SAME FEDORA-NEW CROWN? (DDSCB22)

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this was good

[PointGuard 70]

Boston College Chronicle

EAGLES’ SEASON SUMMARY

By Kinsey Ramsey

The Eagles season began by a hard-fought victory over Seton Hall and concluded with a thrilling come-from-behind overtime win over Duke in the ACC Championship game.  In between there were a lot more highs than lows and some magical moments.  The Eagles completed an extremely successful regular season, capped by winning the ACC Tournament.  BC’s season record was 29-5.  They went 17-3 in the ACC to tie Duke for 1^st place.  Then they defeated Duke in an exciting overtime finish in the ACC championship.  In both the Media Poll and Coaches Poll the Eagles were ranked 3^rd.  They had the best NET ranking.

Boston College averaged 82.9 ppg which was 6^th best in the nation.  They only gave up 71.3 ppg to their opponents (142^nd best).  Their 35.1 rpg was 10^th best.  They averaged 18.0 apg (95^th best).

Player Stats:

MPG: Leonard Meliet-31.4; Corey Graham-28.1; Courtland Reese-23.6; Danny Toliver-22.2; Michael Millford-20.4; Winston Minahan-13.6; Jason Caldwell-12.5; Keith Kolder-11.4; Rashon Thorn-10.4; Darius Hein-7.9; Adrian Moss-6.9; Mike Braxton-6.6; Greg Kidd-6.5.

GS: Leonard Meliet-34; Corey Graham-34; Danny Toliver-34; Courtland Reese-33; Michael Millford-26; Keith Kolder-3; Mike Braxton-3; Darius Hein-2; Jason Caldwell-1.

PPG: Leonard Meliet-16.3; Courtland Reese-15.1; Corey Graham-14.7; Danny Toliver-7.5; Michael Millford-6.4; Jason Caldwell-5.2; Winston Minahan-4.3; Rashon Thorn-3.1; Greg Kidd-3.0; Keith Kolder-2.6; Darius Hein-2.3; Adrian Moss-2.1; Mike Braxton-1.8.

RPG: Courtland Reese-8.0; Danny Toliver-5.3; Winston Minahan-3.1; Leonard Meliet-3.0; Corey Graham-2.9; Jason Caldwell-2.9; Michael Millford-2.6; Keith Kolder-1.8; Greg Kidd-1.7; Adrian Moss-1.5; Darius Hein-1.4; Mike Braxton-1.3; Rashon Thorn-0.6.

APG: Leonard Meliet-5.8; Corey Graham-2.7; Michael Millford-1.7; Courtland Reese-1.5; Rashon Thorn-1.5; Darius Hein-1.0; Danny Toliver-0.9; Keith Kolder-0.8; Adrian Moss-0.7; Jason Caldwell-0.6; Winston Minahan-0.5; Greg Kidd-0.4; Mike Braxton-0.3.

BPG (top 5): Courtland Reese-1.1; Leonard Meliet-0.7; Danny Toliver-0.5; Michael Millford-0.5; Jason Caldwell-0.5.

SPG (top 5): Corey Graham-1.4; Leonard Meliet-1.0; Danny Toliver-1.0; Courtland Reese-0.9; Michael Millford-0.8.

[PointGuard 70]

Pauly McManus, Eagles superfan

I’ve been going to BC games for 15 years.  From when they were ACC doormats to now when they’re ACC champs.  Now that their season during which no other Division I team won more games than the Eagles 29 wins, the Eagles residing atop the ACC standings, and BC winning the ACC Tournament, it’s time for the NCAA Selection Show.  It’s a forgone conclusion that the Eagles will be a #1 seed in one of the regions, but it’s still exciting to watch the show and hear that.  I got a friend coming over to watch the show with me.  He’s really a UCONN fan, so has no interest in where BC is seeded and it’s been a down season for UCONN so they won’t be going to the Big Dance, but he’s been impatiently waiting for the show to begin.  Really I think he just can’t wait for the beer and snacks to start.

NCAA Tournament:

#1 seeds: Boston College (East Region); Duke (Midwest); Illinois (South); Mississippi (West).

ACC teams in the Big Dance:

Boston College, #1 seed in the East Region will play the winner of the Eastern Kentucky/Loyola (IL) play-in for a #16 seed.

Duke, #1 seed in the Midwest Region will play #16 seed Nevada.

Florida State, #11 seed in the Midwest Region will play #6 seed Georgia State.

Notre Dame, #4 seed in the South Region will play #13 seed Albany.

Miami (FL), #10 seed in the South Region will play #7 seed New Mexico.

North Carolina, #9 seed in the South Region will play #8 seed Texas Tech.

ACC Teams in the NIT Tournament:

Clemson, #3 seed in the Midwest Region will play #6 seed Murray State.

Louisville, #8 seed in the South Region will play #1 seed St. Bonaventure.

Pittsburgh, #2 seed in the South Region will play #7 seed Utah Valley.

It sure felt good to hear Boston College’s name called out for a #1 seed.  Since they’ll be in the East Region, I’m going to try to latch onto some tickets for me and maybe my impatient friend, Wayne.

