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Dec. 20, 2027: #8 ranked Marquette Golden Eagles (10-0) vs #7 ranked Boston College Eagles (9-1) at Silvio O. Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA JJ Conroy, BeanTownSports Blog Pregame issues: The Eagles closed out their pre-conference play by hosting another unbeaten team. Marquette was ranked #8 in the Media Poll and #7 in the Coaches Poll. The Golden Eagles won the Advocare Invitational championship. PF Donta Lee came into the game averaging 17.5 ppg and 10.2 rpg and Garrett Barnes was averaging 16.8 ppg. C Courtland Reese has been experiencing back spasms. He started but his playing time was limited. With reserve C Greg Kidd unable to play due to a recurring injury, BC’s interior depth was impacted, particularly since reserve Jason Caldwell tires quickly. That makes trying to hold down Donta Lee even more difficult. What’s happening at Boston College with all the injuries this season? Have the coaches changed their practice and game strategies so that the players’ physical condition is being adversely affected? Is the training staff not properly handling the players? If the injury parade continues, it will definitely result in losses during conference play. Game Results: In a surprise, Coach Aura started Jason Caldwell at C in place of injured Courtland Reese. For a second straight game, Boston College scored their initial points at the free throw line. They made 7 foul shots and were 0 for 7 from the field and were tied 13-7 after 8 minutes of play. The Eagles finally made their first field goal at the 11:59 mark. In another surprise, in a rather ballsy move Coach Aura moved Leonard Meliot from SF to C with Caldwell resting on the bench and Courtland Reese ineffective in 4 minutes on the court. Since the 6’5” Meliet came to BC as a PG, this was akin to how the Lakers used “Magic Johnson” occasionally many years ago. Meliet responded by scoring 5 points while giving up 2 points in about 4 minutes at the C position as the Eagles narrowed the gap to 18-17 with 7-1/2 minutes left in the half. After pulling ahead by a single point BC stalled offensively allowing Marquette to build a 32-27 halftime advantage. Since Boston College hit just 26% of their FG’s compared to 52% by Marquette, it was surprising the game was so close. Leonard Meliet scored 14 points plus grabbed 5 rebounds in the half. The four guards used by the Eagles were 0 for 15 from the field and Caldwell and Reese missed on all 5 of their FGA’s. Meliet and Lilly each picked up their 3rd foul early in the 2nd half, a bad omen for the Eagles, particularly since Caldwell and Reese were so ineffective at the C position. BC’s horrendous shooting continued. Coach Aura was forced to bring Meliet back in as he seemed to be the only Eagle able to hit a FG. He responded by drilling two 3’s to cut the lead to 40-39 with 9 minutes to play. Then with 7 minutes to go, Meliet hit a jumper to tie the game at 41-41. He then hit two successive 3’s to put the Eagles on top 49-43 with 5:13 on the clock. BC’s defense carried them the rest of the way as they achieved a poorly played, but dogged 58-50 win. The victory fell completely on the shoulders of Leonard Meliet who scored 28 of the Eagles 58 points, hitting 10 of 16 from the field (including 5 of 8 from beyond the arc) and 3 for 3 at the charity line. Meliet also had 9 rebounds, an assist, and 3 steals. The only other Eagle who shot well was PF Marvin Reese who hit 4 of 6 FG’s and scored 10 points. The rest of the team hit just of 32 of their FG attempts (6%) and none of their nine 3-point attempts. The way the other 9 players performed on offense was quite simply atrocious. While they weren’t booed by the home crowd, there were a lot of groans as they shot miss after miss after miss. The Eagles defense in the 2nd half was solid, though, allowing the Golden Eagles to score just 18 points in the final 20 minutes. Marquette hit less that 40% of their shots in the 2nd half and got few shots due to frequent turnovers (they had 23 throughout the entire game). The Eagles held Marquette’s Donta Lee and Garrett Barnes to a combined total of just 20 points. Comments: Boston College has to improve their shooting if they want to be competitive in ACC play. Their FG percentage is the 4th worst in the ACC. Because of that 8 of the other 14 ACC teams are scoring better than the Eagles who average 77.4 ppg). 7 of the other 14 ACC teams have held their opponents to less points per game than BC’s 66.4 ppg average. Unless they improve that portends Boston College finishing in the middle of the ACC standings. BC remains 8th in the Media Poll and 10th in the Coached Poll. Although their pre-conference record is good they aren’t playing like a Top 10 ranked team. On the other hand their preconference schedule has made their NET Ranking best in the nation. My guess is that they will finish 4th in the ACC standings…behind Duke, Louisville and either Virginia, Florida State or North Carolina.

Dec. 13, 2027: Cornell Big Red (5-5) vs #6 ranked Boston College Eagles (8-1) at Silvio O. Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA Athletic Director Jason Braxton We’ve been working on changing our non-conference rival game from Cornell to another program that is more competitive with our program. Tonight’s game will be the final one covered by our agreement with Cornell, thus freeing us up to making a commitment with a different school. We’ve been talking to several other schools and have identified the one we wish to set up as our rival. Working out a rival game isn’t all that simple. Of course, if another school already has a rival, then they typically can not make a change. Those that are not up to the talent level that we’ve achieved under Coach Aura, may want to be our rival, but we prefer to have one more that is more our equal. Some that have about the same capabilities or slightly better, may not want to set a rival that may be likely to pin a loss on them. We prefer someone relatively near us geographically and another Catholic college would be ideal. Since the negotiations have not yet been completed, I can’t reveal the college that is likely to be our new non-conference rival. I believe that the final agreement will not be signed until next summer as we’re finalizing next season’s schedule. Cornell has some good players although not the depth we have. C Phillipp Ray is averaging 13.3 ppg, SF Julian Brookhart is scoring 13.4 ppg, and SG Torian Duany is averaging 10.1 ppg. We can’t take the Big Red too lightly. Initially in the game, the Eagles pounded the ball inside to C Courtland Reese and he was repeatedly fouled, sending the Big Red’s C Phillipp Ray to the bench quickly. BC was up 5-2 with all their points scored by Reese on free throws. We gradually took charge and with 8 minutes to go in the half we led 28-12. By the end of the half we were ahead 40-26. C Courtland Reese already had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. The Eagles played lackadaisically in the 2nd half. With Cornell hitting some big 3’s, the lead shrunk to 7 midway through the half and with 2 minutes left, BC was still up by just 7. Then with 1:20 to go, Cornell’s SF DeShaun Angner made a slick move to the hoop and slammed home a shot to cut the lead to 5. Courtland Reese returned the favor with a move to the basket himself to make it 73-66 with a minute left. We ended up scoring a rather unimpressive 78-66 win. C Courtland Reese (15 points, 11 boards), PG Josh McFadgon (12 points), and SF Leonard Meliet (10 points) led the Eagles to victory. Cornell’s PG Jason Paige scored 20 points while C Phillipp Ray scored 11 and pulled down 10 rebounds. The pollsters obviously weren’t impressed by our win either. We dropped to #7 in the Media Poll and #10 in the Coaches Poll.

