SAME FEDORA-NEW CROWN?

[PointGuard]

Feb. 17, 2028: Wake Forest Demon Deacons (7-17, 1-14) vs #2 ranked Boston College Eagles (24-2, 14-1) at Silvio O. Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA

Randy Watkins, BC alum and member of the BC Hoop Club

This appears to be a big mismatch. Let’s hope the Eagles don’t take the Demon Deacons too lightly and blow this. Wake Forest has been the doormat of the ACC that past few years and has had an atrocious season thus far. They’d like nothing better than to score a major upset by beating the Eagles tonight.

BC took a 13-0 lead in the first 4 minutes. Wake Forest began scoring but the Eagles gradually expanded their lead. Coach Aura subbed liberally. When the half ended, Boston College was ahead 51-28. SF Leonard Meliet was on fire, scoring 22 points in the half.

The second half was 20 minutes of subbing by Coach Aura. The entire bench got plenty of playing time. The lead grew to as much as 29 points and the final score was Boston College-88, Wake Forest-67. That’s 9 straight wins for BC.

SF Leonard Meliet scored 32 points. Reserve PF/C Jason Caldwell added 12 points.

[PointGuard]

Malik Aura

We’ve gone to several of my brother Omari’s games for Providence. The Friars are having a great season, 24-3 overall and 13-3 in the Big East, good enough for 2nd place, a game behind Creighton. Providence is ranked #4 in the polls.

Omari is the backup at SF for Providence. He’s averaging 13 mpg. He’s been playing well, but he’s hit a low percentage of his shots. He’s only averaging 1.1 ppg and 1.6 rpg. But his high game stats are: 12 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks and 3 steals. My dad thinks he has a chance to be a starter next season.

My high school team is doing well and I’m having a good season. There’s been quite a few college scouts at our games and I’ve been getting calls from college coaches. But since I’m just a junior this year, I’m trying not to get too involved with all that. I figure there’s plenty of time this summer and next year to narrow down where I’d like to go to college.

[PointGuard]

Feb. 20, 2028: Virginia Tech Hokies (10-15, 4-11) vs #2 ranked Boston College Eagles (25-2, 15-1) at Silvio O. Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA

WHDH TV News and Sports at 11 p.m.

Sports Report with Aleeta Jamison

Tonight Boston College’s ACC-leading basketball team hosted Virginia Tech at Conte Arena. The Eagles were trying to extend their win streak to 10 games.

BC’s defense took front stage early in the game, forcing the Hokies to make a bundle of turnovers which allowed the Eagles to build a 10 point lead just 8 minutes into the game. Led by Leonard Meliet’s 14 points, the Eagles forged a 44-26 advantage at the end of the first half. Virginia Tech made 15 turnovers in the first 20 minutes.

Then in the 2nd half, Boston College ran away with it and trounced Virginia Tech by a final score of 94-60. That kept the Eagles on top in the ACC, a game ahead of Virginia.

SF Leonard Meliet had his 2nd straight monster game, scoring 26 points. PG Josh McFadgon popped in 19 points, reserve C Greg Kidd had 12 points, and SG James Lilly scored 10, grabbed 6 rebounds and had 4 assists and 3 steals.

We caught up with Coach Fred Aura after the game and he had this to say about his team’s play, “We controlled the game from start to finish. We didn’t announce it prior to the game, but C Courtland Reese came down with food poisoning. We expected to keep him out of the game, but he felt strong enough to play. Even though he tired quickly, he played well while he was in the game and scored 8 points and pulled down 6 boards. I was pleased with our defense tonight, particularly our forcing them to make 25 turnovers. Our outside shooting was great tonight also as we hit over 50% of our 3’s. And Leonard Meliet was on fire the entire game. Not only was he a scoring machine but he had 6 rebounds and 6 assists as well.”

