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1st Assistant Coach David Woodruff (practice) We just finished a month of practice. That went well, no issues, some good competition for playing time when games begin. We’ve nailed down starters for 4 of the 5 positions with one still up in the air. Like last season we have good starters. We also have a lot of depth, particularly on the interior, although not as much at the guard positions as we’d like. We have a tough pre-conference schedule and then of course the ACC competition is always keen. AND…we have 5 freshmen and a transfer player. So 6 players who’ve never experienced competition for us yet. How will each of them do? We have an idea, but in reality it’s anyone’s guess. And then there are always injuries. Hopefully no major ones. So, it’s hard to say how we will do this season. Starters: PG-Leonard Meliet: He started at SF last season but will be playing his more natural PG position this year. As a freshman he averaged 15.7 ppg, 3.6 apg, and 4.1 rpg. For the second straight year he’s a Norton Award candidate. SG-Corey Graham: He’s a freshman who is also a Norton Award candidate. He’s got a very good shot and isn’t afraid to put the ball up. SF-This is where it could either be senior Michael Millford or sophomore Keith Kolder…or maybe even freshman Darius Hein. Michael has the most experience, but he and Keith are very similar players and it’s hard to say who will perform the best. Darius came to us as a PF, but with the depth we have at that position, he definitely will get playing time at SF as well as at PF and could possibly ultimately become our regular starter at SF. PF-Freshman Danny Toliver: After sitting out a season due to transferring from Georgia Tech where he averaged 9.1 ppg and 6.5 rpg as a freshman, he’s going to be a very strong player for us this season. C-Junior Courtland Reese: He’s been our “rock” in his first 2 seasons with us. Last season he averaged 14.6 ppg and 6.1 rpg which was very similar to what he did as a freshman. But he just keeps improving. Subs: PG-Freshman Rashon Thorn. He’s a good ball handler and passer and can put the ball in the hoop but needs some seasoning. SG-Freshman Adrian Moss. He also needs experience to develop into what we expect will be a strong player in future years. SF-Discussed above. PF-Junior Winston Minahan averaged 2.9 ppg and 1.9 rpg, but is solid and will definitely be an able interior player coming off the bench. Freshman Mike Braxton will also get some time at PF but has some maturing to do before getting too many minutes on the court. We considered redshirting him, but figured he might be the type to transfer if redshirted. C-Senior Jason Caldwell would be a strong starter if it weren’t for talented Courtland Reese. Jason is an extremely good interior player who averaged 6.1 ppg and 4.2 rpg last season. Senior Greg Kidd is also a strong player coming off the bench and he averaged 4.7 ppg and 3.3 rpg last year.

2nd Assistant Coach Chris Evans (recruiting) We worked recruiting really hard throughout the summer and into the fall…and with good results since we filled both of our open scholarships with strong performers. In mid-September we got a verbal acceptance of our scholarship offer from SF Maynard Gardner. Maynard’s a 6’7” high school senior from Tenafly, NJ. He’s an outstanding scorer who shoots well from both inside and outside. His rebounding skills are excellent and he’s very strong defensively with very strong stealing skills. He also has great passing skills. As a junior last season, he averaged 21.1 ppg, 3.0 apg, 6.1 rpg, 1.2 bpg, and 4.3 spg. Overall we rated him as an A+ and he’s ranked as the 30th best recruit in the country. At the beginning of October PG Bobby Grannum gave us a verbal acceptance. Bobby is a 6’4” high school senior from Orlando, FL. Last season as a junior he averaged 20.0 ppg, 7.6 apg, 5.2 rpg, 0.5 bpg, and 3.6 spg. He’s a great scorer with a sweet shot from outside and very good interior shooting as well. He’s an excellent defender who gets a lot of steals. He’s a very good rebounder and has outstanding passing skills and is a good ball handler. He’s extremely athletic. His coach told us he’s got a tremendous work ethic but has had some attitude and discipline problems. So we’ll have to keep track of that and address the issue if it arises. On a positive note, he showed a lot of interest in discipline and Coach Aura can be strong in that area. We rate his as an A+ and he’s ranked as the 25th best recruit nationally. He was a top 10 player at the Indy Elite Camp and was the MVP at the Memphis Hoop Summit this summer. So recruiting is finished for this season…well at least it is if they both get high enough SAT scores. Hopefully they do, because we blew through most all of our recruiting budget already.

