After a season of conquered adversity, the Boston University basketball team faces its biggest challenge tonight when it takes on the University of Cincinnati, the top seed in the West Region, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh.
By now, everyone has heard the familiar refrain. A No. 16 seed — that would be the Terriers — has never triumphed over a No. 1 seed — that would be the Bearcats — since the Big Dance went to a 64-team field in 1985.
“We have nothing to lose, and they have everything to lose,” said junior captain Billy Collins. “I’m sure they’ll think a little bit about a 16-seed never beating a one-seed. We can’t look at this as a 16-to-1 match-up. We need to approach this like any other game this season: prepare, stick to our game plan, just play as hard as we can and hopefully pull one off.”
The task the Terriers face is immensely challenging. They are playing a Bearcats team that ranks seventh in the nation in scoring defense at 59.3 points allowed per game. While the Bearcats reside outside the leaders in scoring per game, they have outscored opponents by a 17.8 point average, second in the country to only Duke University.
The key for the Terriers (22-9, 13-3 America East) will be a strong start if they hope to keep pace with the Bearcats (30-3, 14-2 Conference USA). BU’s only two games against opponents of Cincy’s caliber ended up in blowouts, a 29-point loss to the University of Iowa and a 19-point loss to Boston College in the early parts of the season.
“We can’t get off to a slow start against this team,” Collins said. “If we do, they’ll smell blood and feast on us.”
The Cincinnati attack is led by junior guard Steve Logan. Logan — who was named a First-Team All-American by the Associated Press — averages 22 points a game, good for a three-way tie at 12th in the nation.
BU has a backcourt sensation of its own, but he may be hard pressed to matchup with Logan. Freshman guard Chaz Carr has risen to leading-scorer status for BU after Matt Turner’s season ending shoulder injury, hitting for 13.9 points per game. Cincinnati will be carefully checking Carr, as he has the ability to tear teams apart on the offensive end.
“We have a lot of respect for Chaz,” said Bearcat coach Bob Huggins. “He makes good plays, and we’re impressed by how hard he competes. He’s a tremendous competitor.”
The Bearcats are saying the right things as the game approaches about not taking their opponent lightly. However, a matchup with the University of California at Los Angeles or the University of Mississippi looms if Cincy can dispose of BU, and the players have likely taken notice of that.
“If we underestimate BU, we can be beat,” said Cincinnati forward Jamaal Davis. “They are a team with good players. We need to defend and play the Bearcat basketball we’ve been playing all year.”
And while the Bearcats must be careful not to underestimate the Terriers, BU coach Dennis Wolff sees poise and confidence as two of the keys to how his team performs tonight.
“The playing up of the Rocky theme is counterproductive for us, because that’s like acting like you don’t have a chance before the game starts,” Wolff said. “The last time I was here with a team, it didn’t handle talking to you guys right. We didn’t handle any of it, and when the game started, we weren’t ready to play.”
That last time was 1997, when the Terriers faced the Golden Hurricane of the University of Tulsa. Despite having the greatest player in school history, Tunji Awojobi, BU was blown out of the water, losing 81-52. Wolff, like his captain, believes a good start may determine just how well BU can stay in the game.
“If we look like we’re tentative at all at the start of this game tomorrow, they will be on us hard,” Wolff said. “If we don’t show that we’re playing like men and holding our ground, we’re not going to be in the game as long as we would like. Getting off to a good start is crucial.”
Perhaps Carr has it right when he says the team must approach it just as it would a matchup against a conference opponent like the University of Maine.
“It’s just like any other game; we need to go out and play our hardest,” Carr said. “The pressure is not really on us. We’re a 16 seed, so we just need to play our hardest and try to win the game. They have a lot of firepower, so we’ll need to stay calm, run our plays and stay focused.”
-Pete Daly and Mike Stephens contributed to this report from Pittsburgh.
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