SAME FEDORA-NEW CROWN?

[PointGuard]

Coach Fred Aura

Fall practices went well. Players got along well together and focused on developing the best team work possible. We have good depth this season. Here’s how we will start the season:

Starters:

PG-Josh McFadgon, 6-1 Sr: Josh developed strongly throughout last season, particularly his scoring. He continues to show good offensive power. I’m hoping his ball distribution continues to improve but he’s got a good understanding about the flow of a game and good leadership skills.

SG-James Lilly, 6-0 Sr: James is very strong offensively, defensively and on the boards. His production has declined a bit but that’s because we have so many more players who can put points on the board and he understands that whoever has the best shot should be putting the ball into the hoop. His leaping capabilities and his understanding of the importance of proper positioning for rebounds has made him our top rebounder, even though he’s just 6 feet tall.

SF-Leonard Meliet, 6-5 Fr: Tremendous potential. That’s made us decide to start him at SF (rather than his natural PG position) so we have him in the starting lineup. We’ll see how he does there and adjust if necessary. So far he’s had spurts of excellent offense but also bouts of poor shot selection. He’s going to be a good rebounder, but is still learning how to best position himself and contend for rebounds against bigger players.

PF-Marvin Reese, 6-6 Sr: Marvin is a good scorer. We continue to work with him on his rebounding and defense. He can also move over to and do a good job at SF since he’s a very good outside shooter.

C-Courtland Reese, 6-9 So: He continues to be our rock inside. A very good scorer and rebounder and a good defender. We are a better team when Courtland is on the floor. We believe he has the ability to develop further, but we’ll see how that unfolds this season.

Bench:

Perimeter Players:

PG-Phil Thompson (6-3, Fr) came to us with a good skill set that still needs refinement. So we will give him enough minutes so that he can develop into what could be a very strong player for us in the future. Jon Ray (6-3, Sr) will come in at both PG and SG. He has the ability to come in and give us a scoring boost and his passing and ball-handling skills have really progressed. Since he could well become our starting PG next season after Josh McFadgon graduates, Leonard Meliet will get playing time at PG as well as starting at SF.

SG-Besides Jon Ray, Jason Dunn (6-2, Sr) will continue to come off the bench to spell James Lilly. He’s developed a lot since last season and can give us some offensive firepower when he enters the game.

SF-Michael Millford (6-6, Jr) could well have been a starter this season (and may be at some point). He’s good at coming in and putting points on the board. Keith Kolder (6-7, Fr) has good skills but needs to hone them further so we need to find spots where he can get onto the court and have success. We’re likely to slide Marvin Reese and Winston Minahan from their regular PF position over to the SF position at times and feel that both can be productive there. Andy Dawson (6-8, So) is a pretty decent player for a walk-on but is unlikely to get much playing time.

Interior Players:

Jason Caldwell (6-8 Jr) and Greg Kidd (6-10 Jr walk-on) are both excellent players at either C or PF. Both are good scorers and rebounders. Winston Minahan (6-6 So) is coming off a year of ineligibility due to his transfer from Texas Tech). He’s a solid player at PF and will also put in some time as SF. Danny Toliver (6-8, So) who transferred this year from Georgia Tech will be practicing with the team but is ineligible this season due to the transfer.

[PointGuard]

Nov. 15, 2027: San Diego State Aztecs (0-1) vs Boston College Eagles (0-0) at Silvio O. Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA

Ray Morrison, fan

I’m excited to have BC Eagles’ basketball beginning again. It’s really been nice to have a competitive team here the past two seasons that Coach Aura has been in charge. From what I’ve read it sounds like this year’s team will be even stronger. We have a really good core of players back and apparently some very good new players also. But as they say: don’t count your chickens before they hatch.

Freshman SF Leonard Meliet isn’t afraid to shoot. He scored 6 of the Eagles first 12 points, hitting 3 of his 5 shots in the first 4 minutes of the game. With BC shooting well and forcing the Aztecs into a series of turnovers, the Eagles steadily pulled away. With 7 minutes remaining in the half, BC was on top 34-15. After leading by as much as 25 points, the Eagles settled for a 48-29 halftime advantage. SF Leonard Meliet looked even better than advertised, scoring 16 points on 7 of 11 shooting with 3 rebounds and an assist. BC made no turnovers in the first half while causing San Diego State to make 14.

