E-Mail This Article to a Friend Off the beaten path: Local sports news not involving the Patriots or Red Sox BY CHRISTOPHER YOUNG

While the buzz from Super Bowl XXXVIII fades and the harsh reality of salary-cap restrictions and free-agent defections takes front and center, and the Red Sox are still in their first week of Grapefruit League action, it seems a prime occasion to look at what’s doin’ with other New England teams that haven’t received as much online ink in this space. For them, it’s time to look at the post-season, and a number of them are looking for their own Patriotic-type happy endings, along with the accompanying glittering trophies.

There’s certainly a big hoop-de-doo going on in local basketball action, with March Madness approaching for both the guys and the gals, plus the sudden rejuvenation of a recently left-for-dead NBA franchise.

Boston College has double the pride this spring, as its men’s and women’s hoops teams are both apparently NCAA-tournament bound. Al Skinner’s lads, picked to finish eighth in the Big East in pre-season prognostications, have instead gone an impressive 21-8 overall (10-6 in the league) and enter this weekend’s league tourney on a five-game win streak after surprising 12th-ranked Providence on the road. BC ultimately finished fifth in the league, and along the way has collected impressive wins over such respected programs as NC State, Wichita State, and Kent State, all the while competing strongly within the competitive Big East. The Eagles, who were controversially left out of the 65-team NCAA tourney field last year, should be a lock this time around, especially since they’ve won eight of their last nine down the stretch. On the distaff side, BC’s Lady Eagles have already reached the semifinals of their Big East tournament, where they will face top-seeded and defending national champion UConn. Coach Cathy Inglese has taken the BC program a long way in recent years, and this year’s 23-6 squad could very well make some noise in the upcoming NCAA tournament. As for UConn, Geno Auriemma’s juggernaut has stumbled a few times already this season, but at 25-3 heading into Monday’s date with BC, the Lady Huskies still appear to be headed toward one of the top four seeds in the national tourney — although the team’s third straight national title can hardly be considered a lock, since Tennessee, Duke, and Texas will likely pose formidable challenges.

Over at Boston University and Northeastern, there are plenty of teeth being gnashed over what transpired in the America East Men’s Tournament on BU’s home court over the weekend. First, the top-seeded Terriers — 23-4 overall and boasting a 17-1 conference record heading in — lost to eighth-seeded Stony Brook, becoming the first top seed in league history to go down so early. And later in the day, third-seeded Northeastern — now seeing a chance at an NCAA automatic bid as a result of BU’s demise — instead came out flat, and became the second Boston school on this day to lose in their home city, falling to sixth-seeded Hartford, 79-74. Because of the perceived weakness of the America East conference, only the tournament winner would have been deemed worthy of an NCAA bid, and the pill was particularly bitter to swallow for BU, which had won 23 of their last 24 and had earlier this season notched notable road wins at Michigan, Ohio, and Vermont. With the Terriers and Huskies out of the tournament, that leaves the second-seeded Catamounts as the likely tourney-bid recipient (for the second straight year), provided Vermont gets by fourth-seeded Maine (20-9).

The UConn men’s hoops team was a pre-season number-one-ranked team, but the 24-6 team limps into the Big East tournament after getting crushed on Sunday at defending national champion Syracuse, 67-56. Jim Calhoun’s team usually gets hot this time of year, but this season it has collected some uncharacteristic losses (Notre Dame, Providence, the Orange), and hasn’t had a victory over a top-flight team since mid January. The Huskies’ seeding at the NCAA level will be determined by their performance at Madison Square Garden this weekend, and only a Big East Tournament victory will secure them the number-two seed in the NCAAs that they covet.

Certainly not to be forgotten come tourney time is Providence, who despite their regular-season-ending loss to BC is still an impressive 20-7 overall in a breakout season for the program.

