Boston College off to a surprising start in ACC play

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Don’t look now, but there’s a big surprise near the top of the ACC standings. With only Duke sporting an undefeated record, one team in the logjam at 2-1 is the very young Boston College Eagles, who beat Virginia Tech 61-59 on Saturday to claim both home games that had a quick turnaround.

Before the season, and even recently before conference play started, the question was being asked: will BC win an ACC game this year? The easy answer was “yes”, especially since the ACC is not a great conference this year. After Duke, North Carolina and Virginia, there’s a noticeable drop-off. And as the Eagles progress over the course of the season, chances are they might knock someone off at home. It’s already happened, and with two straight wins they have likely surprised just about everyone except for the people in their locker room.

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Eagles’ outing a mixed bag against Harvard

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – The first game after Christmas was decidedly a mixed bag for Boston College, more so than one might expect from simply looking at the scoreboard and seeing a 21-point loss. Now the underdog in the matchup with Harvard, the Eagles came in with three straight wins before the break and weren’t expected to win the game by virtually anyone outside of their locker room.

At times, the offense looked excellent. There were crisp passes to cutters, great movement without the ball, and some great reads of the defense that led to some easy baskets. There was a nice 14-3 lead early on, before reality set in and Harvard started getting stops. Even after that, there were times, particularly when Dennis Clifford was in the game and they were able to get him the ball, where the offense was a thing of beauty.

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Boston College gains confidence before the break

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Boston College has come back from the Christmas break in a better place than they were before it. In fact, it’s better than where they were over a week before their last game, as their 83-73 win over Sacred Heart last Wednesday was their third straight.

With a young team, confidence is big, and head coach Steve Donahue has been talking about that all along. He knew the wins would be hard to come by and keeping up confidence would be a battle. There was no question the players would get better, and Donahue has constantly said that the players are doing what he has asked of them and then some. There hasn’t been a complaint about the effort and work ethic, and that’s not to be underestimated.

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Boston College more confident as finals come to a close

It hasn’t been a banner season for Boston College if you look solely at the bottom line. Even after last Sunday’s 66-51 win over Stony Brook, the Eagles are 3-7 after breaking a four-game losing streak. The bottom line doesn’t reflect it, but there’s a feeling that this team is growing and it seemed evident on Sunday while the bottom line did reflect it this time around.

BC head coach Steve Donahue admits he’s been preaching to his team about winning four-minute stretches – covering the time between media timeouts in a game. Sometimes that’s what you have to do when wins are hard to come by, and it’s been known for a while that they were not likely to be plentiful for this team. Freshman forward Ryan Anderson talked about this a little more, noting that even though they’re competitors and thus don’t like losing, they are looking away from the bottom line when evaluating where they are.

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Boston College going through quite the adversity early on

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Steve Donahue knew this wouldn’t be pretty, but surely he didn’t think there would be something like this. A string of losses, sure. That might still come. But back-to-back blowouts, including Monday’s thumping at the hands of UMass in the Commonwealth Classic?

As UMass eventually built the lead up to 30, you could see more than just BC getting caught up in UMass’ speed. The Eagles looked like a team that didn’t have confidence, getting tentative at times offensively. The offense suffered greatly, aided by UMass’ length as that frustrated the Eagles on the glass, especially at the offensive end.

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Learning curve looks steep for young Eagles

After three games, Boston College looks to be in store for a long season.

With nine freshmen on the roster, no one in Chestnut Hill entered this season with ACC title expectations for the Eagles. In fact, anything short of a finish near the bottom of the season would solidify Steve Donahue’s status as a brilliant coach.

That would require quite turnaround.

The Eagles didn’t do anything particularly well in two blowout losses to Holy Cross and Massachusetts and a three-point win against New Hampshire. As Donahue’s teams are wont to do, the Eagles shoot lots of 3-pointers, with 44 percent of their shots from the field coming from behind the arc. But those shots aren’t falling frequently, as the team is shooting 31 percent from behind the arc.

One player who won’t be living behind the arc is Patrick Heckmann. The freshman guard from Germany has been a bright spot for Boston College, with 30 points and 13 rebounds in two games. He missed the team’s loss to Holy Cross with a sprained ankle. Heckmann is only 1-of-5 from 3-point range, but he’s 6-of-14 inside the arc.

