{"id":39824,"date":"2023-12-29T11:59:45","date_gmt":"2023-12-29T16:59:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=39824"},"modified":"2023-12-29T12:01:59","modified_gmt":"2023-12-29T17:01:59","slug":"mens-basketball-bu-is-exactly-where-they-should-be-for-better-and-for-worse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2023\/12\/29\/mens-basketball-bu-is-exactly-where-they-should-be-for-better-and-for-worse\/","title":{"rendered":"Men\u2019s Basketball: BU is exactly where they should be, for better and for worse"},"content":{"rendered":"

Featured image by Jacob Ireland<\/em><\/p>\n

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

It\u2019s hard not to chuckle, if you\u2019re looking for BU red, when scrolling through the list of the top scorers in the Patriot League. For a long while, there is no red. None of the 14 double-digit scorers in the league are Terriers; BU is the only team without one. But it comes. Suddenly and all at once. Four Terriers are averaging between 9.3 and 8.1 points a game and three more are between 6.3 and 6.7.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

BU is nowhere to be found in the top 20, then they\u2019re everywhere between 20 and 50.<\/span><\/p>\n

You chuckle, because nothing could say it better than that.<\/span><\/p>\n

BU men\u2019s basketball (4-8) is a team in transition; ushering in a brand new era and asking mostly brand new faces to do it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Six of the 12 players getting at least eight minutes a game are Division I rookies. Four of them are freshmen. The other six in the rotation were, before their expanded roles this season, either career backups to the old guard that delivered Case Gym its first and only Patriot League title or sophomores who barely played last season. The head coach is without a player from that title-winning team for the first time and staring at the largest roster turnover in his 13 years in Boston.<\/span><\/p>\n

Everyone is in uncharted territory. Hence their places on the scoring leaderboard; no one is concerned with standing out. For the Terriers, it\u2019s just about keeping heads above water.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To that end, there is promise.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kyrone Alexander is a freshman guard who has been named the conference\u2019s Rookie of the Week twice. His shooting has been streaky \u2014 he\u2019s shooting just 34.9 percent after an 0-for-8 outing last time out against UMass Lowell \u2014 but his good games have been real, real good.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Head coach Joe Jones will take that. He\u2019ll take what he\u2019s gotten from junior guard Ethan Okwuosa too, who has NCAA experience but is still putting up 8.1 points a night on 44 percent shooting in his first season in Division I. And you know Jones will love the five rebounds a game he\u2019s getting from his 6-foot-2 shooting guard.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Freshman wing Matai Baptiste has struggled for consistency but has flashed legit talent as an athletic 6-foot-7 forward with guard-like skills. Jones said before the season Baptiste \u201ccan be a Walter Whyte-type player,\u201d which is a big name around here, but you can start to see the vision in his best moments, though he\u2019ll really need to shoot better moving forward.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sophomore guard Ben Roy, who played just 68 minutes last year, has made tough plays off the bench all season despite lacking the athleticism and the size to truly become a volume player.<\/span><\/p>\n

These are solid Patriot League players. Right now. For Alexander and Baptiste, and, to an extent, Okwuosa, this is only the floor. (If this is what it looks like 12 games into year one, who knows what it will look like 20 games into year four.) Besides, it\u2019s helpful for Jones and his staff to know these kids can actually play.<\/span><\/p>\n

But role players are still role players.<\/span><\/p>\n

Offensively, BU is frustratingly conservative \u2014 a group of wide-eyed players hesitant to attack defenders in isolation and create their own shot. <\/span>The guards, be it a lack of willingness or capability, do not consistently attack the paint off the dribble. The bigs, junior Malcolm Chimezie and sophomores Nico Nobili and Otto Landrum, haven\u2019t been effective when the ball gets to them in the post. All three are shooting under 50 percent from the field.<\/span><\/p>\n

And they don\u2019t have a leader, a <\/span>reliable <\/span><\/i>scorer, to turn to and will them forward. Remember, BU is the only team in the conference without a double-digit scorer.<\/span><\/p>\n

The result is an offense that passes and passes and passes some more, running action after action in an attempt to create open shots with collective movement.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s <\/span>tough <\/span><\/i>living. The offense is reliant on execution from all five players. The margin for error is slim. And if BU isn\u2019t shooting well on any given night, then, well, that\u2019s kinda that.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the Terriers\u2019 three wins against DI opponents, they\u2019ve shot a combined 45.8 percent from the field; in their eight losses, 37.1.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a down-to-the-wire loss against Maine on December 6, the Terriers actually shot well \u2014 46.2 percent \u2014 but scored on just three of their possessions in the final three minutes. Jones and senior guard Miles Brewster said the Terriers didn\u2019t execute on those closing trips, which was true, but they watched the Black Bears simply put the ball in the hands of their best player, Kellen Tynes, throughout the second half.<\/span><\/p>\n

And Tynes won them the game.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The junior guard scored 21 points, eight of them in the last 10 minutes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Said Jones after that loss: <\/span>\u201cTynes made some big shots, man. Those are shots that we\u2019re trying to force people to make \u2014 contested two\u2019s \u2014 and he friggin\u2019 made \u2018em. You know, you tip your hat.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

BU hasn\u2019t had a player score 21 points in a game all season.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s the problem with a team that is made up of role players, regardless if some are only at the start of their development. There are no easy buttons in this offense. When the execution is poor \u2014 and that\u2019s inevitable for a team this inexperienced \u2014 BU is doomed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Such are the realities of uncharted territory. Heads are above water, but they aren\u2019t much higher than that.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Terriers don\u2019t have a player on the court for more than 25 minutes a night, not even Brewster, the most experienced player on the roster coming into the season. Jones\u2019 rotation is 10 players deep, with two more playing short first-half spurts each contest.<\/span><\/p>\n

That is a lot. Even for non-conference play, when coaches are willing to give more players more minutes. Watching BU can be a chore. Substitutions are made every other minute.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the Terriers\u2019 latest loss against Lowell, Jones played 11 different players in the game\u2019s first nine minutes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re struggling with a level of consistency from most of the guys,\u201d Jones said after the game. \u201cWe\u2019re having a hard time knowing that someone is going to play a bulk of the minutes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s why the Terriers are so streaky on offense; 58, 45 and 53 points in the first three games of the season, then 95 against Bryant.<\/span> It\u2019s hard to find a constant rhythm when there isn\u2019t a constant on the team.<\/span><\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t to say that the seeds aren\u2019t there. Okwuosa has shown, albeit sparingly, a willingness to put shots up off the dribble. Alexander has made legitimately jaw-dropping plays. Brewster has done things like this:<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Miles taking it to the hoop! #GoBU<\/a> #PLTop3<\/a> #SCTop10<\/a><\/p>\n

Watch on ESPN+: https:\/\/t.co\/uiPjegDOuy<\/a>@PatriotLeagueTV<\/a> | @ESPN<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/LgZSQIIXnY<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 BU Men’s Basketball (@TerrierMBB) December 22, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n