Coach Fred Aura Pro Draft We were sorry to lose Phil Thompson when he decided to declare for the pro draft. But his decision was probably the right one for him. He got selected in the 1st round. Even though he was the last player to be drafted in that round, it means he has a good chance of sticking with his team and not going into the Development League. I called him immediately after he was selected to offer my congratulations and wish him the best. He was ecstatic, particularly since he will be on a very good team. 12 ACC players were selected in the first round, which shows how strong our conference is. Phil was selected just 2 picks behind Jamaal Lawson who gave us fits when we played Virginia. Jason Braxton, Athletic Director Norton Award Two of our players, Leonard Meliet and Corey Graham were nominated for the Norton Award. As a freshman last season, Meliet was a quarterfinalist. Graham is a freshman this year.

Greg Robinson, Transfer SG I hadn’t really considered Boston College that much when I decided to transfer from Cincinnati. But my discussions with Coach Aura (I guess the guys call him Coach Fed) and Assistant Coach Evans got me excited about switching over to the Eagles. My high school coach at Trinity Catholic in Harper Woods, Michigan also was really high on Boston College. And my parents were happy I would be going to a Catholic university, although that didn’t really play into MY decision. The rapid improvement of BC’s basketball program has been nothing short of phenomenal. At Boston College I’m pretty sure I will be playing in the NCAA tournament during my junior and senior years of eligibility. Obviously BC wanted me because they’re good recruiters and could have gone after a top-flight recruit instead of offering me the transfer. My two seasons at Cincinnati were a bit underwhelming. I got into almost every game both years, but only played a little over 6 mpg in my freshman year. While my playing time increased to about 16 mpg in my sophomore year, I never got to start. Heck, I was hitting over 40% of my FG’s and almost 40% of my 3’s. I averaged 3.5 ppg as a freshman and 8.2 ppg as a sophomore. Not bad for how little time I was on the court, and I scored 19 points in one game and was the Player of the Game five times. And I think I was one of Cincinnati’s best defenders. I, and most people I know, thought I should have been playing more. Cincinnati’s coaches wanted me to be more involved with my teammates there, but after practice I had better things to do. And I’m not a big rah-rah guy while sitting on the bench. I got the distinct impression that some of my teammates didn’t like that. Sort of gave me a cold shoulder, but that doesn’t bother me. I can make my own friends. While Coach Aura didn’t promise me a starting job after I sit out my year for transferring, I’m optimistic. They have two freshman SG’s this season and one is pretty darned good. That means he could very well be a one-and-done, thereby opening things for me when I become eligible to play a year from now. Once the coaching staff gets to see both my offensive and defensive capabilities, I think they’ll agree. I’ve always been a really hard worker, so will give it my all even when I have to just practice (and not play) this coming season. That will help me improve plus give me a solid knowledge of Coach Aura’s sets and strategy. I already have a lot of experience with one of the offenses (Princeton) that BC uses. Coach Aura also said he’d get me hooked up with some great basketball camps this summer. Time to get on my Play Station, so more later.

