Five things to look out for in BU vs. Hartford

By René Reyes/DFP Staff

Since this afternoon’s matchup with the University of Hartford marks the final regular-season game of the year, Full Court Press decided to spruce things up a bit and list five storylines for this game. Here they are:

1.) Senior Day
Seniors Darryl Partin, Jeff Pelage, Chris Kurz, Matt Griffin and Pat Hazel will be honored in a pre-game ceremony before tip-off. They'll be introduced with their families and presented with frame jerseys. This ceremony is one of the most emotional ones that the players will ever experience, and from the looks of all the cars outside, Case Gymnasium could be packed. To capacity? We'll just have to wait and see. It'll be nice to see BU coach Joe Jones end up going with these five seniors as a starting lineup. It just works out perfectly. What a moment that would be for these players.

2.) Which Darryl Partin will show up?
He's no John Holland, but Partin is the Terriers' primary scorer and No. 1 option on offense. In what could possibly be his final game before BU fans, will Partin steal the show and go off against the Hawks? Holland was never a big fan of the spotlight and shied away from all the attention that was given to him on his Senior Day. Against the same University of Hartford last year, Holland posted 18 points in the win. We could expect more of the same from Partin.

3.) Home sweet home
Although it's only been 10 days since its last home game, which was a disappointing 56-44 loss at the hands of the University of New Hampshire, it has felt like it has been quite awhile since BU played at either Case Gymnasium or Agganis Arena. The Terriers are just a tad over .500 when they're hosting (6-5), and as I mentioned before, this could potentially be the final home game of the 2011-12 campaign for BU. The title game will only be played at Agganis Arena if both Stony Brook University and the University of Vermont fall in the America East Tournament, and BU advances past the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds. Barring recent history, that could be a long shot.

4.) This isn’t last year’s Terriers
Former coach Patrick Chambers had a habit of having his squad playing its best basketball toward the tail end of its schedule. Not sure if that was a result of Chambers' coaching or the fact that he had either Holland or Corey Lowe on those teams when they heated up at the right moment. Who could forget the Terriers' eight-game winning streak heading into last year's America East Tournament? Holland was playing at top form and other players were contributing in other ways. Things have been a bit different for Jones this year since he's had to teach his players a new system and he doesn't have a prolific scorer like Holland or Lowe who could just single-handedly carry the team to victory. If the Terriers beat the Hawks, they'll enter the tournament on a two-game winning streak. It'll be interesting to ask Jones what his impressions are of his team if that's the case.

5.) Who will win that plasma TV?
Seriously though, which lucky fan is going to win the raffle for a free plasma TV? That's what I want to know.