t sit well in their stomachs.

But as often happens, there’s a silver lining to last year’s disappointment. Last year stung because the results could have been so much better. Make no mistake ‘-‘- with the possible exception of Notre Dame, BU can beat each and every team on its schedule. There are plenty of reasons to respect GW, Northeastern, Vermont and Hartford, but there is no reason to fear any of them.

The long wait is almost over. The holy grail of small-conference basketball, that elusive NCAA Tournament bid, looms in the distance.