SAME FEDORA-NEW CROWN?

[PointGuard]

Jason Braxton, Athletic Director

The quarterfinalists for the Norton Award were announced today. We were all very excited that freshman Leonard Meliet was named as a quarterfinalist. Leonard has been a mainstay for us this season, playing primarily at SF, but also putting in time as PG, SG, and once for a short time at C. He’s our leading scorer, averaging 14.5 ppg in our 22 games thus far this season. He’s also averaging 4.5 rpg and 3.6 apg. He’s scored in double figures in 19 games and had 20+ points in 4 games.

Meliet’s accomplishment together with our sweep of this season’s series with Duke makes this a very special week for Boston College basketball.

[PointGuard]

Feb. 3, 2028: #4 ranked Boston College Eagles (20-2, 10-1) vs Miami Hurricanes (13-9, 5-7) at Watsco Center in Coral Gables, FL

Coach Frederick Aura

Miami is dangerous because they’re on a 6-game losing streak which means they’re extremely hungry for a win. Earlier this season the Hurricanes beat Virginia, the team with which we’re tied for 1st place. Coming off the game with Duke, I am also concerned we may have a let down. My challenge this week has been to ensure that doesn’t happen.

Bad start. We fell behind 7-1 and it took us 5-1/2 minutes before we made our first field goal and that included 5 misses by C Courtland Reese. Our poor shooting continued throughout the first half and we fell behind 33-18 with 3-1/2 minutes remaining in the half. I called a time out and tore into the team. It didn’t help, we left the court at the half down 42-24. Even though we hit a few baskets in the final few minutes we still only sunk 23% of our shots while Miami knocked down 53% of theirs. We didn’t even shoot well at the free throw line, making just 46% of our foul shots. A butt-chewing ensued in the locker room.

We came out flat in the 2nd half and fell behind by 23. After tearing into the team for the 3rd time, they finally responded by going on a 16-4 run. We stumbled again as we made a series of turnovers and dropped back into a double-digit deficit. In the late stages of the game, we made a desperate comeback that got us to within 68-64 with 2 minutes to go. With a minute to go, Leonard Meliet hit a 3 that made it 71-69 in favor of Miami. We tied the game with 30 seconds on the clock when SG Jason Dunn drove down to the basket and scored on a reverse layup. Miami missed a shot and we rebounded. With 4 seconds left PG Phil Thompson got the ball over to Jason Dunn on the wing and Jason drilled his shot from just outside the arc making giving us our first lead since it was 1-0 almost 40 minutes earlier. We had a foul to give so we fouled just after they inbounded the ball giving them just 2 seconds to try to tie the game. Miami lobbed up a prayer from beyond midcourt but it wasn’t close. We pulled off a last-minute win we really didn’t deserve by a final score of 74-71. The Hurricanes outshot us 43% to 36% and out-rebounded us 41-36. But we held a 19-12 turnover advantage and got to the line 17 more times were we made 11 more points than Miami. That saved us.

SF Leonard Meliet was our only starter who shot well. He scored 20 points. C Courtland Reese and PF Marvin Reese added 12 and 10 points, respectively. But it was reserves PG Phil Thompson and SG Jason Dunn who pulled our bacon out of the fire by scoring a combined 12 points in the waning minutes of the game.

[Wayne23]

Sometimes lucky is better than good!

[PointGuard]

Boston College Chronicle

By Kinsey Ramsey

EAGLES MOVE NEAR TOP OF POLLS

Following their two wins this past week including a drubbing of Duke, Boston College’s basketball team finally moved up the polls past Duke and Creighton to #2 in both the Media Poll and Coaches Poll. Only Kansas ranks higher than the Eagles.

Boston College remained in the top spot in the NET Rankings with Kansas right behind them.

In the Atlantic Conference Standings, the Eagles remained tied with Virginia for first place with Duke now 2-1/2 games back in third place.

This week BC plays just one game, travelling to take on the Pittsburgh Panthers on Wednesday night.

[PointGuard]

Feb. 6, 2028: #2 ranked Boston College Eagles (21-2, 11-1) vs Pittsburgh Panthers (10-12, 3-9) at Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh, PA

Andy Dawson, walk-on SF

I’m a walk-on and last on the depth chart so I’ve only played in two minutes in one game. So my main role during games is as a cheer leader for the team from the bench. Pittsburgh is a pretty good offensive team and will test our defense, but the Panthers are weak defensively, so we need to exploit that. Four of their starters average between 10.0 and 13.3 ppg. PG Marcus Williams has hit over 50% of his FG’s and 37% of his 3’s. Pittsburgh has lost 7 of their last 8 games. Our goal tonight is to keep them on their downward trajectory.

