SAME FEDORA-NEW CROWN? (DDSCB22)

[PointGuard 70]

Coach Aura

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

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

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

[PointGuard 70]

JJ Conroy, BeanTownSports Blog

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

 

[PointGuard 70]

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

1^st Assistant Coach Darrell Montgomery

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

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

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

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

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

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

[PointGuard 70]

Fred Aura

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

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

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

[PointGuard 70]

Feb. 3, 2030: #7 ranked Boston College Eagles (17-5, 8-3) vs Pittsburgh Panthers (10-10, 3-8) at Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh, PA

3^rd Assistant Coach Jeremy Anderson

I was scouting teams earlier this week but was able to catch up with our team here in Pittsburgh for the game against the Panthers.

C Tim Cotton has been given a clean bill of health and will be playing tonight.  SF/SG Glen Robinson is still experiencing a bit of pain in his foot, so we again hope to not have to play him.  Our athletic trainers feel it’s just another day or two before he’s 100%, though.  C Courtland Reese is likely to be out at least another week.  Wayne Minahan’s outstanding play in our last game has earned him another start at C tonight, but Tim Cotton should also get extensive minutes so we’ll have more interior depth than we had in our last game.  And that means that we can return to our regular defensive intensity for this game.

Pitt’s strength is inside. PF Marquest Mohr is averaging 15.0 ppg and 8.6 rpg and C John Mahorn’s averages 10.9 ppg and 5.0 rpg.  Mohr is a freshman but is very talented.  The Panthers like to run their offense through him so he can put up a lot more shots.  So the more we can keep his hands off the ball, the better.  Mahorn puts a high percentage of his shots in the hoop, so we need to try to keep him from getting clear shots.  Their PG’s also shoot well, but don’t take a lot of shots.  They employ a lot of offensive freedom, but when they use sets its mainly shuffle with a little flex. They don’t put a lot of points on the board, though.  Defensively they primarily use m-2-m with a little 1-3-1 zone thrown in.  They don’t press much except in the latter stages of a close game.  If our perimeter players have good games and we attach the boards, I think we have a good chance.

With the refs putting us into early foul trouble, Pittsburgh gets off to a hot start taking a 18-7 lead 6-1/2 minutes into the game.  By the time the 2^nd media timeout comes around, the Panthers had torched the nets, hitting 9 of 11 shots and led 24-15.  Midway through the half, the refs had saddled 3 of our starters with 2 fouls apiece and they were riding the bench.  We finally got Pittsburgh to miss some shots and we crept up on them, trailing 32-30 with 8 minutes to go in the half.  The refs were atrocious, calling fouls on nearly every possession.  With 3 of our big men on the bench with foul trouble, we were getting dominated on the boards. With a minute left in the half, Corey Graham sunk a 3 to put us ahead by a point.  Then he repeated it on our next possession.  And we leave the court at the half on top 52-48.  We hit 55% of our shots, Pitt hit 56% of theirs.  The way the refs are calling fouls is making it impossible to play tight defense.

We score the first 5 points of the 2^nd half, but Pittsburgh fights back to retake the lead with 14 minutes to go.  The lead then shifted back and forth until our play got sloppy allowing the Panthers to go on an 13-0 run and we fell behind 83-69 with 5-1/2 minutes remaining.  We were unable to make a run to catch up and took a 92-79 beating.

Pittsburgh’s C John Mahorn topped all scorers with 25 points.  Five of our players scored in double figures (SG Corey Graham-18; C Winston Minahan-17; PF Danny Toliver-11, SF/SG Glen Robinson-11; and PG Bobby Grannum-10), but it wasn’t enough.  We just got outplayed late in the game.  We slid into a tie for 3^rd place in the ACC.

[PointGuard 70]

Discussion Amongst the BC Coaching Staff (Fred Aura, Darrell Montgomery, Chris Evans, and Jeremy Anderson)

Fred: Duke keeps rolling off victory after victory.  They’ve now won 21 games in a row.

Jeremy: And during that string they’ve won by double-digit point differentials every time…well that is with the exception of their win over us.

Fred: Yes, but they still beat us and they beat us on our home court.  That’s not good.  What sets Duke apart from everyone else this season?

Darrell, Chris and Jeremy in unison: DEFENSE!

Fred: Absolutely.  The Blue Devils defense this year is simply awesome.  25 games and only two opponents all season have scored 70 or more points against them.

Darrell: Yeah, we pride ourselves on our defense.  But while it’s good, we’re extremely inconsistent.  Right now our players defensive skills are generally good, but we really just have 3 players who I’d rate at excellent defensively.  That’s Glen Robinson, Bobby Grannum and James Pruitt…and Pruitt can only practice with us this season.