Heckmann’s willingness to battle for boards at both ends of the court is good to see, and he could help set a tough tone for the Eagles, who will need to grind out victories this season. One negative trend in Heckmann’s game right now is his propensity to commit turnovers, as he’s got six turnovers compared to four assists. Of course, after only two games, it’s too early to be overly concerned about that.

The road won’t get much easier for Boston College this week. The Eagles are heading west to Anaheim, Calif., for the 76 Classic, and they’ll start the three-game tournament on Thanksgiving against Saint Louis. The Billikens have one of the toughest defenses in the country — again it’s early, but that’s true thus far — holding opponents to 34.2 percent from inside the arc and 26.5 percent from outside. As a team that already struggles to shoot, the Eagles figure to be in for a tough day. Cracking 50 points could be difficult.

But win or lose, Donahue needs his team to compete during each possession. The youngsters will improve only with hard work and game experience. That experience figures to feature plenty of losses for now, but that could start to change by February.

Boston College wins opener through growing pains

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Steve Donahue knows this will be different, but has to keep reminding himself. He’s used to having veteran teams, but not only does he have a young team, but he has one that is youthful and lacking in experience from pretty much every angle. His Boston College team has nine freshmen, just one senior and not a single player who played for the prior head coach in just his second season at the helm. In other words, it’s not even like he has a team full of sophomores that has at least practiced and played together for a year.

Donahue was already understanding what this entailed from practices and the team’s exhibition game. After Monday night’s 67-64 win over New Hampshire, it was driven home further.

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New-Look Eagles Have a Long Way to Grow

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Get a program, Eagle fans. You’re going to need it. While you’re at it, you might also want to get some patience, if that’s possible.

The most salient thing about this year’s Boston College team is what’s new about it. 11 players are new, including seven scholarship freshmen on what might be the youngest college basketball team in some time. Among the holdovers, only three have even appreciable experience playing games in the program (senior John Cahill and sophomores Gabe Moton and Danny Rubin), and only one other has significant Division I experience (junior Matt Humphrey, a transfer from Oregon). Also noteworthy is that there is no one who played during the Al Skinner era save for senior walk-on Peter Rehnquist.

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Boston College 2011-12 Preview

Boston College Eagles (21-13, 9-7)

Projected starting five:

So. G Gabriel Moton
So. G Danny Rubin
Jr. G Matt Humphrey
Fr. F Ryan Anderson
Fr. C KC Caudill

Important departures:

Reggie Jackson: 18.2 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 4.5 apg
Joe Trapani: 14.8 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 1.8 apg
Corey Raji: 12.1 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 1.6 apg

Percent returning scoring and rebounding:

Scoring: 8.7 percent
Rebounding: 9.1 percent

Additions:

Matt Humphrey, junior guard transferred from Oregon
Ryan Anderson, ESPNU four-star freshman power forward from Long Beach, Calif.

Schedule highlights:

Best non-conference game: at Providence
Toughest conference stretch: Jan. 7-14 (at North Carolina, vs. Clemson, vs. Virginia Tech)

Outlook:

In his first season at the helm in Chestnut Hill, coach Steve Donahue propelled Boston College into the top half of the conference’s standings. En route, he helped turn Reggie Jackson into a bona fide star. Under Donahue’s tutelage, Jackson erupted for 18 points per game, and he guided the offense with nearly five assists per game.

For a second consecutive year, the Eagles won’t have lofty expectations. However, it would take a miracle for Donahue to get this team to more than five ACC wins. Boston College loses more than 90 percent of its scoring and rebounding, and nine of the 15 players on the roster are freshmen.

Prediction: 12th

Next: Clemson Tigers

Back to ACC preview

After Loss to Harvard, Boston College Turns the Page

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Boston College did what a good team will do after a loss, particularly a home loss like the one they had on Wednesday. They turned the page and moved on with the next practice and ultimately the next game. Saturday’s 86-75 win over Georgia Tech gets them right back on track and, more importantly, makes them 2-0 in early ACC play.