[PointGuard 70]

Boston Herald

NIT RESULTS

Round 1:

Clemson-90, Murray State-66

St. Bonaventure-78, Louisville-76

Pittsburgh-67, Utah Valley-59

Round 2:

Wisconsin-83, Clemson-65

Pittsburgh-83, Stony Brook-57

Round 3:

St. Bonaventure-84, Pittsburgh-71

Championship: Arizona-55, St. Bonaventure-46

NCAA RESULTS

Round 1:

Duke-80, Nevada-54

Georgia State-80, Florida State-66

Boston College-99, Eastern Kentucky-59

The Eagles went ahead 25-8 with C Courtland Reese scoring 14 points and hauling down 6 rebounds.  BC continued to roll over the Colonels throughout the first half.  When the half ended Boston College was on top 52-28.  Reese scored 23 points and had 11 rebounds in the half.  Even with BC’s entire bench getting time on the court, the Eagles continued to dominate Eastern Kentucky throughout the entire 2^nd half, finishing with a thorough drubbing of the Colonels.  Reese scored 35 points and had 16 rebounds.  SG Corey Graham hit for 19 points plus had 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 steals.  PG Leonard Meliet had 13 points, 10 assists and 4 blocks.

Texas Tech-78, North Carolina-75

Notre Dame-87, Albany-60

Miami (FL)-75, New Mexico-72

Round 2:

Duke-80, Villanova-73

Arizona State-75, Boston College-54

Boston College jumped out on top 8-2, but Arizona fought back to take a small lead that they held for most of the half by controlling the boards and employing a staunch defense.  With 5 minutes to go the Sun Devils expanded their lead to 7 points.  BC came back, though, to go to the locker room with a 35-34 advantage.  Arizona State started the 2^nd half with a 13-2 lead that put the Eagles down by 10 points.  BC struggled to chip away at the lead but could get no closer than 5 points.  Then the Eagles offense went stone cold in the last 9 minutes and totally self-destructed as they failed to score at all the final 5-1/2 minutes of the game, allowing Arizona State to bury them.  The only Eagle to score in double figures was C Courtland Reese with 13 points.  Coach Fred Aura said, “We knew the Sun Devils had a good defense, but it was far better than we imagined.  When you hit just 33% of your shots and 15% of your 3’s, lose the battle of the boards 43-23, and make 21 turnovers, there’s no way to win.  Plain and simple…Arizona State played great, we played lousy.”

Notre Dame-97, Memphis-93

Texas-82, Miami (FL)-70

Round 3 (Sweet 16):

Duke-64, Nebraska-53

Notre Dame-91, Texas Tech-73

Round 4 (Elite 8):

Duke-72, Nevada-Las Vegas-58

Notre Dame-72, Texas-53

Round 5 (Final 4):

Temple-69, Duke-60

Notre Dame-73, Mississippi-60

Round 6 (Championship):

Temple-80, Notre Dame-77

[PointGuard 70]

JJ Conroy, BeanTownSports Blog

After what appeared to be a very successful season, the Boston College Eagles plummeted back to Earth with a massive THUD!   The Eagles played a basic non-entity the opening round of the NCAA Tournament and not unsurprisingly busted the Eastern Kentucky Colonels back to Privates.  But their round 2 opponent, Arizona State, proved the Eagles to be lacking.  Yes, Arizona State.  The same team that finished in 6^th place in the Pac-12.  Against THAT team Boston College was impotent.  They looked weak through most of the first half, but a small run at the end of the half, gave hope…albeit false hope.  Because the Eagles came out in the 2^nd half with no offense and no defense.  As the Sun Devils unraveled the Eagles enroute to an opening 13-2 run, what did Coach Aura do?  No time out to settle his team or give them a kick in the butt.  Then with 9 minutes to go in the game and the Eagles trailing by just 6 points and at a point when they needed to come on strong to drive to a comeback win, what happened?  The team simply fell apart.  Their offense sputtered and eventually completely came to a shattering stop.  The Eagles gave up in the final 5-1/2 minutes…scoring ZERO points for the 330 LONG-G-G seconds, letting Arizona State not only slam the door but pour on the coal and toss the Eagles to the curb.  Again Coach Aura had no answers for his team.  Even though he was pacing the sidelines, he may as well have been sitting on his hands for all the good he did.  It was embarrassing to watch and a complete humiliation for Boston College.

So now talented PG Leonard Meliet leaves school early and heads to the pros, taking with him the leadership that was often responsible for regular season wins that got BC to the NCAA Tournament.  That’s not a harbinger of hope for the coming season.  In fact with the capabilities shown by Duke and Notre Dame in the NCAA Tourney this year plus North Carolina’s phenomenal recruiting success this year (signing the #1, #10, and #11 ranked recruits), it looks to me like the Eagles are likely to descend to 4^th place (or lower) in the ACC this coming year.  And after next season C Courtland Reese graduates. which will leave a large hole in the middle their offense.  With Coach Aura not showing an ability to lead and direct when the going gets tough, it’s not a pretty picture.

Edited December 27, 2021 by PointGuard

[PointGuard 70]

Mary St. James, Boston College Athletic Department Publicist

Three Boston College basketball players earned prestigious Atlantic Coast Conference awards:

SG Corey Graham: ACC Freshman Player of the Year

PG Leonard Meliet: ACC 1^st Team All-Conference

C Courtland Reese: ACC 1^st Team All-Conference

SG Corey Graham: ACC 2^nd Team All-Confernece

Reese and Graham return next year to lead the Eagles.  Meliet has opted to declare for the pro draft.