Finally, just when the Boston Celtics seemed to be mailing in their season in hopes of grabbing an NBA lottery pick (to go with their two other first-round picks), they go and win five straight games to get back into "playoff contention." Granted, the first three games of the win streak — against injury-riddled Toronto and just-plain-awful Orlando — were hardly measuring sticks for greatness, but Friday’s victory over a Washington team that had won four of five, coupled with Sunday’s stunning 80-77 road victory over 44-19 Minnesota, leads one to believe that maybe de facto GM Danny Ainge’s vision is working. Amazingly, a record of 28-36 is still good enough for the seventh seed in the East in the upcoming NBA playoffs, but most Celtics fans right now would much rather have the higher draft pick as opposed to a playoff berth that would undoubtedly lead to a first-round trouncing at the hands of Indiana or Joisey. Upcoming Celtics contests against the Lakers, Pacers, Nets, and rejuvenated Nuggets will likely bring the team back to earth and into the familiar surroundings of the post–Jim O’Brien era: also-ran.

In hockey, it’s not surprising to find a whole slew of local-college-hockey programs in the hunt for post-season berths. Boston College (26-6-4 overall) has been the cream of the crop all season long, not only in the Hockey East picture, but nationally as well (as evidenced by their number-two ranking heading into last weekend). BC lost back-to-back contests at Maine (26-7-3 overall) to complete its regular season, but the Eagles had already clinched the league’s top seed a week earlier, and should have a cakewalk this weekend in their quarterfinal match-up with cross-town BU (6-13-5 Big East). Both BC and Maine are hoping for big performances in the league tourney to establish higher seeds for the national tournament, which will culminate with the Frozen Four festivities to be held at Boston’s own FleetCenter April 8-10. UMass and last year’s national runner-up, New Hampshire, will also be out to make statements in the upcoming Hockey East tournament. Harvard University (14-14-3) is also still in the picture, as the Crimson swept UVM over the weekend to advance to the ECAC quarters against nearby Brown, which finished a surprising third in the league with a 15-9-5 overall mark after years of cellar-dwelling.

Local teams are at the forefront of the national women’s college-hockey landscape as well, as Harvard’s third-ranked women’s team emerged from weekend action with the top seed in the ECAC’s upcoming playoffs. Harvard, 25-3-1 overall, will host eighth-seed Cornell in quarterfinal action, while Dartmouth, which has been on or near the top of the national women’s rankings all season long, will host Yale.

Meanwhile, what in tarnation is going on with the Boston Bruins? After a December that left many local fans pining for a labor lockout this fall, Mike Sullivan’s squad has put together a slam-bang 2004 and as of Monday was sitting pretty in the fifth slot in the upcoming NHL playoffs. Even better for fans of the Black & Gold, the team made significant upgrades to their defense and forward depth with the acquisitions of blueliner Sergei Gonchar and second-line center Michael Nylander from the EVERYTHING-MUST-GO Capitals organization. Fifth place in the conference might not sound all that great, but given the fact that the top five teams in the East are amassed within five points of each other, and eight of their remaining 13 contests are on home ice — well, the B’s have as good a chance as anyone in this rough-and-tumble conference. The addition of the two former Caps has already produced immediate dividends, and the Bruins have already become instant Cup contenders by virtue of the surprising trade-deadline deals. GM Mike O’Connell may not even be done bartering. But even if he is, this Bruins team — assuming the quick returns of winger Sergei Samsonov and Calder Trophy candidate Patrice Bergeron from the injury list and the continued stellar play in goal by rookie Andrew Raycroft — is on paper a much stronger team than those that tended to go one-round-and-out or failed to qualify altogether for the NHL post-season.

Many feel that, as with the Red Sox, this may be the local hockey franchise’s last best shot at a title, given the fact that management (in preparation for an expected work stoppage) has failed to sign the great majority of its superstars beyond this season, and that when and if the league does resume play following a labor resolution, the look of the Bruins could be substantially different. Add to that the fact that the team has in some ways mortgaged its immediate future by doling out a handful of future draft picks to secure Gonchar’s and Nylander’s services, and one wonders what the future holds for this proud franchise.

Those concerns can be addressed at a future time, because right now the Bruins, like some of their local collegiate icemen and hoopsters, have their sights on a championship, and it’s not too far-fetched to think that 2004 could be a helluva year for parades on New England’s fabled streets.

Sporting Eye runs Mondays and Fridays at BostonPhoenix.com, and Christopher Young can be reached at cyoung[a]phx.com