ACC Teams in Polls as of December 11, 2027: Duke (9-0), 1st in both polls (NET ranking: 9th) Louisville (9-1), 5th in both polls (NET ranking: 14th) Boston College (8-1), 6th in Media Poll and 8th in Coaches Poll (NET ranking: 2nd) Florida State (8-1), 11th in Media Poll and 12th in Coaches Poll (NET ranking: 56th) North Carolina (5-1), 16th in Media Poll and 20th in Coaches Poll (Net ranking: 72nd) Virginia (6-0), 17th in Media Poll and 16th in Coaches Poll (NET ranking: 17th) Syracuse (6-0), 21st in Media Poll and 22nd in Coaches Poll (NET ranking: 50th) Thus far all 15 ACC teams have won more games than they’ve lost and the ACC’s overall record is 104-28.

Dec. 6, 2027: Seton Hall Pirates (5-0) vs #6 ranked Boston College Eagles (7-1) at Silvio O. Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA James Lilly, SG The Eagles are going up against our 2nd straight undefeated team. Seton Hall has beaten two ranked teams, #12 ranked Oregon and #15 ranked Texas and played Texas on the road. SF Quincy Abrams is averaging 15.8 ppg and SG Heath Gresham has scored 12.4 ppg with both hitting a high percentage of their shots. We’re going to initially focus on Abrams to try to keep him from getting easy shots. We’ll spot up Leonard Meliet against him…both are freshman stars. I’ll be guarding Gresham, but will likely be doubling up on Abrams at times. PF Marvin Reese intercepted a pass and pushed the ball up to SF Leonard Meliet who threw down a jam to put the first points on the board 32 seconds into the game. PG Josh McFadgon drilled a pass over to me on the left side of the key and my jumper 35 seconds later made it 4-0. We forced the Pirates into their 3rd straight turnover on their next possession. I found C Jason Caldwell down low and he drove to the hoop for another dunk making it 6-0.about 30 seconds later. Our fans were rocking the house. The refs tagged me with a reaching in foul then so the Pirates finally drew blood. We were up 16-4 before Seton Hall made their first field goal with 11:37 on the clock. By then they’d made 6 turnovers. Our only problem was that we missed our first six 3-point shots but SF Michael Millford finally chipped one in to make it 25-11 with 6:53 remaining in the half. With 3:07 to go I got called for my 2nd foul, but Coach Fed left me in the game. Meliet and Abrams were putting on quite an offensive show. First one would score then the other. Coach Fed pulled me outta the game with a minute and a half to play telling me he wanted to give Jon Ray some time on the court and prevent me from picking up my 3rd foul. We left the court up by a score of 43-29. We’d outscored the Pirates in the paint 20-2 and held an 11-3 turnover advantage. Leonard Meliet outscored Quincy Abrams 15-10 in the half. I had 6 points. Coach Fed gave us all a pat on the back but since we’d let Seton Hall improve their shooting to 48%, stressed the need for better defense to keep the Pirates from rallying in the 2nd half. Seton Hall came out on fire, hitting their first 5 FG’s plus a bunch of FT’s as the refs crucified us, including the 3rd on me and Leonard Meliet sending us both to the bench. The Pirates closed the gap to 52-46. Coach Fed got all over us in the first media time out of the half. SF Michael Millford scored 2 quick buckets when he entered the game to put us back on top by 10. C Greg Kidd went down with an injury with about 7 minutes left to play. The refs finally began calling fouls against the Pirates. It was about time since we all felt they were getting away with murder. That helped us counter Seton Hall’s hot shooting. When the final media timeout came with 2:59 to play we were barely ahead, 77-71. Abrams fouled me on the next possession and I sank both free throws to put us up by 8 with 2:50 to go, but I fouled out on the Pirates next possession. It became a game of free throws for us and 3’s for them at that point. We held on to escape with an 85-79 victory. Seton Hall hit 63% of their shots in the 2nd half. In the game they knocked down 14 of 23 from beyond the arc. That nearly sunk us. Fortunately we held a 30-24 rebounding advantage and a 21-9 turnover advantage. Leading us was SF Leonard Meliet with 22 points and 8 boards. PG Josh McFadgon scored 14, C Jason Caldwell had 13, and I finished with 12 points (to go along with 3 rebounds, 4 assists and a block). Seton Hall’s leading scorer was SF Quincy Abrams with 21 points…he also had 7 rebounds and 3 blocks. C Greg Kidd aggravated his earlier toe injury and while he may be able to play, the word is that he’ll be out of action until completely healed this time. C Courtland Reese has recovered, though, and will therefore be back in the lineup after missing 2 games plus part of the game in which he was injured. We’re incurring more injuries this season than we did last year. I guess it’s just the breaks (ha, ha) of the game. We remained ranked #6 in the Media Poll, but we have the 2nd best NET ranking which I think is a good indication of how competitive our pre-conference schedule has been. When I look at the pre-conference schedules of the other ACC teams, I see a few tough games but mostly a lot of creampuffs on their schedules. All of our games thus far have been against tough teams. Our upcoming game is against a weaker opponent, but then our final game will be against another ranked opponent. We then go into ACC play…and presently there are 6 ACC teams, other than us, ranked in the top 25 in the polls.

Dec. 2, 2027: #3 seed Boston College Eagles (7-0) vs #4 seed Illinois Fighting Illini (7-0) at State Farm Center in Champaign, IL 1st Assistant Coach David Woodruff (practice) We’ve played some very good teams thus far, but we’re really moving up a step by taking on Illinois, particularly when the game is on their home court. Illinois has won 27 and 28 games the past two seasons and been ranked in the Top 25 in the polls each season. SG Randy Sims is averaging 19.4 ppg, 5.9 apg, and 5.4 rpg. SF Abdul Craig has scored 18.7 ppg and pulled down 5.6 rpg. PG Kevin Payne is averaging 12.3 ppg and 4.0 apg. C Michael Howell has averaged 11.9 ppg and 7.1 rpg. The Fighting Illini are a veritable scoring machine, averaging 95.4 ppg and holding opponents to 76.0 ppg. Unfortunately we’re meeting them with C Courtland Reese sidelined with an injury. Obviously we need to play some good defense and clamp down on their high-scoring offense to keep them well under their typical scoring in order to have a change against them. We have a good start, opening a 9-2 lead in the first 2 minutes. But Illinois struck back and struck hard by scoring 17 of the next 19 points. Although that left us reeling, we were able to shake it off and scored the next 6 points to show we weren’t going to fold. But even though we were shooting well, the Fighting Illini were decimating us with their sharp shooting. With 8 minutes left in the half we trailed 33-21 with Illinois hitting nearly 70% of their shots, including 7 of 8 from beyond the arc. When the half ended we were on the short end of a 53-35 score. PF Marvin Reese led us with 12 points, but Illinois’ SF Abdul Craig had poured in 18 points with SG Randy Sims adding 10. I had the feeling our guys were a little shell-shocked when they got into the locker room. They’d just had an opponent hit 69% of their FG’s, 60% of their 3’s, 92% of their FT’s, and make just 4 turnovers. Coach Aura did all he could to get them into a positive frame of mind and get across the idea that we couldn’t make up the deficit quickly, but that it was important to just keep whittling away at it throughout the 2nd half. We made a few dents in the difference, but Illinois had a comeback every time to keep us from ever mounting a serious charge. We dropped this game 89-71. Illinois showed they’re an elite team. PF Marvin Reese had 17 points and 7 rebounds, C Jason Caldwell scored 15 points, and SF Leonard Meliet added 10 points. SF Abdul Craig finished with 20 points for Illinois. When the polls were updated we dropped to #6 in the Media Poll and #7 in the Coaches Poll.

