A Century of Tradition: Gunning for Number One

The Terriers' 28-point loss to Vermont Wednesday night had a dramatic effect on the America East standings. With just a few games remaining in conference play, all three contenders for the top seed have three losses. UVM stands a half-game clear at 10-3, with both BU and Binghamton close behind at 9-3. All three teams seek the same things: 1st place in the conference, a NIT autobid and guaranteed home-court advantage for the America East championship game.

This week A Century of Tradition isn't concerned with the benefits of finishing first -- the details of that are discussed here. Instead, let's take a look at what it takes to get to the top.

Most of the final standings from previous years bear little resemblance to the current situation, but one may offer some background on how to win a tight race at the end. In particular, I'm referencing the 1998-99 season.

The 1998-99 season was an 18-game campaign featuring three teams fighting for the top seed and a fourth team playing the role of spoiler. On the morning of February 10th, Drexel lead the pack with a 12-2 record, but 11-3 Hofstra and 10-3 Delaware were close behind. Maine, with a 10-4 record, was unlikely to contend but was a capable spoiler with a 2-3 record against the top three teams. Delaware was slated to host Hofstra on the 10th.

Delaware won that game, 83-60, putting Hofstra two games behind in the loss column, virtually eliminating the then-Flying Dutchmen from title contention. Now there were two spoilers. The original spoiler failed to deliver, as the Fightin' Blue Hens avenged a loss on their home floor by traveling up to Maine and returning the favor. Delaware would win out down the stretch to finish 15-3.

Meanwhile, two-loss Drexel could secure the title for itself by taking care of business -- which Drexel did, all the way up until its last game of the regular season. Hofstra, now locked out from the top two spots after Delaware's victory the previous day, came ready to play and destroyed the Dragons, 78-58. The loss left Delaware and Drexel tied for first with identical 15-3 records, but Drexel's other two losses had come courtesy of the Hens, so Mike Brey and Delaware came away with the top seed. The two teams would meet again in the conference tournament finals, with the top seed prevailing for a third time, 86-67.

Compare the actual outcome from 1998-99 -- as well as the various outcomes which did not occur -- with the possibilities this season, and it becomes clear what each team has to do. Not only that, but it also highlights the importance of tomorrow's game at Agganis. Similar to the Delaware-Hofstra game from ten years ago, the winner tomorrow will be in solid position to contend for the regular season title (in Binghamton's case, a win would give the Bearcats control of first place due to a tiebreaker advantage), while the loser's role in the title chase will be substantially diminished. There's a lot to gain and a lot to lose on Saturday.

A Century of Tradition: Reversing the Agganis Curse

The important question, of course, is whether the curse even exists or not, which is debatable. So consider this to be A Century of Tradition: Fox News Edition. We'll report, you'll decide -- this time, without accusations of bias!

Last night's victory against the University at Albany was a rare occurrence for the Terriers -- a win in Agganis Arena. Those wins don't come very often. BU has played 17 games at Agganis when you include the 2007 America East Tournament; that's a small enough number that we can list all of them:

BU 61, Vermont 55 (02/12/2005)
Northeastern 63, BU 48 (02/20/2005)
Michigan 51, BU 46 (11/22/2005)
Rhode Island 48, BU 38 (11/29/2005)
BU 43, Vermont 41 (01/22/2006)
Maine 53, BU 51 (01/29/2006)
George Wash. 70, BU 57 (11/10/2006)
UMass 56, BU 54 (12/06/2006)
BU 62, Binghamton 58 (03/03/2007)*
Albany 59, BU 49 (03/04/2007)*
Saint Joseph's 57, BU 48 (11/17/2007)
Vermont 70, BU 57 (01/25/2008)
G. Wash. 63, BU 58 (OT) (11/14/2008)
Marshall 84, BU 80 (12/06/2008)
Holy Cross 68, BU 49 (01/02/2009)
Vermont 70, BU 56 (01/14/2009)
BU 77, Albany 67 (02/05/2009)
*Denotes America East Tournament

The Terriers' record in those 17 contests is 4-13, but separating the games by opponent is revealing. BU sports an 0-8 record against non-conference foes at The Greek and a 4-5 record in America East play (3-4 in the regular season, 1-1 in the 2007 America East Tournament). Considering that the majority of the conference games at Agganis have been against teams in the conference's upper tier, specifically Vermont and Albany, a 4-5 record is respectable if somewhat less than outstanding. If there's a Curse of Harry Agganis to be found, the second half of the season is where to look.