The Eagles won this game in a similar fashion to how they have won several others this season. They ran a very efficient offense and took good shots, and were good overall despite a couple of sloppy stretches and 14 turnovers. After having small leads and the game staying close for the first half, ending in a tie, the Eagles ran the lead into double digits thanks to their defense. Georgia Tech slowly made their way back, but didn’t have enough to tie although they got within three a couple of times. … Continue Reading

Boston College a Pleasant Surprise

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – No one expected Boston College to be where they are right now, save perhaps for the people in the locker room. But as Christmas approaches, the Eagles are 10-2, including at least one NCAA Tournament resume win, and look like they should be in the mix for a good ACC finish.

Who saw this coming?

Sure, the Eagles had a clunker early on against Yale, one that surely had folks thinking, “Same old Eagles, losing to someone they shouldn’t.” And they have had to hang on in some games. But they have won those games, some of which they might not have in past years. … Continue Reading

Quick Hitters – November 25, 2010

Some quick hitters as we reach the holiday and head into the long weekend:

• Steve Donahue is throwing his freshmen right into the mix at Boston College, and it’s helping in the immediate. In particular, Danny Rubin started against Holy Cross and had 14 points and six rebounds, going 4-9 from long range and making a couple of key shots during a run where the Eagles first broke the game open. … Continue Reading

After Shaky Start, ACC Needs Holiday Tourney Joy

It might be early in the season, but the ACC is already entering a critical week.

After a bumpy start to the season, conference teams enter the holiday tournament season needing to win some statement games. And the outlook isn’t great.

In the first week and a half, Wake Forest has dropped two home games, and Georgia Tech got obliterated by Kennesaw State. The Yellow Jackets gave up 80 points to the Owls, who mostly played only five guys. Georgia Tech’s eight-man rotation floundered, shooting only 35 percent while committing 19 turnovers.

In Winston-Salem, the Demon Deacons figure to have a long season ahead in coach Jeff Bzdelik’s first year at the helm. Stetson shot 46.4 percent against Wake Forest and, more revealing, out-rebounded Wake Forest 42-31. ACC teams shouldn’t get outworked in their own building to open the season, unless they’re facing a top 10 opponent. That’s just embarrassing.

But there’s plenty of time to change course. Although the conference ranks fifth in winning percentage of the six power conferences, there’s no shame in Virginia Tech losing at Kansas State or Miami losing at Memphis. Road victories for either team would have been a major upset for the conference.

The early season emergence of the ACC must start tonight, when Maryland plays Pittsburgh in the semifinals of the 2K Sports Coaches vs. Cancer Classic. The Terrapins are one of seven ACC teams playing in tournaments during the next 10 days. However, Maryland is one of the few teams with an opportunity to pick up crucial statement victories.

Against Pittsburgh, Maryland will be decided underdogs, and a strong showing, even in a loss, would give the Terrapins plenty to crow about. If the team can beat Pitt or their next opponent — either Illinois or Texas in the championship or consolation game — the trip to Madison Square Garden would be a success. The worst-case scenario for the ACC and Maryland is a two-game sweep in which the Terrapins don’t look competitive against some of the strongest teams from the Big East, Big Ten and Big 12.

In San Juan, North Carolina is the highest rank team in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. That means the young, unproven Tar Heels are supposed to win the tournament, and anything short of a three-game sweep against a field that includes West Virginia and Minnesota would be a disappointment. We’ll quickly find out how this year’s Tar Heels handle the pressure of lofty expectations after last season’s squad fell apart.

Back on the shores of South Carolina, North Carolina State is one of the favorites in the Charleston Classic. The only way for the Wolfpack to pick up a quality win is to reach the championship game and beat Georgetown. A loss to anyone besides the Hoyas would be detrimental to North Carolina State’s résumé and the ACC’s credibility.

Georgia Tech and Boston College have the best opportunity to grab unexpected quality wins in the Legends Classic in Atlantic City and the Old Spice Classic in Orlando, respectively. Georgia Tech will face either Syracuse or Michigan in the championship or consolation game of the Legends Classic. However, the Yellow Jackets must first get past a tough UTEP team, which is perfectly capable of knocking off a shaky ACC team. The Eagles face a bunch of tough, unranked teams, with the exception of a possible match up with Temple. Boston College needs to represent the ACC well in potential games against Cal, Georgia, Texas A&M, Notre Dame and Wisconsin.

