THE SIN BIN: Savor The Last Dance

Well, well, well. What to write about? Hmmm, has anything even remotely newsworthy occurred on the sporting front at BU in the last week?

The softball team is 3-15 to start the season. Nothing there.

The 17-11 women’s hoopsters were upset big-time in the first round of the America East tourney extravaganza. Next.

I know. The hockey team — BU’s bread and butter — exacted swift and paralyzing revenge on those evil Friars of Providence College. Bane of the Terriers two of the last three years, Providence finally got the whooping it deserved in front of approximately 17 fans at Walter Brown Arena last weekend. There we go.

Wait. Something actually topped the hockey team’s entry into the Hockey East semifinals this Friday at the FleetCenter at 7 p.m. Some event surpassed in every way the hockey team’s heroics this weekend in winning games No. 24 and 25 on the season.

Yes, the men’s basketball team is headed back to the Big Dance this Friday in the Terriers’ first trip to the Second Season since 1997, when BU ventured to St. Louis with a 25-4 record. This 22-7 version plays No. 1 seed Cincinnati Friday at 7:40 p.m. in Pittsburgh.

So what in the name of Tunji Awojobi can’t this team do? Stijn Dhondt hits a fade-away, backboard trifecta as time expires just to get to the championship game. Then they absolutely crush the Mainers, who invaded Case Gym Saturday, in front of a national television audience on ESPN. The idea of ESPN having cameras in cramped, high-schoolish Case Gym is still overwhelmingly hilarious in my mind, but it happened, people.

This is a Terrier team that has played for the bulk of the campaign without two of its best players: Matt Turner (arguably BU’s best player) and Jerome Graham (who blossomed at last season’s end). Lost to season-ending injuries early, these two have watched the likes of Billy Collins (one of the most underrated and versatile players in New England) and Chaz Carr (he’s a freshman?) lead BU to their Sports Illustrated-projected conference title.

It appears the Red Sox made an egregious mistake in bypassing Dennis Wolff for its managerial vacancy. He is a true leader with basketball prowess in his blood, it seems. Besides the miracles he has worked for this team, the man’s daughter, Nicole, is a star at Walpole High School and will be playing basketball for 33-0 UConn next season. Yeah, he must know a thing or two about hoops.

Now, not many sane people are expecting the Terriers to defeat Bob Huggins’ Bearcats Friday in the Steel City. The fact is, no No. 16 seed has ever defeated a No. 1 seed. Ever. In the history of human civilization. Not once.

However, all that is irrelevant, for the fact that BU is garnering national attention for its efforts is the real treasure. With a good showing, perhaps Babcock Street will lure more Chaz Carrs and Matt Turners and Tunji Awojobis (FYI, Tunji was The Man for BU back in the mid-1990s. He was our Grant Hill.)

I imagine the most satisfying part for the Terriers is that everyone expected them to win the conference, then no one expected them to do squat, then they proved everyone wrong. Vermont, with its first successful season in about 100 years, was predicted to pound the Terriers in the championship game, but it lost to the Black Bears in the semis, and the stage was set for the Maine Event.

This is a time for BU fans to cheer on the Terriers and to be proud of the accomplishments of their men’s ballers. Hockey is here to stay at BU, and the Icedogs have already assured themselves of an NCAA appearance in two weekends at Worcester. But, obviously, the men’s basketball team does not make the Field of 65 every year; even every five years seems pretty generous at this point, considering how the last three seasons have fared. (Though, it would have been nice to be here in 1959, when BU made it all the way to the Elite Eight and lost to a West Virginia squad led by some guy named Jerry West. You know the NBA logo, the silhouetted player dribbling the ball? Yeah, that’s him.)

Friday on CBS, do not pay attention to the final score. If you can find a bar that will block out the scorebar in the lower right-hand corner of the widescreen TV, more power to you. This Friday, the idea is about savoring the moment, cheering on BU and basking in the idea that the Terriers earned their way to the NCAAs over a lot of other teams that didn’t have to struggle through crucial injuries, low attendance turnout and those cheesy Singled Out promotions.

Whoever said that dogs couldn’t dance hasn’t met this team yet.

This Friday, all of America will.