SAME FEDORA-NEW CROWN?

[PointGuard]

JJ Conroy, BeanTownSports Blog

Ewww! What’s that foul odor? Seems it’s coming from Chapel Hill, NC. Ohhh, it must be the Boston College Eagles late 2nd half rancid play. They simply were putrid while allowing North Carolina to score 19 unanswered points. Yes, unanswered….as in scoring zero points while giving up 19. Not only did the Eagles offense stink but their vaunted defense gave up 29 points in 7 short minutes at the end of the game. During that time they surrendered an 8 point lead to fall to a bruising crash landing loss that was more ungainly than a gooney bird’s crash landing.

The strengths of the Boston College team (defense and rebounding) took a real beating. And their inability to score points to a really serious deficiency of the Eagles team. That’s their shooting. Their FG% is only 131st best in the country. And their 3-point shooing percentage is 226th best. Those aren’t stats that point to consistent success this season. So it’s no wonder their rebounding seems to be a strength…they pull down the 12th most rebounds per game of any Division I team. Well, that’s because their defense makes their opponents normally shoot poorly…and the Eagles themselves create even more possible rebounds by shooting poorly.

This isn’t a problem that can be fixed overnight. If most of your team are low percentage shooters, you may HOPE for improvement, but the likelihood of actually accomplishing that is very low.

This spells out something most Eagles fans don’t want to accept. This year’s team is going to have an extremely tough time going up against top-flight competition in the tournaments at the end of the season. So if you’re the biggest Eagles supporter on your block, you may just have to hold your nose as you root for them and see them occasionally stink up the gym the rest of this season.

Meanwhile, the Duke Blue Devils are playing like real champs. Their defense it tops in Division I basketball, giving up just 53.9 ppg. The Blue Devils have won 17 straight games and now are a full 2 games ahead of 2nd place Boston College in the ACC standings. Their 9 wins in the ACC have been by margins of 16, 33, 30, 15, 10, 18, 23, 11, and 26 points. So they’re making the rest of the ACC look like high school teams. Duke and Boston College play each other next week. I’m picking the Blue Devils, but since the game is at BC’s Conte Forum, the Eagles at least have a chance if they can avoid another complete collapse. But BC plays in Durham 3 weeks later…and the Blue Devils will singe the tail feathers of the Eagles in that one.

[PointGuard]

Jan. 20, 2030: #5 ranked Boston College Eagles (15-3, 6-1) vs Louisville Cardinals (5-10, 1-5) at KFC Yumi Center in Louisville, KY

C Courtland Reese

Following regular participation in the NCAA tournament over the years, last season the Cardinals could only qualify for the NIT and this season has thus far been a much further slip down the ladder of success. Louisville’s offense has been anemic and they have hit a low percentage of their shots. We need to clamp down defensively early to keep them from gaining confidence. My primary responsibility is to not let Adam Crenshaw, who is their best scorer, from doing much damage. He’s a freshman who came to the Cardinals as a highly touted recruit and has produced including a couple recent 20+ points games

Crenshaw scored Louisville’s first 4 points, but a little later I drew an offensive foul from him. We shot well early and raced to a 21-7 lead after 8 minutes of play. We built a 20 point lead with 6 minutes remaining in the half. We had an extremely strong defense for the first 10 minutes of the game, but the Cardinals began hitting some shots after that. The half ended with us on top 42-24. PG Bobby Grannum led us offensively with 10 points. I failed in controlling Crenshaw…he scored 13 of their 24 points by hitting all 6 of his shots.

We had a horribly tough time getting the ball in the hoop for the first 7 minutes of the 2nd half and Louisville cut our lead to 44-33. Our shooting only improved slightly, and we slowly rebuilt a 20 point lead with 5 minutes to go. We let the Cardinals eat away at our lead the rest of the way but still came away with a 67-57 win. Both teams hit less than 40% of their FGA’s.

SF/SG Glen Robinson, PG Bobby Grannum and I each scored 11 points. I also had 13 rebounds , 3 steals and a block. But Adam Crenshaw scored 21 points for Louisville. He’s really good at working his way into the basket.

