{"id":36530,"date":"2023-02-08T16:36:53","date_gmt":"2023-02-08T21:36:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=36530"},"modified":"2023-02-08T16:36:53","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T21:36:53","slug":"womens-basketball-inside-the-terriers-ascent-to-record-breaking-heights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2023\/02\/08\/womens-basketball-inside-the-terriers-ascent-to-record-breaking-heights\/","title":{"rendered":"Women\u2019s Basketball: Inside the Terriers\u2019 ascent to record-breaking heights"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sam Robb O\u2019Hagan<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

For Boston University Women\u2019s Basketball, there\u2019s one word that keeps coming up.<\/span><\/p>\n

Legacy is something BU Head Coach Melissa Graves and her team are open about. Legacy has been talked about constantly within the program, from the day they returned together for the 2022-23 season.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLegacy is very important to our program,\u201d Graves said. \u201cIt\u2019s something we preach a lot, it\u2019s like, ‘What are you going to do with your four years here?’\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

So far, the answer to that guiding question is just about everything. After the Terriers\u2019 second of two regular season victories over the American Eagles on Wednesday, Graves \u2014 midway through her second season at the helm \u2014 has led an unprecedented wave of success.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Terriers\u2019 12-game win streak in the Patriot League is the longest in program history, and just the fifth of 10 or more victories in conference or non-conference play. On Saturday against Loyola Maryland, in what was their largest win of the season (100-57), the Terriers scored 100 points in a game for the first time since 1987.<\/span><\/p>\n

If the Terriers hold serve in the conference and preserve their two-game lead over the Holy Cross Crusaders, they will be Patriot League regular season champions for only the fourth time in 49 seasons.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTo add these little pieces along the way of their legacy and what we\u2019re leaving behind for the next group is just really exciting,\u201d Graves said.<\/span><\/p>\n