“These three players performed extremely well for us all season and their awards are well-earned,” said Jason Braxton, the Athletic Director for Boston College. 

[PointGuard 70]

Jason Braxton, Athletic Director

Our basketball team played exceptionally well all season so their early exit from the NCAA Tournament was a surprise.  Coach Aura achieved 3 of the goals I had set for him: (1) no academic ineligibility; (2) win 20+ games; and (3) win the ACC conference tournament.  But he failed to accomplish 2 other goals I had set: (1) improve school prestige…actually it dropped from 63 to 60; and (2) reach the NCAA Tournament Final 4.   

We’re still happy with the job he’s doing for us.  He laughingly said, “I got contacted by Kansas about their head coaching job.  While they have an impressive basketball history, who in their right mind would accept the job when they have 3 more years remaining on their ban for post-season tournament play and 4 more years of being prohibited from offering any scholarships.”  Even though several other colleges with strong basketball programs are interested in his services, he prefers to remain at Boston College.  David Woodruff, his 1^st assistant coach, has accepted the head coaching job at George Mason.  And Rob Rowland, his 3^rd assistant coach, has decided to retire from coaching.  So Fred will have a big job to hire two new assistants.

He requested an increase in his budget.  I took his request to the board.  The board did their normal thing and denied the request saying they felt the existing budget was adequate.  Coach Aura was very disappointed.

[PointGuard 70]

Coach Fred Aura

I was sorry to lose both David Woodruff and Rob Rowland from my coaching staff.  They both did great jobs and worked well with me.  But I’m happy David got a head coaching job.  And Rob’s retirement wasn’t totally unexpected.  He loves to hunt and fish and this will give him the opportunity to do it as much as he wants. 

I looked over a number of possible replacements.  I finally decided to offer jobs to two coaches who I thought would work well within our program.  Both offers were accepted.  So my new 1^st assistant coach will be Darrell Montgomery.  He previously was the head coach at Detroit Mercy.  That was a very tough place to coach and be successful so his won-loss record isn’t a reflection of his coaching prowess.  Actually I believe that being a 1^st assistant at BC is a step up for Darrell.  He has excellent player development skills and will be my practice coach.  He’s also a very skilled recruiter but Chris Evans, my 2^nd assistant coach, will continue to handle the recruiting duties here at BC.  Chris has performed well every year.  My new 3^rd assistant coach is Jeremy Anderson.  He comes to us from Wake Forest where he was also a 3^rd assistant.  Jeremy has far less experience at the collegiate level, but has great scouting skills and his scouting for Wake Forest last year means he has good knowledge of the ACC.

Since we have 3 incoming freshman players and a transfer player (Glen Robinson) who will become eligible to play for us this coming year, it’s important for Darrell to develop these players and work them into our team.  On the recruiting front, we only have 2 scholarships to fill this coming year, but Chris will have a big challenge since our 2 players that are graduating a year from now are Courtland Reese and Winston Minahan.  I’m confident that Jeremy will be a great scout and develop strong scouting reports for us this coming year.

Looking ahead to next season, I believe we will have another strong team.

Although losing Leonard Meliet to the pros is a big loss, I feel that the experience Rashon Thorn has gained this year as a freshman here will improve his PG play. We also have a 5-star recruit in Bobby Grannum who will compete strongly for a starting role at PG.

At SG we have Corey Graham returning for his sophomore year after playing extremely well this past year.  Adrian Moss will also be a sophomore this coming year and has shown he’s an excellent shooter.  We also have Glen Robinson who has practiced with us this past year after transferring from Cincinnati where he scored well.

Incoming freshman Maynard Gardner could possibly be our starting SF, but Keith Kolder is returning and he started for us occasionally this past season and should be an even stronger player this coming season.  Darius Hein played some for us last season at SF, and I think Glen Robinson could play some SF for us this year.  So we just have to see who steps it up the most.

We’re deep at PF with Danny Toliver (who started for us this past year) plus Winston Minahan, Darius Hein, and Mike Braxton challenging for starting roles and substantial minutes.  Should Mike Braxton transfer, we will look over the transfer group to see if there are any good candidates who we can entice to come here…if not, we’ll have an additional scholarship to offer this coming year.

And at C we have Courtland Reese returning for his senior year.  Tim Cotton, the recruit we landed this spring, should be a good backup to Courtland.

So, while I look forward to some vacationing with the family next month, I’m also excited to see how the team develops this coming year.

[PointGuard 70]

2029-2030 SEASON

Jason Braxton, Athletic Director

We just got word that the three recruits we signed last season have been evaluated as the 11^th best Recruit Class in the country.  We’re floating on cloud 9 about that.  Coach Aura and his recruiting guru, 2^nd assistant coach Chris Evans, did a great job.

But we weren’t the only ACC team to do well with recruiting.  North Carolina landed 3 outstanding recruits that resulted in a ranking as the 2^nd best recruit class in the country.  Pittsburgh’ recruits were considered to be the 8^th best.  Other ACC team with recruit classes not that far beneath ours were: Louisville-12^th, No. Carolina St-18^th, Duke-22^nd, Syracuse-33^rd, Notre Dame-39^th, and Wake Forest-51^st.

