BU vs. Northeastern Live Blog

From the FreeP: Men’s basketball to rely on Irving, Morris in 2012-13 campaign

By Tyler Lay/DFP Staff

For the second consecutive year, the Boston University men’s basketball team will be forced to begin anew after having graduated the America East Player of the Year.

This may be the year that having the Player of the Year on the roster is crucial for the Terriers. Because of BU’s decision to switch to the Patriot League for the 2013–14 season, most of the university’s athletic teams has been banned from the America East postseason tournament. This means the Terriers will have to be regular season conference champions if they wish to have a chance to participate in March Madness.

“A goal of ours is definitely to work toward winning a regular season championship,” said BU coach Joe Jones. “It was last year [as well]. We were out by two games last year and we’re going to try to improve on that this year.”

With former Terrier guards Darryl Partin and John Holland both getting looks from NBA programs (Holland played on the Oklahoma City Thunder and Miami Heat Summer league teams, whereas Partin has been signed by the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA D-League), Jones will be forced to seek new weapons to put up big points for his team.

This year’s co-captains are junior guard D.J. Irving, junior forward Dom Morris and junior forward Travis Robinson. Each of them started in at least 27 of BU’s 32 games last year.

For more, visit dailyfreepress.com.

BU releases 2012-13 schedule

By René Reyes/DFP Staff

On Tuesday, Boston University men’s basketball coach Joe Jones announced his squad’s entire 2012-13 schedule and it sure is a daunting one.

The upcoming campaign features 12 home games for the Terriers – with the other 19 matchups being on the road – and nine against schools that saw postseason action last year.

For the third time in as many years, BU will open up its season against crosstown rival Northeastern University on Nov. 9 at Matthews Arena. The Terriers’ home opener will be six days later when it hosts George Washington University on Nov. 17 at Case Gymnasium.

Since BU was banned from the America East Tournament this year due to its decision to switch to the Patriot League, a verdict agreed upon by the other conference schools, Jones’ club will enter its only two-day tournament called the UCF Holiday Classic near the end of December.

Here is a link to the rest of BU’s schedule:

http://www.goterriers.com/sports/m-baskbl/sched/bost-m-baskbl-sched.html

Live Blog: John Holland's NBA Summer League Debut

Former exceptional Boston University men's basketball player John Holland will make his debut with the Western Conference champion Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday afternoon against the Boston Celtics in the NBA's Orlando Summer League. Though Holland does not have a spot on the Thunder's formal roster, the Orlando and Las Vegas leagues (OKC will not participate in the latter, however) are a chance for undrafted players to show their stuff to scouts and team officials, in a kind of extended tryout format.

We'll be watching on NBA TV and live bloging for you right here. You can find live stats over at NBA.com if you desire and be sure to read BU Athletics' official press release and One-Bid Wonders' extensive story on Holland. Thanks for reading.

BU athletics banned from America East championships in 2012-13

By Tyler Lay/DFP Staff

Following Boston University’s decision to transfer its athletics from America East to the Patriot League, the America East has made a decision of its own.

According to Jenifer Barsell, BU’s associate athletic director for marketing communications, the America East schools who shall remain in the athletic conference voted to exclude BU from competing in conference championships during the 2012-13 seasons.

“Unfortunately it is [true]. America East made the decision not to allow [BU] to participate [in America East Championships],” Barsell said.

America East Director of Communications Sean Tainsh said that while BU will be ineligible for America East Championships, BU student-athletes will be eligible to receive all awards.

Boston University To Join Patriot League In 2013-2014

By Shep Hayes/DFP Staff

The conference realignment bug has been sweeping the nation lately, with schools abandoning historical and local sparring partners in favor of conferences where there might be a little more money on the table. On Friday morning, Boston University became another program to make a change, with the Patriot League announcing in a statement that the school will leave the America East conference after next season and join the League for the 2013-2014 academic year. The news was first made widely known by Jeff Goodman of CBS Sports.

Both Robert A. Brown, President of Boston University and Daniel H. Weiss, President of Lafayette College and Chairman of the Patriot League Council of Presidents cited compatible academic and athletic standards between the two groups as the reasons behind the move in the statement.

"We are very impressed by the academic quality of the institutions in the Patriot League and by the League's commitment to student-athletes while effectively competing at the NCAA Division I level," said Brown. "We believe that the philosophy of the League is a good match for Boston University and that the schools in the League will give our athletes a rich competitive environment."

"Boston University is an outstanding addition to our membership as a private institution with a robust academic reputation and prolific athletic history," said Weiss. "This decision to add Boston University to the Patriot League mirrors the Presidents' commitment and vision to the stability and long-term positioning of the League."

From the FreeP: Transfer Griffin makes name for self as team leader

By René Reyes/DFP Staff

Matt Griffin mulled over the options in front of him.

He considered going to community college. He looked at several Division I and II schools. He even thought about taking a year off to hone his skills, namely his dribbling, free-throw shooting and trademark 3-point shot.

