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Perhaps Maurice Watson Jr. had something to prove during Saturday's semifinal against Army. After all, he was maybe the player that most deserved the Player of the Year award in the Patriot League.
Consider Boston University's win as proof tendered.
The Terriers sophomore point guard had an NCAA-high, single-game mark of 17 assists as BU cruised 91-70 over the Black Knights. After being excluded from the America East conference tournament last season, the Terriers are now in the finals of a better league with a real shot of another NCAA Tournament berth.
Watson added 10 points and two steals in the win, but it was his assists that were important, helping to spark a run in the second half that put the Terriers out of reach of Army.
Over five minutes, Boston University pushed the tempo and moved from a five-point advantage to a 14-point lead. Army had gone cold from the floor, and got out of sorts with their deliberate offense.
That is no way to beat Boston University, especially when the Terriers shot a ridiculous 58.7 percent from the floor, including almost 40 percent from behind the arc.
D.J. Irving, the man who used to lead this offense at point guard, scored 20 points, and Dom Morris added 16.
Army did its best behind 22 points from first-team, all-conference Kyle Wilson, but the loss of tempo control in the second half proved to be the difference. Dylan Cox added 12 points and Kevin Ferguson played a decent game in the middle for the Black Knights, with seven points and eight rebounds.
The Terriers will host the championship game Wednesday night, against the winner of American and Holy Cross. Boston University split its two games against the Eagles, and swept Holy Cross during the regular season.