[PointGuard 70]

Coach Fred Aura

As we had surmised, Mike Braxton has decided to transfer away from us.  I truly believe he will be a good player for some team, as he would have been for us.  But while we’ll miss his talent, we won’t miss his attitude.  His departure meant we’d take a look at the other players who are transferring to try to find someone who will fit in well with our team and be a productive player. 

Mike Braxton transferred to Virginia Tech.  So we’ll go up against him after he sits out a year of ineligibility. Virginia Tech also took another transfer player who has the reputation of having ever a worse attitude than Mike…best luck to the Hokies trying to meld the team with those two playing off each other.  Basketball Team Equation:  LoT – LoBA = TRBL…Lots of Talent minus Lots of Bad Attitude equals TRouBLe.

Our efforts to get one of the top transfer players fizzled, so we wound up taking a bit of a flyer on a player who was transferring from a relatively low-prestige program.  SF James Pratt accepted our scholarship offer.  Pratt is 6’6” and comes from Burlington, NC.   He wasn’t highly regarded when recruited out of high school (he was ranked #1232 as a recruit) but apparently was quite underrated.  As a freshman at North Carolina-Greensboro he started all their games, averaging 29.2 mpg, 15.2 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 1.7 apg, 1.2 spg, and 1.0 bpg.  What I particularly like is that he hit 46% of his FGA’s, 45% of his 3PA’s, and 87% of his FTA’s.  He was the Southern Conference Freshman of the Year and was named to the SOCON All-Conference 1^st Team.  Besides being a good shooter, he’s a solid rebounder and is very strong defensively. Even though the competition level will be greater here than he experienced for NC-Greensboro, I expect him to contend for a starting role (or be a very effective 6^th man) when he becomes eligible to play for us a year from now. 

While it’s not possible to know if he can maintain the offensive punch he had for NC-Greensboro, if he can start or come off the bench and provide us with some aggressive fire power from the “3” position, it will be very welcome.  SF has continually been the least productive and most inconsistent position on our team.  I’d love to have a guy who can regularly connect from the corner to keep our opponent’s defense honest and not playing soft on our SF so they can tighten the defense on the rest of our team.

[PointGuard 70]

2^nd Assistant Coach Chris Evans (recruiting)

Both Coach Aura and I are really pleased to have brought James Pratt in as a transfer player.  As a very low ranked recruit, he is the kind of kid we just don’t really look closely enough at during the normal recruiting process…in fact we are most likely to just pass over him completely.  I’m excited to see if he can produce for us like he did for NC-Greensboro.  Although we don’t get a player for 4 years when a guy transfers to us, a bonus is that we can have more knowledge not only about his playing skills, but also of his attitude and personality, his work ethic, and his scholarship.  Pratt checked out well on all those fronts.

Since we signed Pratt as a transfer player to fill the spot on our roster that was vacated by Mike Braxton leaving us, we’ll have 2 scholarships to fill via recruiting this year.  We purchased the basic National Report and Atlantic East Region scouting reports.  And we will be attending the Indy Elite Camp and the Big Apple Showcase.  That leaves us with $47,700 in our recruiting budget. 

The two scholarship players on our roster who will be graduating after this season are C Courtland Reese and PF Winston Minahan.  So we’ll focus on recruiting two bigs.  But we’ll also look at PG’s since we think Bobby Grannum will be good enough that he MAY possibly declare early for the pro draft so additional depth at PG would be good.

[PointGuard 70]

JJ Conroy, BeanTownSports Blog

Boston College’s Coach Fred Aura has a big challenge this recruiting season. He HAS to lasso a recruit who can FILL the very BIG SHOES of Courtland Reese who graduates after the conclusion of this coming season.  That means a player who can score inside, rebound, and defend…and do it EXCEEDINGLY WELL and that means DOMINATE and do it from the get-go. 

Reese has been a horse inside for 3 seasons thus far and will be yet again this season.   If Aura is unsuccessful in getting the right recruit, the recent success of the program will be in dire jeopardy.  Not an easy task since top-flight recruits tend to migrate to very established strong programs (of which BC is not), but one that is paramount if Boston College wants to continue to try to be a major player in Division I basketball.  Eagles fans will be watching closely, Aura.

[PointGuard 70]

Coach Fred Aura

We watched the pro draft with great interest wondering when Leonard Meliet would be selected.  We didn’t have to watch too long.  Leonard was the 11^th player selected and the 2^nd PG that was selected.  Surprisingly PG Shahar Benson was selected 3^rd in the draft.   As a freshman, Benson started all games for Pittsburgh last season.  But Leonard was much more productive than Benson.  I called and spoke with Leonard after the draft was complete, and he was ecstatic to be selected and with the point at which he was selected.  There were a total of 10 ACC players selected in the draft.

Then later in the summer we got the news that sophomore SG Corey Graham had been nominated for the Norton Award as he was as a freshman.  Corey had a good year last season, averaging 14.7 ppg, 2.9 rpg, and 2.7 apg and was named the ACC Freshman of the Year and was selected for the ACC All-Conference 2^nd Team.  He developed well throughout the season and should be an even more complete player this season.  He hit 43% of his FGA’s last year, but just 27% of his 3’s but I think that he will improve on his long-range shooting this year.  I suspect he could well be one of the best scorers in the ACC this coming season.