2nd Assistant Coach Chris Evans (recruiting) May 2028: Due to Phil Thompson declaring for the pro draft, we now have 3 scholarships to fill this year, although we can fill one of those 3 with a transfer player. We’re pretty deep on the interior, so we’ll look primarily look at guards and SF’s to see if one of the available transfer players can compete for a starting job after sitting out this season and also will be good for the chemistry of the team. We decided to limit our purchasing for scouting reports to the basic reports for the Atlantic East Region and the National Report. We also will limit our camp attendance to the Indy Elite Camp and the Big Apple Showcase. June 2028: We initially tried to entice the top-rated transfer player. He’s a true 5-star player. But it quickly became obvious that he was really focused on transferring to Kansas, so there was no use wasting more of our time and money when we had no real chance of persuading him to consider Boston College. We shifted our focus and we signed a transfer player early during the transfer period. He’s SG Greg Robinson from Harper Woods, Michigan who played two seasons for Cincinnati. He’s 6’2” and played 16.4 mpg and scored 8.2 ppg last season. He’s excellent defensively and is a good shooter from outside. As a transfer he will sit out this season but will be a junior eligibility-wise when he can play for us the following year. That leaves us with 2 scholarships to fill through recruiting this year. Ideally we’d like to land a PG and SF.

2028-2029 SEASON Jason Braxton, Athletic Director Non-Conference Rival: Last season I mentioned that we wanted to change our non-conference rival. For a number of years it’s been Cornell. While Cornell and our school both have very strong academics so that’s a good fit, our basketball program has significantly developed and strengthened far beyond Cornell’s. We identified a university and basketball program that much more closely fits with where we are now. Not only are the basketball programs of near equal strength, but this university is relatively nearby geographically and, like us, is a Catholic school. Today we are announcing that our new non-conference rival starting this season will be the Providence Friars. They’re a member of the Big East Conference. So not only is their team prestige much closer to ours but their conference’s prestige level is much like the ACC’s than Cornell’s Ivy League. The last two seasons the Friars have gone 29-10 (ranked #13 in the polls) and 32-4 (ranked #3 in the polls), so obviously they will be a real challenge to play. And yes, there’s one more thing. Coach Aura’s son, Omari, will be a sophomore on the Friars team this season. As part of our long-term relationship with Cornell, we helped them set up a new non-conference rival that is closely similar to the Big Red basketball program and has similar academic credentials and geographically is a good fit. Cornell’s new non-conference rival will be the Northeastern Huskies of the Colonial Athletic Association. Recruit Class Ratings: The ratings for last season’s recruiting came out this week. Our recruit class was rated as the 15th best recruit class. Pittsburgh which was rated 4th was the only ACC program higher than ours. But there were 3 other ACC teams in the top 25: Clemson at #19, Florida State at #20, and Notre Dame at #21. Goals: After last year’s successes, I kept 4 of the goals from last season (improve school prestige, no academic ineligibility, win 20+ games, win the conference tournament). The first 3 should be relatively easy for Coach Aura and his team to achieve. The fourth is certainly doable, but as we saw last season, it’s a crap shoot. I then added a new one: reach the NCAA final four. Actually we did that last season which exceeded my previous goals for the team, but now that we did it, I and the administration (as well as our students and fans) want that again. Not easy, but with the team we will have this season, I believe we can do it. I could have made it win the national championship (which I also think is at least a possibility), but figured that if they achieve the goal of getting to the final four they then have internalized a desire to win the championship.

Jason Braxton, Athletic Director Obviously we’re extremely pleased with the job Fred Aura has done as our head coach. He met all the goals I’d set before the season began: winning 20+ games; finishing in the top half of the conference standings; qualifying for the NCAA tournament; improving school prestige; and no academic ineligibility. Job well done! Fred requested improvements to our facilities but the board denied the request, overriding my support for Fred’s request. Coach Aura’s record 2019-20: Towson, 18-15, .545, unranked, 6th (tie) in CAA, No post-season tourney 2020-21: Towson, 13-17, .433, unranked, 5th in CAA, No post-season tourney 2021-22: Towson, 24-9, .727, unranked, 2nd in CAA, NCAA (Round 1) 2022-23: Towson, 27-7, .794, ranked 24th, 1st in CAA, NCAA (Round 2) 2023-24: Towson, 30-4, .882, ranked 15th, 1st in CAA, NCAA (Sweet 16) 2024-25: Towson, 25-8, .758, unranked, 1st in CAA, NCAA (Round 1) 2025-26: Boston College, 21-17, .553, unranked, 10th in ACC, CIT (Finals) 2026-27: Boston College, 25-10, .714, ranked 25th, 3rd in ACC, NCAA (Sweet 16) 2027-28: Boston College, 34-5, .872, ranked 2nd, 1st in ACC, NCAA (Final 4) Career Record: 217-92, .702 When you look at what Coach Aura did during his last 4 years at Towson, you can see why we hired him. His success here has been just as dramatic, maybe even more so since our team’s ascent in the tough ACC, as well as national recognition, has been so rapid.

