By Craig Meyer/DFP Staff
Redshirt freshman center Mat Piotrowski has left the Boston University men's basketball program, team official Scott Ellis confirmed to The Daily Free Press.
The departure was first reported by the website One-Bid Wonders.
Piotrowski, a 7-foot-1 center from Port Republic, N.J., averaged just 0.3 points and 0.5 rebounds in two minutes per game in the 2011-12 season. He was recruited and signed by former BU head coach Patrick Chambers.
While BU head coach Joe Jones did not comment on Piotrowski's future plans, noting that it's a decision that's "kind of personal" for his former center, he noted that playing time and style of play are things that are important for any player, just as they were for Piotrowski.
"For him, style of play, all of those things are going to be very important for him and every kid deserves to have a career where they’re getting an opportunity to get on the floor," Jones said. "Every kid wants to do that. He’s making a decision that’s best for himself to have that chance to go to a place that has a style of play that more fits his skill set and his abilities.”
Jones said that he and Piotrowski had talked throughout the season about what Piotrowski wanted to get out of his career and Jones said that he supports his departing player's decision and hopes for the best for him going forward.
"He and I had a very good relationship, a very open and honest relationship, and we had been talking throughout," Jones said. "I wish him the best. I want to see him have a great career.”
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Monday, March 26, 2012
From the FreeP: Men’s basketball experiences plethora of changes during 2011-12 campaign
By Craig Meyer and Shep Hayes/DFP Staff
If anything and above all else, the 2011-12 season was one of change for the Boston University men’s basketball program.
For a program that did not experience a coaching change for 15 years, the Terriers adjusted to their third head coach in four years as Joe Jones took over the program from Patrick Chambers, who unexpectedly left in June to become the new head coach at Penn State University.
Gone was leading scorer and 2011 America East Conference Player of the Year John Holland, the player who single-handedly willed the Terriers to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2002.
It was expected to be a challenging season for BU, even though it was not-so-surprisingly selected as the preseason pick to win the America East Conference for the fifth season in a row.
Read more at dailyfreepress.com.
If anything and above all else, the 2011-12 season was one of change for the Boston University men’s basketball program.
For a program that did not experience a coaching change for 15 years, the Terriers adjusted to their third head coach in four years as Joe Jones took over the program from Patrick Chambers, who unexpectedly left in June to become the new head coach at Penn State University.
Gone was leading scorer and 2011 America East Conference Player of the Year John Holland, the player who single-handedly willed the Terriers to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2002.
It was expected to be a challenging season for BU, even though it was not-so-surprisingly selected as the preseason pick to win the America East Conference for the fifth season in a row.
Read more at dailyfreepress.com.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Transcript of end-of-season interview with coach Jones
By René Reyes/DFP Staff
On expectations coming into the season
“Coming in, the goal is always going to be to get to the NCAA Tournament. I don’t think that’s ever going to change. To be honest with you, I really wanted to, at the end of the year, feel like we played as good as we were capable of playing. That’s really what you want to get to. I felt like we had hit our stride in the middle of the conference season. We’re probably playing our best ball. The last stretch, I felt we were inconsistent down the stretch. That’s what you hope wouldn’t happen and that we’d be playing our best ball by the end of the season.”
On the progression of the team in general
“You can’t put your finger on it. If you look at your body of work and being logical about things, we probably had one of the tougher non-conference schedules in the country for where we are. We had the 79th hardest schedule in the country, as compared to Vermont that was 212 and Stony Brook was in the 300s. There was a crazy distribution between who were playing and who our counterparts were playing. I really thought we held together through a touch stretch of games. D.J. being injured going into the Vermont game didn’t help us. We weren’t at full strength the first game of the conference season at Vermont, which is a big game obviously. We got it going and played pretty well during the stretch. I don’t think you can put your finger on one thing why you didn’t achieve what you wanted to achieve. The bottom line I though when we really broke it down was we didn’t get timely stops when we needed them late in the game against New Hampshire, late in the game against Stony Brook and late in the game against Hartford. At Hartford, we didn’t get the timely stops and we didn’t really execute down the stretch or score late in games.”
On expectations coming into the season
“Coming in, the goal is always going to be to get to the NCAA Tournament. I don’t think that’s ever going to change. To be honest with you, I really wanted to, at the end of the year, feel like we played as good as we were capable of playing. That’s really what you want to get to. I felt like we had hit our stride in the middle of the conference season. We’re probably playing our best ball. The last stretch, I felt we were inconsistent down the stretch. That’s what you hope wouldn’t happen and that we’d be playing our best ball by the end of the season.”