[PointGuard 70]

2^nd Assistant Coach Chris Evans (recruiting)

We did a good job of creating at least limited interest in a large number of recruits.  Getting them to let us know we were in their top 10 was a real challenge.  There was a 5-star C from Massachusetts who we really wanted and did everything we could (short of anything illegal, of course) to entice.  But he signed quickly with UCONN.  A PF from Greece showed a very high level of interest and we spent far too much money on visiting him and his parents in Greece.  His interest level remained high, but he didn’t commit.  We got nervous about whether he would qualify academically, so we dropped our scholarship offer to him. 

But before the end of September we had verbal commitments from not one, but two PF’s:

1.      PF Ben Schau, 6-6 HS Senior from Lusby, MD.  2.9 GPA.  Averaged 16.6 ppg, 1.6 apg, 12.9 rpg, 1.8 bpg, and 2.4 spg as a junior last season.  Outstanding rebounder.  Very good scorer, particularly from inside.  Strong defensively, who gets a lot of steals.  Good passing skills.  Ranked #28 in the nation.  Was in the top 25 at the Indy Elite Camp and in the top 5 at the Big Apple Showcase.

2.      PF Mike Williams, 6-6 HS Senior from Nappanee, IN.  3.1 GPA.  Averaged 20.7 ppg, 1.9 apg, 9.5 rpg, 1.9 bpg, and 2.f spg as a junior last season.  Excellent rebounder and defender.  Outstanding scorer with excellent inside shooting skills.  Good passer.  Hard worker.  Ranked #30 in the nation.  Had a decent showing at the Indy Elite Camp. 

Landing two talented big men is just what we needed to provide the depth we’ll need next season.  Not 5-star recruits, but both are damned near being that.  Seemingly almost carbon copies of each other, but I'm sure they'll have their own set of proficiencies.  Hopefully both will have good enough SAT scores to meet our minimum standards…because we ran though almost all our recruiting budget.

[PointGuard 70]

1^st Assistant Coach Darrell Montgomery (practice)

Fall practice went smoothly.  The guys worked hard and got along well together.  I’m impressed by the talent on this team.  We recruited 3 highly rated freshmen last year.  PG Bobby Grannum was extremely strong from the outset of practices.  C Tim Cotton was reasonably strong when practice began and improved as we progressed.  SF Maynard Gardner started out looking out of place, but as the practices progressed, Maynard got stronger and stronger.  The biggest problem for us is that we have a lot of players who want a lot of playing time and there’s only 40 minutes in a game so keeping everyone happy will be tough

As for me, while I enjoyed the challenge of being head coach at Detroit Mercy, I’m truly enjoying that I’m being able to focus on player development here as 1^st Assistant.  That’s my forte and what gets me going every day.  Helping the players improve and play well together is just so rewarding.  And Coach Aura wants me providing advice on strategy as well as working with players on the bench to adjust what they’re doing on the court.  On a personal note, I’m a history buff, so being here gives me a chance to check out a lot of historical sites in Boston and throughout New England.

Starters are set for 4 positions with just SF up in the air.

Bobby Grannum will start at PG.  He’s a 6-4 freshman who is VERY talented.  Great playmaker, defender, and scorer.  Rashon Thorn will be the primary backup at PG with Ramond Keep also getting a little playing time at the point.

Corey Graham will start at SG again.  He’s a 6-1 sophomore.  Solid all-around player and excellent scorer who averaged 14.7 ppg last season.    Adrian Moss and Glen Robinson will both get minutes at SG.

Danny Toliver will be our starting PF.  He’s a 6-8 junior.  Very strong rebounder who also can score from inside and outside. He averaged 7.5 ppg and 5.3 rpg last season.  Winston Minahan will be the primary backup at PF, but can also play SF and C.  Darius Hein will also get minutes at PF.

Courtland Reese will be our starting C for the 4^th straight year.  He’s a 6-9 senior.  Excellent rebound and very good scorer.  He averaged 15.1 ppg and 8.0 rpg last season.  The primary backup at C will be freshman Tim Cotton.

At SF, we will initially start Darius Hein, a 6-7 sophomore.  Last season he played both PF and SF and averaged 2.3 ppg and 1.4 rpg.  He hit a high percentage of his shots last year.  But we’ll rotate the starting role at SF with Glen Robinson.  He’s a 6-7 junior who sat out last season after transferring. He’s very talented defensively and shoots well from the perimeter.  He’s been a SG in the past and will also get minutes at that position for us.  Keith Kolder, a 6-7 junior, and Maynard Gardner, a 6-7 freshman will also get time at SF and either could eventually take over the starting role.  Andy Dawson will get a little playing time at SF also.  Let’s see who eventually is most effective and becomes our regular starter.

Our entire pre-conference schedule is tough so the team needs to gel quickly and be able to make good use of assistant coach Jeremy Anderson’s scouting reports.

[PointGuard 70]

Nov. 15, 2029: Colorado Buffaloes (0-0) vs Boston College Eagles (0-0) at Silvio O. Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, MA

1^st Assistant Coach Darrell Montgomery

Colorado had a 21-13 record last season and went to the NCAA Tournament.  I think we have more overall talent than the Buffaloes, but anything can happen in the first game of the season.  Since they haven’t played this year, Coach Anderson could only review game films from last season to develop his scouting report.  They’re likely to take their time working the ball around, so we’d like to try to force turnovers.  They’ll primarily be playing juniors and seniors so those players should be very familiar with their sets.  All 5 of their starters and 11 of the 15 players on their rosters are upper classmen.  Their main defense is a 1-3-1 zone.  I’m hoping we’re able to pound the interior and score well in the paint.  Glen Robinson has been our player most proficient employing our 1-3-1 zone attack offense, so as our 6^th man for this game, we intend to play him at both SG and SF to give him as many minutes as we can.