2nd Assistant Coach Chris Evans (recruiting) With PG Phil Thompson declaring for the pro draft, a scholarship came available. So we made a late offer to a PG from New Jersey. We’d burned our entire recruiting budget so could only call and text him to try to generate a little interest that way. But that was unsuccessful. So that means we will have one scholarship available if we want to go after a transfer player.

Janaka Aura Fred had several very good universities interested in hiring him as head coach…including Michigan State and North Carolina. As a family we had a long conversation about it. And the decision was…stay at Boston College. BC’s prestige increased quite a bit (from 55 to 63) and Fred is looking forward to coaching the returning players and his new recruits this coming year.

Awards for Boston College National Coach of the Year: Frederick Aura ACC Coach of the Year: Frederick Aura ACC 2nd Team All-Conference: Leonard Meliet

NCAA Tournament Round 1 Virginia-93, Elon-90 (OT) Louisville-84, Montana-70 North Carolina-65, Hawaii-53 Duke-92, Princeton-67 North Carolina State-73, Temple-65 Notre Dame-71, Morgan State-58 March 16, 2028: #16 seed Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers (16-17) vs #1 seed Boston College Eagles (30-4) The Eagles came out strong and pulled further and further ahead to finish the first half with a commanding 47-30 lead. Boston College continued to smother the Mountaineers in the 2nd half. Midway through the 2nd half, BC was on top by 29 points. With Coach Aura playing his entire bench liberally, Mount St. Mary’s shaved a few points of the lead, but the Eagles won handily by a final score of 81-60. Courtland Reese had a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Leonard Meliet scored 12 plus has 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks. Michael Millford scored 11 and Marvin Reese added 10. The ACC finished round 1 with a perfect 7-0 record. Round 2 (Round of 32) Virginia-98, Iowa State-82 North Carolina-63, Louisville-49 Duke-67, Minnesota-54 Creighton-91, North Carolina State-70 Notre Dame-89, Navy-68 March 18, 2028: #9 seed Oklahoma State Cowboys (23-11) vs #1 seed Boston College Eagles (31-4) Oklahoma State is a good shooting team with sharp passing skills leading to the most assists in the country. They Cowboys are an offensive juggernaut (81 ppg), but also give up a lot of points (74.5 ppg). SG Bucky Blair is averaging 16.1 ppg. Boston College started with a deliberate offense designed to control the tempo of the game and throw the Cowboys off-balance and also attacked the boards. The Eagles also drove incessantly causing Oklahoma State’s players to commit fouls. It worked well enough that BC held a 14-3 lead at the first media time out and two Cowboy starters, including Bucky Blair, had amassed 2 fouls apiece that sent them to the bench. Although Oklahoma State began hitting some shots, the Eagles shooting was cooking so that with 7 minutes to play in the half, the lead had grown to 38-17. BC led 54-36 when the half ended. Josh McFadgon and Leonard Meliet had 12 points each and Courtland Reese scored 10. The Cowboys’ Bucky Blair had been held scoreless, but PG Aaron Angner hit for 13 points. Although the Eagles shooting cooled in the 2nd half, they steadily padded their lead, never letting Oklahoma get a sustained run. When the claxon sounded, Boston College had crushed Oklahoma State by a score of 96-70. The Eagles outshot the Cowboys 62% to 47% and totally dominated the boards, 38-19. C Courtland Reese had another double-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds. SF Leonard Meliet scored 19 plus had 8 rebounds. PG Josh McFadgon put 15 points on the board and had 6 assists. PF Marvin Reese hit for 10 points and SF Michael Millford tossed in 9 points. BC held Bucky Blair to just 5 points. “Oklahoma State’s offense is so potent that we knew we needed to put a roadblock in their way. Our guys executed our game plan to perfection with control of the tempo and a stingy defense. And our team’s offense got off to a blazing start and kept clicking the entire game plus our guys really attacked the boards. It was one of the best games we’ve played this season,” said Coach Fred Aura. Round 3 (Sweet 16) Virginia-97, Florida-72 Duke-73, Creighton-70 Arizona-68, Notre Dame-61 Mar. 23, 2028: #5 seed North Carolina Tar Heels (22-11) vs #1 seed Boston College Eagles (32-4) The Eagles got trounced by a score of 78-53 in Chapel Hill the only time this year that these two teams met. So Boston College has the motivation to show that game was a fluke, but can they figure out the Tar Heel defense and turn things around to advance in the tournament? The game started as the A.J.Gainous show. The North Carolina PF