The refs called a defensive foul and then an offensive foul against C Courtland Reese in less than a minute from the start of the game. Coach Fed was giving the refs hell, but Courtland missed the rest of the half. Our team responded by getting steals on the next 2 possessions by the Panthers and jamming down 2 dunks on breakaways. We went up 8-0 with 16:40 left in the half and SG James Lilly had scored 6 of our 8 points. Our bench was in a frenzy. It took Pittsburgh nearly 7 minutes before they scored their first points. With us ahead 26-14, there was a power failure, probably due to the crappy winter weather in Pittsburgh. When play resumed, we had a tough time getting our game going again and the Panthers went on a run that reduced our lead to 31-30 with 2 minutes remaining in the half. We were able to increase our lead a little and finished the half with a 38-33 advantage.

Pittsburgh hit two quick 3’s to start the 2nd half and take their first lead of the game at 39-38. We responded by going on a 9-0 run. We maintained a lead but the Panthers kept nipping at our heels. In the final few minutes of the game we extended our lead to win by a score of 87-74. That was our 6th straight win.

PF Marvin Reese scored 17 and had 7 boards. SF Leonard Meliet also hit for 17 points and added 6 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 steals. SG James Lilly dropped in 11 pints and PG Phil Thompson came off the bench to score 10 points.

After the game, Coach Fed made it clear that we need to clean up our play and also not let teams get back into the game after we get a solid lead.

[PointGuard]

Feb. 13, 2028: #10 ranked Virginia Cavaliers (21-2, 12-1) vs #2 ranked Boston College Eagles (22-2, 12-1) at Silvio O. Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA

Excerpts from WEEI radio broadcast of the game:

--Hi Eagles fans. This is Parker White along with Cap Morrison bringing you tonight’s game Boston College game. Tonight they take on the Virginia Cavaliers. This is a game for sole possession of first place in the ACC. Both teams have been tied for weeks atop the ACC standings and come into this game with identical 12-1 records in conference play.

The teams’ stats aren’t much different, but Virginia is scoring about 4-1/2 more points a game while giving up 2-1/2 more points a game than the Eagles. Cap, how are the Cavaliers being more effective offensively?

It really comes down to two things, Parker. Virginia is a better team on the offensive boards and gets more steals. Otherwise Boston College is as good or better in most other aspects of the game that create points. And defensively, the Eagles have held opponents’ shooting percentage much lower than has Virginia which has led to BC being able to keep their opponents scoring slightly fewer points than has Virginia.

Well, Cap…this looks to be a really highly contested game by both teams. What about individual personnel on the two teams, Cap?

Parker, Virginia’s SF Jamaal Lawson is one of the best players in the country. He’s averaging 25.5 ppg and 8.6 rpg. While the rest of the Cavaliers’ team is very good, the Eagles have a more balanced lineup and a slight advantage at most of the other positions. Lawson has scored between 20 and 29 points 16 times, between 30 and 39 points 6 times and has one game where he poured in 43 points. I think if Boston College can keep him in the low to mid 20’s, they have a good chance of winning, but if he goes off with a big game, the Eagles will be in trouble. But applying too tight a defense against Lawson could put BC’s best scorer, Leonard Meliet, in foul trouble. So I would expect to see Coach Aura switch primary defenders on Lawson throughout the game.
Conte Forum is filled the rafters tonight, Cap, so that should be a factor favoring the Eagles.

OK Eagles’ fans, we’re getting really close to game time, so we’ll be back with the tip-off after this commercial for Samuel Adams, your hometown beer.