Chris: Yeah, not all Duke players are really good defenders but I’d say that they have 5 players who are excellent defensively and that difference between them and us may explain why they as a team are great defensively and we’re just pretty good defensively.

Fred: I’ve been thinking and I believe that the focus of our recruiting needs to change.  While we look closely at recruits’ defensive skill, ultimately we look for the overall strongest players and therefore defense often takes a back seat to rebounding and scoring ability.  I’m thinking win the e need to prioritize defense over rebounding and scoring in the future.

Darrell: That could work as long as the defensive recruits we land also have good rebounding and scoring capabilities.  I’m not too interested in having games with final scores of 31-28.

Fred: Laughing.  OK, OK, I’ll give it more thought before we get into recruiting next summer.

[PointGuard 70]

Feb. 8, 2030: Clemson Tigers (13-10, 5-7) vs #9 Boston College Eagles (17-6, 8-4) at Silvio O. Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, MA

Phil Connelly, event security

We had a monster storm…Clemson just flew in before the weather got really snotty.  Otherwise there wouldn’t be a game tonight.  While maybe the worst of it’s over, it’s still cold, windy and snowy outside.  That’s cut down the fan attendance in a big way.  While some people got to the game, it definitely feels empty here inside Conte Forum.  But it should make my job easy and make it possible for me to watch more of the game.

Both teams are not shooting well.  But Clemson’s been careless with their passes and the Eagles are picking off a bunch of them.  After 8 minutes of play, BC is ahead 14-6.  Courtland Reese is getting to the basket and chewing up the Tigers’ zone defense. He’s already got 11 points and the Eagles lead 31-16 with 5 minutes left in the half.  At the half, Boston College holds a 38-20 lead.  Clemson hit just 21% of the shots and just 2 of 16 from outside the arc. 

Corey Graham had a horrible first half, but he’s found his shooting eye in the 2^nd half.  BC’s leading 54-30 with just over 13 minutes to play.  That meant lots of playing time for the Eagles’ bench.  BC gets an easy win by a final score of 74-53.  Clemson hit just 30% of their shots, but the Eagles could only knock down 38% of theirs.  But BC dominated the boards 54-37.  The Eagles are now in a 3-way tie for 2^nd place, but Duke is running away in the race for the conference title.

C Courtland Reese—13 points/8 rebounds; SG Corey Graham—13 points; PG Bobby Grannum-12 points/5 rebounds/6 assists; PF Danny Toliver—11 points/12 rebounds/2 steals/4 blocks; SF/SG Glen Robinson—9 points by hitting 3 of 4 three-pointers.

[PointGuard 70]

February 10, 2030: Wake Forest Demon Deacons (8-14, 2-11) vs #9 Boston College Eagles (18-6, 9-4) at Silvio O. Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, MA

SG Adrian Moss

I’m pretty bummed.  I like playing, not sitting on the bench.  I figured I’d get  some good minutes this season.  That’s certainly not been the case.  It’s no wonder my shooting’s been off this year.  You gotta play to get in the rhythm. 

Clemson has trouble scoring, mainly because they’re a poor rebounding team so they get fewer shots that their opponents.  We should cruise through this game.  I hope that means more play time for me.

Five minutes into the game and we’re up 16-5…put me in coach!  Hey it worked.  A minute later and he’s sending me in with up on top 18-10.  I got my man to put up a 3PA…got my hand in his face and he missed.  Couldn’t get off any shots…each time I got the ball they were all over me and I couldn’t get a clear shot.  I wish Coach Fed has as much respect for my offensive prowess.  We were ahead 28-14 when I was subbed out.  Glen Robinson is having another hot night, hitting shots from all over the court.  We go up by 21 with just over 4 minutes to go in the half.  I got back into the game with just over a minute to play in the half.  When the half ends we lead 47-26…crushing the Demon Deacons just like I figured we would.  Robinson scored 15 points.

Bobby Grannum picks up his 3^rd foul with 16-1/2 minutes remaining and us ahead 53-28.  Coach Fed moves Corey Graham over to the point and puts me in at SG.  During the media timeout, Coach Fed gives me a pat on the back for good defense.  A minute later I get inside and grab a rebound away from a taller Wake Forest player.  Then anticipating the play I step in to cut off my guy and the pass intended for him sails out of bounds.  On the next possession, I force my man to move his pivot foot for another turnover.  I then pull down another rebound, but my pass is off target and it skittles out of bounds.  When I leave the court we’re ahead 57-30.  With a little under 4 minutes remaining and us ahead 69-35, I’m back in.  I still haven’t got a shot this game, so hoping to get free.  The Demon Deacons get the ball into my man down close on the baseline and I make him miss the shot, but the ref calls me for tapping his arm.  I finally get off an 18 footer, but it doesn’t go down.  But on our next possession, I find Keith Kolder who hits the shot and I get the assist.  I get another assist on our next possession.  I grab another rebound just before the game ends.  We stomp Wake Forest 79-42.  Another good defensive game for us…the Demon Deacons hit just 26% of their shots and had 17 turnovers.  We owned the boards, 40-23.