scored the Tar Heels first 8 points while BC looked confused and tenuous on the floor. The Eagles hit just 1 of their first 9 shots and had 5 turnovers in the first 6 minutes of the game as they fell behind 11-2. After trailing 21-8 midway through the half, Boston College scored the next 13 points to draw into a tie. With 2 minutes remaining the Eagles took their first lead ad 26-25, but North Carolina came back to take a 32-27 halftime lead. Both teams shot poorly, but BC’s undoing in the first half was making 12 turnovers and A.J. Gainous scoring 13 points for the Tar Heels. The Eagles finally began to hit some 3’s in response to North Carolina’s 2-3 zone in the 2nd half. But each time BC got within 1-2 points, the Tar Heels opened a 4-6 point lead. With 3-1/2 minutes, the Eagles finally tied the score and then went ahead by 2 when Courtland Reese hit a 10 foot jumper with 2 minutes remaining. Neither team could score and North Carolina blocked a shot with 42 seconds left and called a time out. After the Tar Heels missed a 3, BC had a pass intercepted and called another time out. BC’s defense kept North Carolina from getting a free shot and Josh McFadgon blocked their attempt with 2 seconds to go and Lilly recovered the ball to end the game. Boston College pulled out a 65-63 squeaker. BC outshot North Carolina 43% to 32% but the Tar Heels scored 11 more points at the free throw line. The Eagles had 19 turnovers to North Carolina’s 12, but held a 39-35 rebounding advantage. North Carolina’s A.J. Gainous scored 28 points. For the Eagles, C Courtland Reese had yet another double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. PG Josh McFadgon scored 13, SF Leonard Meliet dropped in 12 points, and SF Michael Millford added 11. Coach Fred Aura said, “North Carolina again made it exceptionally tough for us and we simply couldn’t stop A.J. Gainous. The defense by both teams was exceptional and totally frustrated the offenses. We struggled the entire game. Those last 2 minutes seemed like a lifetime. I can’t say enough about Courtland Reese. He’s had 3 straight double-double and did it tonight with 4 fouls on him. And his defense has been outstanding in all 3 games. Round 4 (Elite 8 ) Duke-63, Kansas-59 March 25, 2028: #3 seed Virginia Cavaliers (29-6) vs #1 seed Boston College Eagles (33-4) Boston College took control early and by the end of the first half, the Eagles held a 38-21 lead. Both teams scored well in the 2nd half. The Eagles held onto a double digit lead the entire half and came away with a 77-65 victory. C Courtland Reese scored 21 points and grabbed 7 boards. SF Leonard Meliet hit for 15 points. PG Josh McFadgon and PF/C Jason Caldwell both scored 11 points. SF Jamaal Lawson scored 24 points and pulled down 11 rebounds for Virginia. “Virginia’s a really good team,” said Coach Fred Aura. “So our guys did a great job taking command early and then keeping the Cavaliers from coming back. Virginia’s Lawson showed what a tremendous player he is, but we had a great team effort. Getting to the Final Four is fantastic, but having to take on the duo of Rod Allen and Brian Taylor plus all of Duke’s other excellent players a 4th time this season is no picnic.” The 7 AAC teams are 17-5 in this tournament and 3 of the 5 losses were to other ACC teams. Round 5 (Final 4) Wichita State-86, South Carolina-73 Apr. 1, 2028: #2 seed Duke Blue Devils (32-6) vs #1 seed Boston College Eagles (34-4) This game ensures one ACC team will be in the championship game. Boston College has handled Duke with relative ease in their previous 3 meetings this season, but Duke’s win over Kansas in the Elite 8 showed how good a team they really are. Duke came out with fire in their eyes and streaked to a 9-0 lead while BC’s SF Leonard Meliet picked up 2 fouls within the first 2 minutes. The Eagles got within 2 points a couple times but each time Duke pulled away. With 9 minutes to go, the Blue Devils led 27-14. When the half ended the Eagles were in a 46-35 hole. BC was simply outplayed by Duke. Things didn’t improve in the 2nd half for the Eagles. With 13 minutes to go they trailed by 20 points. Duke hit 14 of 23 from beyond the arc enroute to an 89-69 thrashing of Boston College. C Courtland Reese scored 14 and had 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 blocks. SF Michael Millford tossed in 13 points and PG Josh McFadgon added 12. Coach Fred Aura said, “Duke just seemed to want it more tonight and they shot the lights out. They showed why they’ve been so highly rated in the polls the entire season. We’ll be rooting for them in the championship game. I’m proud of what my guys did throughout this season though. It’s been a joy working with them.” Round 6 (Championship Game) Wichita State-90, Duke-80