No, the meat of a pro-curse argument is found in the non-conference schedule. Is BU's record a product of a curse or tough scheduling? Here are BU's opponents' resumés in the years they visited Agganis (listed as: overall record (conference record and finish), conference postseason, other postseason):

2005-06 Michigan: 22-11 (8-8 Big Ten, 7th of 11), lost in opening round, lost in NIT championship game
2005-06 Rhode Island: 14-14 (8-8 A10, 8th of 14), lost in opening round.
2006-07 George Washington: 23-9 (11-5 A10, 3rd of 14), won tournament, lost in NCAA Round of 64
2006-07 UMass: 24-9 (13-3 A10, 2nd of 14), lost in Atlantic 10 quarterfinals and NIT Round of 16
2007-08 Saint Joseph's: 18-11 (9-7 A10, 5th of 14), lost in Atlantic 10 finals and NCAA Round of 64
2008-09 George Washington: currently 6-13 (0-7 A10, 14th of 14)
2008-09 Marshall: currently 9-13 (2-6 CUSA, 11th of 12)
2008-09 Holy Cross: currently 11-11 (6-1 Patriot, T-1st of 8)

BU has not played in a postseason tournament since the 2004-05 season, when the Terriers went to the NIT, so none of the four tournament teams on this list are ones BU should be expected to beat. There is also evidence that the Terriers are playing their more difficult conference games at Agganis. However, all of this season's Agganis games were winnable ones, and UMass escaped defeat at the Greek by the narrowest of margins two years ago. Surely zero wins in eight tries is below expectations.

If BU is affected by their second home venue, there's most likely evidence in the box scores beyond wins and losses. But what precisely? That's another topic for another day.

A Century of Tradition: The other BU

Searching for "BU" on the Internet used to produce results ranging from Boston to Bucknell to Baylor. There's a fair bit of confusion about which institution is "the real BU." Of course, with Google's ability to tailor search results based on an individual's search history and IP address, the effect I refer to is somewhat more difficult to replicate. Technology tends to do that.

Still, the point remains: Which school has the rights to the second and twenty-first letters of the Roman alphabet depends largely on who you ask. Confusion isn't alleviated by limiting the query to America East. Both Boston and Binghamton lay claim to the initials. The Terriers have some advantages in this debate, being an older institution with a richer basketball history, but for our purposes we'll stick with the ultimate arbiter of hoops debates: the head-to-head results on the court.

Binghamton's first season at the Division-I level was the 2001-02 campaign, when the Terriers made their most recent trip to the NCAA Tournament. The Bearcats were just four years removed from Division-III competition. The adjustment period wasn't overly long, but it existed. Dennis Wolff's team swept the America East newcomers in each of the first three seasons. In their fourth season in the conference, the Bearcats finally won a game, splitting the season series and beating rival Albany to the punch (the Great Danes had yet to defeat Boston).

After the Terriers' initial dominance, recent years have been more balanced. While individual games haven't been close -- five of the last six contests were decided by double digits -- the overall series has evened out somewhat. The Terriers' 11-4 advantage overall, though substantial, is entirely a product of winning the first seven meetings.

Of course, outside the major conferences, tournament play is the be-all and end-all of college basketball. On America East's biggest stage, in their only meeting to date, Boston University holds the edge, winning a conference quarterfinal 62-58 in March of 2007. It's a small sample size, but Binghamton has yet to come through against the Terriers with something on the line. Until then, Boston fans will continue to insist on calling Binghamton by its full name -- there can be only one BU.

