Terriers to Take on James Madison in Basketball Action
November 21, 1999 | Men's Basketball
Game Notes
The 91st Season The Boston University men's basketball team begins its 91st season of varsity competition in 1999-2000. Since 1901-02, the Terriers have totaled an 842-850 record (.497). In the last 20 years, B.U. has registered a 330-254 mark (.565)... In that span, there have been 14 winning campaigns, six 20-win seasons, and four NCAA Tournament appearances (1983, 1988, 1990, and 1997).
Boston University/James Madison Series Notes Tonight is the first meeting between the two schools... Dennis Wolff is 3-0 versus members of the Colonial Athletic Association, including a 58-56 victory over American on November 30, 1998... The Terriers are 12-9 versus members of the Colonial Athletic Association.
James Madison is 200th All-Time Opponent At tip-off tonight, James Madison University will become the 200th all-time opponent for Boston University men's basketball.
First Trip to Virginia in 12 Years Tonight's game against James Madison marks the first time the Terriers have played in the state of Virginia since the 1987-88 season... B.U. is 7-8 in the Old Dominion. - 1987-88, B.U. lost,66-61, to Richmond in the first round of the Central Fidelity Classic. B.U. rebounded in the consolation downing USC, 75-53. - 1985-86, B.U. defeated George Mason, 71-69. - 1982-83, 76-75 loss at George Mason. - 1981-82, 71-61 loss at Old Dominion. - 1978-79, 90-72 loss at Old Dominion. - 1976-77, at Roanoke Tournament, lost to Roanoke, 76-70 and defeated Delaware 79-71. - 1954-55, B.U. lost to Colgate, 82-73, in the opening round of the Richmond Invitational. - 1947-48, the Terriers defeated William & Mary 71-61. - 1946-47, B.U. downed William & Mary 62-45.
Terriers Against Non-Conference Foes In head coach Dennis Wolff's five plus seasons, the Terriers are 24-24 against non-conference opponents... Last season B.U. was 4-4 in non-conference games.
Virginia Ties The 1999-00 Boston University men's basketball team has a few connections to the state of Virginia. - Head coach Dennis Wolff was an assistant the University of Virginia from 1990-94. In his four years on the Charlottesville campus, Wolff was a part of three Virginia NCAA Tournament teams (1991, 1993, and 1994) and one (1992) N.I.T. Championship squad... In the 1993 NCAA Tournament, Wolff helped UVA reach the "Sweet Sixteen". - Administrative Assistant Kieran Donohue worked as the head student manager at UVA under head coach Jeff Jones from 1993-1997... After graduating in 1997, Donohue remained in Charlottesville and accepted the Cavalier men's basketball program's administrative assistant position. - Sophomore guard Dereck Franklin, a 1999 America East All-Rookie Team selection, was a three-year starter under head coach Jim Smith at Chantilly H.S... Earned All-District, All-Northern Region, and All-D.C. Metropolitan honors in 1997-98. - Freshman guard John Sadusky was a two-year starter at DeMatha Catholic under legendary head coach Morgan Wootten... A native of Fairfax, VA, Sadusky was a McDonald's All-American nominee last season.