Griffin needed a change of scenery. Rider had posted a 34-24 record in his two years at the Lawrenceville, N.J., school, but his name had fallen well below where he wanted it to be on the Broncs’ depth chart.

He no longer fit into coach Tommy Dempsey’s offensive system at Rider.

“My game was more tailored toward running an offense and being a pass-first [point guard],” Griffin said. “Their system was more of scoring one-on-one. In order for me to play, I had to score more. It just wasn’t my style. I didn’t feel comfortable. So I knew in order for me to reach my potential, I’d have to try a different system in a different place."

Read more at dailyfreepress.com.

From the FreeP: Pelage, O’Brien go through unique coaching experience

By Craig Meyer/DFP Staff

When Jeff Pelage and Jake O’Brien arrived at Boston University almost four years ago, they were no different than any other players getting ready to start their college basketball careers.

There were the same aspirations – improving their respective games, growing as players and, hopefully, experiencing a championship and the bright lights of the NCAA Tournament. Maybe more than anything, they were there to play for a coach who convinced them to come play for him rather than anyone else in the country.

But now, three and a half years, 132 games and countless hours of practice later, the pair can no longer say their careers have been average. Indeed, among thousands of Division I college basketball players, they are unique, as BU’s two-man 2008 recruiting class has had the bizarre if not downright dubious distinction of having played for three different coaches in their four-year college careers.

“It was just tough, it was just tough,” Pelage, a senior center, said.

While O’Brien and Pelage’s experience with coaching turnover has been far from typical, coaching changes aren’t all that strange. In fact, in the world of modern college basketball, they’re something of a necessary evil.

Read more at dailyfreepress.com.

Mike Terry leaves BU, desires to be close to family

By Shep Hayes/DFP Staff

Boston University men’s basketball coach Joe Jones confirmed Mike Terry Jr. has been released from the program and intends to transfer at the end of the academic year, hoping to move closer to his hometown of Philadelphia.

The move was first reported by Sam Perkins of One-Bid Wonders.

“He asked for his release,” Jones said. “We granted him the release. He’s got an ill family member at home, so he’s hoping to get back closer to home.”

Jones said he stands fully behind Terry in his decision to move from BU and that the desire to be closer to his family was the major reason for the request and approval.

“I think that’s the major reason why,” Jones said. “He was looking to get closer. Anytime you have a family member you want to be closer to that’s going through a tough time, I totally understand. I support him 100 percent.”

Terry played in 27 games this past season for the Terriers, starting two and averaging 9.3 minutes per game. The 6-foot-0 guard shot 17-for-48 from the field and 8-for-16 from the free throw line. With 44 points, he was the fourth-lowest scorer for BU. He had nine offensive and 20 defensive rebounds, 13 turnovers and 13 steals.

In his freshman year at BU, under former coach Pat Chambers, Terry played in 29 games and started five. He totaled 27 points on 27.5 percent shooting, but recorded 44 rebounds.

Jones did not have any indication on what schools Terry is considering.

Terry is the second player to leave the team this offseason, following redshirt freshman center Mat Piotrowski’s departure last week. Terry's departure means that BU will have two open scholarships for next season. Jones was indecisive on his plans to fill the spots, though he did have a general direction of thought.

“I just want to make sure we’re doing what’s right for the program,” Jones said. “We’ll make a good choice, whether it’s going to be a transfer or hold off. It all depends on how we see young men fitting into our program.”