On the West Coast, Virginia Tech finds itself in the same situation that North Carolina does in Puerto Rico: tournament favorite. The Hokies’ toughest opponents in the 76 Classic are Oklahoma State, UNLV, Stanford and Murray State. Unfortunately for Virginia Tech’s résumé, the Hokies won’t garner much more clout by doing anything less than stomping those teams, which won’t be easy, especially 3,000-plus miles away from Blacksburg, Va.

And then there’s Duke. The reigning national champs are No. 1, so they’re supposed to beat anyone, anytime. Despite those ridiculous expectations, the Blue Devils would have a great opportunity to assert themselves as the unquestioned favorites to win this season’s national title if they draw Kansas State and beat the Wildcats in the CBE Classic in Kansas City, Mo. It’s practically a home game for the Wildcats, so a Duke victory would be huge for the ACC’s elite.

What Can Be Expected of Boston College?

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – On paper, Boston College figures to be difficult to project. The Eagles have eight seniors and four juniors, with one junior (former Oregon guard Matt Humphrey) sitting out as a transfer. They also have a new head coach and watched their most talented scorer transfer.

Steve Donahue took over the program in April after ten years as the head coach at Cornell. His success the past three seasons, including a run to the Sweet 16 last season, is well-documented by now. The first year with a new head coach is always difficult to project, and this is no different. Donahue and his staff have been working hard on the recruiting trail, knowing they need a big class with all the seniors, but how the season that is in front of us plays out is an open question. The Eagles won’t be especially deep, but a lack of depth is unlikely to be their biggest problem. … Continue Reading

2010-11 ACC Preview

For the second consecutive year, an ACC team will open the season as defending national champ. And Duke has a real shot at delivering back-to-back titles for the second time in coach Mike Krzyzewski’s illustrious career. At least, the Blue Devils have a far better chance than North Carolina did last season after the Tar Heels were overhyped and then overmatched en route to coach Roy Williams’ worst season in a couple of decades.

Although critics poke the ACC for lacking the quantity of elite teams that the Big East boasts, the ACC has once again proven that its best teams are legitimate title contenders every year. Duke managed to fly under the radar last season as the media fawned over veteran-laden Kansas and John Calipari’s freshmen sensations at Kentucky. But in the end, a ruthlessly balanced team stormed through the post-season and beat Cinderella, aka Butler, in a thrilling championship game. The two will reprise that battle in December when they meet in New Jersey. … Continue Reading

2010 ACC Post-Mortem

Although several ACC squads had disappointing final results, Duke emerged as the national champ to reaffirm that the conference’s best is always a title contender.

When the season started, we expected Duke to emerge as a national championship contender if the Big Three – Jon Scheyer, Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith – could lead the Blue Devils night in and night out without wearing down.

In November, that seemed like a tall order because the Blue Devils just didn’t have much depth behind those perimeter players. But Scheyer, Singler and Smith fulfilled their potential by carrying Duke to its fourth national championship under coach Mike Krzyzewski.

In the past, Duke has earned its reputation as one of the most hated teams in the country because the national media dwell on every game – much like the media painfully did this season with North Carolina as the Tar Heels crumbled without Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Danny Green. But for some reason, there was no hype surrounding this Blue Devils squad. Somehow, Coach K’s team flew under the radar while Kansas, Kentucky and the entire Big East captured the majority of the national coverage.

In the end, Duke proved that its regular-season success wasn’t only the product of a down year in the ACC. The Blue Devils weren’t just the conference’s best team; they were the nation’s best team. Duke had to take down Cinderella – aka Butler – to claim that title. And in the process, the Blue Devils and Bulldogs delivered one of the most thrilling national title games of the past decade.

Few people seriously expected North Carolina to repeat as national champions. But they almost did – if you count the NIT winner as a national champion. After an utterly disastrous regular season that saw the Tar Heels fall apart because of injuries and inexperience, North Carolina pulled things together in the NIT to make a run to the championship game, which the Tar Heels lost to Dayton.