Nov. 29, 2027: Missouri Tigers (3-2) vs #3 ranked Boston College Eagles (6-0) at Silvio O. Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA Boston Herald Boston College continued to try to maintain a spotless basketball record last night at Conte Forum. Trying to pin a first loss on the 6-0 Eagles were the Missouri Tigers coming into the game with a 3-2 record. Because of turnovers, missed shots, and fouls, it took the Eagles nearly 4 minutes to get on the board and put them in a 6-0 hole. A minute later C Courtland Reese went down with an injury and was taken out of the game, not to return. Missouri went ahead 31-13 with 7:46 remaining in the half. During the media time out, Coach Aura could be seen animatedly reprimanding his team. BC responded by going on a 27-6 run over the final 12 minutes of the half that got the crowd back in the game and put the Eagles on top 40-37 when the halftime claxon sounded. SG James Lilly led the comeback, scoring 11 points in the half. BC’s 10 turnovers in the half gave Coach Aura something to talk to the team about during the halftime intermission, though. Boston College’s onslaught continued as they scored the first 12 of 14 points in the 2nd half. The Tigers then cut the lead to 8 but BC came right back to extend their lead back to 15 with 11-1/2 minutes left in the game. The Eagles then not only stubbornly held onto their large lead but increased it to finish the game with a dominant 82-61 victory. Scoring in double figures for Boston College were SF Marvin Reese with 14 points, C Jason Caldwell with 12 (he also had 9 rebounds), and SG James Lilly who scored 11 points in 17 minutes of play. SF Leonard Meliet pulled down 13 rebounds and had 7 assists, 2 steals and 3 blockds while scoring 8 points. “We stumbled after Courtland (Reese) went down,” said Coach Fred Aura. “But we got back up and pulled together as a team to play what may have been our strongest straight 30 minutes. We got great performances throughout the lineup with all 13 of our players scoring. I was really happy to see Winston Minahan and Keith Kolder come off the bench and both score points. I also was impressed by Leonard (Meliet) mixing it upside and grabbing 13 boards.” When asked about Courtland Reese’s injury, Aura replied, “Courtland sustained a major contusion to his thigh. My staff indicates he is likely to be out of commission for 7-10 days. Together with the prior injury to Greg Kidd, that leaves us a little short-handed inside. So that’s why Minahan’s and Kolder’s performances today were so important. Injuries make having a deep bench a real necessity.”

Boston College Chronicle By Kinsey Ramsey EAGLES SOAR IN POLLS Following two impressive wins this past week which raised the Boston College basketball team’s record to 6-0, the Eagles ranking in the Media Poll is now #3. In the Coaches Poll they are #4. Their NET Ranking is 6th best. Duke (6-0) and Florida (6-0) have nailed down the top 2 spots in both polls. The Eagles are averaging 79.3 ppg while giving up just 64.0 ppg. Leading the team in scoring is freshman Leonard Meliet who has averaged 15.8 ppg and junior Courtland Reese who has scored 12.7 ppg. Top rebounders are senior James Lilly (7.3 rpg) and junior Jason Caldwell (6.7 rpg). “Although polls this early in the season are highly inaccurate, it’s an honor to be ranked so high,” said Coach Fred Aura. He added, “But rankings don’t win games. In fact they paint a bullseye on your back. So we’ll have to continue to work hard in practice and execute in games.”

Nov. 5, 2027: Minnesota Golden Gophers (3-0) vs #7-ranked Boston College Eagles (5-0) at Silvio O. Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA Roy Matuzik, sports reporter for WEEI radio There’s been a lot of questions and discussion in our sports talk segments recently about Boston College basketball. So I’m attending a game so I can be a better host for those segments. The Eagles C Greg Kidd sprained his ankle in practice and will be out for about a week. BC has announced that Josh McFadgon has fully recovered from his toe injury, so I assume he will be starting at PG tonight. Minnesota is a guard-oriented team. SG Trey Jeppson is averaging 24.3 ppg and is hitting 67% of his treys. PG Eddie Walker is averaging 12.3 ppg and 8.7 apg. McFadgon hit a 3 with 17-1/2 minutes remaining in the half to put BC ahead 9-2. With 14 minutes to go he knocked down his second 3 to make it 23-8…looks like he’s back. The Golden Gophers then went on a 10-0 run cutting the lead to 5 points. C Courtland Reese charged with 3rd personal foul with about 6 minutes remaining in the half and the Eagles holding a 13 point lead. Big time O displayed by the Eagles. The halftime score is 58-37. BC hit 64% of their FG’s and 67% of their 3’s. SF/PG Leonard Meliet poured in 19 points and PG Josh McFagdon scored 11, hitting 100% of his shots. Boston College’s shooting cooled in the 2nd half and Minnesota cut the lead to 13 points with 15 minutes to go. BC got the lead back up to 20 before settling for a 90-73 thrashing of Minnesota. Strong rebounding (+9) by the Eagles. SF/PG Leonard Meliet had 21 points and 7 assists. PG Josh McFadgon dropped in 16 points. SG Jason Dunn hit for 13 points. C Jason Caldwell scored 11 points and had 9 boards. SG Eric Jeppson scored 26 points for Minnesota.