Leading our scoring was SF/SG Glen Robinson with 19 points.  C Tim Cotton scored 13.  C Courtland Reese had 11 and PF Danny Toliver added 10.  I didn’t score, having only got off one shot, but had 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and a block.  I got to play 16 minutes which is far more than I’ve been getting normally.

[PointGuard 70]

February 13, 2030: #23 ranked North Carolina State Wolfpack vs #9 Boston College Eagles (19-6, 10-4) at Silvio O. Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, MA

3^rd Assistant Coach Jeremy Anderson (scouting)              

We beat the Wolfpack by 9 points on their court earlier this season.  We’re stronger at PG and C and maybe have a slight advantage otherwise.  NC State runs a fairly fast pace offense with a lot of offensive freedom.  When they use sets they prefer running a high post offense but also mix in the Princeton and 5-out offenses.  Defensively they’re primarily m-2-m and if when in a zone, it’s a 2-3 zone. They don’t press much.  Thus far they’ve not been too successful on the road this season, but they’re a team that is dangerous at any time and did beat #8 ranked Notre Dame on the road several weeks ago.  Their primary scorer is senior SG Michael Cox who hits a high percentage of his shots and is averaging 13 ppg so we’ll try to contain him.

2^nd Assistant Coach Chris Evans

Our banged up players are back to 100%.  NC State looked loose in the warmups.  I hope we’re ready to execute from the get-go.  Damn!  They hit a 3 off the tip-off.  At the first media time-out they had hit 4 of 7 from beyond the arc and led 16-6.  Coach Aura focused on defense during the time out.  We held them scoreless the next 3 minutes but our offense wasn’t particularly effective and we only closed the difference to 5 points.  But the Wolfpack just was generally outplaying us.  We could get no closer and with 8 minutes to go we trailed 27-19.  Coach Aura was shuffling players in to try to stimulate some excitement and get a lineup on the court that would click.  We got within 2 points a couple times, but then either we’d miss a series of shots, have a big turnover, or let NC State get some clear shots and we’d fall behind again.  When the half ended we were in a 41-34 hole and NC State did that without getting to the foul line at all.  We were out-rebounded and outshot by the Wolfpack.  Our only players who really looked good were Darius Hein and Winston Minahan.  Coach Aura tried turning up the intensity meter during halftime.

We played another uninspired 6 minutes at the beginning of the 2^nd half, dropping behind by as much as 10 points.  Led by Corey Graham, we then put together a strong run that gave us a 53-51 lead with 11 minutes to go.  NC State didn’t fold though.  They recaptured a 2 point lead with 6 minutes remaining.  But we came back.  With 4 minutes left, Corey Graham hit a baseline jumper and completed the 3 point play by sinking the foul shot to give us a 72-66 lead.  The Wolfpack began hitting shots but so did we and the point differential bounced around between 2 and 8 points.  Graham continued to connect and his 15 footer with a minute remaining put us up 80-75.  The Wolfpack sank a pair of free throws to close to within 3 with 47 seconds to go.  Courtland Reese tipped in a shot and our lead rose back to 5 with 34 seconds on the clock.  They missed a 3 and then fouled Graham who coolly sunk both shots.  There wasn’t enough time for them to recover and we won a hard-fought 84-77 battle.  A strong offensive second half offset our otherwise dispirited play.  We needed the win since our next game is at Duke and the Blue Demons still remain undefeated in ACC play.

SG Corey Graham had a phenomenal 2^nd half finishing with 30 points to go along with 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and a block.  PG Bobby Grannum had a double-double with 10 points and 12 assists.  C Courtland Reese scored 10 points.

Danny Toliver: “If it hadn’t been for Corey playing so well, we’d have lost this game.  We just couldn’t get into a good rhythm as a team, so Corey just took it on himself to carry us to a victory.  He got some good support from Bobby’s double-double.  I’m always impressed by a guy who can do that with one of the double digits being assists.”