With North Carolina falling from the ACC’s elite, Maryland moved up the conference’s caste system. Fiery guard Greivis Vasquez sparked the Terrapins to a share of the regular-season title. Unfortunately, Maryland peaked about two weeks too early when the Terrapins won a thriller against the Blue Devils in College Park in early March. After that, Maryland failed to win two consecutive games, ending in a second-round defeat to No. 5-seed Michigan State in the NCAA Tournament.

Four other teams joined Duke and Maryland in the NCAA Tournament: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech and Wake Forest. Like Maryland, none of them won more than one game in the tournament.

Outside Duke, the conference lacked a second legitimate powerhouse. If that’s your definition of a down year, then yes, the ACC was down. But the bottom of the conference proved to be better than the cellar dwellers of nearly every other conference, as demonstrated by unlikely ACC Tournament runs by Miami and North Carolina State.

Here’s a recap of the 2009-10 season for ACC teams.

Final 2009-10 Standings

ACC Tournament

The ACC Tournament was a harbinger of the NCAA Tournament, with five major upsets in 11 games. But at the end of the tournament, Duke was cutting down the nets.

The Blue Devils won their second-consecutive conference title and ninth since 1999 by beating No. 7-seed Georgia Tech 65-61. Duke’s difficult run against seemingly overmatched opponents – No. 9-seed Virginia, No. 12-seed Miami and the Yellow Jackets – prepared the Blue Devils for a hard-fought run to the national title in the NCAA Tournament. Georgia Tech sealed its bid to the NCAA Tournament with an impressive run that included an upset of No. 2-seed Maryland.

No. 11-seed North Carolina State and No. 12-seed Miami provided the biggest upsets of the conference tournament. The Wolfpack opened the tournament by nipping No. 6-seed Clemson 59-57 and then beating No. 3-seed Florida State 58-52. The Hurricanes overcame a bad ACC regular season by upsetting No. 5-seed Wake Forest and No. 4-seed Virginia Tech. Duke was the only team seeded No. 6 or better to win even a single conference tournament game.

Hoopville’s All-ACC Awards

Player of the Year: Jon Scheyer, Duke

Rookie of the Year: Derrick Favors, Georgia Tech

Defensive Player of the Year: Solomon Alabi, Florida State

Coach of the Year: Gary Williams, Maryland

First-Team All-ACC:

Jon Scheyer, Duke

Greivis Vasquez, Maryland

Kyle Singler, Duke

Al-Farouq Aminu, Wake Forest

Malcolm Delaney, Virginia Tech

Second-Team All-ACC:

Sylven Landesberg, Virginia

Nolan Smith, Duke

Tracy Smith, North Carolina State

Trevor Booker, Clemson

Gani Lawal, Georgia Tech

Third-Team All-ACC:

Joe Trapani, Boston College

Derrick Favors, Georgia Tech

Jeff Allen, Virginia Tech

Ed Davis, North Carolina

Solomon Alabi, Florida State

Season Highlights

8 Things We Saw Coming

1. Duke won a share of the regular season championship and then dominated the conference tournament.

2. Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech and Maryland joined the Blue Devils in the NCAA Tournament.

3. But none of those four advanced far in the tournament.

4. Virginia struggled under new coach Tony Bennett, who put the brakes on the Cavaliers’ pace to one of the slowest tempos in the conference.

5. Miami dropped toward the bottom of the conference with an influx of young talent, such as Durand Scott and Malcolm Grant.

6. Maryland’s Greivis Vasquez went head-to-head with Duke’s best player, Jon Scheyer, for the conference’s Player of the Year award.

7. Virginia Tech established one of the best backcourts in the country with Malcolm Delaney and Dorenzo Hudson – and the juniors look ready to dominate next season if Delaney backs out of the NBA Draft.

8. Florida State’s defensive prowess was remarkably better than the team’s offensive prowess, and it was just enough to carry the Seminoles to an NCAA Tournament bid.

8 Things We Thought We’d See

1. North Carolina was supposed to compete for second place in the conference, but instead finished tied for second worst.

2. The Tar Heels seemed ready to compete with seniors like Marcus Ginyard in the lineup. But Ginyard couldn’t stay healthy for a second consecutive season, and injuries helped derail the Tar Heels’ season.

3. We expected Duke’s highly-touted freshman recruit Mason Plumlee to be a factor. He ended up with 3.7 points and 3.1 rebounds in 14.1 minutes per game.