The Eagles continued to dominate in the 2nd half, expanding their lead to 27 points. They eased up late and still won by a final score of 85-69.

Leonard Meliet led all scorers with 21 points. PF Marvin Reese hit for 15 points, C Courtland Reese scored 12, and PG Phil Thompson scored 11 points in his 12 minutes of play.

Nice start to the season. Three of our new guys really looked good. Meliet was terrific. Thompson hit 3 of 3 from beyond the arc, and PF Winston Minahan had 3 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists in the 10 minutes he was on the court.

[PointGuard]

Nov. 18, 2027: #6 seed Oregon State Beavers (0-1) vs # 3 seed Boston College Eagles (1-0) in Maui Jim Invitational at the Lahaina Civic Center in Lahaina, Hawaii

2nd Assistant Coach Chris Evans

Our guys are excited to be in Hawaii for the Maui Jim Invitational. We’re the 3rd seed. Our opening opponent, Oregon State, lost on the road to #6 ranked Maryland earlier this week so that loss wasn’t unexpected.

PG Josh McFadgon sprained his toe late in our game against San Diego State early this week. Our trainers expect it will take a week to fully heal, but Josh wants to play and the trainers are OK with that but say he may be slowed down a bit. We’re going to have him coming in off the bench and see how he does. We’ve adjusted our starting lineup. Leonard Meliet will start at PG rather than SF, Marvin Reese will move from PF to SF to start, and Jason Caldwell will start at PF.

We hit just 1 of our first 7 shots, but the Beavers were having just as much problem putting the ball in the hoop. Even though we started slow, our shooting warmed up as the half progressed and we finished the half hitting 41% of our FG’s. We held Oregon State’s shooting to just 19%. We also had a 9 to 1 turnover advantage. That explained our 42-21 halftime lead. Leonard Meliet scored 11 points, Courtland Reese had 10 points, and SG James Lilly scored 9 and had 7 rebounds in the half. PF Winston Minahan came off the bench to score 7 and pull down 4 boards in 10 minutes of play. Josh McFadgon played for about 4 minutes but his sprained toe is keeping him from making cuts and making him a half-step slow. We’ll rest him the remainder of the game.

We opened the 2nd half with a 12-3 run to go up by 30. While we were never threatened, we let down at that point but still finished with an easy 82-61
victory.

Our leading scorer was C Courtland Reese with 20 points. PG/SF Leonard Meliet had 16 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists. SG James Lilly had a double-double with 13 points and 11 boards. PG Phil Thompson hit 2 more 3’s and is now 5 for 5 from long distance in his first 2 collegiate games.

Phil Thompson, PG

I’ve never been to Hawaii until now. It seems great but we really don’t have the time to do much and the coaches have us all on a really short leash. We did get to the beach this morning and had a great time. We then went and got something very Hawaiian, shaved ice. Then it was time for a light workout and practice in the afternoon. I expected to go to a luau while here, but we’re playing our games at night so that’s out so we’ll miss out on watching the hulu dancers which sucks. The Boston College Jesuit providing oversight on this trip is Father James. He’s one of the most conservative and straight-laced priests so he doesn’t want us doing anything. Some of my teammates and I think we shoulda spent a couple days here before or after the tournament so we could experience the island sights, culture and wahinis.

[PointGuard]

Nov. 19, 2027: #3 seed Boston College Eagles (2-0) vs #2 seed South Carolina Gamecocks (1-0) in Maui Jim Invitational at the Lahaina Civic Center in Lahaina, Hawaii (semi-finals)

PG Josh McFadgon

South Carolina got by Illinois State easily in their opening game in this tournament. SG Patrick Wilson scored 23 points in that game. I played 4 minutes in our previous game and just didn’t get anything done. The sprained toe is giving me more problems than I expected. I’ll be on the bench tonight, but don’t expect that Coach Fed will play me. I hate not playing, but my function will be to cheer on the other guys.