[PointGuard 70]

Feb. 15, 2030: #9 Boston College Eagles (20-6, 11-4) vs #2 ranked Duke Blue Devils (25-1, 14-0) at Cameron Indoor Stadium at Durham, NC

Coach Fred Aura

Duke got by us by a 69-63 score when we played them on our court 3 weeks ago.  While that’s closer than any ACC team has got to the Blue Devils, they’re prohibitive favorites tonight on their court.  Even though there is little likelihood we can catch up with them in the standings this season, I’d sure like to gain an upset to let them know we won’t roll over to them if we meet again in the ACC tourney.  Duke has been so dominant primarily due to the best defense in the nation (55.2 ppg and 9.0 spg and 6.4 bpg) and the offense that freshman SG Trent Coleman has delivered (24.0 ppg).  We “held” him to 22 and he had to score 10 of those at the foul line.  But he scored 38 in Duke’s game earlier this week against Miami.  We’ll try again to keep him in check, but play him too tight and he just draws fouls and scores againt you that way.  Inside Duke has ever-dominant C Brian Taylor (11.7 ppg, 10.1 rpg, 1.8 bpg).  We’ll try to get the ball inside to Courtland Reese and hopefully get Taylor into early foul trouble.  PG Bobby Grannum tweaked his ankle in our practice two days ago…while he’ll play, I suspect we’ll have to limit his playing time.

It took us 2-1/2 minutes to get on the board and Duke had 6 points by then.  We were getting the ball inside but Taylor was making it tough for Copeland Reese to get clear shots or blocking shots.  7 minutes into the game, Bobby Grannum was totally ineffective and we had hit just 1 of 8 shots, had 3 shots blocked, had 5 turnovers including 4 steals and trailed 15-2 with Brian Taylor having already scored 9 points.  Time to change our strategy which hadn’t working at all.  We finally got Taylor into foul trouble, but it took us 16 minutes to do so and by then we trailed 31-17.  We were in deep trouble after the first half…behind 44-20.  We hit just 31% of our shots, were out-rebounded 16-14, made 10 turnovers, and had scored 6 less points at the foul line.  Brian Taylor had 11 points and Trent Coleman scored 10 in the first half for Duke. 

The best we could do in the 2^nd half was to reduce the lead to 19 points.  But it was all downhill from there.  Duke simply destroyed our offense and we got crushed 76-41.  We could only convert 29% of our FGA’s and 18% of our 3PA’s.  We had 19 turnovers and Duke blocked 6 shots and stole the ball 10 times.  The Blue Devils held a 39-26 rebounding advantage.  All-in-all a simply horrible game.  We left the court with our tails between our legs.

C Courtland Reese was our only player to score more than 8 points…he had 13 points. 

The only positive thing tonight was that North Carolina got beat by Florida State, and we therefore were able to hold onto a ½ game lead over the Tar Heels for 2^nd place in the ACC.  We just have to put our game of tonight behind us and move on to try to win the final 4 games of the regular season and enter the ACC tourney with momentum.

[MidKnightDreary 0]

Welcome back! Things not quite as rosy at BC lately

[PointGuard 70]

Thanks...was budy with CB22 beta testing.  

Duke's damned good this season.  BC boys wanted to pin first ACC loss on the Blue Devils but got buried instead.

Edited February 28, 2022 by PointGuard

[PointGuard 70]

Feb. 20, 2030: #8 ranked Boston College (20-7, 11-5) vs #9 ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish (20-6, 9-6) at Edmund P. Joyce Center in South Bend, IN

Father Edmond Southworth

This is the 2^nd of 3 straight road games.  With only a single game against a strong Notre Dame team, it would be better if it were a home game.  The Fighting Irish have been streaky this season though.  Two long win streaks of 13 and 7 games and two 3-game losing streaks.  The Fighting Irish are presently saddled with the last of these losing streaks.  Notre Dame’s SG Jay Butler and SF Dwight Oliver are averaging 17.5 ppg and 12.5 ppg, respectively.  Both shoot well from 3-point range.  For us, Bobby Grannum is still dealing with a minor ankle injury and isn’t 100 per cent.

I’m pleased to have been chosen to make the trip with our team.  I enjoy getting together with the priests at Notre Dame, but hope that our team will beat theirs.  I’m staying in South Bend for a few days after the game for some meetings, and then will be flying to Blacksburg, VA to be with the team for the last game of this road trip 4 days from now.  Following that game I’ll fly back to Boston with the team.  We arrived in South Bend on Saturday, so yesterday I was able to lead the team in a Sunday mass just for them.  One of the team members had some personal issues that he wanted to discuss and he and I met this morning.  He seemed relieved by the guidance I provided, but I will follow up with him when we return to campus. Obviously I can’t reveal the players name or any details about his problem.

The Eagles got off to a good start, with strong defense they pulled out to a 13-5 lead after 6 minutes of play.  4 minutes later they were on top 24-7.  With 6 minutes to go in the half, the Eagles had increased their lead to 35-14.  Even though the 21 point lead held, I’m guessing Coach Aura will get on his team about their letting up defensively and giving up 13 points in the final 6 minutes.  BC holds a comfortable 48-27 lead, though going into the 2^nd half.  Coach Evans told me we outshot Notre Dame 51% to 43%, out-rebounded them 19-10 and had a 12-5 turnover advantage.  Glen Robinson was the top scorer with 12 points while Courtland Reese had 9 points and 7 rebounds.