A Century of Tradition: Durham Edition

Considering the number of schools in Boston and Massachusetts as a whole, it comes as a surprise to some that the Terriers’ closest conference rival – geographically speaking – is an out-of-state opponent. After Northeastern packed its bags and left America East following the 2004-05 season, New Hampshire became the Terriers’ shortest in-conference trip. With the Wildcats making the trip down to Case for tomorrow’s game, it’s time to take a look at BU’s history with the Granite State.

Adam Sandler may hail from New Hampshire, but the Wildcats aren’t laughing about their all-time record versus the Terriers. BU is 87-36 all-time versus UNH, including a Boston sweep last year. To put the Terriers’ 51-win advantage in perspective, consider this: BU is 20 or more games above .500 against only one other school. That would be Colby, which no longer plays D-I basketball and hasn’t appeared on the Terriers’ schedule for 40 years.

The teams’ first meeting was the first game for BU’s first head coach, P.V. Stroud, and it didn’t end well. UNH won 75-12. Needless to say, Stroud’s tenure was short. New Hampshire proved to be a difficult opponent in the basketball program’s infancy, as the Terriers also lost the next ten meetings before securing a 31-20 win in 1930-31. Fittingly, the Terriers’ head coach was named Win Carlson, who left after the following season as the team’s winningest coach.

After some more difficulties against the Wildcats, BU won 14 straight against their opponent from the north and had a chance to even the series at 17 apiece in the last game of the 1953-54 season. UNH managed to halt the streak short of 15 with a three-point win in Durham, depriving the Terriers of both a .500 record in the head-to-head series and for the season. BU ended the season with nine wins and 11 losses. Five years later, the historic Elite Eight team of 1958-59 won 86-65 in Durham to draw level at 18-18 all-time.

After 50 years of even play between the two sides, BU has dominated UNH for the past-half-century. Notable performances can be found on both ends of the court. The Terrier record for points scored, 124, was set in a 48-point win against the Wildcats on February 17, 1979. Last time the two teams met, Corey Lowe attempted 16 3-pointers, tying a record he already held. On the defensive end, BU turned in a memorable performance by holding the Wildcats to 29 points on January 13, 2007.

While we’re on the subject of Durham, there’s another school hailing from a place called Durham. Said school happens to be pretty good at basketball. The Duke Blue Devils have opposed the Terriers on six occasions, winning all six. Some of the contests have been competitive – BU lost by just ten in a game on January 21, 1992 – but others were ugly, such as the 109-55 drubbing handed down by the eventual NCAA champions at Cameron Indoor Stadium. As difficult as some of the Terriers' losses have been to swallow this year, none of them approach a 54-point defeat.

A Century of Tradition will return to its normal Thursday time slot next week.

A Century of Tradition: New Year's Edition

While the rest of the country is recovering from New Year's Eve festivities, the college basketball season continues on. There are ten games tonight, including a marquee matchup between 12-1 Villanova and 11-2 Marquette. But we aren't concerned with Big East basketball -- at least, we aren't for this feature. What has BU done on New Year's Day?

Like a lot of other notable dates on the calendar, the Terriers rarely play on New Year's Day. In fact, there's only one game in BU's annals corresponding to January 1st. On the first of 1968, the Terriers trekked down to Philadelphia to square off against Penn in the two teams' only meeting to date. BU lost 75-56. If the Terriers have played other games to open the calendar year, they came in seasons where the records are incomplete -- and there are a lot of those. As late as the 1965-66 season, not all of the date information is complete.

As for New Year's Eve, the Terriers have played twice as many games on that day. Yes, that's two games, but still, it's something. BU's results in those games are somewhat better. The more recent result was a five-point loss to Oklahoma in the Rainbow Classic. The other result? The Terriers' only New Year's victory, a 69-63 win at Richmond.

We'll see what the new year brings for Dennis Wolff's team tomorrow when Holy Cross comes to town. Holy Cross and BU have a long shared history on the basketball court, but it's not one which favors BU. The Terriers are 11-52 all-time against the Crusaders; the 41-games under .500 mark is BU's worst against any team.

A Century of Tradition: Christmas Edition

First off, Merry Christmas (and Happy Chanukah, and Happy Kwanzaa, plus other holidays I can't think of). I hope your holidays are filled with joy and plenty of good basketball.