Lots of mistakes on offense early for us with a bunch of turnovers. But our defense allowed us to edge ahead. But then the Gamecocks scored 11 unanswered points to pull ahead 18-9 midway through the half. We scored the next 10 points to edge ahead again. South Carolina outplayed us in the final minutes of the half to take lead 35-28. Coach Fed chewed out the team in the locker room because of our 13 turnovers. The Gamecocks gradually edged further ahead, taking a 13 point lead with 10 minutes left. We scratched our way back with 3’s by Meliet, Millford, Dunn and Ray to get within a single point at 56-55 with 6-1/2 minutes remaining. Greg Kidd then sank 2 free throws to put us up by 1 with 6 minutes to go. At the final media timeout we were on top 63-61. Neither team could score for the next 2-1/2 minutes. But South Carolina stole the ball and drove for a layup to pull into a tie with 1:32 on the clock. With 30 seconds to go, James Lilly worked the ball inside to Courtland Reese in the lane. Courtland drove to the hoop and put up a finger roll that fell through to make it 65-63. Both teams missed shots giving the Gamecocks the final possession. Their 3 point shot just as the buzzer was to sound rimmed around the basket and spun away. We escaped in a 65-63 squeaker.

Our leading scorer was SF Michael Millford who scored 14 points. C Courtland Reese with 12 points was our only other player in double figures. Courtland also had 6 rebounds, 2 blocks and 4 steals.

[PointGuard]

Nov. 20, 2027: #4 seed Alabama-Birmingham Blazers (2-1) vs #3 seed Boston College Eagles (3-0) in Maui Jim Invitational at the Lahaina Civic Center in Lahaina, Hawaii (championship game)

Coach Fred Aura

Alabama-Birmingham beat DePaul and #1 seed/#9 ranked Ohio State to get to the championship game against us. They’ve got an explosive offense and their two starting guards have combined to average over 30 ppg, but I’m hoping we can exploit their defense.

We’re going to sit PG Josh McFadgon again to give his sprained toe a chance to heal. He continue to want to play, but his on-court movement is restricted. Our guys were getting too keyed up about playing in the championship game, so I tried dialing it back before the game, telling them to approach this as just another pre-conference game.

The refs called game too close on both teams. C Courtland Reese picked up his second foul just four minutes into the game and both of the Blazers’ starting guards were on the bench a minute later. Greg Kidd, who we subbed in for Courtland Reese, was charged with 2 fouls in 3 minutes on the court. Alabama-Birmingham was 0 for 8 from the field and we jumped out to a 14-1 lead with 13 minutes left in the half. Both teams were in the bonus at the foul line after just 8 minutes of play. Our defense held and we came away with a 31-20 lead at the break. We hit just 39% of our shots, but the Blazers could only knock down 26% of their FGA’s. We controlled the boards 24-13. PF/C Jason Caldwell had 8 points and 7 rebounds in the half.

The Blazers went on a run cutting out lead to 6 points with 12 minutes to play. But we rallied to re-establish a double-digit lead. Our lead grew to 23 points at one point and we won easily 76-61. We did a great job on the boards…44-25. We won the Maui Jim Invitational Championship! There haven’t been any basketball trophies added to the BC trophy case for a long time, so this one will be prized.

SF Michael Millford had a really strong game, scoring 17 points and picking off 6 rebounds. PF/C Jason Caldwell had an awesome double-double, scoring 14 and pulling down 13 boards. SG Jason Dunn scored 13 points and PG Leonard Meliet added 11 points.

For other ACC teams in early tournaments: Duke won the 2K Sports Classic championship and Louisville lost in the championship game of the NIT Season Tip-Off.

Surprisingly, we’re ranked #7 in the Media Poll and #5 in the Coaches Poll. That’s way overrated. Can’t let it swell my guys’ heads or let them believe they can just walk onto the court and get a win.