Notre Dame began cutting into the lead in the second half and with 10-1/4 minutes to go the score was 60-50.  Coach Aura settled his team down and they rallied for a convincing 90-69 victory.

Glen Robinson played well at 3 positions (SG, PG and SF) and scored 22 points and he and the rest of the bench tallied a total of 53 points.  SG Corey Graham chipped in 18 points.  C Courtland Reese scored 12, grabbed 11 boards, and blocked 4 shots.  The Eagles held Jay Butler to just 2 points.

[PointGuard 70]

Feb. 24, 2030: #8 ranked Boston College Eagles (21-7, 12-5) vs Virginia Tech Hokies (14-12, 7-10) at Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburgh, VA

Excerpts from TV broadcast of the game:

*Unless these two teams meet in the ACC tournament, this will be the only time they play each other this season.  Since Coach Aura got to Boston College, the Eagles have had the best the Hokies, beating Virginia Tech all 5 times they’ve met the past four years.  But head coach Darell Nathaniel in his 2^nd year at Virginia Tech, says his team is determined to beat Boston College this season.  BC’s at full strength tonight.  Virginia Tech has SF TJ Rogers, who was averaging 10.4 ppg, is out with a broken elbow and sophomore Frank Oliver will be starting in place of Rogers.  SG Tony Harrington has been shooting the lights out for the Hokies and is averaging 17.2 ppg.  BC’s leading scorer is SG Corey Graham who’s hit for 13.3 ppg.

*The starters have been announced and the national anthem has been played, so we’re ready to get this game underway. 

*The tip is controlled by the Hokies and the work the ball around the perimeter.  Rose gets the ball inside to Evans who drives to the hoop and scores.  The Hokies draw first blood.  The Eagles’ Graham dumps the ball over to Toliver who cross courts the ball to Reese on the baseline.  Reese makes a move to the basket, attacks the rim and delivers a crashing dunk to tie the game.  That was sort of a right back in your face play.

*Virginia Tech is really working the ball to Harrington.  It’s been effective as he’s hit a 3 and drawn early fouls on Graham and Grannum.

*That’s the fourth foul committed by BC.  None have been called on the Hokies.  Coach Aura is really working the refs.

*Nice backdoor pass by Graham to Cotton who puts the ball on the floor and then goes up for the shot that drops through the hoop.  BC’s centers, Reese and Cotton have now scored 12 of the Eagles’ 18 points and BC leads by 8 with 11 minutes to go in the half.

*So far the Eagles are beating the Hokies on the boards.  BC works down the shot clock.  Hein finds Thorn in the right corner.  He’s free and puts up a 3 that swishes through.  That’s 8 points for Rashon Thorn and BC’s lead expands to 33-18.

*Whoa! Another 3 by Thorn.  He’s now hit 4 from long range. It’s 41-23 with 2:45 on the clock.

*BC’s defense has been stellar.  Virginia Tech is having a tough time getting any free shots and their shooting percentage reflects that. 

*Reese continues to dominate inside.  He made a nice crossover move to get past Tice and then kisses a shot off the glass giving him 12 points thus far.

*As the half winds down, the Hokies are unable to get anyone free and have to put up an off-balance shot that misses badly with 2 seconds on the shot clock.  BC rebounds and the half ends with Boston College leading Virginia Tech 45-25.

*Taking a look at the halftime stats shows that the Eagles have outshot the Hokies 58% to 30% and have an 18-10 advantage on the boards. Boston College scored 20 points in the paint in the first half.  BC’s PG Rashon Thorn came off the bench to score 14 points while C Courtland Reese has contributed 12 points.  The only Virginia Tech player to score more than 4 points was SG Tony Harrington who finished the half with 13 points.

*Grannum brings the ball over midcourt.  A quick pass to Hein on the right side line.  Hein surveys the defense and then dishes it back to Grannum who knocks down a 3 from downtown to make it 50-25.

*Grannum hits Graham who made a cut down along the baseline.  Graham making a move toward the basket.  No.  He pulls up and hits a nice jumper to put the Eagles on top by 30 at 64-34 with 10-1/2 minutes remaining in the game.

*Thorn back in the game and he immediately hit a 3 and now he drops in a jumper.  The guy’s on fire.

*The game ends with a final score of 79-53 in favor of Boston College.

*BC hit 52% of their shots compared to the Hokies 32%.  But the big difference in the game was the Eagles total dominance on the boards.  BC had 46 rebounds compared to just 25 by the Hokies. 