On the progression of the team in general
“You can’t put your finger on it. If you look at your body of work and being logical about things, we probably had one of the tougher non-conference schedules in the country for where we are. We had the 79th hardest schedule in the country, as compared to Vermont that was 212 and Stony Brook was in the 300s. There was a crazy distribution between who were playing and who our counterparts were playing. I really thought we held together through a touch stretch of games. D.J. being injured going into the Vermont game didn’t help us. We weren’t at full strength the first game of the conference season at Vermont, which is a big game obviously. We got it going and played pretty well during the stretch. I don’t think you can put your finger on one thing why you didn’t achieve what you wanted to achieve. The bottom line I though when we really broke it down was we didn’t get timely stops when we needed them late in the game against New Hampshire, late in the game against Stony Brook and late in the game against Hartford. At Hartford, we didn’t get the timely stops and we didn’t really execute down the stretch or score late in games.”
Monday, March 5, 2012
From the FreeP: Partin falters in second half against Hawks
By René Reyes/DFP Staff
WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – The America East Tournament quarterfinal wasn’t particularly kind to Darryl Partin.
Resembling every bit of the 2011-12 Player of the Year he is, the senior swingman torched the University of Hartford for 11 points in the tilt’s opening half on an array of fadeaway jumpers and free throws.
He scored just six more points in the second frame.
At 10:54 p.m. on Saturday night, Partin gingerly walked into Chase Family Arena’s media room, looking dazed, and sat to the left of Boston University men’s basketball coach Joe Jones at the podium.
Resembling every bit of the 2011-12 Player of the Year he is, the senior swingman torched the University of Hartford for 11 points in the tilt’s opening half on an array of fadeaway jumpers and free throws.
He scored just six more points in the second frame.
At 10:54 p.m. on Saturday night, Partin gingerly walked into Chase Family Arena’s media room, looking dazed, and sat to the left of Boston University men’s basketball coach Joe Jones at the podium.
From the FreeP: Hartford squashes BU’s chance at back-to-back America East titles
By Luke Coughlan/DFP Staff
WEST HARTFORD, Conn. — In its first America East postseason bout since it secured the conference championship in 2011, the third-seeded Boston University men’s basketball team saw its title defense stall out early as it fell, 53-49, to sixth-seeded University of Hartford.
Playing in the last of four America East quarterfinal games on Saturday, the Terrier (16-16, 12-5 America East) loss was the only upset of the day and sent the Hawks (9-21, 8-9 America East) to the semifinals against second-seeded University of Vermont on Sunday.
“I thought it was a very physical and hard-fought game,” said BU coach Joe Jones, who finished his first year as Terrier bench boss with the loss. “We are pretty shaken right now by the loss, but a lot of respect for [Hawks coach John] Gallagher and his kids. I thought they played very hard.”
Despite holding a six-point lead at the half, the Terriers succumbed to a late 15-6 Hawk run that turned a five-point lead with 6:14 remaining into a four-point loss. Terrier sophomore guard DJ Irving’s 12 points and five assists complemented senior guard and America East Player of the Year Darryl Partin’s game-high 17 points on 5-of-17 shooting, but the effort was not enough to out-do a double-double by Hawks freshman forward Mark Nwakamma (13 points, 16 rebounds) and a 5-of-10 shooting performance from freshman forward Nate Sikma.
Read more at dailyfreepress.com.
WEST HARTFORD, Conn. — In its first America East postseason bout since it secured the conference championship in 2011, the third-seeded Boston University men’s basketball team saw its title defense stall out early as it fell, 53-49, to sixth-seeded University of Hartford.
Playing in the last of four America East quarterfinal games on Saturday, the Terrier (16-16, 12-5 America East) loss was the only upset of the day and sent the Hawks (9-21, 8-9 America East) to the semifinals against second-seeded University of Vermont on Sunday.
“I thought it was a very physical and hard-fought game,” said BU coach Joe Jones, who finished his first year as Terrier bench boss with the loss. “We are pretty shaken right now by the loss, but a lot of respect for [Hawks coach John] Gallagher and his kids. I thought they played very hard.”
Despite holding a six-point lead at the half, the Terriers succumbed to a late 15-6 Hawk run that turned a five-point lead with 6:14 remaining into a four-point loss. Terrier sophomore guard DJ Irving’s 12 points and five assists complemented senior guard and America East Player of the Year Darryl Partin’s game-high 17 points on 5-of-17 shooting, but the effort was not enough to out-do a double-double by Hawks freshman forward Mark Nwakamma (13 points, 16 rebounds) and a 5-of-10 shooting performance from freshman forward Nate Sikma.
Read more at dailyfreepress.com.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Live Blog: No. 3 BU vs. No. 6 Hartford -- AE Tournament Quarterfinal
Starting lineups:
University of Hartford Hawks
F Mark Nwakamma
F Nate Sikma
G Andres Torres
G Yolonzo Moore II
G Clayton Brothers
Boston University Terriers
F Patrick Hazel
F Dom Morris
F Travis Robinson
G Darryl Partin
G D.J. Irving
Final Score: Hartford 53, BU 49
Team leaders:
Points
Hartford: Nate Sikma, 16
BU: Darryl Partin, 17
Rebounds
Hartford: Mark Nwakamma, 16
BU: Patrick Hazel, 7
Assists
Hartford: Andres Torres, 5
BU: D.J. Irving, 5
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