The Terriers are enjoying their Christmas break and won't be returning to the court until December 29th, which prompts the question: What is the Terriers' record on Christmas? After some quick research, we have the answer. Drumroll please!

As it turns out, it's a trick question. BU has never played on Christmas Day, or at the very least they haven't since the university began to record dates of games in the 1950-51 season. Nor have the Terriers squared off against an opponent on Christmas Eve. That leaves us with Christmas' proverbial third wheel.

Yes, I'm talking about Boxing Day. Back in year one of the Mike Jarvis era, BU made the trip to Portland, Oregon for the 1985 Far West Classic. The Terriers would manage just a single win in their three games, but it was a good one -- a 67-56 victory against Oregon on December 26th.

Of course, BU won't be doing anything like that this season, what with the week-long gap between Delaware and Cornell, so if you want Christmas basketball your best bet is today's NBA quintuple-header. But you can always wish for a late gift. Maybe a trip to the alternate universe where Tyler Morris decides to drop 30 on the Big Red would be nice.

Enjoy yourselves, and we'll be back in a couple of days with more coverage as next Monday's game approaches.

A Century of Tradition: Raising The Roof

With one more non-conference game at Case Gymnasium remaining (Saturday at noon against the University of Delaware), we figured this would be as good a time as any to look at the home of the Boston University Terriers since 1972 -- Case Gymnasium, aka The Roof. Nestled away behind Rich Hall in BU's West Campus area (and adjacent to Nickerson Field) BU has played the majority of its home games at Case, but this year marks the fewest number of games the Terriers will play there since the 1992-93 season.

The gymnasium -- which has no seating along the baselines, only five sections on either side of the court -- comfortably seats 1,800 and provides an intimate atmosphere that can be very intimidating to opponents when full. The problem, however, has been that The Roof isn't usually filled to capacity, so the feeling can be lackluster at times. Still, when rocking, Case is one of the loudest home courts in the conference.

Termed The Roof, because it was built above Walter Brown Arena -- the former home of the BU men's hockey team and current home of the women's hockey team (as well as the home of BU basketball in 1982-83 and from 1985-1993) -- Case Gymnasium has housed a steady stream of winning since the Terriers played their first game there on December 5, 1972 (an 87-74 victory over Northeastern).

In 284 games in 36 seasons at The Roof, the Terriers have won an astounding 200 games, with their 200th victory coming on December 10 against Yale (55-43). That's good for a winning percentage of .704. Even more impressive is the fact that over the last eight years (2000-08, plus two games this season) BU has a record at Case of 67-21 (.761).

It's no secret that the Terriers have become accustomed to the atmosphere and shooting background at The Roof, which has remained relatively the same since it was built, but perhaps the gym's finest moment came in 1997, when BU swept its home schedule for the only time in The Roof's history (10-0), including a 68-61 victory over Drexel in the America East Championship game. Roughly 2,200 fans filled the gym, for the largest crowd in Case history. That win came in the midst of a 15-game home winning streak -- the longest in the building's history -- which lasted from Feb. 23, 1996 to Nov. 20, 1997.

Recent Terriers have also had their fair share of luck at The Roof, beginning with 15th year coach Dennis Wolff, who holds a career mark of 114-42 (.731) on the court. Additionally, sophomore guard John Holland set the all-time high for individual scoring by a Terrier when he netted 38 points against Hartford last February in BU's 97-66 win.

Also, junior guard Carlos Strong holds the record for 3-pointers made when he converted eight (and was 10-of-13 from the field) against Binghamton in BU's 66-54 victory in February of 2007.

The most points ever scored by BU at The Roof is 124 (against New Hampshire on Feb. 17, 1979) while the most an opponent has scored is 102 (Harvard on Dec. 13, 1972 and Maine on Feb. 20, 1980). Also, the Terriers have the most all-time wins at Case against New Hampshire, with a 19-5 record.

BU has five more game remaining at The Roof this season and if they were to sweep them, would go undefeated at Case for only the second time (exclusing a 2-0 season in 1980-81) in Terrier history.