Nov. 22, 2027: UCLA Bruins (0-1) vs #7-ranked Boston College Eagles (4-0) at Silvio O. Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA Mason O’Leary, fan Prior to the game: I came to Boston College as a freshman in 2012 and graduated in 2016. In the fifteen years since I first became a fan of the Eagles, this is the first time we’ve had a home game with an Eagles’ team that has been ranked in the polls. And we’re not only ranked, but well up into the Top 10 in both polls. Amazing!!! You can feel the difference in fans…a positivity that was absent in the past. With UCLA in town, Conte Forum is full and rocking. While fans were hopeful when Coach Aura was hired, I think most, me included, figured the most that could be expected was that maybe we’d finally win as many games as we lost. But his first two years in command, and now the start this season, have us all expecting the team to better its Sweet 16 finish of last year. Greedy? Demanding? Hell yes! UCLA sustained a tough loss to New Mexico in the opening round of the 2K Sports Classic but that was because the Lobos scored 16 more points at the free throw line than the Bruins and 2 UCLA starters fouled out while 2 more starters and 2 reserves were on the ropes with 4 fouls apiece. Bruins’ Coach Ben Purnell got a technical and was nearly tossed out of the game. I have a feeling UCLA will be gunning to turn their season around against the Eagles. First half comments: · Coach Aura is still not starting Josh McFadgon at PG. I guess the injury is taking longer to heal that expected. · Courtland Reese wins the tip off and it goes to PG Leonard Meliet. He dribbles into the forecourt, fakes a pass to James Lilly and then turns and fires the ball into the corner to PF Marvin Reese. Reese does a nice job of protecting the ball as he dribbles along the base line, turns quickly and moves out along the edge of the key. UCLA’s PG Whitehead shifts to pick him up. Reese puts up a quick jumper that settles through the hoop. He was fouled on the shot and they calmly hits the free throw. Nice start. · On the next possession, Meliet hits a 3 from the corner to make it 6-0 in just the first 40 seconds. · Courtland Reese hits a shot on which he was fouled. He drops in the foul shot to make it 9-3 after 98 seconds of play. · We’re up 18-6 with just under 16 minutes to play. · Refs are calling too many fouls…controlling the game too much. Fouls on us with 14 minutes to play in the half. Let them play, zebras. · McFadgon subs in and gets a quick assist. · On successive possessions by UCLA, the Eagles pick off passes and fire it up court to streaking teammates for slam dunks, 28-16 with 9:27 remaining. The crowd is going wild. UCLA calls a time out. · I guess turnabout is fair play. UCLA intercepts passes on 2 consecutive possessions by BC and turns them into 4 easy points, 34-23 with 6:26 left. Coach Aura calls a time out for a little butt chewing. · Meliet hits his 5th 3-pointer in 6 attempts with 1:18 on the clock. · Jon Ray subs in at SG with less than a minute to go and hits the final shot of the half to make the halftime score 54-32 in favor of the Eagles. · BC hit 59% of their FG’s and 67% of their 3’s, had an 18-15 rebounding edge, and an 11-7 turnover advantage in the first half. PG Leonard Meliet had 15 points, PF/SF Marvin Reese had 14, C Courtland Reese had 10, and SG James Lilly scored 8 and pulled down rebounds. 2nd Half Comments: · Play by both teams was sloppy in the 2nd half. · BC didn’t shoot as well in the 2nd half, but increased their lead to as much as 29 points. · Coach Aura emptied the bench in the latter stages of the game. · Final score: Boston College-78, UCLA-57. · Top scorers: PG Leonard Meliet-21; C Courtland Reese-16; PF/SF Marvin Reese-16; SG James Lilly-10 points with 10 rebounds, 6 assists, and 4 steals. UCLA’s C Jason Lavin also had a double-double with 13 points and 12 boards. · PG Josh McFadgon came in off the bench and played pretty well, but definitely seems to still not be back to 100% and not able to get free of coverage to get off shots. He played 18 minutes, scoring 3 points (hitting 1 of 3 FG’s and 1 of 2 FT’s), dishing out 4 assists, getting 1 steal and turning the ball over 3 times. McFadgon was such an integral part of the team last season, that it seems important for him to get back fully to his role as team leader and into the flow of the game.

Nov. 20, 2027: #4 seed Alabama-Birmingham Blazers (2-1) vs #3 seed Boston College Eagles (3-0) in Maui Jim Invitational at the Lahaina Civic Center in Lahaina, Hawaii (championship game) Coach Fred Aura Alabama-Birmingham beat DePaul and #1 seed/#9 ranked Ohio State to get to the championship game against us. They’ve got an explosive offense and their two starting guards have combined to average over 30 ppg, but I’m hoping we can exploit their defense. We’re going to sit PG Josh McFadgon again to give his sprained toe a chance to heal. He continue to want to play, but his on-court movement is restricted. Our guys were getting too keyed up about playing in the championship game, so I tried dialing it back before the game, telling them to approach this as just another pre-conference game. The refs called game too close on both teams. C Courtland Reese picked up his second foul just four minutes into the game and both of the Blazers’ starting guards were on the bench a minute later. Greg Kidd, who we subbed in for Courtland Reese, was charged with 2 fouls in 3 minutes on the court. Alabama-Birmingham was 0 for 8 from the field and we jumped out to a 14-1 lead with 13 minutes left in the half. Both teams were in the bonus at the foul line after just 8 minutes of play. Our defense held and we came away with a 31-20 lead at the break. We hit just 39% of our shots, but the Blazers could only knock down 26% of their FGA’s. We controlled the boards 24-13. PF/C Jason Caldwell had 8 points and 7 rebounds in the half. The Blazers went on a run cutting out lead to 6 points with 12 minutes to play. But we rallied to re-establish a double-digit lead. Our lead grew to 23 points at one point and we won easily 76-61. We did a great job on the boards…44-25. We won the Maui Jim Invitational Championship! There haven’t been any basketball trophies added to the BC trophy case for a long time, so this one will be prized. SF Michael Millford had a really strong game, scoring 17 points and picking off 6 rebounds. PF/C Jason Caldwell had an awesome double-double, scoring 14 and pulling down 13 boards. SG Jason Dunn scored 13 points and PG Leonard Meliet added 11 points. For other ACC teams in early tournaments: Duke won the 2K Sports Classic championship and Louisville lost in the championship game of the NIT Season Tip-Off. Surprisingly, we’re ranked #7 in the Media Poll and #5 in the Coaches Poll. That’s way overrated. Can’t let it swell my guys’ heads or let them believe they can just walk onto the court and get a win.

Nov. 19, 2027: #3 seed Boston College Eagles (2-0) vs #2 seed South Carolina Gamecocks (1-0) in Maui Jim Invitational at the Lahaina Civic Center in Lahaina, Hawaii (semi-finals) PG Josh McFadgon South Carolina got by Illinois State easily in their opening game in this tournament. SG Patrick Wilson scored 23 points in that game. I played 4 minutes in our previous game and just didn’t get anything done. The sprained toe is giving me more problems than I expected. I’ll be on the bench tonight, but don’t expect that Coach Fed will play me. I hate not playing, but my function will be to cheer on the other guys. Lots of mistakes on offense early for us with a bunch of turnovers. But our defense allowed us to edge ahead. But then the Gamecocks scored 11 unanswered points to pull ahead 18-9 midway through the half. We scored the next 10 points to edge ahead again. South Carolina outplayed us in the final minutes of the half to take lead 35-28. Coach Fed chewed out the team in the locker room because of our 13 turnovers. The Gamecocks gradually edged further ahead, taking a 13 point lead with 10 minutes left. We scratched our way back with 3’s by Meliet, Millford, Dunn and Ray to get within a single point at 56-55 with 6-1/2 minutes remaining. Greg Kidd then sank 2 free throws to put us up by 1 with 6 minutes to go. At the final media timeout we were on top 63-61. Neither team could score for the next 2-1/2 minutes. But South Carolina stole the ball and drove for a layup to pull into a tie with 1:32 on the clock. With 30 seconds to go, James Lilly worked the ball inside to Courtland Reese in the lane. Courtland drove to the hoop and put up a finger roll that fell through to make it 65-63. Both teams missed shots giving the Gamecocks the final possession. Their 3 point shot just as the buzzer was to sound rimmed around the basket and spun away. We escaped in a 65-63 squeaker. Our leading scorer was SF Michael Millford who scored 14 points. C Courtland Reese with 12 points was our only other player in double figures. Courtland also had 6 rebounds, 2 blocks and 4 steals.