[PointGuard]

Feb. 22, 2028: Florida State Seminoles (16-11, 6-10) vs #2 ranked Boston College Eagles (26-2, 16-1) at Silvio O. Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA

Travis Thompson, father of PG Phil Thompson

This is the first college game I have been able to attend to watch my son. I’m a Ranger in the Army and have been on an extended deployment. Finally got back to the States and flew up to Boston so I could see Phil and watch him play. I’ve been following his team and checking his stats though. I’m not surprised that he’s only averaging a little under 9 mpg on the court since he’s a freshman and they had a returning senior who started last season. But I’m pleased his playing time has been increasing as the season has continued. Phil has been shooting well, hitting a little over 40% of his FG’s, exactly 40% of his 3’s, and 81% of his FT’s. The kid was always a good shooter.

Since Virginia lost to Louisville today, a win tonight for the Eagles will give them a 2-1/2 game lead and a little breathing room in the ACC standings.
Wow, what a surprise! They announced the starting lineup and Phil’s starting at PG tonight. He didn’t tell me that, but he did play 22 minutes in the Eagles’ last game. I’m tremendously excited. Well yeah, and maybe a little nervous.

Phil looked pretty good directing the offense and guarding one of the Seminoles’ best scorers. BC got out in front 8-0 in the first 3 minutes. When he went to the bench 8 minutes into the game, the Eagles were on top 12-5. I knew Courtland Reese was good, but he’s showing some really great moves. Phil got back into the game with a little over 7 minutes remaining in the half and the Eagles ahead 24-11. He played until there were 2 minutes before halftime with BC holding a 33-21 lead. Phil had a couple really nice assists plus got inside and pulled down a rebound. The half ended with Boston College ahead 38-25. Courtland Reese had 16 points and 4 rebounds. Florida State’s PG had just 1 points, so Phil did a good job handling him. The Eagles hit 54% of their FG’s and totally dominated the boards.

Phil started the 2nd half also and on the Eagles’ first possession, made a beautiful pass to Leonard Meliet…his shot didn’t go down due to his being fouled, so no assist for Phil. After 4 minutes of play, Phil cut off the guy he was defending who was trying to move to a leading pass from another Seminole…he couldn’t get to the ball…no stat for that but Phil’s play forced the turnover by Florida State. Phil was subbed out at the 14:45 mark…the score was 49-33. Florida State them made a run to cut BC’s lead to just 5 points with 7:46 remaining. Phil was brought back into the game. Phil got a good stop on the Seminoles’ point guard causing him to be called for travelling. The Eagles reestablished a double digit lead, only to see the Seminoles again cut into it so that it was 66-60 with 3 minutes to go. Phil was again subbed out. With 2 minutes left, Florida State trailed by just 4 points. But the Eagles fought back to go up 73-75 with 57 seconds on the clock. Coach Aura brought in his best free throw shooters, including Phil. Phil was fouled with 32 seconds to go…uncharacteristically he only made one of two shots. He was fouled again with 18 seconds left…this time he canned both shots, putting the Eagles ahead by 7. Florida State his a 3, but Boston College came away with a hard-fought 76-72 victory. The Eagles outshot the Seminoles 52% to 46% and held a 36-26 rebounding advantage. But the Seminoles hit 10 of 21 from beyond the arc and that’s what made it possible for them to come back to make the game close.

Leading the Eagles was C Courtland Reese with 28 points and 7 boards. SF Leonard Meliet had 14 points and SG James Lilly scored 12 and had 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals. Phil played well but focused on defense, setting up plays, and distributing the ball, so he took just 2 shots from the field and missed those. He scored 3 points on free throws. His 23 minutes of play was his high mark for playing time thus far in college. Florida State’s PG had just 4 points, well under his normal output, so Phil did well defensively.

[PointGuard]

Janeka Aura

Our son Omari had a great game in Providence’s 68-62 win over Marquette tonight. Omari hit 5 of 8 FG’s and scored 11 points. He also pulled down 6 rebounds and had 1 assists, 2 steals, and a block. Since the Friars were playing the same time as Boston College, we recorded the game from the TV and watched it late that night. Lots of cheering in the Aura household. Since Fred was a good rebounder when he was in college (he had the nickname then of “Crash” since he crashed the boards), he likes strong rebounders and was particularly impressed that Omari had a season-high 6 rebounds. Providence is a half-game behind Creighton for 1st place in the Big East Conference standings.