A Century of Tradition: The Pitino Years

The Terriers travel to South Bend, Indiana this weekend for a Saturday night clash against the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. With a Big East opponent on the horizon, let's take a look at BU basketball's biggest name -- the only coach in basketball who seems perfectly at home in a white suit. While I doubt he listens to ZZ Top, there's no question that Rick Pitino is a sharp dressed man.

The coaching legend graduated from UMass in 1974 after playing for former Terrier star Jack Leaman and alongside current Boston College head coach Al Skinner. Leaman, highly respected both in coaching circles and in the BU athletics community, helped Pitino get his first head coaching job at BU for the 1978-1979 season.

While the hockey team was preparing to attempt a defense of its 1978 national championship, the resources allotted Pitino upon his arrival were scant by comparison. BU had not managed a winning season since the 1972-73 campaign. In the last season before the Yankee Conference's dissolution for non-football sports, the Terriers struggled to a 3-9 conference record. Although the Terriers had Leaman's word that Pitino was a worthy coach, there was almost no track record on which to judge him -- the man who would become "Slick Rick" had been an assistant at Hawaii for one year and at Syracuse (under Jim Boeheim) for two.

Knowing Pitino's reputation, it's easy to deduce what happened during his five years at the helm, but at the time the turnaround was nothing short of remarkable. After starting the season 2-4 with a win over Massachusetts being the sole highlight, it was as if a switch had suddenly been flipped. The Terriers won nine of their next ten, set a school record by scoring 124 points against New Hampshire on February 17th, 1979, and finished their season with a 117-79 triumph over Assumption College. BU's 17 wins were its most since Leaman captained the 1958-59 team to the Elite Eight.

The following season, as would become typical for Pitino-coached teams, was even better. Steve Wright's senior year saw him average 19.8 points and 6 rebounds per game. Wright was a star, and under Pitino a supporting cast was emerging. In its first season competing in the ECAC North -- the predecessor to the North Atlantic Conference, itself the predecessor to the America East Conference -- Pitino's team won 21 games, finished first in the conference, and earned a berth in the NIT following a loss to Holy Cross in the conference tournament.

1980-81 was a down season as Pitino struggled to find a replacement for Wright. The Terriers finished the regular season at 13-13 before losing an epic triple-overtime playoff game against Vermont at a pseudo-neutral court (that year the ECAC North tournament was played in Burlington).

The dip in the standings, however, would not last long. The 1981-82 campaign saw improved fortunes. BU finished 19-9 and compiled a 6-2 record against the ECAC North, including a 82-64 win at Northeastern on January 26th, 1982 which handed the Huskies their only regular-season conference loss. The Terriers met the Huskies again in the semifinals, playing them tough before falling by a 49-48 score to the team coached by fellow legend Jim Calhoun.

1982-83, however, was Pitino's shining moment as the Terriers' head coach. In his fifth season in charge, BU equaled its 21-win mark from three years prior and closed the regular season with a 9-2 run to capture the conference title. After dispatching Vermont and Niagara, the Terriers drew Holy Cross in the conference finals. The Crusaders had sent BU to the NIT three years before, but this time the Terriers managed to hold on for a 63-62 win and an NCAA Tournament berth, the school's first in 24 years. BU lost its opening-round game to La Salle, 70-58, after which Pitino accepted a assistant coach position with the New York Knicks.

In total, Pitino amassed a 91-51 record at BU in five years and jump-started a program which had been mired in mediocrity for twenty years. Looking at the overall level of performance pre- and post-Pitino, the difference is evident. Prior to Pitino's arrival, no Terrier coach had managed a .500 winning percentage since Matt Zunic, whose tenure ended with the 1958-59 NCAA Tournament team. Post-Pitino, three of the four Terrier coaches have compiled winning records. Eight of the nine non-Pitino post-season tournament appearances have also occurred after his departure in 1983.

Maybe the white suit will make a return to The Roof. Odds are low -- Pitino has scheduled the Terriers just once in his 17-plus years coaching other institutions -- but even though BU has never squared off against the Louisville Cardinals, there's a first time for everything.