Now it’s time for us to prepare for Duke.

[PointGuard]

Jan. 25, 2030: #2 ranked Duke Blue Devils (20-1, 9-0) vs #5 ranked Boston College Eagles (16-3, 7-1) at Silvio O. Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, MA

2nd Assistant Coach Chris Evans

Duke’s a game-and-a-half ahead of us in the standings. Their defense (53.9 ppg) is awesome and has been responsible for them outscoring their opponents this season by an average of 21 points. C Brian Taylor is back for the 3rd year against us. This season, though, freshman SG Trent Coleman has been the Blue Devils primary scorer, averaging 23.5 ppg. In Duke’s 21 games, Coleman has scored 20+ points 14 times and in 7 of those 14 he scored 30+ points. So while Taylor is still dominant on the boards (10.4 rpg) he’s now the secondary offensive weapon, averaging 11.7 ppg. But we’ve beaten Duke 4 out of 5 times the past two years and intend to break their 17-game win streak tonight. We’re starting Glen Robinson at SG rather than Corey Graham. Robinson is stronger defensively so hopefully he will have some success against Coleman. Graham will still get plenty of playing time, though, since we will need to keep fresh legs on the floor to combat Coleman’s aggressiveness.

The game’s about to begin. Let’s see how it goes.

Two intercepted passes turn into easy breakaway scores for Duke, but C Courtland Reese counteracts the Blue Devils scoring as he scores on all 4 of his shots in the first 3 minutes. Both teams hit a high percentage of their shots but Duke’s defense is causing us to make too many turnovers. We trail 24-20 with 9 minutes to play in the half. Both teams played tough the entire half. We came away with a slim 38-37 halftime advantage. Both teams hit 50% of their shots. We turned the ball over 9 times but our defense forced Duke to make 8 turnovers. We held a 14-11 rebounding advantage. C Courtland Reese was our top scorer with 9 points. Even though we double-teamed Duke’s Trent Coleman he still scored 14 points.

The lead shifted back and forth for the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half. We then hit a dry spell offensively and the Blue Devils took a 6 point lead with 6-1/2 minutes to go. We battled back to cut Duke’s lead to just 2 at the last media time out. We trailed by 4 with 1:35 to go and Glen Robinson was called for a technical, a major error on his part…that put us down by 6. We then had to foul…but couldn’t catch up and lost 69-63. The team stats were extremely close with the exception of free throws which favored Duke by 6 points, the difference in the final score. There were 16 lead changes and 8 ties in the game.

SG Trent Coleman scored 22 and had 6 steals to lead Duke. C Courtland Reese had 16 points and 8 rebounds, SG Corey Graham hit for 14, and PG Bobby Grannum scored 10 and pulled down 8 boards.

A disappointing loss, particularly at home, in a game we had a good chance of winning. We’re now 2-1/2 games behind Duke with several teams breathing down our necks for 2nd place in the ACC.

[PointGuard]

Omari Aura

My team, the Providence Friars, is having a terrific season. We’ve got a 18-1 season record and our 9-1 Big East record puts has us in a tie with Creighton for 1st place in the conference. We’re ranked #3 in the polls and our NET ranking is 4th best in the nation. We had very strong teams the first two years I was at Providence, but I think this is the strongest team we’ve had, and I believe we have a good chance to go much deeper in the NCAA Tournament than we did my first 2 years here. Of course, a lot of the credit goes to SG Zack Watkins. He’s so talented and in his freshman season he’s leading all Division I scorers by averaging 29.5 ppg. He’s also pulling down 7.8 rpg and dishing out 2.5 apg while recording 1.5 bpg and 1.9 spg. He should be the front-runner for the Norton Award, but his grades are low and that is keeping him from being considered. I’m concerned that he’ll opt to declare early for the pro draft. I’d sure like to have him playing for us next season when I’ll be a senior. Pro scouts are checking out a lot of our games and I know they’re not looking at me.