Recapping the Doral/Florida International Tip-Off Classic
- November 19, 1999 - Northern Illinois 78, Boston University 65 MIAMI, FL - Boston University freshman guard Matt Turner (West Haven, CT) scored a team-high 20 points in this collegiate debut, but Northern Illinois' T.J. Lux scored a game-high 28 points as Huskies got past Boston University, 78-65, in first-round play of the Doral/Florida International Tip-Off Classic... The Terriers (0-1) shot 50 % (14-of-28) in the first half and led by as many as 13, 22-9 with 8:34 left in the half... Behind Turner's 11 points, B.U. held a 34-30 halftime advantage... In the second half, NIU used its inside presence behind Lux (14-of-15 from the free-throw line) and forced the Terriers into foul trouble... The Huskies outshot the Terriers from the free-throw line 38 to 21. NIU converted 29 of those opportunities (83 %), while B.U. made 13 (60 %). Northern Illinois made 20-of-24 free throws in the second half... The Terriers, who have not won a season opener in three years, shot 20 % (4-of-20) from three-point range... Turner led B.U. with 20 points and six assists in 38 minutes... Also scoring in double figures for the Terriers was senior center Jean Avebe (Yaounde, Cameroon) with 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting... Avebe also added three blocked shots... B.U. outrebounded NIU, 38-34
- November 20, 1999 - Radford 70, Boston University 50 MIAMI, FL - Radford's Rian Everett scored a game-high 26 points on 8-for-10 three-point shooting as the Highlanders beat Boston University (0-2), 70-50, in the consolation game of the Doral/Florida International Tip-Off Classic Saturday night in Miami... Everett scored his first 3-pointer, :50 seconds into the game, giving Radford (1-1) a 3-2 edge and a lead it would never relinquish. The 6-0 senior guard hit on his first six long-range attempts, accounting for 18 points as the Highlanders led at the half, 35-27...Radford used defense as its main weapon in the second half, limiting the Terriers to just 24 % shooting from the field on 7-of-29 overall and 0-of-8 from long range... The Highlanders lead was never less than 13 from 11:03 on and Radford's biggest lead reached 20, at 70-50, when Everett hit a three-pointer with just :30 seconds left in the game... B.U.'s Jerome Graham came off the bench to equal a career-high with 10 points... Graham was named to the All-Tournament team... The Terriers extended its three-point streak to 95 games... Freshman guard Paul Seymour added nine points and seven rebounds for the Terriers... B.U is 0-2 to begin the season for the second straight season... The Terriers were outrebounded, 38-32... B.U. is now 47-73 in in-season tournaments and have a 6-10 record under head coach Dennis Wolff.
Youngest Terrier Squad in School History With only two upperclassmen on its 12-man roster, this year's Boston University team is the youngest in school history. The Terriers graduated five seniors from last year's club, leaving them with two seniors and 10 upperclassmen for the 1999-2000 season. Every previous Boston University team has fielded at least four upperclassmen, while no Terrier club has featured more than nine underclassmen. Below is a look at some of the youngest squads to wear the Scarlet and White:
Year Fr So Jr Sr 1999-2000 5 5 0 2 1995-96 4 3 3 1 1987-88 3 6 2 3 1983-84 4 5 3 1 1982-83 4 4 2 2 1977-78 4 4 1 3
Head Coach Dennis Wolff Head coach Dennis Wolff enters his sixth season at Boston University and sports an 86-63 record (.577 pct.)... During his tenure at B.U., Wolff's teams have captured two America East regular-season championships, and earned one NCAA Tournament berth (1997)... Wolff was hired on April 5, 1994 after serving 12 years as a Division I assistant at Virginia (1990-94), Southern Methodist (1989-90), Wake Forest (1985-1989), and St. Bonaventure (1982-84)... Wolff also served as the head coach of Division III Connecticut College, recording a 30-18 record in two seasons.
Wolff Coaching 150th Game at B.U. Dennis Wolff will coaching his 150th career game as head coach of the Terrier men's basketball program tonight against James Madison... Only three other coaches in the history of the men's basketball have coached 150 or more games: - Matt Zunic, who coached seven seasons from 1952-59 is the all-time coaching leader in games with 154. - Mike Jarvis, currently coaching at St. John's University, and John Burke, who succeeded Zunic from 1959-66 each led the Terriers in 152 games... Jarvis is the program's all-time winningest coach with 101 victories from 1985-90.
Strong Debut for Turner Freshman guard Matt Turner (West Haven, CT) had a fine collegiate debut on Friday, November 19 vs. Northern Illinois University... The frosh led the Terriers in scoring with 20 points on 7-of-15 shooting and dished out six assists in 38 minutes of work.
Avebe on the Mark Senior forward Jean Avebe (Yaounde,Cameroon) leads the Terriers in field goal percentage after two games... The 6-7 forward is shooting 69 % from the floor this season (9-of-13)... Avebe scored 14 points in the season-opener vs. Northern Illinois on Friday night... Last season Avebe posted career-high averages in both points (7.5 ppg) and rebounds (4.9 rpg)... He had eight double-figure scoring outings, including a career-high 19-point effort vs. Northeastern on February 19,1999.
Graham is Golden Sophomore forward Jerome Graham (N. Minneapolis, MN) was named to the Doral/Florida International Tip-Off Classic All-Tournament Team... Graham averaged 8.0 ppg and 3.5 rpg in the two games... The 6-8 forward also shot 53 % from the field (7-of-13).
Slow Start From Three-Point Land In two games Boston University is 7-of-38 from three-point range... The Terriers were 4-of-20 in the opener vs. Northern Illinois and 3-of-18 against Radford on November 20... Last season, B.U. shot 33.4 % from three-point territory.