*PG Rashon Thorn came in off the bench to score 23 points.  That’s a career high for Thorm.  Other Boston College players in double figures were: C Courtland Reese with 18, PG Bobby Grannum had 12, and SG Corey Graham scored 11.  The top scorer for Virginia Tech was SG Tony Harrington with 17 points.

*The win keeps BC in sole possession of 2^nd place in the ACC, a game ahead of Florida State.

[PointGuard 70]

Mar. 1, 2030: Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (15-12, 9-9) vs #8 Boston College Eagles (22-7, 13-5) at Silvio O. Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, MA

Coach Fred Aura

Pre-game in the locker room: OK, guys, this is the last week of the regular season.  We go through the 3-game road trip with 2 big wins.  Now we just have 2 home games before the ACC Tourney.  Let’s stay focused and play hard so we can finish the regular season strong and go into the tournament on a roll.  Georgia Tech is a good team so we need to go after them with all we have, execute our game plan, and play hard the entire 40 minutes.  Remember that their PG Rahim Arnold hits a very high percentage of his shots from anywhere on the court.  Let’s not let him break out.  Defense, defense and bang the boards, guys.  Now let’s get out there on the court and show the Yellow Jackets and our fans how BC plays top-flight basketball.

On the sidelines:  All our players are healthy and available tonight, so we’ll try to keep fresh legs on the court and wear down the Yellow Jackets.  The game’s about to start.  I’m confident but a little nervous since Georgia Tech whipped #7 North Carolina in their last game.

We’re tight early, missing our first 3 shots and turning the ball over once.  But Darius Hein stepped in front of his man and picked off a pass, got the ball to Danny Toliver who was spurting upcourt and threw down a jam with just over 17 minutes to go in the half for our first field goal.  Then Toliver picked up two quick fouls.  It took 3 minutes more for us to get our 2^nd bucket.  Although we still weren’t firing on all cylinders, we were getting to the foul line and finally took our first lead at 11-9 with 13 minutes left in the half.  I really felt like tearing the guys up about their anemic offense, but their defense was rockin’ so best to just let them work out things for themselves on the offensive end of the court.  Coach Jeff Wallace was tearing into the refs as the fouls mounted up on the Yellow Jackets.  No matter who I put on the court, and I was subbing freely, we just couldn’t get untracked.  At the media time out with 7:26 to play we were tied at 18-18 and had hit just 5 of 15 shots and were getting beat on the boards 13-9.  I laid into the team and showed just how concerned I was in their play.  I’d like to say that woke the guys up, but we continued to hang with Georgia Tech by getting to the line for the next 4 minutes.  Then Darius Hein made two quick baskets and in the final 3 minutes of the half we spurted to a 42-30 halftime advantage.  That improved our shooting from 30% to 48%, but getting to the line 25 times where we scored 18 points was still the reason we were in front of the Yellow Jackets.  Courtland Reese scored 9 and Darius Hein and Keith Kolder both had 8.  We did a good job on Georgia Tech’s PG Rahim Arnold, holding him scoreless.

We scored the first 13 points in the 2^nd half to go ahead by 25 points.  From there on I was able to get a lot of minutes for our bench players.  We came away with a 76-55 win.  In juxtaposition to the first half, we didn’t get to the foul line a single time in the 2^nd half.  But we did it in the 2^nd half with a stellar defense and some good shooting.

C Courtland Reese finished with 15 points and 9 rebounds.  Darius Hein played both SF and PF and scored 13 points.  PG Bobby Grannum hit for 11 points and SF Keith Kolder scored 10.

The win guaranteed us a 2^nd place finish in the ACC, but I want to win our final regular season game to keep the momentum going into the ACC tourney.

[PointGuard 70]

Mar. 3. 2030: Virginia Cavaliers (18-13, 8-11) vs #8 Boston College Eagles (23-7. 14-5) at Silvio O. Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, MA

RyReys Blog, Ryan Reynolds

In a tune-up for the ACC Tournament, the Boston College Eagles hosted the Virginia Cavaliers who were in a dogfight with the Eagles for 2^nd place until the Cavaliers went into a bit of a tailspin in the past 3 weeks.

For the 2^nd straight game, BC started slowly.  Their sluggish start in which they shot horribly, committed far too many turnovers and were charged with numerous fouls resulted in Virginia achieving a 7 point lead midway through the half.  It was obvious to all that Coach Aura was aggravated with his team’s punchless effort.  Aura’s chastisement apparently worked.  Corey Graham led the team to their first lead with 3:54 remaining in the half.  But after moving ahead by 3 points, the Eagles faltered badly in the final 2 minutes to trail 36-28 at the break.

Coach Aura prodding in the locker room resulted in his team scoring the first 9 points of the 2^nd half to edge ahead.  But Virginia again recaptured the lead.  Midway through the half the Eagles offense caught fire.  The team jumped on top and then gradually pulled away to score an 80-67 victory. 