A Century of Tradition: BU and the Ivies

Yesterday's game against Harvard was the first of three contests against Ivy League schools this season -- next Tuesday's home game versus Yale and the calendar year-ending trip to Cornell are the other two. Given BU's academic, geographic, and athletic relationships with many Ivy League schools, let's take a look at how Terrier basketball has fared against the Ivies through the years.

This feature is called A Century of Tradition, but BU's basketball tradition actually begins more than 100 years ago because the 100 years does not count certain years in which no games were played. To find the beginnings of BU's basketball program, you have to go back 107 years to the 1901-1902 campaign, if you can even call it a campaign. BU had no coach and played just two games, both of which were against Brown. The results were split -- a 35-25 win for BU followed by a 36-31 defeat -- and just like that the season was over. BU opened its next season with another loss to Brown before losing to Maine in the Terriers' first game against a non-Ivy school. It was also BU's first game against an America East school.

While we're talking about Brown, let's note that BU hasn't played the Bears since December 8th, 1992, the two teams' 37th meeting and a 74-64 road win for Brown. Fittingly, BU's coach at the time was Bob Brown. Dennis Wolff has not coached a Terriers-Bears game. Still, BU's 37 games against Brown exceeds the school's total against any Ivy League school save Harvard (59 games).

Harvard, being the most natural Terrier rival of the Ivies, hasn't had success against BU in recent years but still holds a 32-27 edge all time after dominating the series in its early years. Including this year, the Crimson have been on BU's schedule for 18 consecutive seasons now, sometimes in November or early January but more frequently in December. Harvard has struggled to win at The Roof -- BU has a 9-1 record against the Crimson on that court -- but that single Terrier loss stands out. Not only was it the Terriers' first-ever loss at The Roof, but the Crimson scored 102 points, still the highest total ever posted by a BU opponent at that venue.

With 96 of BU's 133 games against Ivy opponents devoted to Brown and Harvard, there's only so many games left to go around. One Ivy school gets left out, and it's not who you might think.

Surprisingly, it's BU's hockey rival Cornell which has yet to meet the Terriers in a game, something which will be rectified in slightly less than four weeks when the team makes the trip to ice-cold Ithaca. The Terriers have played -- and been defeated by -- every other Ivy, although some teams haven't seen BU in quite some time. The Terriers have only faced Penn once, a 75-56 Quaker victory on New Year's Day, 1969.

BU doesn't have a winning record against any of the Ivies, and Cornell provides the only opportunity for the Terriers to acquire one this year. The next best thing would be a .500 record against one of the seven Ivies BU has played. While the Terriers don't have one of those at the moment either, Yale is 2-1 against BU all-time, so a Terrier win would even the score.

A Century of Tradition: Thanksgiving Edition

Happy Thanksgiving!

For this special holiday (and inaugural) edition of A Century of Tradition, we're going to serve a second (or maybe third) helping of stuffing and look at BU's all-time leader in blocks: Tunji Awojobi.

Awojobi, who graduated BU in 1997, is one of the most prolific players in Terriers history and holds the record for the most career points (2,308) scored by a Terrier as well as most career rebounds (1,237). There's sure to be more on Awojobi and all he brought to the program in the future, the type of player he was and what he meant to BU coach Dennis Wolff, who said this at the end of the Nigeria native's career:

"His skill level was the best of any player I have had in my eight years at BU," Wolff said. "Coaching Tunji was a privilege I will always be grateful for."

But for now, it's all about rejections. In terms of swatting opponents' shots, Awojobi is BU's undisputed authority. He holds BU's first four records for shots block in a season:

1994-95: 87
1993-94: 86
1996-97: 71
1995-96: 58

The next closest margin in blocked shots was totaled by Rashad Bell (49) in 2004-05 -- roughly 10 blocks less than Awojobi had in his worst season.

Naturally, he's also BU's all-time leader in career blocked shots with 302. Bell is second on the list with 114. Roughly 200 blocks less than the 2002 BU Hall of Fame inductee had in his career.