We got 3 steals in the first 3 minutes and turned each of those into baskets.  We got sloppy and began turning over the ball midway through the half letting the Buffaloes tie us with 6 minutes to go and go ahead with 3 minutes left.  We fell behind by 7 and trailed 32-27 at the break.  We had a tough time with their zone defense, hitting just 38% of our shots.  PG Bobby Grannum had 7 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists.

We rode the back of Bobby Grannum early in the 2^nd half and finally got back a 45-44 lead with 12:44 to play.  But C Courtland Reese picked up his 4^th foul on Colorado’s next possession.  The lead fluctuated for the next 4 minutes, but we then seemed to reach down deep to edge ahead.  With 6 minutes to play we were up by 7 points.  Then our shooting went cold and with 3-1/2 minute Colorado had cut our lead to a single point.  We held on and led 64-63 but turned the ball over with 35 seconds to go.  A foul allowed the Buffaloes to tie the game.  We missed a shot with 10 seconds but Danny Toliver muscled an offensive rebound and we called a time out.  Our pick and roll worked to free up Corey Graham for a 10 foot jumper that fell through the hoop with 2 seconds remaining.  Colorado called a time out and then beat our press to get the ball quickly up to midcourt where they lofted up a shot at the buzzer.  It was off target and we dodged a home court loss and instead edged the Buffaloes 66-64. 

Our shooting improved in the 2^nd half as did our control of the boards.  But we need to control the ball better in our upcoming games. While we realize this was the team’s first game of the season, neither Coach Aura nor I are happy with 17 turnovers.

PG Bobby Grannum had a great first game as a collegiate, scoring 15 and dishing out 10 assists while also recording 5 rebounds and 5 steals.  SF/SG Glen Robinson scored 12, SG Corey Graham and SF Danny Toliver both scored 10, and C Courtland Reese had 8 points and 9 rebounds.

[PointGuard 70]

Nov. 18, 2029: Butler Bulldogs (1-0) vs Boston College Eagles (1-0) at Silvio O. Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, MA

RyReys Blog, Ryan Reynolds

After being a regular participant in the NCAA Tournament, Butler’s had a 3 season drought.  But I am wanting to see how this season’s Boston College team compares with the teams they’ve put on the court the past three seasons.  Also I’ve enjoyed watching Courtland Reese during his career so want to see him in his final year at BC.  Glenn Robinson is starting tonight at SF for the Eagles.  I think he was a smart transfer pickup by Coach Aura.  Then there’s Bobby Grannum who, even as a freshman, looks ready to step into the shoes left by Leonard Meliet’s early departure.

BC’s getting off to a good start offensively, but as in their first game, they aren’t protecting the ball well, but they have a 10-6 lead at the first media timeout.  Butler is killing the Eagles with 3’s.  5 of 9 in the first 10 minutes of the game to give the Bulldogs a 21-16 lead.  After dropping behind by 7, BC digs down to creep within a single point and ends the half trailing 33-30.  Butler just played a little better than the Eagles.  Coach Aura needs to give the entire team a kick in the butt.

While not yet firing on all cylinders, BC slowly claws their way to a 48-47 lead with 13-1/2 minutes to go.  The Eagles defense tightens and the team maintains a 3-5 point lead for the next 8 minutes and then goes up by a 65-56 score with 4-1/2 minutes remaining.  Coming out of the final media time out with BC up by 8, it looks like Coach Aura is going with Maynard Gardner at SF and not Robinson, Hein or Kolder.  Gardner’s scored 8 points coming off the bench, so I guess Aura’s going with the hot hand.  Both  teams scoring almost at will.  BC with 2 pointers and Butler with 3’s.  1:20 to go and the Eagles are on top 73-65.  The Bulldogs foul Grannum on the inbounds pass.  Grannum calmly sinks both shots.  Another foul with Danny Toliver dropping in both shots.  Now BC’s up by 12 with 56 seconds on the clock.  Boston College finishes with an 80-68 victory in a game that was much closer than the final score. 

Butler drilled in 13 of 28 three-pointers in the game, but the Eagles offense came alive in the 2^nd half and the team made just 2 turnovers in the final 20 minutes.  But BC is having a tough time putting their opponents away, even at home.  So it makes it difficult to predict how the Eagles will do this season. I see where the scribes say they expect Boston College to finish 3^rd in the ACC behind North Carolina and Duke and just ahead of Syracuse and Notre Dame.

PG Bobby Grannum was again BC’s high point man.  He tossed in 19 points.  C Courtland Reese was right behind with 16 points and SG Corey Graham scored 12.

[PointGuard 70]

Nov. 22, 2029: Oklahoma Sooners (2-0) vs Boston College Eagles (2-0) at Silvio O. Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, MA

Donnie Morretti, fan

Oklahoma is a strong team.  They match up well with the Eagles.  I attended BC’s first two games this season.  While many wanted to see the Eagles blow those teams out of the water, I was happy that the games were close.  I like the excitement generated by tight games.