--7 seconds into the game and an offensive foul is called on Courtland Reese. BC has to hope he doesn’t get a 2nd foul as early as he did in their last game.
--Lawson draws first blood for Virginia!
--Coach Aura has to be going crazy. 3 turnovers by the Eagles in the first minute of play. I suspect he’ll have some choice words for his starters at the first timeout.
--Cap, you were right. First Coach Aura had Marvin Reese guarding Lawson, and now Jason Caldwell is on him. Looks like Aura’s trying to protect Meliet.
--At the first media time out, the score is 5-0 in favor of Virginia. BC is oh-for-five from the field and has 4 turnovers. Gonna be some Eagles’ ears burning during this timeout.
--Lilly finally cans the Eagles’ first field goal. He was fouled on the shot. He converts the 3-point play.
--Leonard Meliet drills the 3 to give Boston College its first lead of the game at 11-8. The Eagles have now scored 10 unanswered points.
--That’s the 2nd foul on Meliet sending him to the bench with 12 minutes still remaining in the first half.
--That’s the first 3 pointer for Jamaal Lawson giving him 6 points thus far. That cut’s BC’s lead to 20-17. I hope Lawson’s not getting on fire, Cap. Yeah, Parker…Virginia’s gotta be counting their blessings that he decided to stay 4 years with them. But while he could have been a one-and-done, he was smart to stick it out for 4 years since he’s got a good chance of winning the Norton Award in his senior year and moving up from a late 1st rounder as a freshman or sophomore to having a good chance of being the #1 pick in the draft after this season.
--Josh McFadgon faked the defender out of his shoes and drives down the lane for an uncontested layup making it Boston College-28, Virginia-23 with 5 minutes remaining.
--That’s the second straight pass picked off by Virginia with resulting buckets on fast breaks. The game’s tied at 30-30. Time out called by the Eagles.
--Good move by Michael Millford causes Lawson to foul. That’s 2 on Lawson. Millford sinks both shots giving him 7 points, all on free throws.
--That’s the end of the first half with Virginia on top 35-34. A solid defensive effort by both teams. Virginia’s Jamaal Lawson leads all scorers with 9 points. Top scorer for Boston College was Michael Millford with 7 points.
--It’s anybody’s game as the 2nd half gets underway. Let’s see which team can do the best job of resurrecting their offense.
--Turnovers are killing the Eagles. They’re now down 47-42.
--Jason Dunn converts both free throws. That’s 6 straight points for BC and they retake the lead at 50-49 with 12 minutes to go.
--Yet another turnover by BC as they throw the ball away. Virginia inbounds it and works the ball inside and back out. Childress works the ball into the corner and fires a pass to Dabbert who puts up a shot. It’s off the rim but he was fouled. He drops in the first shot…and now the second goes through the hoop giving Virginia a 61-56 lead with 5:31 on the clock. BC brings Courtland Reese back onto the court.
--Meliet shot from the corner drops through to get BC within 2.
--Another 3 by Meliet and BC goes ahead 62-61.
--Brown knocks down the jumper for Virginia and they’re ahead again 63-62 now with 4 minutes left.
--Final media timeout. The pressure is on Boston College.
--Meliet receives the inbound pass. He dribbles down the sideline. His pass goes to Courtland Reese near the key. Reese turns and moves toward the basket. He goes up and jams it home to give the lead back to BC.
--After backcourt turnover by the Cavaliers, Reese again takes a pass inside. He puts up a shot and is fouled. He drops both free throws in to make it 66-63 in favor of the Eagles.
--Following Lilly’s interception, Millford puts up a long 3…it’s IN! 69-63 with 2:42 to go. Virginia calls a timeout.
--Lawson called for the foul as Meliet tried to make the pass. Virginia’s coach is livid. Meliet goes to the line for a one-and-one. He hits the first. Virginia’s coach still jaw-boning the officials. Meliet drops in the 2nd shot and it’s 71-63. The crowd is going bonkers.
--Virginia hits both free throws with 2:13 on the clock. It’s now 71-65.
--Yet another foul. Courtland Reese makes both shots making it 73-65 with just under 2 minutes remaining.
--Lawson drops in the jumper to cut the lead to 6.
--The Flyers continue to work the ball inside to Courtland Reese. He was fouled as he put up the shot. He goes to the line for 2 more shots. Swish, swish! Both in to make it 75-67.
--Lawson gets the ball outside the circle. He drives to the edge of the key and puts up a shot. It’s off the mark but Millford fouled him. He hits both shots. 75-69 with 1:10 left.
--Virginia is forced to foul. McFadgon puts both shots in so the lead returns to 8.
--After the Cavaliers turnover, McFadgon is fouled immediately. He hits both shots put the Eagles up by 10. The cheering crescendos.
--The Cavaliers can’t get the ball in the basket. BC works the clock down. Just before the shot clock expires, Reese puts up a baseline jumper that goes in. Too little time for Virginia to do anything. Boston College comes on strong toward the end of the game to win 81-69 and take sole possession for 1st place in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
--Leading the Eagles was Courtland Reese with 22 points and 11 rebounds. SF Leonard Meliet hit for 17 points and SF Michael Millford came off the bench to score 12. Jamaal Lawson scored 17 for Virginia, but he could only hit 5 of 17 FG’s due to the tremendous pressure of the Eagles’ defense.

[PointGuard]

Boston College Chronicle

Kinsey Ramsey

EAGLES RISE TO TOP

After last night’s exciting win over Virginia, the Boston College Eagles are now residing alone at the top of the Atlantic Coast Conference standings. Jason Braxton, BC’s Athletic Director said, “We set some high expectations just a couple years ago when Fred Aura was hired as our head coach. But rising to this point came much sooner than we could have ever imagined. The team’s players and coaching staff have done a tremendous job. But our goals go beyond topping the ACC, so we’ll continue to pursue those.”