[PointGuard]

Nov. 22, 2027: UCLA Bruins (0-1) vs #7-ranked Boston College Eagles (4-0) at Silvio O. Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA

Mason O’Leary, fan

Prior to the game:

I came to Boston College as a freshman in 2012 and graduated in 2016. In the fifteen years since I first became a fan of the Eagles, this is the first time we’ve had a home game with an Eagles’ team that has been ranked in the polls. And we’re not only ranked, but well up into the Top 10 in both polls. Amazing!!! You can feel the difference in fans…a positivity that was absent in the past. With UCLA in town, Conte Forum is full and rocking. While fans were hopeful when Coach Aura was hired, I think most, me included, figured the most that could be expected was that maybe we’d finally win as many games as we lost. But his first two years in command, and now the start this season, have us all expecting the team to better its Sweet 16 finish of last year. Greedy? Demanding? Hell yes!

UCLA sustained a tough loss to New Mexico in the opening round of the 2K Sports Classic but that was because the Lobos scored 16 more points at the free throw line than the Bruins and 2 UCLA starters fouled out while 2 more starters and 2 reserves were on the ropes with 4 fouls apiece. Bruins’ Coach Ben Purnell got a technical and was nearly tossed out of the game. I have a feeling UCLA will be gunning to turn their season around against the Eagles.

First half comments:
• Coach Aura is still not starting Josh McFadgon at PG. I guess the injury is taking longer to heal that expected.
• Courtland Reese wins the tip off and it goes to PG Leonard Meliet. He dribbles into the forecourt, fakes a pass to James Lilly and then turns and fires the ball into the corner to PF Marvin Reese. Reese does a nice job of protecting the ball as he dribbles along the base line, turns quickly and moves out along the edge of the key. UCLA’s PG Whitehead shifts to pick him up. Reese puts up a quick jumper that settles through the hoop. He was fouled on the shot and they calmly hits the free throw. Nice start.
• On the next possession, Meliet hits a 3 from the corner to make it 6-0 in just the first 40 seconds.
• Courtland Reese hits a shot on which he was fouled. He drops in the foul shot to make it 9-3 after 98 seconds of play.
• We’re up 18-6 with just under 16 minutes to play.
• Refs are calling too many fouls…controlling the game too much. Fouls on us with 14 minutes to play in the half. Let them play, zebras.
• McFadgon subs in and gets a quick assist.
• On successive possessions by UCLA, the Eagles pick off passes and fire it up court to streaking teammates for slam dunks, 28-16 with 9:27 remaining. The crowd is going wild. UCLA calls a time out.
• I guess turnabout is fair play. UCLA intercepts passes on 2 consecutive possessions by BC and turns them into 4 easy points, 34-23 with 6:26 left. Coach Aura calls a time out for a little butt chewing.
• Meliet hits his 5th 3-pointer in 6 attempts with 1:18 on the clock.
• Jon Ray subs in at SG with less than a minute to go and hits the final shot of the half to make the halftime score 54-32 in favor of the Eagles.
• BC hit 59% of their FG’s and 67% of their 3’s, had an 18-15 rebounding edge, and an 11-7 turnover advantage in the first half. PG Leonard Meliet had 15 points, PF/SF Marvin Reese had 14, C Courtland Reese had 10, and SG James Lilly scored 8 and pulled down rebounds.

2nd Half Comments:
• Play by both teams was sloppy in the 2nd half.
• BC didn’t shoot as well in the 2nd half, but increased their lead to as much as 29 points.
• Coach Aura emptied the bench in the latter stages of the game.
• Final score: Boston College-78, UCLA-57.
• Top scorers: PG Leonard Meliet-21; C Courtland Reese-16; PF/SF Marvin Reese-16; SG James Lilly-10 points with 10 rebounds, 6 assists, and 4 steals. UCLA’s C Jason Lavin also had a double-double with 13 points and 12 boards.
• PG Josh McFadgon came in off the bench and played pretty well, but definitely seems to still not be back to 100% and not able to get free of coverage to get off shots. He played 18 minutes, scoring 3 points (hitting 1 of 3 FG’s and 1 of 2 FT’s), dishing out 4 assists, getting 1 steal and turning the ball over 3 times. McFadgon was such an integral part of the team last season, that it seems important for him to get back fully to his role as team leader and into the flow of the game.

