Madness in their minds
It’s hard to believe, but we’re already less than a week away from March, and that only means one thing: Madness awaits.
For some mid-major and lower-level leagues, the regular season is already over, and the madness begins before March with the beginning of their respective conference tournaments. A number of local Division 1 teams are no exception to that as both the Patriot League and Colonial Athletic Association start their tournaments week.
With that in mind, it’s a good time to take a look at the Div. 1 squads in Massachusetts (excluding UMassLowell, which finished 11-20 overall and 5-11 in America East and is postseason ineligible until next year after the program transitioned from Div. 2) and how they shape up as they inch closer to the madness:
• Boston University — The Terriers were projected to finish No. 2 in the Patriot preseason poll, and that’s where they’ll be when the conference tournament starts. The good news: BU’s path to a potential championship game goes through Case Gym in the quarterfinals and semifinals. The bad news: If the Terriers get to the title game, and their opponent is Bucknell, there’s a gap between them and the regular-season champion Bison, who blew out host BU last week.
• Holy Cross — If the Crusaders repeat as tourney champs, it won’t be quite as improbable as last season. But it won’t be easy, either. A No. 9 seed last year, Holy Cross had to win four games — all on the road — to claim the title. This year, the Crusaders climbed to No. 5 and avoided a first-round game. They returned the core of last season’s group, which proved you can’t count out the Crusaders.
• Northeastern — The Huskies are hanging by a thread as injuries have derailed what looked to be a promising season. They dressed seven players in their last two regular-season games. After starting 5-0 in the CAA, NU is 3-11 since as it stumbled to a No. 6 seed for this weekend’s tourney. The Huskies were seeded high enough to avoid an opening-round game, but it’s a tall order for a shorthanded team to win three games in three nights.
• Harvard — The Crimson, at 10-2 in the Ivy League, have clinched a No. 2 seed in the conference tournament, and have a small chance to surpass 12-0 Princeton for the No. 1 seed heading into the final weekend. Harvard is 17-3 since a 1-4 start and playing its best ball at the right time. Anything less than making the title game would be a disappointment.
• UMass — Even with a nationally rated recruiting class, UMass wasn’t expected to be a top dog in the Atlantic 10, but the Minutemen shouldn’t have been this bad. They’re 4-12 in the league going into the final week, assured of playing an opening-round game. At this point, UMass is just looking for positive momentum going into next season.
• Boston College — The Eagles are still years away from competing in an unfairly loaded Atlantic Coast Conference, but they have taken baby steps after their winless season last year. BC is 2-14 heading into the final week, and the promising backcourt of Jerome Robinson and Ky Bowman could help steal a game in the ACC tournament, but likely not much else.
Bittersweet ending
MIT women’s coach Sonia Raman certainly is disappointed her team went one-and-done in last week’s NEWMAC tournament, but she hasn’t lost the scope of how far the Engineers have come.
Despite the early ouster, MIT completed one of its most successful seasons. At 20-6, the Engineers had the program’s second 20win season, the previous one in 1998-99.
It’s hard not to be positive about MIT. After seven straight losing seasons, the Engineers have posted back-to-back winning seasons, and this group will return all but one player next season.
“I’m sad to see it come to an end, but if I try to take a step back and look at the big picture of the season, we’re really proud of what we were able to do this year,” Raman said. “I’m excited to keep building with this group.”
Shattering records
Bolden Brace’s schoolrecord 10 made 3-pointers in Northeastern’s 105-104 double-overtime win at Elon last week was just one of several milestones for the Huskies.
The 105-point effort was the first time Northeastern hit the century mark in the Bill Coen era and the most since 108 on Dec. 4, 1993, and T.J. Williams was the Huskies’ first triple-double since Shawn James put up 17 points, 14 rebounds and 11 blocks on Feb. 15, 2006.
Williams also made 10 free throws in the game, pushing past Reggie Lewis for the most ever in a season. Through Saturday’s games, his 193 free throws made this season rank fourth in the nation.