[PointGuard]

Feb. 27, 2028: Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (14-15, 7-11) vs #2 ranked Boston College Eagles (27-2, 17-1) at Silvio O. Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA

Mary St. James, Boston College Athletic Department Publicist

With 2 games remaining in conference play, if we win tonight’s game, we’ll nail down the ACC championship. We’re going to be sure to highly publicize that since the Eagles have NEVER placed first in the ACC in the 23 years since joining that conference. A win tonight would also be a DOZEN straight wins, so the win streak is newsworthy as well. Jason Braxton, our athletic director, says that getting this type of publicity widely distributed will help our future recruiting efforts. I hope that our two top scorers, Courtland Reese and Leonard Meliet, have big games since that could work well into my publicity pieces.

In our previous game against Georgia Tech this winter, we won but it took overtime to get it done. So tonight may not be a cakewalk even though the Yellow Jackets have lost their lat 3 games and 5 of their last 6.

James Lilly has a hot start, scoring 12 points in the 8 minutes of the game to give us a 26-12 lead. He’s had a great career with us, so his story will be a good one for my publicity. Great offensive show by our team to give us a 54-32 halftime lead. We also controlled the boards. SG James Lilly scored 14, PF/C Jason Caldwell came off the bench to score 11, SF James Meliet hit for 9, and C Courtland Reese added 7.

Our team just seemed to coast through the 2nd half. But Georgia Tech began hitting most of their shots and got to within 6 points with 4-1/2 minutes left. Coach Aura was visibly upset by how his team was playing defense. He had to bring all his starters back into the game. The Eagles held the Yellow Jackets off and won 100-89.

James Lilly had a tremendous game: 21 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks. Leonard Meliet scored 17. Jason Caldwell had a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Courtland Reese scored 13 points. The Eagles scored 40 points in the paint and had 24 second chance points.

It’s fantastic that our team has played so well this season and will now be rewarded by being crowned ACC conference champs. Now it’s up to me to get the word out throughout the country.

[PointGuard]

Mar. 3, 2028: #2 Boston College Eagles (28-2, 18-1) vs #19 North Carolina Tar Heels (18-10, 11-8) at Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, NC

1st Assistant Coach David Woodruff (practice coach)

The Tar Heels aren’t a strong scoring team but are very good defensively and on the boards. They’ve been very inconsistent this season so you never know what type of team you’re going to be up against. Freshman PF A.J. Gainous is a real stud, averaging 19.5 ppg and 12.3 rpg. He’s scored 20-29 points in 8 games and 30-39 points in 4 games this season.

This road game will be a tough one. Since we’ve locked in 1st place, we’re hoping the team doesn’t experience a letdown. If they don’t play all-out, we’re going to be beaten.

After 4 minutes both SG James Lilly and C Courtland Reese had 2 fouls apiece which meant they’d ride the bench most of the rest of the half. PF Marvin Reese joined them with 2 fouls 3 minutes later. Turnovers by us plus free throws by them were keeping North Carolina on top. Then the Tar Heels began hitting from outside and spurted out to a 35-15 lead with 8 minutes to go in the half. When the half mercifully ended we were down 48-22. The Tar Heels scored 20 points to our 6 at the free throw line. We turned the ball over 11 times and hit just 22% of our shots. A very poor effort on our part. Coach Aura chewed the team out during the intermission.

We were unable to make a serious run in the 2nd half and ended up getting trounced 78-53. Maybe it will serve notice to our guys that they have to play hard every game as they proceed through the ACC Tournament and then the NCAA Tourney.

Leonard Meliet and Michael Millford both scored 11 points. The only bright spot was Millford’s play. Meliet erased anything positive by making 10 of our 21 turnovers.