[PointGuard]

Nov. 5, 2027: Minnesota Golden Gophers (3-0) vs #7-ranked Boston College Eagles (5-0) at Silvio O. Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA

Roy Matuzik, sports reporter for WEEI radio

There’s been a lot of questions and discussion in our sports talk segments recently about Boston College basketball. So I’m attending a game so I can be a better host for those segments.

The Eagles C Greg Kidd sprained his ankle in practice and will be out for about a week. BC has announced that Josh McFadgon has fully recovered from his toe injury, so I assume he will be starting at PG tonight.

Minnesota is a guard-oriented team. SG Trey Jeppson is averaging 24.3 ppg and is hitting 67% of his treys. PG Eddie Walker is averaging 12.3 ppg and 8.7 apg.

McFadgon hit a 3 with 17-1/2 minutes remaining in the half to put BC ahead 9-2. With 14 minutes to go he knocked down his second 3 to make it 23-8…looks like he’s back. The Golden Gophers then went on a 10-0 run cutting the lead to 5 points. C Courtland Reese charged with 3rd personal foul with about 6 minutes remaining in the half and the Eagles holding a 13 point lead. Big time O displayed by the Eagles. The halftime score is 58-37. BC hit 64% of their FG’s and 67% of their 3’s. SF/PG Leonard Meliet poured in 19 points and PG Josh McFagdon scored 11, hitting 100% of his shots.

Boston College’s shooting cooled in the 2nd half and Minnesota cut the lead to 13 points with 15 minutes to go. BC got the lead back up to 20 before settling for a 90-73 thrashing of Minnesota. Strong rebounding (+9) by the Eagles.

SF/PG Leonard Meliet had 21 points and 7 assists. PG Josh McFadgon dropped in 16 points. SG Jason Dunn hit for 13 points. C Jason Caldwell scored 11 points and had 9 boards. SG Eric Jeppson scored 26 points for Minnesota.

[PointGuard]

Boston College Chronicle

By Kinsey Ramsey

EAGLES SOAR IN POLLS

Following two impressive wins this past week which raised the Boston College basketball team’s record to 6-0, the Eagles ranking in the Media Poll is now #3. In the Coaches Poll they are #4. Their NET Ranking is 6th best. Duke (6-0) and Florida (6-0) have nailed down the top 2 spots in both polls.
The Eagles are averaging 79.3 ppg while giving up just 64.0 ppg. Leading the team in scoring is freshman Leonard Meliet who has averaged 15.8 ppg and junior Courtland Reese who has scored 12.7 ppg. Top rebounders are senior James Lilly (7.3 rpg) and junior Jason Caldwell (6.7 rpg).

"Although polls this early in the season are highly inaccurate, it’s an honor to be ranked so high,” said Coach Fred Aura. He added, “But rankings don’t win games. In fact they paint a bullseye on your back. So we’ll have to continue to work hard in practice and execute in games.”

[PointGuard]

Nov. 29, 2027: Missouri Tigers (3-2) vs #3 ranked Boston College Eagles (6-0) at Silvio O. Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA

Boston Herald

Boston College continued to try to maintain a spotless basketball record last night at Conte Forum. Trying to pin a first loss on the 6-0 Eagles were the Missouri Tigers coming into the game with a 3-2 record.

Because of turnovers, missed shots, and fouls, it took the Eagles nearly 4 minutes to get on the board and put them in a 6-0 hole. A minute later C Courtland Reese went down with an injury and was taken out of the game, not to return. Missouri went ahead 31-13 with 7:46 remaining in the half. During the media time out, Coach Aura could be seen animatedly reprimanding his team. BC responded by going on a 27-6 run over the final 12 minutes of the half that got the crowd back in the game and put the Eagles on top 40-37 when the halftime claxon sounded. SG James Lilly led the comeback, scoring 11 points in the half. BC’s 10 turnovers in the half gave Coach Aura something to talk to the team about during the halftime intermission, though.