CIT Results Round 1 Florida State-66, California Baptist-55 Northern Iowa-90, Miami (FL)-77 Round 2 New Mexico State-80, Florida State-63 Championship Northern Iowa-82, St. Louis-75 CBI Results Championship Hampton-76, St. Joseph’s-66 NIT Results Round 1 Clemson-90, Merrimack-74 Round 2 Clemson-81, Rutgers-71 Round 3 Clemson-84, Chattanooga-77 Round 4 (Semifinals) Clemson-70, Oregon-62 Round 5 (Championship) Kansas State-79, Clemson-73

Omari Aura Man, I’m really glad I chose to play for Providence. We finished the season tied with Creighton for 1st place in the Big East Conference with identical 17-3 records. Our season record thus far is 31-3 and we’re 3rd in the Media Poll and 2nd in the Coaches Poll. Our NET Ranking is 7th best of all the Division I teams. What’s more is that we’re a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. That was a surprise to all of us on the Friars and led to an explosion of joy and exuberance when it was announced. I’m particularly happy with that since it means both we and my dad’s team are #1 seeds. I hope we both move on to the Final Four so we can meet on the court. We enter the tournament at full strength. I’ve played behind Matt Fox at SF this season. Matt will be a junior next year, but it’s likely he will move to his more natural PF position since Greg Slaughter who starred for us this season at PF is graduating after this season. I’m hoping to become the starting SF next season.