Nov. 18, 2027: #6 seed Oregon State Beavers (0-1) vs # 3 seed Boston College Eagles (1-0) in Maui Jim Invitational at the Lahaina Civic Center in Lahaina, Hawaii 2nd Assistant Coach Chris Evans Our guys are excited to be in Hawaii for the Maui Jim Invitational. We’re the 3rd seed. Our opening opponent, Oregon State, lost on the road to #6 ranked Maryland earlier this week so that loss wasn’t unexpected. PG Josh McFadgon sprained his toe late in our game against San Diego State early this week. Our trainers expect it will take a week to fully heal, but Josh wants to play and the trainers are OK with that but say he may be slowed down a bit. We’re going to have him coming in off the bench and see how he does. We’ve adjusted our starting lineup. Leonard Meliet will start at PG rather than SF, Marvin Reese will move from PF to SF to start, and Jason Caldwell will start at PF. We hit just 1 of our first 7 shots, but the Beavers were having just as much problem putting the ball in the hoop. Even though we started slow, our shooting warmed up as the half progressed and we finished the half hitting 41% of our FG’s. We held Oregon State’s shooting to just 19%. We also had a 9 to 1 turnover advantage. That explained our 42-21 halftime lead. Leonard Meliet scored 11 points, Courtland Reese had 10 points, and SG James Lilly scored 9 and had 7 rebounds in the half. PF Winston Minahan came off the bench to score 7 and pull down 4 boards in 10 minutes of play. Josh McFadgon played for about 4 minutes but his sprained toe is keeping him from making cuts and making him a half-step slow. We’ll rest him the remainder of the game. We opened the 2nd half with a 12-3 run to go up by 30. While we were never threatened, we let down at that point but still finished with an easy 82-61 victory. Our leading scorer was C Courtland Reese with 20 points. PG/SF Leonard Meliet had 16 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists. SG James Lilly had a double-double with 13 points and 11 boards. PG Phil Thompson hit 2 more 3’s and is now 5 for 5 from long distance in his first 2 collegiate games. Phil Thompson, PG I’ve never been to Hawaii until now. It seems great but we really don’t have the time to do much and the coaches have us all on a really short leash. We did get to the beach this morning and had a great time. We then went and got something very Hawaiian, shaved ice. Then it was time for a light workout and practice in the afternoon. I expected to go to a luau while here, but we’re playing our games at night so that’s out so we’ll miss out on watching the hulu dancers which sucks. The Boston College Jesuit providing oversight on this trip is Father James. He’s one of the most conservative and straight-laced priests so he doesn’t want us doing anything. Some of my teammates and I think we shoulda spent a couple days here before or after the tournament so we could experience the island sights, culture and wahinis.

Nov. 15, 2027: San Diego State Aztecs (0-1) vs Boston College Eagles (0-0) at Silvio O. Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA Ray Morrison, fan I’m excited to have BC Eagles’ basketball beginning again. It’s really been nice to have a competitive team here the past two seasons that Coach Aura has been in charge. From what I’ve read it sounds like this year’s team will be even stronger. We have a really good core of players back and apparently some very good new players also. But as they say: don’t count your chickens before they hatch. Freshman SF Leonard Meliet isn’t afraid to shoot. He scored 6 of the Eagles first 12 points, hitting 3 of his 5 shots in the first 4 minutes of the game. With BC shooting well and forcing the Aztecs into a series of turnovers, the Eagles steadily pulled away. With 7 minutes remaining in the half, BC was on top 34-15. After leading by as much as 25 points, the Eagles settled for a 48-29 halftime advantage. SF Leonard Meliet looked even better than advertised, scoring 16 points on 7 of 11 shooting with 3 rebounds and an assist. BC made no turnovers in the first half while causing San Diego State to make 14. The Eagles continued to dominate in the 2nd half, expanding their lead to 27 points. They eased up late and still won by a final score of 85-69. Leonard Meliet led all scorers with 21 points. PF Marvin Reese hit for 15 points, C Courtland Reese scored 12, and PG Phil Thompson scored 11 points in his 12 minutes of play. Nice start to the season. Three of our new guys really looked good. Meliet was terrific. Thompson hit 3 of 3 from beyond the arc, and PF Winston Minahan had 3 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists in the 10 minutes he was on the court.

Coach Fred Aura Fall practices went well. Players got along well together and focused on developing the best team work possible. We have good depth this season. Here’s how we will start the season: Starters: PG-Josh McFadgon, 6-1 Sr: Josh developed strongly throughout last season, particularly his scoring. He continues to show good offensive power. I’m hoping his ball distribution continues to improve but he’s got a good understanding about the flow of a game and good leadership skills. SG-James Lilly, 6-0 Sr: James is very strong offensively, defensively and on the boards. His production has declined a bit but that’s because we have so many more players who can put points on the board and he understands that whoever has the best shot should be putting the ball into the hoop. His leaping capabilities and his understanding of the importance of proper positioning for rebounds has made him our top rebounder, even though he’s just 6 feet tall. SF-Leonard Meliet, 6-5 Fr: Tremendous potential. That’s made us decide to start him at SF (rather than his natural PG position) so we have him in the starting lineup. We’ll see how he does there and adjust if necessary. So far he’s had spurts of excellent offense but also bouts of poor shot selection. He’s going to be a good rebounder, but is still learning how to best position himself and contend for rebounds against bigger players. PF-Marvin Reese, 6-6 Sr: Marvin is a good scorer. We continue to work with him on his rebounding and defense. He can also move over to and do a good job at SF since he’s a very good outside shooter. C-Courtland Reese, 6-9 So: He continues to be our rock inside. A very good scorer and rebounder and a good defender. We are a better team when Courtland is on the floor. We believe he has the ability to develop further, but we’ll see how that unfolds this season. Bench: Perimeter Players: PG-Phil Thompson (6-3, Fr) came to us with a good skill set that still needs refinement. So we will give him enough minutes so that he can develop into what could be a very strong player for us in the future. Jon Ray (6-3, Sr) will come in at both PG and SG. He has the ability to come in and give us a scoring boost and his passing and ball-handling skills have really progressed. Since he could well become our starting PG next season after Josh McFadgon graduates, Leonard Meliet will get playing time at PG as well as starting at SF. SG-Besides Jon Ray, Jason Dunn (6-2, Sr) will continue to come off the bench to spell James Lilly. He’s developed a lot since last season and can give us some offensive firepower when he enters the game. SF-Michael Millford (6-6, Jr) could well have been a starter this season (and may be at some point). He’s good at coming in and putting points on the board. Keith Kolder (6-7, Fr) has good skills but needs to hone them further so we need to find spots where he can get onto the court and have success. We’re likely to slide Marvin Reese and Winston Minahan from their regular PF position over to the SF position at times and feel that both can be productive there. Andy Dawson (6-8, So) is a pretty decent player for a walk-on but is unlikely to get much playing time. Interior Players: Jason Caldwell (6-8 Jr) and Greg Kidd (6-10 Jr walk-on) are both excellent players at either C or PF. Both are good scorers and rebounders. Winston Minahan (6-6 So) is coming off a year of ineligibility due to his transfer from Texas Tech). He’s a solid player at PF and will also put in some time as SF. Danny Toliver (6-8, So) who transferred this year from Georgia Tech will be practicing with the team but is ineligible this season due to the transfer.