[PointGuard]

Boston Globe

FINAL ACC STANDINGS AND OVERALL RECORDS

Boston College—18-2; Overall: 28-3; Net Ranking: 1; #2 in polls
Virginia—16-4; Overall: 25-5; Net Ranking: 4; #8 in polls
Notre Dame—15-5; Overall: 23-7; Net Ranking: 19; #13 in polls
Duke—15-5; Overall: 27-5; Net Ranking: 3; #3 in polls
Louisville—13-7; Overall: 24-8; Net Ranking: 13; #11 in polls
North Carolina—12-8; Overall: 19-10; Net Ranking: 18; #17 in polls
North Carolina State—10-10; Overall: 18-12; Net Ranking: 40
Clemson—10-10; Overall: 16-14; Net Raning: 62
Miami (FL)—8-12; Overall: 16-14; Net Ranking: 71
Florida State—7-13; Overall: 17-14; Net Ranking: 75
Georgia Tech—7-13; Overall: 14-17; Net Ranking: 93
Pittsburgh—7-13; Overall: 14-16; Net Ranking: 129
Virginia Tech—5-15; Overall: 11-19; Net Ranking: 245
Syracuse—5-15; Overall: 12-17; Net Ranking: 197
Wake Forest—2-18; Overall: 8- 21; Net Ranking: 204

[PointGuard]

Jason Braxton, Athletic Director

PG Phil Thompson gave us notice today that he intends to declare for the pro draft. It was unexpected since he still has a lot of development remaining. He certainly has the talent to become a very good player. But I think he would have been wise to wait since he will likely to be a second round pick and probably will go to the Development League. Had he waited, improved his skills and posted some strong stats, he would have had a good chance of being a high 1st round draftee.

But we all wish him well. It’s fortunate that Leonard Meliet is a natural PG and can shift to that position next season and that we recruited a PG.

[PointGuard]

Boston College Chronicle

Kinsey Ramsey

ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT

ACC TOURNAMENT--FIRST ROUND

#15 seed Wake Forest-69, #10 seed Florida State-66
#11 seed Georgia Tech-87, #14 seed Syracuse-78
#12 seed Pittsburgh-75, #13 seed Virginia Tech-68

ACC TOURNAMENT—SECOND ROUND

#5 seed Louisville-93, #12 seed Pittsburgh-76
#6 seed North Carolina-92, #11 seed Georgia Tech-77
#7 seed Clemson-80, #15 seed Wake Forest-72
#8 seed North Carolina St.-79, #9 seed Miami (FL)-68

ACC TOURNAMENT—QUARTERFINALS

Mar. 10, 2028: #8 seed North Carolina St. Wolfpack (19-12) vs #1 seed Boston College Eagles (28-3)

In a home game earlier this season, the Eagles ripped the Wolfpack 91-64.

In their tournament opener, the Eagles held a lead through most of the first half, but fell behind by 5 points late in the half. BC then went on an 11-0 run in the last few minutes and went to the locker room with a 45-42 edge. C Courtland Reese accounted for 14 of the Eagles first half points and SF Dusty Stowers had 12 for North Carolina St.

The score was close in the early going of the first half but midway through the half, the Eagles lead grew to 11 points. BC stayed in control of the game from that point and won with ease by a final score of 91-75. Boston College’s main advantage was total control (42-21) of the boards.

Six of the Eagles scored in double figures: C Courtland Reese-24, SF Leonard Meliet-15, PF/C Jason Caldwell-12, PG Phil Thompson-12, PG Josh McFadgon-11, and PF Marvin Reese-10. Courtland Reese and SG James Lilly both had 8 rebounds. SF Dusty Stowers scored 22 points for North Carolina St.

Other Games:

#2 seed Virginia-88, #7 seed Clemson-74
#3 seed Notre Dame-76, #6 seed North Carolina-56
#4 seed Duke-74, #5 seed Louisville-66

ACC TOURNAMENT—SEMIFINALS

Mar. 11, 2028: #4 seed Duke Blue Devils (28-5) vs #1 seed Boston College Eagles (29-3)

Boston College defeated the Blue Devils by 17 and 19 points in their two conference games this season. But Duke’s SF Rod Allen and C Brian Taylor are both Norton Award finalists and Allen has declared for the pro draft as has Duke’s talented reserve SF David Dye.

