Men’s Basketball: Previewing the 2021 season with Joe Jones

By: Ethan Fuller

Joe Jones has developed four different season-long plans for his team since the fall semester began in September. But like everyone in college basketball, the Boston University men’s head coach has learned that no amount of preparation can mask the ever-changing landscape of the 2021 season.

“I’m thinking ahead,” Jones said, “but I’m only worried about today.”

BU is back to defend its first Patriot League title in school history. After downing Colgate in a 64-61 thriller last march, the Terriers have a new position as reigning champs and a radical new schedule ahead.

Jones neatly summarized the season as a “work-in-progress” — a phrase uttered often during an interview with WTBU Sports this past week. His team has emphasized the day-by-day approach as opening tip-off inches closer.

“Don’t worry about yesterday, don’t worry about tomorrow, just today,” Jones said. “What’s the most important thing we do today?”

Patriot League play looks nothing like before. Games are already moving around; BU pushed back its season-opening series with Holy Cross two days to fit in its appropriate “testing cadence.” Loyola Maryland has already paused all team activities and postponed its first four contests against Navy and American.

Instead of the usual Tuesday-Saturday weeks, games now are back-to-backs against one team. The weekly approach feels different, but Jones pointed out that he still views each matchup individually, not as a pair.

“Don’t think about, ‘Oh, we got two games, maybe we save this for the second game? Nah,” said Jones. “I’m just going in one game at a time — just try to win the first game.”

Titles are the goal for any basketball team when the slate is clean. But the defending champions already have high expectations from their competitors. BU was voted top of the conference in the preseason poll released this past week, squeaking by Colgate 148-142 in the vote. The recognition is a nice little note for BU, but Jones recognizes what comes with added pressure.

“You gotta be smart about anything the people are giving you before the work is done,” he said. “At the end of the day, you don’t get anything from that.”

Max Mahoney, the 6-foot-8 engine that led the Terriers in their championship run, is gone. While his impact will be missed, Jones does not anticipate any broad stylistic changes to the offense.

“The style of play is very similar… but some of the things we look to do, and the emphasis of some of those things, may change as we go through the year,” he said.

As BU mixed and matched different lineups last season, Suk Mathon and Mahoney became a popular starting frontcourt that ended up logging valuable minutes in the championship bout. The success of that duo showed Jones that his team is versatile enough to play both big and small-ball.

“If you would’ve told me [before March] that we would play Max and Suk together for 27-28 minutes in the championship game, I would’ve told you you were nuts,” Jones said. “We just have to be open-minded about how we’re approaching it.”

The Terrier backcourt looks even stronger than last season. Javante McCoy, Jonas Harper and Ethan Brittain-Watts return as key contributors. BU also only graduated one guard in Adam Mikula while recruiting three freshmen: Anthony Morales, C.J. Jones and Miles Brewster. Add in Daman Tate and Garrett Pascoe, who both missed the entire 2019-20 season with injuries, and the depth is imposing.

With so many options, Jones is again being open-minded to the different roles and responsibilities.

“These things are gonna get worked out as we go through — through practices as we go forward, and games,” he said.

Jones lauded the improvement from his players in practice, especially Mathon, who has been “tremendous” behind closed Case Gym doors. Another standout is the junior Harper, who the head coach believes has as a solid shot at putting up double-digit points per game.

“Jonas has been able to establish himself as not just a standstill shooter,” he said.

The Terriers don’t have a nonconference slate to work out the kinks before entering Patriot League play. Jones believes his team has a championship ceiling. However, he realizes that for the entire league, the first games will be as much a learning experience as a competition.

And it’s easy to get caught up in the uncertainty of, well, everything surrounding basketball. Jones has stamped home to his players that they must focus on their own responsibilities — limiting turnovers, contesting jump shots and playing with effort.

“We can’t be worried about everything,” he said. “But these are things that we gotta be good at.”

Even in a unique year, Jones’ mentality is similar to what carried BU to a title in 2020: focus on what you can control, and put yourself in a position to make a postseason run. A conference title is never certain; the Terriers just need a chance.

“If we keep talking about the most important things, and we can stay healthy, I think we have a chance at the end,” Jones said.

“We have a chance. That’s all you can ask for.”

Featured image courtesy of Hannah Yoshinaga.