ESPN Report Following last season’s recruiting success, Boston College has landed 5 highly ranked recruits who will join the team next season. Their recruiting success this season is being called into question, though. Anonymous sources are asking how the school, in just the beginning of the 3rd year of Frederick Aura’s tenure as head coach, has gone from being one of the weaker recruiting schools in the ACC to one of the top recruiters. One of the sources commented, “Even though BC has had much better win/loss records the past two seasons than in the past and has moved up in the ACC standings, recruiting so successfully that quickly against the likes of Duke, Syracuse and North Carolina is next to impossible. I think something’s fishy and the smell is beginning to be noticeable.” When asked about the reports, BC Athletic Director Jason Braxton retorted, “That’s just a bunch of sour grapes! I guess there are those within the ACC who are feeling the heat we’re now bringing and are getting scared of our competition.” When asked specifically about Coach Frederick Aura, Braxton said, “Fred did a helluva recruiting job at Towson. And believe me, before hiring him, we definitely vetted Towson’s recruiting efforts and found them to be all above board. Fred and his staff are damned good recruiters and have worked their tails off to interest recruits in Boston College and Eagles basketball. For anyone to suggest anything nefarious in what they’ve done is just pure hog wash and totally without merit. Case closed.” Coach Aura said, “I really have no comment about mere anonymous rumors with no substantiation. We maintain detailed records of our recruiting efforts which we’d openly share with the NCAA should they inquire.” The NCAA refuses to discuss recruiting investigations prior to announcing final findings and penalties. So it’s unknown if the NCAA has opened an investigation of Boston College basketball recruiting.

1st Assistant Coach David Woodruff We have 3 incoming freshman players this season. Of those 3, it’s obvious that Leonard Meliet should be starting. Leonard has played PG in high school and is talented at that position. Could he start for us at PG as a freshman? Yes, but that would mean that Josh McFadgon would be relegated to the bench and that’s not really something we want. Leonard could also be a sound SG but we have James Lilly at SG and James will be our starter at SG. But when Sam Dickens transferred that created a hole at SF. Michael Millford certainly could start for us at SF and in fact, did so a few times last season. But Leonard Miliet is 6’5” and a very good rebounder, as well as being a good ball handler, passer and scorer. We feel that he could handle the SF position for us with Millford backing him up. So we had Leonard working out at SF in the summer camps he’s attended. and we’ll see how he fits in at the 3 when we begin practicing together as a team in October. A starting lineup of McFadgon, Lilly, Miliet, and the two Reese’s would be potent. If this works out, Leonard will probably also put in some minutes at PG in most games as well so that he develops at that position, readying him to take over at that position next season after McFadgon graduates.

September/October Recruiting Results 2nd Assistant Coach Chris Evans (recruiting) We had 5 scholarships to fill this year. With 4 of our 6 guards (including all 3 of our SG’s) graduating after this season, the pressure was on to not only recruit guards, but GOOD guards and guys who can contribute as soon as they get here. Our primary goal was to recruit 3 guards, an interior player, and the best other recruit we could lasso. Our secondary goal was to recruit a 5-star player and have all 5 recruits have a good chance of starting or filling key roles off the bench immediately. Our principal focus was on the Atlantic East region, but we also had recruits on our list from all over the country. We cast a big net with 50 recruits on our list at all times throughout the summer and tried to get each recruit interested in our program and as many as possible listing us in their top 10. We were pretty successful with getting recruits to show at least some interest, less successful with getting as many as we would have liked to include us in their top 10. When we got to September, we made offers to three 5-star recruits…all 3 liked what we had to offer, but ultimately opted for other schools. But we got verbal commitments from 2 recruits in mid-September, another by the end of September, a fourth in early October, and the fifth in mid-October. The effort consumed nearly our entire recruiting budget. But here’s Recruiting Five: SG Adrian Moss, 6’5” HS senior from Meriden, CT. Our first impression was that Adrian was very much controlled by his parents and we found out that his parents would love for him to come to BC even though they attended other colleges. So we were sure we could get him. But it turned out that while they had input, he was going to make the final decision. Playing close to home was his primary concern so that really helped us get him to commit to us. He’s an excellent rebounder (we hope as good as James Lilly has been for us). Other strengths include his being a good scorer, good outside shooter with strong passing skills. He’s a hard worker who had a decent showing at the Indy Elite camp and was in the top 25 at the Big Apple Showcase. As a HS junior last season he averaged 15.0 ppg and 7.4 rpg. He is ranked at the 47th best recruit nationally. SG Corey Graham, a 6’1” high school senior from Greenville, KY was the next recruit to commit to us. Corey’s parents do exert extensive control and while one of their primary interests was location, they also ranked academics, conference prestige, and facilities high on their list so that helped us be a strong contender. Corey’s primary concern, other than location, was playing time and since all SG’s were leaving, he understands he has a good chance for that to happen. Corey is an outstanding scorer and a great outside shooter. Hes’s very strong defensively who gets a lot of steals. He has well-developed passing skills. During his junior year, he scored 21.6 ppg, 4.2 rpg, and 2.5 spg. Corey was in the top 25 at the Indy Elite camp, in the top 5 at the Memphis Hoops Summit, and is the 29th highest ranked recruit in the country. So while he’s not identified as a 5-star recruit, he’s darn near it. PF Mike Braxton, a 6’7” senior from New Kent, VA was the 3rd recruit we gained. Mike’s primary concern is academics which fits right into one of BC’s strengths. Mike is a solid scorer who has excellent inside and outside shooting skills. He works the boards extremely well. He’s a good passer and on defense does a good job of shot blocking. His coach said he hardly ever missed a day of practice. Last season he averaged 14.2 ppg, 12.5 rpg, and 2.7 bpg. His Indy Elite camp performance was decent, but at the Big Apple Showcase he was in the top 25. He’s ranked as the 67th top recruit. PF Darius Hein, who is a 6’7” high school senior from Carrington, ND was a bit of surprise to us when he accepted a late scholarship offer. We had kept tabs on him but not highly recruited him until just before Coach Aura did a home visit and made the offer. Academics and conference prestige played a significant role in his acceptance. He made a decent showing at the Indy Elite Camp and we got some good reports on how he did at the Houston Classic. His coach said he’s a hard worker who while not a leader, doesn’t cause problems. Darius is a very good scorer, particularly from inside. He’s a very strong defender and a good rebounder. Last season he scored 17.0 ppg and averaged 5.7 rpg. He is the 59th best ranked recruit. PG Rashon Thompson is a 5’7” high school senior from Montross, VA. Rashon didn’t stand out at the Indy Elite camp but we liked what we saw of him at the Big Apple Showcase. Rashon was most motivated by location and coach discipline and let us know throughout the summer than he liked our program. But we let our blinders for liking bigger guards blind us to him for quite a while. But in September we took another look at him and then a closer look in October. His coach told us that Rashon is very talented and could be a very good college PG if he works hard and that he’s been injury free. He’s a very good passer and ball handler plus he’s an outstanding outside shooter who puts points on the board. Last season he averaged 15.5 ppg, 4.0 rpg, and 3.7 apg. As recruiting wound down, we pulled an offer for our last available scholarship to another player who was showing interest but looked to be a long way from making a decision and offered it to Rashon who accepted immediately. We think he’ll probably be a good backup point guard who can come in and provide stability to and control of our offense. He’s the 84th highest ranked recruit. So maybe no standout star, but a very good group of 4-star players who we think can fit in well with our team. So I would put up our 5 new recruits up against any and all recruits by other colleges. We expect all 5 to score well enough on their SAT’s, but as usual will be holding our breath in late January until scores are announced. When I look at this great set of incoming players, I’m conflicted. We have a new season starting up soon with a team that will be exciting and fantastic to work with. But the conflict comes because I also want to immediately start working these 5 new recruits. Guess my impatience is showing.