Boston College’s onslaught continued as they scored the first 12 of 14 points in the 2nd half. The Tigers then cut the lead to 8 but BC came right back to extend their lead back to 15 with 11-1/2 minutes left in the game. The Eagles then not only stubbornly held onto their large lead but increased it to finish the game with a dominant 82-61 victory.

Scoring in double figures for Boston College were SF Marvin Reese with 14 points, C Jason Caldwell with 12 (he also had 9 rebounds), and SG James Lilly who scored 11 points in 17 minutes of play. SF Leonard Meliet pulled down 13 rebounds and had 7 assists, 2 steals and 3 blockds while scoring 8 points.

“We stumbled after Courtland (Reese) went down,” said Coach Fred Aura. “But we got back up and pulled together as a team to play what may have been our strongest straight 30 minutes. We got great performances throughout the lineup with all 13 of our players scoring. I was really happy to see Winston Minahan and Keith Kolder come off the bench and both score points. I also was impressed by Leonard (Meliet) mixing it upside and grabbing 13 boards.” When asked about Courtland Reese’s injury, Aura replied, “Courtland sustained a major contusion to his thigh. My staff indicates he is likely to be out of commission for 7-10 days. Together with the prior injury to Greg Kidd, that leaves us a little short-handed inside. So that’s why Minahan’s and Kolder’s performances today were so important. Injuries make having a deep bench a real necessity.”

[PointGuard]

Dec. 2, 2027: #3 seed Boston College Eagles (7-0) vs #4 seed Illinois Fighting Illini (7-0) at State Farm Center in Champaign, IL

1st Assistant Coach David Woodruff (practice)

We’ve played some very good teams thus far, but we’re really moving up a step by taking on Illinois, particularly when the game is on their home court. Illinois has won 27 and 28 games the past two seasons and been ranked in the Top 25 in the polls each season. SG Randy Sims is averaging 19.4 ppg, 5.9 apg, and 5.4 rpg. SF Abdul Craig has scored 18.7 ppg and pulled down 5.6 rpg. PG Kevin Payne is averaging 12.3 ppg and 4.0 apg. C Michael Howell has averaged 11.9 ppg and 7.1 rpg. The Fighting Illini are a veritable scoring machine, averaging 95.4 ppg and holding opponents to 76.0 ppg. Unfortunately we’re meeting them with C Courtland Reese sidelined with an injury. Obviously we need to play some good defense and clamp down on their high-scoring offense to keep them well under their typical scoring in order to have a change against them.

We have a good start, opening a 9-2 lead in the first 2 minutes. But Illinois struck back and struck hard by scoring 17 of the next 19 points. Although that left us reeling, we were able to shake it off and scored the next 6 points to show we weren’t going to fold. But even though we were shooting well, the Fighting Illini were decimating us with their sharp shooting. With 8 minutes left in the half we trailed 33-21 with Illinois hitting nearly 70% of their shots, including 7 of 8 from beyond the arc. When the half ended we were on the short end of a 53-35 score. PF Marvin Reese led us with 12 points, but Illinois’ SF Abdul Craig had poured in 18 points with SG Randy Sims adding 10. I had the feeling our guys were a little shell-shocked when they got into the locker room. They’d just had an opponent hit 69% of their FG’s, 60% of their 3’s, 92% of their FT’s, and make just 4 turnovers. Coach Aura did all he could to get them into a positive frame of mind and get across the idea that we couldn’t make up the deficit quickly, but that it was important to just keep whittling away at it throughout the 2nd half.

We made a few dents in the difference, but Illinois had a comeback every time to keep us from ever mounting a serious charge. We dropped this game 89-71. Illinois showed they’re an elite team.

PF Marvin Reese had 17 points and 7 rebounds, C Jason Caldwell scored 15 points, and SF Leonard Meliet added 10 points. SF Abdul Craig finished with 20 points for Illinois.

When the polls were updated we dropped to #6 in the Media Poll and #7 in the Coaches Poll.