The Eagles 2nd half turn-around produced a 55% to 37% shooting advantage for BC over the Cavaliers.  Boston College also out-rebounded Virginia 41-26.

In the post-game interview, Coach Aura said, “In the first half we fizzled, but in the 2^nd half we sizzled.”

Leading the scoring for Boston College was SG Corey Graham with 19 points.  PG Bobby Grannum contributed 15 points and C Courtland Reese added 10.

The Eagles finished in 2^nd place in the ACC standings.

Duke…20-0

Boston College…15-5

Florida State…13-7

North Carolina…13-7

Clemson…11-9

Notre Dame…10-10

North Carolina State…10-10

Miami (FL)…10-10

Georgia Tech…9-11

Syracuse…8-12

Virginia…8-12

Pittsburgh…7-13

Virginia Tech…7-13

Louisville…5-15

Wake Forest…4-16

[vlada_1991 0]

On 2/28/2022 at 3:01 AM, PointGuard said:

Thanks...was budy with CB22 beta testing.  

Duke's damned good this season.  BC boys wanted to pin first ACC loss on the Blue Devils but got buried instead.

yes

[PointGuard 70]

1^st Assistant Coach Darrell Montgomery (practice)

We coaches had been talking this spring about players declaring for the draft.  We now have players on our roster who very well could leave us early.  The two primary ones are our guards, freshman PG Bobby Grannum and sophomore SG Corey Graham.  Both not only started for us all season, but are very talented and have great potential.  We have two other freshmen, C Tim Cotton and SF Maynard Gardner.  Neither were starters but have tremendous potential and both wanted a lot more minutes on the court than they got this season..  So we were worried we’d have someone leave us early.

Surprisingly, Bobby, Corey and Tim never really showed interest in leaving after this season.  We coaches had a big sigh of relief about that.  But Maynard let us know he was thinking of jumping ship.  Like I said, he’s going to be a very good player.  But to be honest, he still has a lot of development before I think he’s ready to go pro.  While we discussed some of the pros and cons of declaring early, we were careful to leave the ultimate decision totally up to him.

Today on the final day for players to declare, Maynard let Coach Aura know that he’d decided to stick with us for at least another season.  We’re delighted since he’ll be in the mix to start at SF this coming season…and expect that no matter if he’s a starter or not, he’ll be playing a lot more that he did this season.

So now our next worry will be if any of our guys will opt to transfer this coming summer.  As mentioned, Tim and Maynard plus some of our other subs wanted more playing time and that could end up biting us in the butt.

Other ACC schools got some bitter news though: both Duke and North Carolina had 3 players each declare and Notre Dame and Syracuse each have one player declaring early.

[PointGuard 70]

Boston College Chronicle

ACC TOURNAMENT RESULTS

ACC Tournament—Day 1

#15 seed Wake Forest-72, #10 seed Syracuse-63

#11 seed Virginia-66, #14 seed Louisville-63

#12 seed Pittsburgh-78, #13 seed Virginia Tech-65

"I wasn't surprised by the results of this first day, even Wake Forest's win over Syracuse.  Throughout the ACC tournament anyone can win depending upon if a team gets hot, or another team has an off-night. The Syracuse/Louisville was a thriller," said Coach Fred Aura in response to a question about the first day's results.  When asked about his team's preparations, Coach Aura responded, "We won't know who we're playing until tomorrow's games are completed.  But we have a lot to practice and are doing so without worrying about who we will have to play."

Edited March 5, 2022 by PointGuard

[PointGuard 70]

Boston College Chronicle

ACC TOURNAMENT RESULTS

ACC Tournament—Day 2

#12 seed Pittsburgh-69, #5 seed Clemson-60

#11 seed Virginia-73, #8 seed Miami (FL)-70

#7 seed North Carolina St.-72, #15 seed Wake Forest-67

#9 seed Georgia Tech-88, #6 seed Notre Dame-78

[PointGuard 70]

Coach Fred Aura

We now know who we'll face first in the ACC tournament.  North Carolina State's victory sets up a game for us against the Wolfpack.  The guys are chomping at the bit to get started in the tourney.  I told them to get a good night's sleep so they'll be well-rested.

Edited March 7, 2022 by PointGuard

[PointGuard 70]

Boston College Chronicle

ACC TOURNAMENT RESULTS

 

ACC Tournament Quarterfinals

#1 seed Duke-73, #9 seed Georgia Tech-58

#2 seed Boston College-82, #7 seed North Carolina St.-75

NC State hit their first 5 shots in the game and then went on to drop in 64% of their FG’s throughout the entire first half enroute to building a 42-35 halftime advantage.  The Wolfpack held a lead throughout the 2^nd half until PG Bobby Grannum and SF Keith Kolder combined to knock down 5 straight 3’s.  The Eagles then had to fight to cling onto a small lead, only expanding it when NC State was forced to foul in the waning moments of the game.  Leading the Eagles were C Courtland Reese with 20 points and 15 rebounds, PG Bobby Grannum with 12 points, and PF Danny Toliver with 10 points.  Decisive in the win was BC’s dominance on the boards where they pulled down 44 rebounds compared to just 20 by the Wolfpack.