Boston College Press Release Two Boston College basketball players have been selected as candidates for the prestigious Norton Award which is presented at the end of the season to the player who demonstrates the highest level of excellence on the court, in the classroom, and within the community. This year Boston College’s senior SG James Lilly and freshman PG Leonard Meliet are candidates. Lilly, who is from Sprinfield, Mass, has been a team leader throughout his career at BC and has provided outstanding offense, defense, and rebounding for the Eagles. Meliet was highly recruited by a number of excellent basketball programs and chose to play for the Eagles. He’s from Gladewater, Texas. Coach Frederick Aura said, “It’s really a high honor to be named to be a candidate for the Norton Award. Both of these players are very deserving nominees and I believe their performance this year will keep them in the running for the award.”

Transfer Season Coach Fred Aura A lot of transfers come with big-time attitude/personality issues. We stayed away from the worst of those. We made an offer for a SG who only played a few minutes for Villanova as a freshman but who should be a real star. Unfortunately he decided to go to Kansas. We then made an offer to PF Danny Tolivar. As a freshman at Georgia Tech last season he started nearly every game and averaged 9.1 ppg and 6.5 rpg. Tolivar accepted our offer, will be ineligible this season, but should contest for a starting position the following season when he will be a eligibility-wise. He’s a good shooter from all parts of the court. Serendipitously he is well-schooled and experienced in our offensive and defensive sets. We’ll be working closely with him this season to keep his attitude positive. Sam Dickens is transferring to Wisconsin. I wished him the best during his career with the Badgers (as long as they don’t play us). I’m sure he will be a major asset for Wisconsin. I still wish he would have stuck it out with us. We did everything we could to keep him, but for some reason he just never fit in with his teammates here.

2nd Assistant Coach Chris Evans (recruiting) We have 5 scholarships to fill this coming year. We will purchase the basic versions of the Atlantic East Regional Report and the National Report. Our summer travel will be to the Indy Elite Camp and Big Apple Showcase. Since the administration didn’t approve a budget increase and our having a lot of scholarships to fill this year, we’ll have to be careful how we spend our money. We have 5 seniors on this year’s squad. We’d like to pick up 3 guards (preferably one of those being a JC player) and a big man plus the best available player we can get. With the loss of Sam Dickens, we have an extra scholarship to fill, but expect that will be accomplished by singing a transfer player.

2027-2028 SEASON Jason Braxton, Athletic Director Our recruit class was ranked as the 11th best in Division I. Duke and Syracuse were the only ACC teams with recruit classes ranked above ours. But Pittsburgh, Louisville, Notre Dame, Florida State, North Carolina, and Clemson were in the top 25 and North Carolina State, Georgia Tech, and Virginia Tech were in the top 50. In addition to our 3 incoming recruits, PF Winston Minihan, who transferred to us last May and had to sit out last season due to the transfer, is now eligible to play for us this coming season. He maintains his sophomore status for Bad news came early though. SF Sam Dickens has decided to transfer. He told us he doesn’t like his teammates and needs a change. No one can put a finger on why he failed to fit in with the team since he’s not a bad guy personally. He performed well for us in his freshman season and will be a big time player in his future collegiate career. I’m sure he will be picked up by a very strong program. His departure wasn’t a surprise, but his leaving is going to create a big hole in our roster. We hope to pick up a transfer player to fill the vacant scholarship, but of course he’ll have to sit out a year before becoming eligible to play for us.

Coach Fred Aura Awards: The ACC did well in the National Awards with Williams Yeaton of Clemson winning the Norton Award and all other major individual awards. Clemson’s Ty Allison was the National Coach of the Year. Four ACC players were named as 1st Team All-Americans (Williams Yeaton of Clemson, Dustin Bryant of Virginia, Dewayne Jennings of Miami (FL), and Adrian Hooks of Syracuse). Our C Courtland Reese was named to the Atlantic Coast Conference 2nd Team All-Conference. Next Season: Getting to the Sweet 16 led to a number of very high prestige basketball programs showing interest in my becoming their head coach. But I want to continue at BC. The program is really taking shape and I’m looking forward to working with the returning players plus the new recruits this coming year. James Braxton, our Athletic Director, was happy with the performance of our team and congratulated me on meeting all 5 of his goals for me: Qualify for NCAA Tourney; Finish in top half of ACC standings; Win 20 or more games; No academic ineligibility; and Improve school prestige (it moved up to 55 from 52 at the beginning of the year). But my request for a budget increase was denied by the board. I’m keeping my entire assistant coaching staff together for next season, so some good continuity. We’re losing guards Willis Lofton and Samuel King and SF Earl Betts to graduation. To replace them we have 3 incoming freshman recruits; PG Leonard Meliet, PG Phil Thompson, and SF Keith Kolder.