Here’s the present ACC standings:

#2 Boston College: 13-1
#10 Virginia: 12-2
#3 Duke: 10-4
#11 Louisville: 10-5
#17 Notre Dame: 9-5
#13 North Carolina: 9-6
North Carolina St.: 8-7
Clemson: 8-8
Georgia Tech: 6-8
Miami (FL): 6-8
Florida St.: 5-10
Virginia Tech: 4-10
Syracuse: 4-10
Pittsburgh: 4-11
Wake Forest: 1-14

Baldwin the Eagle exclaimed, “We’ve been flying high all season. Whipping Virginia was just proof of how good we are. We’re going all the way this year.”

This exuberance was later tempered. “It’s an honor to be on top of the ACC standings, but we still have six regular season games to go. So we can’t get overly excited about this. We need to continue to focus on each and every team we still have to play and go all-out in every game we play. In fact we have two more games this week. So we’re already concentrating on how we will contend with Syracuse tomorrow and then after that we will prepare for Wake Forest. If we let down, any team in the ACC can beat us on a given night,” said Coach Frederick Aura.

[PointGuard]

Feb. 15, 2028: #2 Boston College Eagles (23-2, 13-1) vs Syracuse Orange (11-12, 4-10) at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, NY

3rd Assistant Coach Rob Rowland (scouting)

Syracuse probably thought their two freshmen stars, PF George Plowman and SG Chad Lopez. Those two have become team leaders with Plowman averaging 16.1 ppg and 6.9 rpg while Lopez has scored 9.3 ppg and dished out 3.1 apg. Plowman has been the team’s leading scorer in 13 of the teams 23 games and Lopez has been top scorer in 3 games. Overall though, Syracuse has been a poor shooting team. And their man-to-man and 1-2-2 zone defenses have let their opponents score 72.1 ppg. The Orange have lost the past 3 games and 8 of the last 10. If we play up to our potential, we should take Syracuse even though it’s a road game for us. I just hope our team gets off to a better start than we have in several of our recent games.

OK, I have to catch a flight to take in a game between Georgia Tech and North Carolina St. so I can scout both since we play both in the next two weeks. Therefor I’ll leave it up to someone else to tell you about our game with Syracuse.

Father Andrew Morgan

I was hoping my trip with the team would be somewhere other than Syracuse, but that’s what was ordained for me. It’s special to be able to impart some spiritual guidance to the team. Most of the players are very open to that and I feel that it’s extremely important to have one of our brethren accompany the team each time their on road trips. I try to catch as many of the team’s home games as I can, so I’m familiar with the team and its players. I also know Coach Aura and his family very well.

No spectacular play to start the game, but we fought our way to an 8-4 advantage at the first media timeout. But a good start for Courtland Reese as he scores 8 of the team’s first 15 points. But our 9 point lead evaporated and the last part of the half was very close. The Eagles finished the first half with a 37-34 advantage. C Courtland Reese scored 16 and SF Leonard Meliet had 10 points in the first half. For Syracuse, PF George Plowman scored 9 points.

Reese and Meliet continued to carry our offense in the early stages of the 2nd half as we spurted to a 44-35 lead. Coach Aura’s full court press that he set during the halftime intermission caused several turnovers by the Orange. But Syracuse hit some 3’s and came back, cutting the lead to a single point midway through the 2nd half. With 1:24 left Syracuse tied the score at 65-65. Meliet was fouled with 53 seconds to go. He sunk both free throws giving us a 2 point lead again. Syracuse got 3 shots on their next possession but missed all 3 and then intentionally fouled McFadgon. Josh sunk both free throws to put us up by 4 with 18 seconds left. Syracuse called a timeout and put up a 3 that rimmed out. The Orange fouled James Lilly on the inbounds pass. Lilly hit both shots. We escaped a very close last 15 minutes and won 71-65.

The leading scorer for the Eagles was SF Leonard Meliet who dropped in 22 points. C Courtland Reese scored 21 points and grabbed 7 rebounds. George Plowman finished with 17 points and 11 boards for Syracuse.

Coach Aura looked as exhausted as his players after the game.

[Wayne23]

One of my long time pet peeves is seeing a "collar" on the bench. I see it as an attempt to influence the officials. I'm quite serious about this. Unless they're part of the coaching staff they have absolutely no business on the bench.

[PointGuard]

Wayne: To be honest, I don't know if the "collar" is on the bench or in the seating just behind the bench. I sort of assumed the latter. Have you observed them on the bench? For BC?