#11 seed Virginia-89, #3 seed Florida St.-71

#4 seed North Carolina-81, #12 seed Pittsburgh-69

[PointGuard 70]

Boston College Chronicle

ACC TOURNAMENT RESULTS

 

ACC Tournament Semi-finals:

#1 seed Duke-70, #4 seed North Carolina-56

#11 seed Virginia-77. #2 seed Boston College-68

Virginia jumped out to a 24-11 lead, primarily by hitting 5 of their first 7 3-point shots.  By playing poor defensively, shooting poorly, and turning the ball over frequently, the Eagles fell behind by 22 points before rallying late in the half to narrow the halftime gap to 47-39.  BC cut into the lead further in the 2^nd half, but their shooting woes kept them from being able to get ahead.  Topping the scoring for the Eagles was PG Bobby Grannum with 22 points.  C Courtland Reese recorded a double-double with 19 points and 14 boards.  SG Corey Grannum added 10 points. 

ACC Championship:

#1 seed Duke-77, #11 seed Virginia-68

[PointGuard 70]

Boston College Chronicle

EAGLES TEAM AND PLAYER STATS

By Kinsey Ramsey

Boston College will go into the NCAA Tournament with a 25-8 record.  The team was 11-5 in the ACC, finishing in 2^nd place.  The Eagles are ranked 8^th in the polls and have the 5^th best NET Ranking.  The Eagles averaged 75.6 ppg while giving up 67.0 ppg. 

Starters stats:

PG Bobby Grannum: 11.0 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 5.7 apg

SG Corey Graham:  12.9 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 2.1 apg

SF Darius Hein:  5.8 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 1.5 apg

PF Danny Toliver:  7.4 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 0.8 apg

C Courtland Reese:  13.5 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 1.5 apg

Reserves stats:

Glen Robinson:  8.5 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 1.8 apg

Winston Minahan:  5.2 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 0.6 apg

Tim Cotton:  5.0 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 0.8 apg

Maynard Gardner:  1.8 ppg, 1.1 rpg, 0.5 apg

Rashon Thorn:  2.8 ppg, 0.7 rpg, 1.4 apg

Keith Kolder:  2.6 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 0.4 apg

Adrian Moss:  1.9 ppg, 1.1 rpg, 0.8 apg

Andy Dawson:  1.0 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 0.0 apg

[PointGuard 70]

JJ Conroy, BeanTownSports Blog

ACC Teams going to post-season tournaments

NCAA

#2 ranked Duke(34-1) is the #1 seed in the East Region and will go up against the winner of the Bucknell/Evansville play-in game.

#6 ranked North Carolina (24-9) is the #3 seed in the East Region and will take on #14 seed Sacred Heart (21-11).

Clemson (19-13) is the #11 seed in the East Region and plays #6 seed Memphis (22-12).

#8 ranked Boston College (25-8) is the #2 seed in the Midwest Region and takes on #15 seed Dartmouth (17-14).

#11 ranked Florida State (24-8) is the #3 seed in the West Region and goes up against #14 seed Bowling Green State (21-12).

#18 ranked Notre Dame (21-11) is the #5 seed in the West Region and will play #12 seed Albany (22-10).

North Carolina State (21-12) is the #8 seed and goes up against #9 seed Colorado State (24-9).

NIT

Miami (FL) is the #4 seed in the East Region and plays #5 seed Portland.

Georgia Tech is the #4 seed in the South Region and plays #5 seed Baylor.

Virginia is the #5 seed in the West Region and plays #4 seed Saint Mary’s.

CIT

Pittsburgh is the #8 seed in the East Region and plays #1 seed Youngstown State.

Boston College prospects

So let’s take a look at our local team, the Boston College Eagles.  What are their chances in the Big Dance?  Easy answer: not good.  This team has shown a propensity for getting off to really slow starts in recent games this season.  Getting into a hole early in the NCAA Tournament is a recipe for disaster.  In addition, the injury bug has bitten them with C Courtland Reese experiencing back spasms that are expected to limit him for the next week-and-a-half.  And 6^th man Glen Robinson injured his arm that could impact his play for about 5 days.  My prediction for the Eagles is that they go out in Round 2 (Round of 32).  The best I can see them doing is getting to the Sweet 16.