4. Likewise, Clemson’s Milton Jennings saw even less time, averaging 3.3 points and 2.7 rebounds in 11.2 minutes per game.

5. Wake Forest is usually an offensive juggernaut. But the Demon Deacons struggled on offense despite the presence of a veteran point guard, Ishmael Smith, and talented post players like Al-Farouq Aminu, Chas McFarland and Tony Woods.

6. Georgia Tech point guard Iman Shumpert focused on playing under more control. But the Yellow Jackets couldn’t significantly cut down on their turnovers, committing 16.4 turnovers per game this season compared to 16.8 last season.

7. Usually tough and consistent Boston College remained tough but was anything but consistent, losing five ACC games by double digits.

8. The ACC is traditionally a showcase for electric offense. But only three teams finished in the top 40 in offensive efficiency.

8 Things We Didn’t See Coming

1. Once again, North Carolina stunk. Yes, expectations were too high. Yes, injuries always hurt. But this team looked lost and occasionally apathetic, which utterly baffled coach Roy Williams.

2. Wake Forest exceeded expectations on defense, which had been the team’s bugaboo for several years.

3. Despite the strong defense and a return to the NCAA Tournament, the Demon Deacons axed Dino Gaudio because of his lack of post-season success.

4. Clemson and Boston College also had to find new coaches after Oliver Purnell shockingly bolted for DePaul and the Eagles parted ways with Al Skinner.

5. On the court, the midseason maturation of Duke’s Brian Zoubek was the unlikely catalyst for the Blue Devils’ ascension from contender to champion.

6. Virginia Tech once again proved that you cannot discount a Seth Greenberg-coached team, which finished third in the conference.

7. Quite a few ACC teams – namely, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest and Virginia Tech – channeled their inner Big 10 spirit and devoted far more energy to defense than offense.

8. Maryland jumped from the middle of the pack to near the top of the ACC thanks to another dominating season from Vasquez and just enough support from the rest of the team to consistently beat down ACC foes.

Teams of the Rise

Virginia Tech

We should just leave the Hokies in this category each season, unless Greenberg take another job.

Virginia Tech finished third in the ACC this season and just missed the NCAA Tournament because of a weak non-conference schedule and lack of quality wins. If Greenberg lines up more worthy non-conference foes, the Hokies will build a stronger résumé for the 2011 tournament. They certainly will have the lineup to do so.

The Hokies lose only Lewis Witcher to graduation. A veteran lineup anchored by Delaney – assuming he doesn’t stay in the NBA Draft – Hudson, Jeff Allen, J.T. Thompson and Terrell Bell could become the favorite to challenge Duke for next season’s conference championship.

Florida State

The Seminoles remain here as long as Alabi decides to return to school instead of entering the NBA Draft. If he comes back to Tallahassee, the Seminoles will remain one of the best defensive teams in the country. And they have to get better on offense, right?

Florida State was just abysmal offensively for much of the season, committing nearly 17 turnovers per game. The Seminoles struggled as a team to hit shots when they didn’t turn it over. From three-point range, Florida State shot only 33.5 percent, and from the free throw line, the Seminoles were only 64.4 percent.

North Carolina

Thanks to a run to the NIT championship game, the Tar Heels salvaged a disastrous season and inspired hope for next season.

In particular, Larry Drew II finally looked capable of running the Tar Heels’ offense, which should be more powerful next season. Freshmen Leslie McDonald and Dexter Strickland must become better long-range shooters. If they don’t, incoming freshmen Harrison Barnes, Reggie Bullock and Kendall Marshall will challenge them for playing time. One reason the Tar Heels struggled this season is teams didn’t need to respect their outside shooting. That shouldn’t be true next season, which will open the lane for Ed Davis (if he returns, as he declared for the NBA Draft), Tyler Zeller, the Wear twins and John Henson.

With so much talent on this roster, it’s hard to imagine that North Carolina won’t be on the rise from a 10th-place finish.

Teams on the Decline

Maryland

The Terrapins took advantage of their window of opportunity. With the implosion in Chapel Hill, there was a gaping void after Duke at the top of the standings, and Maryland stepped up to fill it.