The teams traded baskets the first 8 minutes of the game, but led by PG Bobby Grannum and SF Glen Robinson, Boston College went on an 11-0 run to take a 28-18 lead with 8-1/2 minutes remaining in the half.  From there the Eagles stretched their lead to 49-34 at the end of the half.  Both teams shot well, 59% by BC and 54% by Oklahoma, but the Sooners had 12 turnovers.  PG Bobby Grannum hit for 13 first half points.

Just 2-1/2 minutes into the 2^nd half, BC’s lead had grown to 20 points.  The Eagles’ entire bench got extensive playing time as Boston College went onto whip the Sooners 86-70

Top scorers for the Eagles were: PG Bobby Grannum with 25 points, C Courtland Reese with 11, and SG Corey Graham with 10.

[PointGuard 70]

Nov. 25, 2029: UCLA Bruins (0-2) vs Boston College Eagles (3-0) at Silvio O. Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, MA

2^nd Assistant Coach Chris Evans

UCLA was ranked in the preseason polls and also picked to finish 2^nd in the Pac-12 standings.  But then they lost their opener in the NIT Season Tip-Off to Northern Iowa and a home game against UC-Irvine.  They’ve averaged scoring just 60 ppg in those two contests.  C Jason Lavin is their best player and was the Pac-12’s Freshman Player of the Year 2 years ago and Pac-12 All-Conference 1^st Team last season.  He’s not a particularly prolific scorer, but is a good rebounder and is strong defensively.  We’ll see how Courtland Reese does against him.

We’re starting Darius Hein again at SF as we try to determine who will win out as starter.

Rock solid defense allowed us to forge a 20-2 lead in the first 7 minutes of the game.  At that point, UCLA had hit just 1 of 7 shots and made 7 turnovers.  Darius Hein started out strongly, hitting both of his FG attempts.  Then our offense went ice-cold and UCLA closed to within 8 points.  We had a mini-rally to finish the half with a 33-20 edge.  We hit just 40% of our shots, but UCLA could only manage to connect on 26% of theirs.  We also out-rebounded the Bruins 19-14 and held a 13-5 turnover advantage.

We started out the 2^nd half strongly to take a 22 point lead after just 3 minutes of play.  Our lead expanded to 27 points and we closed out the game with a 51 clobbering of the Bruins.  Our guys shot better (46% to 38%), rebounded better (36-26) and had fewer turnovers (11 by us to 21 by UCLA). 

SG Corey Graham and C Courtland Reese both scored 16 points.  PG Bobby Grannum had a double-double (12 points and 12 assists) and SF Darius Hein had his strongest game (10 points and 6 rebounds).  A disappointment was that our reserves were on the court a total of 72 minutes but hit only 3 of 14 FGA’s and scored just 11 points (7 of those by Winston Minahan).

After the game we found out the Eagles had moved into the Top 25 in the polls…#18 in the Media Poll and #17 in the Coaches Poll.  We also have the 6^th best NET Ranking.  Other ACC teams in the polls (Media/Coaches rankings): Duke (2/2), Florida State (4/4), Virginia (5/6), Notre Dame (6/5), Pittsburgh (10/7), North Carolina (9/11), and Miami (14/9).  In all the pre-conference games the 15 ACC teams have played thus far, they’ve won 55 and lost 13 (a winning percentage of 81%).

In other ACC news: Good start by the ACC.  In the first 4 pre-conference tournaments Virginia won the 2K Sports Classic, Duke was 2^nd in the NIT Season Tip-Off, Florida State won the Maui Invitational, and Notre Dame won the WS Midwest Invitational. 

[PointGuard 70]

Bobby Grannum

Just after I got to campus, this guy from the athletic department, an assistant something or other, told me something like, “Just do your best.  Nobody expects you to replace Leonard Meliet.”  I was thinking “what the hell does this guy know?”  He then added that the main thing for me was to work myself into the team, support my teammates, get buddy-buddy with them.  I responded, “Hey, what do you know about me and how I play ball?  Let me tell you something.  I know exactly what I can do on the court and what I bring to a team.  And let me tell you, people here are likely to forget the name Leonard Meliet after seeing what I can do.  And as for being part of the team…I do what I want and am friends with whom I want to be and that means I don’t have to hang with the guys.  I give my all in practice and in games, but beyond that I’m my own man.”

It’s turned out I was right.  Four games into my college career and people are taking notice.  And they aren’t saying, “We need Leonard Meliet.”  And outside of practice and the games, I’m doing my own thing, got my own friends, checking out the girls I want to check out.  That’s better than hanging with the guys I spend a lot of time with for basketball.  My relationship with the team? I don’t really worry about that.

Coach Fed and Coach Montgomery are good.  They get their points across but don’t belabor them.  They both give me space.

[PointGuard 70]

Omari Aura, SF for Providence

Our team is off to a good start, 4 wins and 0 losses.  We’re averaging 86.7 ppg and have only given up 59.0 ppg.  We’re 7^th in the Media Poll and 12^th in the Coaches Poll.