For these Terriers, who now possess a chance to be the greatest Terriers, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think once we had all the pieces together this year, it\u2019s a pretty phenomenal puzzle,\u201d Graves said. \u201cI don\u2019t have to just play five or six kids the whole game.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It all starts on offense, where the Terriers are second in the Patriot League in points per game (68.3) and first \u2014 as well as third in the entire nation \u2014 in 3-point shooting percentage (40.1%). And make no mistake, it\u2019s a team effort.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have scorers at every single position,\u201d Graves said. \u201cIf you want to double the posts, good luck, cause we\u2019re gonna shoot the crap out of the ball. If you\u2019re not going to focus on the posts and you\u2019re going to guard straight up, we\u2019re going to score in the post.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s been really exciting just to have so many options,\u201d Graves said. \u201cBecause what are you going to take away?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Terriers certainly have options: Junior forward Caitlin Weimar leads the team in scoring at 14.6 points per game, followed closely by senior guard Sydney Johnson and sophomore guard Alex Giannaros, who\u2019s made the third most 3-pointers per game (1.88) in the conference.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the Terriers\u2019 offense doesn\u2019t just have a myriad of options; they have the desire to match.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest piece in why our offense is so successful is because every day, we hone in and we work and we watch film,\u201d Graves said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Monday\u2019s practice started at around 12:30 p.m., but only after a 40-minute film session, and that desire off the court translates to intent on it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s the biggest difference [compared to last year] within our offense is, ‘What is our intent on what we\u2019re doing each possession?’\u201d Graves said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For the Terriers, playing with intent means playing fast, and it\u2019s here where Graves\u2019 fingerprints are found in abundance less than two years after she arrived at BU.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first came in last year, we didn\u2019t play very fast. We really worked last year on playing fast and getting out [in transition],\u201d Graves said. \u201cYou know, that\u2019s something we\u2019ve had to grow in over last year and this year, with a new offense and a new head coach and a new system.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Terriers\u2019 Monday practice included several open court transition drills, one of which was designed to simulate transition scenarios directly off a defensive rebound or even an inbound after a defensive possession. Graves\u2019 offense is always looking to move, to play as fast as they can no matter what happens at the other end.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s where the value of Johnson, the Patriot League\u2019s P<\/span>reseason Player of the Year, is truly realized. Johnson was at the center of all of the Terriers\u2019 transition drills, and there was a clear emphasis on ensuring the ball was always in her hands.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When the Terriers are moving fast, they\u2019re moving through Johnson, and not just schematically, but mentally, too.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI just kind of had these conversations with her [Johnson] like, ‘How you go is how the team is gonna go, and people are gonna follow you,’\u201d Graves said. \u201cShe has really grown tremendously in that aspect, in embracing, \u2018Hey, I have to be a leader because this is what I\u2019m born into.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Both in practice and on game day, Johnson\u2019s energy is apparent for all to see. Whenever she\u2019s off the floor, she can be found dancing with herself and vehemently celebrating the success of her teammates.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s just really great, and bringing that kind of goofy energy too, and making things lighter when there\u2019s like a pressure around us,\u201d Graves said. \u201cAnd obviously, a lot of pressure comes with a season like this.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For as much dancing as Johnson performs in practice, senior forward Maren Durant, another team captain, unloads even more yelling, bellowing instructions and other critical calls to her teammates whenever she steps foot on the floor.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMaren is a gem. Maren is a unicorn. She is something that you never find, and that\u2019s a post player who talks constantly and is loud,\u201d Graves said. \u201cShe does not care if she\u2019s scoring or not, she just wants to compete. She wants to play with her teammates and lead the best way she can.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Durant is the Terriers\u2019 heartbeat, her voice the first and loudest to be heard whenever and wherever they are.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe does everything on and off the floor, you know, community service within the department and academically she\u2019s just great,\u201d Graves said. \u201cShe\u2019s just so unselfish, the kid is just the epitome of a great leader.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Durant and Weimar, her partner in the post, anchor the Terriers in their own unique ways. During practice, as Durant projects critical information for all to hear, there Weimar is, quietly and ruthlessly going about her business as the Patriot League\u2019s third-leading scorer.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCaitlin is very rare in the sense that she will come to practice and games every day, and you will not know if something\u2019s going on in her life,\u201d Graves said. \u201cShe always has a smile on her face, she never has a bad attitude, she never wavers, ever.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The trio of Weimar, Durant and Johnson all assume their responsibilities as leaders differently. In a way, the trio sums up what makes these Terriers so special in that they have everything \u2014 Weimar is quiet, Durant is loud and Johnson is goofy. As Graves will never hesitate to say, they have all the pieces, both in their leadership and in their play on the court.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey have an acronym for the year: C.H.I.P., and it goes for all the things that go into winning a championship,\u201d Graves said. \u201cI think that\u2019s been their mindset from Day 1. They do have the talent, they do have the capability, they do have the opportunity to win.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The first championship to be won is the Patriot League\u2019s regular season, but the Terriers\u2019 road won\u2019t end there. After that, it\u2019s the Patriot League Championship, which, if all goes to plan, will go through Case Gymnasium. After that, it\u2019s dancing at the NCAA tournament, a height the program has only reached once before.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Win a game at the dance, and the 2023 Terriers will become the most accomplished team in program history.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI want it for them so bad,\u201d Graves said. \u201cI want them to experience hanging a banner that\u2019s never been hung. I want that for them so badly, to know what it feels like to be the first.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For the first time in a long time, Boston University Women\u2019s Basketball is talking about championships.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But ask them, and this unprecedented path they are now walking, and this legacy they are now creating, was all part of the plan.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sam Robb O\u2019Hagan For Boston University Women\u2019s Basketball, there\u2019s one word that keeps coming up. Legacy is something BU Head Coach Melissa Graves and her team are open about. Legacy has been talked about constantly within the program, from the day they returned together for the 2022-23 season. \u201cLegacy is very important to our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21477,"featured_media":36534,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[19,1039,1040],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36530"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21477"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36530"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36533,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36530\/revisions\/36533"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}