Costello is Fourth on B.U. Career Three-Point List With 139 three-pointers, senior Mike Costello ranks fourth on the B.U. career three-point list.... Mark Daly 92 is the career leader with 202. In 1998-99, Costello (7.8 ppg) connected on a team-high 48 three-pointers, including eight games with three or more... Costello finished ninth in America East with a .365 success rate from three-point land.
Reviewing 1998-99 Boston University completed the 1998-99 season with a disappointing 9-18 record... The Terriers, who finished 5-13 in the league-play, lost to Towson, 71-58, in the first round of the America East Championships... It was the first non-winning season since 1994-95, and just the second campaign in the 1990s that the squad did not reach double figures in victories.
Quoting Wolff on 1998-99 "It was definitely a disappointing year for us. We were disjointed and never established a sense of character. However, our young players were able to gain some experience and learn from it."
Quoting Wolff on 1999-2000 "We will be young and raw, but I feel we will improve as the season progresses. The freshmen class is talented, but will have to grow up quickly."
A Very Young Team B.U. has just two seniors - Mike Costello and Jean Avebe - and no juniors on its 1999-2000 roster. In all, there are five freshman and five sophomores. Two sophomores, Billy Collins and Stijn Dhondt, will sit out 1999-2000 as a result of their transferring from Rutgers and Cuesta College, respectively... In all, the Terriers return 42.2 percent (732-of-1736) of their scoring production and 51.3 percent (493-of-962) of their rebounding totals from 1998-99.
Dereck Franklin Earns All-Rookie Recognition Dereck Franklin earned America East All-Rookie Team accolades in 1998-99... A four-time Rookie of the Week honoree, Franklin was one of just seven players in the 20-year history of the America East Conference, including former B.U. star Tunji Awojobi 97, to capture the award four or more times in a season.
Defense Will Be The Key Defense has been a cornerstone in the Dennis Wolff era. In Wolff's five seasons, B.U. has a 74-22 mark when holding opponents under 70 points... In 1998-99, B.U. was 9-5 when holding opponents under 70 points, and were 8-1 when allowing under 60. The Terriers also held opponents under .400 shooting from the field 10 times in 1998-99... B.U. was 8-2 in those games.
Three-Point Field Goal Streak at 95 B.U. currently has a 95-game three-point field goal streak... The last time the Terriers were held scoreless from beyond the three-point arc was Feb. 10, 1996, when they were 0-for-10 in a loss at Vermont... B.U. has hit three-pointers in 147-of-149 games in the Dennis Wolff era.America
America East Success Boston University is one of the charter members of the America East Conference, which was founded in 1979. In those 20 seasons, the Terriers have won a league-record 165 conference and 30 tournament contests, including championships in 1983, 1988, 1990, and 1997.
Butt Signs National Letter of Intent Ryan Butt, a 6-7, 235-pound power forward from Hempfield H.S. in Landisville, PA, signed a national letter of intent to play for the Terriers on Thursday, November 11.
B.U. On the Radio Twenty-one of Boston University's 26 basketball games this season will be broadcast live on WROL-AM 950 (Boston), WCRN-AM 830 (Worcester), and WPLM-AM 1390 (Plymouth). Rich Levine returns for his fifth season to call the action, while Doug Guy will provide analysis for the sixth year.
www.gobu.com Media members and fans of Boston University men's basketball and all Terrier athletic teams may now access information on the Internet by typing the URL: www.gobu.com... Rosters, game notes, news, schedules and results, statistics and other information regarding Boston University athletics will be updated on a regular basis on the department's homepage.
Playing the Best Boston University annually plays a challenging non-conference schedule. Last season, the Terriers played three teams that reached the 1999 NCAA Tournament (UNC Charlotte, Miami (Ohio), and Delaware) as well as two that played in the postseason N.I.T. (Alabama and Colorado). In 1999-2000, B.U. will compete in two in-season tournaments - in November at Florida International and in late December in 1999 N.I.T. Champion California's holiday tournament. In addition, the Terriers will renew their long-time rivalries against New England neighbors Massachusetts and Providence.
Joe Tompkins Tribute This season the Boston University men's basketball team will be wearing black arm bands in tribute to longtime B.U. employee and Terrier supporter Joe Tompkins... Joe died suddenly at work on Tuesday, July 13, 1999... He worked as a custodian at B.U. for 30-plus years and loved the interaction with the coaching staff and the student-athletes.