I’ve started all 4 games at SF.  No sterling performances by me yet, but I think solid. Steady, and workmanlike.  Providence recruited SG Zack Watkins, the #2 ranked recruit last season.  Zack scored 42 points in our season opener and 31 points in each of the following 2 games and then another 42 points in our last game.  His 36.5 ppg is far and away the best scoring average of any Division I player.  He’s also averaging 8.0 rpg...not bad for a SG.  I’ve never played with a guy who has so much talent.

We already had a good team, but the addition of Zack has, I believe, made us one of the best teams in college basketball.  Pretty darned exciting.

Boston College (my Pop's team) and Providence (my team) now have a total of 8 wins and no losses.   We take on the Eagles in 2 weeks.  I like our chances.

[PointGuard 70]

Nov. 29, 2029: Creighton Blue Jays (2-1) vs #18 ranked Boston College Eagles (4-0) at Silvio O. Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, MA

Jason Braxton, Athletic Director

Creighton’s recent history closely parallels Boston College’s.  Both went to the CIT tournament four years ago and each has been to the NCAA Tourney the past 3 years with exits at the very same point in that tournament each season.  This should be a good game. 

Coach Aura admitted to me that he was worried about the Blue Jays.  He said to me, “Creighton’s freshman SG Idris Harris is averaging 21 ppg and senior C Barry Denis, who had hit about 60% of his FGA’s the past 2 season, is hitting an amazing 86% of his FGA’s this season. Junior PG Shaheen Jepsen has dished out 10.7 apg this season.  So we are going to have to play hard and smart the entire game.  Their loss in their opening game was by a single point to #8 ranked Kentucky.  I hope we can energize our home crowd to make lots of noise and cheer us on.”

Led by SG Corey Graham, our team got off to a good start.  We were up 9-2 with Graham contributing 5 of those points after 2-1/2 minutes of play.  But PG Bobby Grannum got into early foul trouble.  Creighton got right back into the game, but the refs returned the favor by calling a 2^nd foul on Creighton’s SG Idris Harris.  So the top scorers from both teams were sitting on the bench.  Fouls continued to mount since the refs were calling tacky fouls on both teams.  Courtland Reese was sent to the bench just a little later with 2 fouls and Creighton was edging ahead as they dropped in free throw after free throw.  The half ended with us trailing 43-36.  A portion of that was due to fouls, but poor shooting and poor ball control also contributed to the deficit.  SG Corey Graham scored 11 points in the half.

We continually edged close only to see Creighton hit shots that re-established their lead.  But finally with 7:48 remaining we took a 65-63 lead.  A minute later had streaked ahead 61-63, having scored 13 unanswered points.  The refs continued to call the game much too closely, but really worked over the Blue Jays in the 2^nd half, and we capitalized at the foul line.  We ended up with an 86-78 victory.  A total of 48 fouls were called on the two teams.

Scoring in double figures for us were: SG Corey Graham-20, SF Darius Hein-16, PF Danny Toliver-14, PG Bobby Grannum-13 (all in the 2^nd half), and SF/SG/PG Glen Robinson-11.  This was Darius Hein’s second straight well-played game and another career high for him.

Danny Toliver took a hard fall late in the game.  Later it was disclosed he’d suffered a mild concussion.

[MidKnightDreary 0]

I know a lot of people just post replies to get their quota but I read 2020 and 2021 up to date and I love your writing, keep it up!

[PointGuard 70]

10 hours ago, MidKnightDreary said:

I know a lot of people just post replies to get their quota but I read 2020 and 2021 up to date and I love your writing, keep it up!

Thanks!  Reading all that, huh?  You're a braver man than me.  

[PointGuard 70]

Dec. 6, 2029: #12 ranked Boston College Eagles (5-0) vs #17 ranked Arkansas Razorbacks (6-2) at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, AR

Ethan Reilly

I’m one of the token Catholics within Arkansas.  Catholics make us just a little over 3% of the state’s population.  And Boston College will be the only Catholic university basketball team playing the University of Arkansas this year.  So I ‘m attending the game so I can be the Eagles’ sole fan, even though I really don’t know anything much about the team.  To top that off, I got transferred by my employer from the Chicago area two years ago, so I’m also a northerner in redneck country.  All the people at work are University of Arkansas fans so I hear all day long about Razorbacks’ football and basketball.  So…LET’S GO EAGLES!  I will have to say, though, that my pay is good and the cost of living is definitely a lot lower than in Chicago so this choir boy is living well down here.

Like I said...I don’t know much about BC basketball, but the team looks darned good early.  They’ve got a 23-5 lead and their center, Courtland Reese, has scored 10 points.  The “Wooooo Pig Sooie!” chants that were occurring at the beginning of the game have disappeared.  Reese had to sit due to foul trouble, but his replacement Tim Cotton is doing well also.  Cotton scored 13 points as the Eagles pounded the Razorbacks in the first half by a score of 44-20.  Great defense by Boston College kept Arkansas from hitting their shots and forced them to turn the ball over 12 times.  I noticed that some of the fans are trickling out of the arena. 

BC expanded their lead to 30 points early in the 2^nd half.  Then Arkansas scored 4 straight points and there was one fan with a feeble “Wooooo Pig Sooie”…laughable.  From there the Eagles cruised to an easy 75-51 beating of the Razorbacks. 

The Eagles dominated inside with their 2 centers Reese scoring 20 and Cotton adding 15.  Boston College controlled the boards 42-25 and held a 40-12 edge on points in the paint and a 13-4 advantage on 2^nd chance points.