Boston College Eagles Achieve Unparalleled Success This Season Mary St. James, Boston College Athletic Department Publicist Boston College’s basketball team heads to the NCAA Tournament not only as the #1 seed in the East Region after finishing atop the highly competitive Atlantic Coast Conference. Their record in the ACC was 18-2 and their record thus far the entire season is 30-4. They were ranked #2 in the Media Poll and #3 in the Coaches Poll. The Eagles had the best NET Ranking this season within all of Division I basketball. Jason Braxton, the Athletic Director for Boston College, said, “The Eagles have had a phenomenal season. In the few short years Frederick Aura has been our head coach, he’s really turned around the program, taking it from the depths of the ACC to the pinnacle of the conference and making us a national powerhouse.” Throughout the entire season the Eagles averaged 78.5 ppg while giving up just 67.8 ppg. Their 36.6 rpg is 6th best in the country. Braxton added, “An impressive part of our success has been that we did it with a real team effort rather than having one or two star players who carried the team game after game. But Coach Aura’s recruiting efforts have landed us better players each year he’s been with us so that we have a deep team with strong starters and reserves. Coach Aura does a great job of playing a deep bench so that we have fresh legs coming in throughout the game. And this year we had two Norton Award nominees, senior James Lilly and freshman Leonard Meliet. And Meliet was named a quarterfinalist for the award. Freshman PG Phil Thompson has declared for this summer’s NBA Draft and I expect we will have more of our players drafted this summer or future drafts.” This season the Eagles top scorers playing in 20 or more games were: Leonard Meliet—15.7 ppg; Courtland Reese—14.6 ppg; James Lilly—7.9 ppg; Josh McFadgon—7.7 ppg; Marvin Reese—7.5 ppg; Jason Caldwell—6.1 ppg; Michael Millford—5.6 ppg; Greg Kidd—4.7 ppg; Phil Thompson—3.3 ppg; Jason Dunn—3.1 ppg; Winston Minahan—2.9 ppg; Jon Ray—1.8 ppg; Keith Kolder—1.8 ppg. Our best rebounders were: James Lilly—6.4 rpg; Courtland Reese—6.1 rpg; Marvin Reese—4.2 rpg; Jason Caldwell—4.2 rpg; Leonard Meliet—4.1 rpg; Greg Kidd—3.3 rpg; and Michael Millford—2.2 rpg. Leading the team in assists were: Leonard Meliet—3.6 apg; James Lilly—3.4 apg; Josh McFadgon—2.7 apg; Phil Thompson—1.3 apg; Marvin Reese—1.1 apg; and Courtland Reese—1.0 apg. James Lilly had the most steals, averaging 1.3 spg and Courtland Reese averaged 1.2 bpg to lead the team in blocks. Coach Frederick Aura stated, “I’m really proud of this team. They worked hard and came together to achieve beyond any of our expectations. We’re proud to be the #1 seed in the East Region for the Big Dance and are focused on taking the tournament one game at a time.” While the team is losing several players to graduation, the coaching staff was able to recruit 5 top-flight players who are expected to help continue the Eagles success in the upcoming seasons. “We’re committed to bringing great student-athletes to Boston College,” said Coach Aura.

Boston Herald NCAA TOURNAMENT BRACKETS SET The selection committee has completed their work. Boston College will be the #1 seed in the East Region and will play in Charlotte, NC. against the winner of the Utah Valley/Mount St. Marys game who meet to gain the #16 seed. Three other ACC teams are in the East Region. Virginia is the #3 seed in the East and will go up against 14-seed Elon. Louisville will be the #4 seed in the East and play 13-seed Montana in Round 1. North Carolina is the 5th seed and plays 12th seed Hawaii. The Kansas Jayhawks are the #1 seed in the Midwest Region. Duke is the 2nd seed in the Midwest Region and plays #15 seed Princeton. North Carolina State is the 11th seed in the Midwest and take on 6th seeded Temple. In the South Region, the #1 seed will be the Providence Friars that will be up against the #16 seed Omaha. There are no ACC teams in the South Region. In the West Region, Illinois is the #1 seed. Notre Dame, which won the ACC Tournament, is the #2 seed in the West. The Fighting Irish’ opponent will be 15-seed Morgan State. ACC teams that will be participating in other post-season tournaments are: Clemson, #1 seed in the South Region of the NIT Tournament; Miami (FL), the 7th seed in the Midwest Region of the CIT Tournament; and Florida State, the 7th seed in the South Region of the CIT Tournament. The ACC had 6 teams ranked in the polls and 10 of it’s 15 teams will participate in the various post-season tournaments, including 7 teams that were selected to play in the NCAA Tournament.

Boston College Chronicle Kinsey Ramsey ATLANTIC COAST TOURNAMENT RESULTS 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.”

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 thus far in college. Florida State’s PG had just 4 points, well under his normal output, so Phil did well defensively.

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.”

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.