Coach Parker has worked me more into the offense recently. That’s allowed me to score in double figures in 5 of the last 7 games and score 9 points in one of the two other games. My season averages are now 7.1 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 1.6 apg, 1.2 spg, and 0.5 bpg which isn’t too bad for a SF. I’ve had a sore knee the past week which has cut down on my rebounds. My dad has been on me to keep getting treatments from the athletic trainers…and it’s starting to feel much better so I think I’ll be back to 100% for our next game. Gotta because 2 of my teammates are also nursing injuries.

My dad’s team has hit a bump in the road, losing 2 of their last 3 games. But I’m sure he’ll relight the fire and get the Eagles knocking off their opponents again. Who knows, maybe we’ll meet up with Boston College again in the NCAA Tourney.

[PointGuard]

Jan. 30, 2030; #7 Boston College Eagles (16-4, 7-2) vs Miami (FL) Hurricanes (14-7, 6-4) at Watsco Center in Coral Gables, FL

Boston College Chronicle

HURRICANES LEAVE EAGLES WINDED

Kinsey Ramsey

Following their disheartening loss to Duke last week, the Eagles got good news when they found out that their two recruits, Mike Williams and Ben Schau, received SAT scores well above the minimum requirements of this university.

Last night, the Eagles took on the Miami Hurricanes, a team came into the game with an 11-0 home record this season. Balanced scoring throughout their lineup had been the primary reason for the Hurricane’s success.

The Eagles pounded the ball inside throughout the entire first half, outscoring the Hurricanes in the paint 18-8. But Miami hit shots from shots from all over the court creating 9 lead changes and 3 ties during the first 20 minutes of play. At the break, BC held a slim 41-38 lead. C Courtland Reese scored 12 and his backup Winston Minahan added 6 in the first half.

The two teams continued to battle in the 2nd half with neither team able to gain more than a 3 point advantage. The refs helped Miami stay close by tagging BC with fouls. Coach Aura loudly and aggressively contended the fouls, and he was assessed a technical midway through the half. When the Eagles shooting went cold, Miami opened a 5 point lead with 6-1/2 minutes to go. BC fought back to narrow the gap to a single point with 4 minutes remaining. But the Eagles were unable to hit shots down the stretch when they needed to while Miami did. The Hurricanes dropped BC 82-77, collaring the Eagles with their 3rd loss in their last 4 games. The Eagles are now tied with Florida State and Notre Dame for 2nd place in the ACC. They will host Florida State Wednesday.

C Courtland Reese led Boston College’s scoring with 21 points and SG Corey Graham tossed in 17 points.

[Wayne23]

There's trouble, right here in River City!

[PointGuard]

Coach Aura

Following our latest loss, walk-on PG Ramond Keep again ranted in the locker room that he should be playing rather than Bobby Grannum and that I and the other coaches weren’t playing him because we didn’t like him. I called him aside and let him know in no uncertain terms that his comments were totally out of line, and he needed to get his act together and apologize to the team. He replied, “Hell with that Coach. I don’t have to listen to this. Any other great ideas?” I said, “Yes, I certainly do. You’re off the team, effectively immediately. Turn in your gear when we return home.”

If I could have just left him in Miami, I would have.

So we will return with not only one less player, but now we have three players with injuries. C Tim Cotton is still nursing his twisted ankle that has kept out of the last 4 games. And now C Courtland Reese has a strained abdominal muscle sustained at the very end of the game against Miami and SF/SG Glen Robinson injured his foot late in the game as well. While all 3 MAY be able to play in our next couple games, if they do their playing time and effectiveness will likely be limited. It’s tough to have these injuries multiplying at a time when we’re in a slump, but we’ll just have to figure out how to overcome them.

[PointGuard]

JJ Conroy, BeanTownSports Blog

I hate to say “I told you so.” But I did. Boston College is tanking and plummeting to the earth even faster than I had anticipated. Not only have they lost their last 3 of 4, letting their opponents take it to the Eagles in the waning moments of those games. And now it’s rumored there is dissention on the team and that there are several players with injuries. Although Boston College has not yet confirmed this publicly, if so, this is occurring right when they go up against Florida State, a team they are now tied with for 2nd place, and then the Eagles go on the road to take on Pittsburgh two days later.

