His leading scorer separated his shoulder and was lost for the season in December. His team battled injuries all season and still won a share of the America East regular season title. His team played its way into the NCAA Tournament. Then his team was given a No. 16 seed and a first-round matchup with the University of Cincinnati.
So what is going through the mind of Boston University men’s basketball coach Dennis Wolff?
“The last time [we] were in this situation, we didn’t handle this week the right way,” Wolff told Andy Furman last night on 700 WLW-AM in Cincinnati. “We had that deer-in-the-headlights look that teams sometimes have. I don’t know if I can do things a little differently, but I am trying to so that we can concentrate on trying to play a good game against Cincinnati.”
BU (22-9, 13-3 America East) will have to bring it’s A-game to keep up with the Bearcats (30-3, 14-2 Conference USA), the No. 1 seed in the West bracket. The Terriers are trying to become the first David to knock off a Goliath since the tournament expanded to 64 (now 65) teams.
“I know that they are a team that can win the national championship,” Wolff told Furman. “I don’t think you need to know any more than that.”
The Terriers will have to contend with a very physical Cincinnati team that is also fundamentally sound.
“It’s a great opportunity for our program not only to play Cincinnati, a team with rich tradition, but to coach against someone like Bob Huggins,” Wolff said on WLW.
“We are going to have our work cut out for us,” he added.
Cincinnati head coach Bob Huggins also talked with Furman last night, saying the Bearcats are prepared for BU’s sharp-shooting barrage.
“They’re a team that really shoots the ball well,” Huggins said. “[Teams] like that spread you out so much that they make it harder to guard.”
Huggins also referred to BU’s half-court offense, saying to Furman, “They’re one of those teams that runs a lot of sets and it kind of ends up with four in and one out.
“Their post man kind of reminds me of a poor man’s Bill Laimbeer, if you can remember that far back. The screen and step back rather than the screen and role.”
Though Cincinnati was consistently in the top five in the polls this season, many people feel the Bearcats are in the toughest NCAA Tournament bracket. They are also the only team in the tournament with 30 wins.
“We are excited about being a No. 1 seed,” Huggins said on WLW. “I think it’s a great reward for a great season that our guys had. But I think if they said ‘Pick your bracket,’ I don’t think this would be the bracket I would pick. It’s tough, but it’s supposed to be tough. We’re excited to be a No. 1 seed and we can’t wait to go play. Sometimes you get a fairly easy [game] in the first round, but after that, there aren’t any easy games.”
Several BU players were honored March 2, as the America East doled out its annual list of postseason honors.
Freshman guard Chaz Carr took home two awards, one for Second Team All-Conference and the other for making the All-Rookie Team. The end-of-season accolades cap a campaign during which Carr was repeatedly honored for his play on the court. He won the league’s Rookie of the Week award four times and proved himself to be a reliable ball handler and a consistent shooter. Hitting 75 percent from the foul line this season, he was BU’s leading scorer, averaging nearly 14 points per game. He also played solid defense against some of the league’s best, and often bigger, guards. Carr was named to the America East All-Tournament Team on Sunday, as well.
But perhaps Carr’s largest honor came after he scored 36 points in an overtime win against Northeastern University in January. It was then that the Manchester, Conn., native was named the league’s Player of the Week, becoming only the second rookie winner in the award’s 19-year history.
Also honored was junior forward Billy Collins, who was named First Team All-Conference and to the America East All-Tournament Team. He led the Terriers in rebounding and Three-point percentage while battling a few nagging injuries throughout the campaign. The Rutgers transfer also filled a leadership role in his second year as a captain, tallying seven double-doubles and playing in 30 of 33 games.
Collins is the first Terrier to be selected a First Team All-Conference since the 1996-97 season when Tunji Awojobi received the honor. And ironically, both Collins and Awojobi were named the Most Outstanding Player of the America East Tournament, bringing their respective teams to the NCAA Tournament.
BU’s final award winner was freshman Rashad Bell, who was named to the All-Rookie team. After scoring a career-high 21 points on Jan. 12, Bell earned a consistent spot in the starting lineup, averaging 11 points and nearly six boards since his breakout game. He also has served as a catalyst for the Terriers during the latter part of the season.
It’s interesting that the official box score from Saturday’s America East championship game puts the attendance at 1,738 when Case Gymnasium has a capacity of 1,800. The last time BU hosted a conference championship game was March 7, 1997, and on that particular Friday night, The Roof rocked to the tune of 2,200 scarlet and white fanatics. That’s an even 400 more fans than there are chairs, yet Saturday’s game had 62 empty seats. It seems Case can’t sellout nowadays despite being one of the smallest gyms in Div. I college hoops … BU’s first-round game against Cincinnati on Friday is in primetime on CBS at 7:40 p.m …
Collins wore a brace in the America East Tournament to protect his fractured right wrist. He plans to play through the injury …
For the first time since 1993, a No. 1 seed did not participate in the championship game of the America East Tournament. The final game did, however, feature the two top teams according to the preseason coaches’ poll in BU and the University of Maine …
BU head coach Dennis Wolff’s 11 America East Tournament wins places him one behind Mike Jarvis for most in school history … Huggins is going for his 500th career win with Cincinnati on Friday … Bearcats guard Steve Logan was named the nation’s most valuable player yesterday by CNNSI.com.
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