Both of the Eagle’s starting guards were relegated to the bench with 2 fouls apiece within 6-1/2 minutes of the start of the game. Duke went to the foul line 13 times in the first 10 minutes to take a 19-12 lead. The Eagles used some excellent shooting (59% on FG’s including 67% on 3’s) to get back into the game. Duke scored 13 more points at the foul line though. At the end of the half Duke was ahead 37-35. Leonard Meliet scored 11 points for BC and Rod Allen scored 13 points for Duke. Six players on BC had 2 fouls assessed against them in the first half. None of the Blue Devils players had more than a single foul called on them.

Boston College began the 2nd half with an extremely tight defense and scored 15 unanswered points to go ahead by a score of 50-37 with 14-1/2 minutes remaining. BC increased their lead to as much as 19 points. But Duke made a furious late comeback which included another slew of trips to the foul line. With 1:15 left, the Eagles lead had been whittled to 76-74. Then 57 seconds to go, Duke picked off an errant pass. Duke called a time out but their 3 pointer after than was off target. BC rebounded and SG James Lilly kissed a 14 footer off the glass to give the Eagles a little breathing room. Duke hurriedly fired off another 3 point shot that went off the rim. Lilly was quickly fouled. He dropped in both ends of a one-and-one. Duke’s last shot didn’t go down either and Boston College came away with an 80-74 victory. Duke hit 31 of 40 free throws, scoring 21 more points at the line than the Eagles. But BC outshot the Blue Devils 55% to 37%.

SF Rod Allen dropped in 31 points for Duke as well as pulling down 9 rebounds and making 3 steals and 2 blocks. But that was offset by the Eagles again getting scoring and rebounding throughout their entire lineup and bench. SF Leonard Meliet hit for 20 points and 5 assists, C Courtland Reese scored 13 points and pulled down 9 boards to go along with 4 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks, PF/C Jason Caldwell scored 11 points, and SG James Lilly had 10 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals.

Coach Fred Aura said, “Duke gave us everything we could handle tonight. The refs putting Rod Allen on the line 21 times was almost more than we could overcome. Our combination of great offense and defense at the beginning of the 2nd half was the difference in this game.”

Other Game:

#3 seed Notre Dame-81, #2 seed Virginia-66

ACC TOURNAMENT—CHAMPIONSHIP

March 12, 2028: #3 seed Notre Dame Fighting Irish (25-7) vs #1 seed Boston College Eagles (30-3)

Boston College beat Notre Dame by 12 early in the season, but that was played on the Eagles home court. And the Fighting Irish came into this championship game sporting a 9-game win streak. Four of their starters are averaging in double figures. To win the Eagles needed to crack Notre Dame’s vaunted defense which has allowed the 11th fewest points in Division I basketball this season. Opponents have averaged just 61 ppg throughout Notre Dame’s recent win streak.

Notre Dame took a 5-0 lead in the first minute of play. Six turnovers by BC put them behind by 8 with 14 minutes to go in the half. Boston College doggedly fought back late in the half to trail by just a 30-27 score at the break. PG Marqus Gibson carried the Fighting Irish with 12 points.

Four minutes into the 2nd half, James Lilly hit 2 free throws to forge a 36-36 tie. Then Leonard Meliet and Courtland Reese were charged with their 3rd fouls in the next minute and went to the bench. Notre Dame re-opened a 7 point lead but BC came back and Phil Thompson hit an off-balance jumper with 8:46 to give the Eagles their first lead at 48-47. 90 seconds later the Eagles were on top by 6 points. Notre Dame answered by scoring 8 straight points to move ahead by 2. Notre Dame hit a 3 with a little over a minute to play to put them up by 5 points. The Eagles were forced to foul which caused them to lose 66-57.

None of the Eagles scored in double figures. The team hit just 33% of their FG’s and 13% of their 3’s. “Credit Notre Dame’s defense,” said Coach Fred Aura.

“Not only did they prevent us from getting many clear shots, but they forced us to turn the ball over 20 times. The Fighting Irish will be a force in the NCAA Tourney.”