[PointGuard]

Feb. 1, 2030: #11 ranked Florida State Seminoles (18-3, 7-3) vs #7 ranked Boston College Eagles (16-5, 7-3) at Silvio O. Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, MA

1st Assistant Coach Darrell Montgomery

We’re starting Winston Minahan at C in place of injured Courtland Reese. While it’s possible to play Reese as well as injured SF/SG Glen Robinson and C Tim Cotton, we’d like to avoid it if possible. Darius Hein will shift to sub at PF. Keith Kolder will not only sub at SF but also at PF and Maynard Gardner will get more playing time at SF. Hopefully our interior players don’t get into foul trouble. We’ll play looser defensively than we usually do. Fortunately Florida State gets most of their scoring from their guards rather than from their interior players. We beat the Seminoles on their court by 24 points three weeks ago, but we were playing a lot better then than we have of late. We need to bust the Seminoles strong defense again. Others on our team will need to make up for the offense we usually get from Courtland Reese.

We had a slow start, but Miami didn’t start all that hot either. So the lead was exchanged repeatedly throughout the early going. Coach Aura shifted players in and out, back and forth between C, PF and SF. The game was tied 20-20 at the 10 minute mark of the first half. We then had another of our patented cold shooting spells and fell behind by 5 but then hit a jumper and 3 that tied the game again. We came on strong in the final 5 minutes of the half to lead 47-42 at the intermission. PF/C Danny Toliver and SG Corey Graham led us offensively with 10 and 9 points, respectively.

PG Bobby Grannum, whose first half play was limited due to foul trouble, picked up his 3rd foul within the first 2 minutes of the 2nd half. But Corey Graham hit some big shots to put us ahead 56-48 with 16 minutes to go. We expanded our lead to 13 with 12 minutes remaining. Our cobbled together lineup, with almost all our players playing out of position at points in the game, went ahead 80-64 with 7 minutes left. Our guys continued to put points on the board and we finished the game with a resounding 93-75 victory. We out-rebounded the Seminoles 36-30 and made just 11 turnovers compared to 18 by Florida State.

We were able to play the entire game without putting any of our injured players into the game. All 10 of our other players scored led by: SG Corey Graham with 23 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals; C Winston Minahan with 17 points; and PF/C Danny Toliver who scored 16 and had 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, and a block.

After the game, Coach Aura said to me, “Well, we got through it without our 2 primary centers and our main swing man. I was really impressed by how the guys pulled together to play well wherever we inserted them and to make this work out. Tim Cotton and Glen Robinson were really pushing to get into the game, but I’m glad we were able to rest them and not aggravate their injuries.”

Even though all 10 of our guys stepped it up for this game, trying this for our upcoming road game will be a real test. But it looks like Tim Cotton will be ready to play so that will help our interior depth. Glen Robinson is also a possibility, but we’ll have to evaluate that before the game. I don’t see Courtland Reese being ready to play in that game, though.

[PointGuard]

Fred Aura

We had a talented SF playing for us during the 2026-27 season who was a highly ranked (#59) recruit the year before. His name…Sam Dickens. As a freshman that season, he averaged 9.2 ppg and 5.9 rpg and played solid defense for us. I thought we’d be very strong at the SF position for the next 3 seasons. But I was wrong. Sam surprised us by transferring to githe University of Wisconsin. That earned him a year of ineligibility.

In the 2028-29 season Sam was a sophomore eligibility-wise but the Badgers only started him in 3 games. He averaged 17.3 mpg and scored 5.2 ppg and grabbed 3.3 rpg but his defense was outstanding. Now this season, as a junior he is starting every game and averaging 7.0 ppg and 5.5 rpg. I spoke with him earlier this week. He’s happy in Madison, Wisconsin so I guess his path has been a positive one.

The other player who transferred away from our program was Mike Braxton before this season. Mike is sitting out this season due to being ineligible. But looking at Virginia Tech’s roster and recruiting this year, I’d say Mike has a good chance to be a starter next year. Coach Nathaniel better start him or he’s likely to have an unhappy camper on his team.