By Craig Meyer, René Reyes and Luke Coughlan/DFP Staff
Even for a man who dedicates so much effort, determination and focus to tapping at proverbial stones, Boston University men’s basketball coach Patrick Chambers is a relentless builder.
When he was first introduced as the Terriers’ next coach in April 2009, Chambers spoke of a vision that he had for the program moving forward, a vision that would hopefully one day make BU a nationally relevant mid-major. Inheriting a talented group of seniors with Corey Lowe, Carlos Strong and Tyler Morris from his predecessor Dennis Wolff, Chambers’ blueprint and plans for BU basketball began to come to fruition as the team hit its stride late in the season, going on a run that got it within one game of the NCAA Tournament.
The next logical step in this pseudo-construction project would be to lay the foundation, but entering the 2010-11 season, uncertainty reigned for what would be a very telling season in Chambers’ tenure.
Wolff’s former players were gone to graduation and filling that large void would be three transfers and seven freshmen brought in by Chambers.
Despite being picked yet again to finish first in the AE preseason coaches’ poll, there was a lingering doubt as to whether all these new parts could come together to form a strong, cohesive unit. The results of such an experiment could also have a large effect on the perception of Chambers’ plan for the program. After all, no building can stand on faulty groundwork.
Through much of the Terriers’ non-conference slate, such fears surrounding a remodeled team appeared justified. Though BU (21-14) got off to a respectable 4-3 start, highlighted by a 76-67 win over George Washington University in the Preseason National Invitational Tournament, it failed to find much consistency on a game-to-game basis and struggled shooting the basketball, shooting 40 percent or below from the field in five of its first seven games.
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