From the FreeP: MEYER: Gonzaga of the East? Not so fast

By Craig Meyer/DFP Staff

The following column is the fourth in a series of columns written by former Daily Free Press sports editors. Today’s column is written by Craig Meyer, who was the sports editor during the Fall 2011 semester.
In life, there are times when you’re so taken aback by something you’ve heard that you’ll never forget it. For some of us, it’s a piece of shocking news, like the death of a loved one or a similar tragedy. It could also be a statement that seemingly comes out of nowhere to grab you by the throat, be it offensive or outrageous in nature.
I’ve had my fair share of these moments in my lifetime, with one of them occurring my freshman year here at Boston University in the Agganis Arena Premium Club. It was there – as one of only a few students among a crowd of reporters, family members and BU Athletics officials – that a routine introductory press conference turned into something else entirely, courtesy of Patrick Chambers.
“I look at BU basketball like the Gonzaga and Xavier of the Northeast,” the newly-hired Chambers enthusiastically told the crowd.
It was a statement that would be bold and ostentatious for any low-major coach to utter, let alone one who had never been a head coach at the Division I level, but it undoubtedly set a tone for Chambers’ tenure at BU.
Indeed, with Chambers at the helm, BU basketball would be daring. It would be full-throttle and fast-paced.
But it would ultimately be built on a false pretense, for what he aimed to accomplish was something far easier said than done, something that can’t simply be accomplished in the matter of a few years or even a single coaching tenure.
At the risk of stating the obvious, BU basketball is not on the same level of Gonzaga University, Xavier University or any other elite mid-major program in college basketball. In fact, it’s not even close.
This isn’t a shot at the BU program because it’s not one that’s in a bad place. It’s routinely one of the best in the America East Conference and is just a year removed from appearing in the NCAA Tournament. Rather, this is a chance to re-evaluate Chambers’ statement, three years removed from the initial hysteria and excitement that surrounded it.
When Chambers said what he did, whether he intended to or not, he set a bar for the Terrier program, not only for his time at BU, but also for the future of the program. It’s an ambitious goal and one that every mid- or low-major program should hope for deep down, but it’s an utterly unattainable one for most anyone that tries, especially in such a brief period of time.
What has been accomplished by the likes of Gonzaga, Xavier, Butler University and Virginia Commonwealth University, among others, flies in the face of conventional college basketball wisdom. Not only that, but it is also the product of many years and even decades of hard work, diligence and perseverance.
Gonzaga is the original bracket-buster to many, the cuddly underdog that has sported the likes of Ronny Turiaf and Adam Morrison in the last decade. But it’s also the same school that, despite measured success and the efforts of players like John Stockton, took decades to make the school’s first NCAA Tournament.
Since its appearance in the Big Dance, of course, the Bulldogs have made the tournament every year since 1999, with five Sweet 16’s and one Elite Eight. But the point here is that it took more than 20 years and the work of three coaches for Gonzaga to become, well, Gonzaga. The same anecdote can be applied to any other top mid-major program – these things take time to build and grow.
It’s also something that has to survive turbulence and change, most notably with head coaches. Understandably, if a coach experiences a high level of success at a smaller school, he moves on to bigger and better opportunities. It’s something these mid-majors routinely have to deal with, and many falter when trying to replace an elite coach. But there are some that don’t, and that is the true mark of what differentiates the likes of Gonzaga and Xavier from the rest.
Gonzaga replaced Dan Fitzgerald with Dan Monson, then Monson with current coach Mark Few. VCU went from Jeff Capel to Anthony Grant and now to Shaka Smart. Butler went from Barry Collier to Thad Matta to Todd Lickliter to Brad Stevens. Xavier went from Pete Gillen to Skip Prosser to Matta to Sean Miller and now to Chris Mack.
It’s a point you probably could have understood after the first couple of examples, but it’s a good one to emphasize – success cannot begin and end with one coach. What we see from these schools is something that transcends the men on the sidelines, and that’s simply having a winning culture and a supportive administration. Again, not exactly something that can just be created on the spot.
It may go without mentioning that there’s a financial component to all of this, as many of these schools stay competitive and elite by ponying up to successful coaches. Both Stevens and Smart were rewarded with contract extensions that pay them north of $1 million a year and coaches like Few aren’t far behind that mark.
Taking all of this into consideration, it has to be asked whether BU has any of these necessary characteristics. Frankly, at this moment, it doesn’t.
In order for BU to get to that Gonzaga or Xavier level, the head coach will have to be paid more. Chambers made about $250,000 a year, which didn’t even make him the highest paid America East coach. Upping the salary for an accomplished coach is a tall task for an athletic department that already devotes significant resources to the hockey program, but it’s something that would have to be done.
Coaching turnover has also proven to be a problem for BU. It hasn’t been a matter of BU failing to attract top-notch young coaches, because they have, but it’s been that they have never been able to replace them. For all the momentum that was generated at BU under Rick Pitino and Mike Jarvis, it quickly fell flat once they left.
And while BU’s been one of the America East’s best teams for seemingly the past 30 years, the Terriers have made the NCAA Tournament just three times since 1991. Programs like Butler, Xavier, Gonzaga and VCU make Elite Eights, Final Fours and even national title games, so it’s hard to get too excited about a program whose claim to fame the last 12 years was losing to Kansas by 19 in the NCAA Tournament.
Perhaps for now, then, it’s good to temper expectations for this basketball program.
It’s important to remember that Chambers was in the business world before he got into coaching. Just by saying what he did, it doesn’t necessarily mean he felt it could be accomplished in a short period of time. Rather, he was making a sell to a new group of people and he did a damn good job of it, for with that remark, he went from an unknown commodity to the eager and giddy up-and-comer who dreamed of taking BU to mid-major greatness.
For now, BU trying to be Gonzaga or Xavier is a far-off fantasy and not something they can accomplish any time soon. I guarantee Joe Jones would acknowledge as much.
Instead of aiming to be the next great mid-major, try making the NCAA Tournament in consecutive seasons, something it hasn’t done since joining the America East in 1979. Then go for multiple bids to the Big Dance in a five year period. Then try to win a game. Perhaps then a conversation can begin about the progress of this program and how far it can go.
BU has a lot in place to one day become a power program at the mid-major level. It’s an elite school in a major city with a large student population and a top-notch facility in Agganis Arena to sell to recruits.
The pieces are undoubtedly in place and the potential is certainly there for BU. But, much like anything ever worth accomplishing in this world, it will take some time before we ever see Chambers’ dream fully come to fruition.