Boston Herald TOURNAMENT RESULTS FOR ACC TEAMS and CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES CIT Results 1st Round: Northern Kentucky-74; North Carolina St.-73 (Sims-18/5) Championship: Albany-90, Missouri-82 CBI Results 1st Round: San Diego St.-70; Georgia Tech-57 (Byrd-21/5 Ast) Championship: Arkansas-82, Massachusetts-72 NIT Results 1st Round: Miami (FL)-63; MD-Eastern Shore-62 (Stone-12/13) UNLV-72; North Carolina-62 (Stokes-22/2) 2nd Round: Miami (FL)-78; Central Florida-62 (Mueller-12/6) 3rd Round: UNLV-81, Miami (FL)-63 (Jennings-16/7) Championship: Saint Josephs-62, UNLV-59 NCAA Results Play-in for 12th seed: Louisville-75, UCLA-63 (OT) (Odle-20/7) 1st Round: Clemson-81; Merrimack-54 (Yeaton-20/16) Virginia-93; McNeese St.-81 (Bryant-21/9; Lawson-21/6) Louisville-93; Villanova-89 (Odle-21/5) Syracuse-90; UCONN-73 (Hooks-30/7/6 Ast) South Carolina St-73; Duke-70 (OT) (Tarkanian-24/11/4 Ast) Boston College-78, Western Carolina-54 (C. Reese-19/6) Boston College went ahead 22-2 in the first 8 minutes of the game. Western Carolina’s 2-3 zone then began to frustrate the Eagles and together with a rash of fouls and turnovers, BC let the Catamounts get back into the game. The first half ended with Boston College on top 43-31. SF Sam Dickens led the Eagles in the half by scoring 9, grabbing 5 rebounds, and dishing out 4 assists. In the first 7 minutes of the 2nd half, BC re-established their 20 point lead. The Eagles defense held Western Carolina’s shooting to just 35% plus forced the Catamounts to make 21 turnovers enroute to an easy round 1 victory. Topping the scoring for BC was C Courtland Reese with 19 points. SG James Lilly had 15 and SF Sam Dickens scored 13. PG Josh McFadgon dished out 9 assists. Coach Aura said, “We came out loose and aggressive. But there were 10 minutes in the first half when we were tight and just didn’t play well. Fortunately our defense was solid tonight.” Round 2: Clemson-70, Western Michigan-54 (Yeaton-25/18/5 Ast, 5 Stl) Virginia-85, Louisville-75 (VA: Lawson-23/10, Bryant-16 11; LVILLE: Church-12/9) Michigan-92, Syracuse-87 (Hooks-24/5, Miller-18/9) Boston College-65, Brigham Young-54 (McFadgon-14/0) In a game that was expected to be a toss-up, Boston College came out with a stifling defense in the first half. Brigham Young could only make 22% of their shots and turned the ball over 13 times in the half. Unable to establish their interior game, BC hit enough mid-range jumpers to pull away to a 35-21 halftime advantage. The Eagles lead ballooned to 21 points early in the 2nd half. But C Courtland Reese was sent to the bench when he picked up his 4th foul early in the half. Reese never returned to the game. The Cougars then took control of the boards and began eating into BC’s lead. SG James Lilly also was assessed his 4th foul midway through the half. With 4 minutes to go the Cougars hit a 3 that put them just 6 points behind. The Eagles rallied behind some good shooting by reserve SF Michael Millford (10 points in 11 minutes of play to keep Brigham Young from getting any closer. BC added to their lead when the Cougars were forced to foul in the waning minutes of the game. Top scorers for Boston College were: PG Josh McFadgon with 14 points and SG James Lilly and SF Michael Millford with 10 points each. “Our guys played some tremendous defense tonight,” said Coach Aura. “That allowed us to take control of the game from the very beginning. Even though the Cougars cut into our lead, we had built enough of a cushion to keep them from overtaking us.” When asked about their upcoming game, Aura replied, “Xavier has a tremendous SG in Jeremy Strange. He’s averaging over 27 ppg, so we’ll need another strong defensive effort to try to contain him and give us a chance to win.” After the game it was disclosed that C Courtland Reese suffered an injury to his knee and C Steve Ross also has an injury to his calf that could limit their play in the Eagles’ Sweet 16 game against #1 seed Xavier. Round 3 (Sweet 16): Clemson-81, Virginia-74 (Clem: Yeaton-24/17/4 Ast/4 Stl/5 Blk; VA: Lawson-16/6, Bryant-10/12) Xavier-78, Boston College-63 (C. Reese-19/6) Xavier took it to Boston College as soon as the game started, gaining a 9-2 lead. BC fought to cut the deficit to 2 points, but then the Musketeers went on a run that opened a 16 point lead. The Eagles again narrowed the gap and by the end of the half it was Xavier-38, Boston College-31. The difference was due to Xavier scoring 7 more points at the free throw line and the Eagles inability to stop SG Jeremy Strange who poured in 20 points. The Eagles cut the lead to 3 with 14-1/2 minutes left. Xavier then re-established a solid lead by scoring 8 unanswered points. The Musketeers went on to bury BC after that and ended the game with a 78-63 victory over Boston College. Xavier’s SG Jeremy Strange scored 31 points. C Courtland Reese was the only BC player scoring in double figures and he scored 19 points. Round 4 (Elite 8): Clemson-75, Minnesota-68 (Williams Yeaton-25/11) Round 5 (Final 4): Clemson-90, Providence-69 (Williams Yeaton-30/10/7 Ast/8 Stl/2 Blk) Round 6 (Championship): Maryland-88, Clemson-72 (Taylor-19/4, Williams Yeaton-10/12/4 Blk)

Maury Rentzwick Hey, it’s your resident gambler back at ya. Now that the March Madness brackets are out, I’ve begun my Gambling Madness. I’ll be placing bets throughout the entire Big Dance. But Boston College has made a believer out of me. So I’ve already place 4 bets on them. 1st…to beat the spread in their opener against Western Carolina. The odds are low on this so if the Eagles win I’ll make some pocket change. Then there are bets you can place on how deep a team will get in the tournament. The odds get better of course, the deeper in the tournament you bet on them to get. These bets are dangerous since you just never know what will happen and injuries can really mess things up. Anyway, I placed a big bet on the Eagles getting to the Sweet 16, a little smaller bet on them getting to the Elite 8, and yet a pretty small bet on them getting to the Final 4. Looking at their bracket, I’m pretty confident that the Eagles will win their opener against Western Carolina and their round 2 game against either Brigham Young (their likely opponent) or Kent State. Yeah, I know they lost to Brigham Young early in the season, but since then their 3 new guys this season (Courtland Reese, Sam Dickens, and Josh McFadgon) have gained a lot of experience on the team’s sets and playing against strong Division I opponents. Their next opponent trying to keep them from getting to the Elite 8 will likely be #1 seed Xavier. Xavier is ranked 6th in the polls and has freshman phenom SG Jeremy Strange who’s averaged 27.1 ppg this season, but I believe that BC can take them. I believe #2 seed Kansas would then be their opponent to beat to get to the Final 4. I’m not all that confident about BC getting by the Jayhawks who are ranked 5th in the polls (and probably should have been the #1 seed in this bracket), but I think they have a chance of doing so. That’s why my bet on BC getting to the Final 4 is pretty small. If they do, I’ll have piled up a bunch of winning bets and I’m gonna be rich. If BC falters in round 1 or round 2, I might have to sell my house.

RyRey's by Ryan Reynolds NCAA Tournament Selection Show (for ACC Teams): Clemson (29-5) is the #1 seed in the Midwest Region and plays #16 seed Merrimack (18-14) Virginia (25-9) is the #4 seed in the Midwest Region and plays #13 seed McNeese St. (21-10) Louisville (18-14) has a play-in game against UCLA (22-10) for the 12th seed in the Midwest Region Syracuse (19-11) is the #7 seed in the South Region and plays #10 seed UCONN (18-13) Duke (23-8) is the #3 seed in the West Region and plays #14 seed South Carolina State (21-11) Boston College (23-9) is the #4 seed in the West Region and play #13 seed Western Carolina (19-13) #1 seeds: Alabama (30-4, ranked 2nd in polls), Clemson (29-5, ranked 3rd in polls), Wichita State (33-2, ranked 1st in polls), Xavier (27-7, ranked #6 in polls) ACC Teams in other tournaments: NIT Miami (FL) is 2nd seed in Midwest Region North Carolina is 8th seed in Midwest Region CBI Georgia Tech is 6th seed in West Region CIT North Carolina State is 5th seed in East Region