But with the graduation of Vasquez, Eric Hayes and Landon Milbourne, the Terrapins will lose three players who averaged at least 30 minutes per game and accounted for 54.7 percent of the team’s scoring and 67.3 percent of the team’s assists.

Coach Gary Williams has been reluctant to trust his bench in recent seasons. He won’t have a choice next season when those bench players become starters.

Virginia

Coach Tony Bennett will get a fresh start after his first season with the Cavaliers because seven players who began the season are leaving the program.

Although Bennett has an opportunity to shape this team as he desires, it’s hard to imagine the Cavaliers improving significantly without Sylven Landesberg, who averaged 17.3 points per game for a team that struggled to score. He accounted for more than one-quarter of the team’s points.

Besides Landesberg, Bennett will need to replace the production of Calvin Baker, Jerome Meyinsse, Soloman Tat, Jeff Jones and Tristan Spurlock.

Wake Forest

The Demon Deacons shocked everyone by firing Dino Gaudio and replacing him with Jeff Bzdelik. Yes, Gaudio had failed to win an NCAA Tournament game despite having three NBA first-round draft picks pass through Winston-Salem, assuming Aminu goes early in this year’s draft.

But Gaudio was attracting great high school players and winning many of the in-state recruiting battles. His teams peaked too early in the season twice. But at least they found a way to the top.

Bzdelik prefers a slower pace than Wake Forest is accustomed to playing. And the Demon Deacons will need to find a new point guard to learn that offense because Ishmael Smith is graduating. He’s taking several key teammates with him, as Chas McFarland, David Weaver and L.D. Willams have also finished their playing careers as Demon Deacons, while Aminu is bolting the team for NBA money.

Despite some talented young players, this team figures to go through at least one season of growing pains under a new coach.

Next Season

Entering this season, many experts figured that Duke and North Carolina would contend for the conference title, but they were likely a year away from challenging for a national championship. Duke proved the experts wrong by taking the national title this year. And they might be the front-runner to do it again next season.

The Blue Devils return Singler and Smith, in addition to talented young big men like Mason Plumlee, Miles Plumlee and Ryan Kelly. Sharpshooter Seth Curry will be eligible after transferring from Liberty, and Andre Dawkins will step into the point guard role. If he struggles, Krzyzewski can turn to freshman Kyrie Irving, who is an electric recruit out of New Jersey. The Blue Devils also are adding Joshua Hairston and Tyler Thornton to a solid recruiting class.

Besides Duke, Virginia Tech and Florida State should build on their success from this past season to fill out the conference’s elite. Wake Forest and North Carolina will have plenty of talent on their roster to possibly join those three, but both teams have plenty of issues to overcome.

In Raleigh, coach Sidney Lowe must elevate the Wolfpack to the top half of the conference or he almost certainly will be looking for a new job after next season. Georgia Tech’s Paul Hewitt might also be on the hot seat if the Yellow Jackets significantly regress – a likely scenario with the losses of Favors and Lawal to the NBA.

If you want a very early sleeper pick to reach the NCAA Tournament, assuming its only 65 teams and not 96, look south to Miami. Coach Frank Haith has reloaded that roster with talented young guards who figure to make their mark next season.

And if the NCAA Tournament expands to 96 teams, look for the ACC to place every single team in the tournament unless expansion includes a rule that teams must have at least a .400 winning percentage in your conference – or something like that.

Quick Hitters – April 8, 2010

Some quick hitters as we head toward the weekend:

• The national championship game on Monday night is certainly up there with the best ones I’ve seen. Throughout the game, you never felt like either team was going to run away with it, even though at times Duke looked like they could be one play away from breaking it open.
• Here’s an interesting nugget that CAA blogger Michael Litos pointed out: had Butler pulled off the victory on Monday night, all four postseason tournaments would have a mid-major as their champion. Dayton won the NIT, VCU won the CBI and Missouri State won the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.

• Connecticut got a commitment last week from Shabazz Napier for next season, provided he gets through the NCAA Clearinghouse. This is significant in two ways. For one, Napier was originally slated for the class of 2011, so they get a player who wasn’t expected to be in college next season although that was always a remote possibility. Also, the Huskies get an elite point guard to run the show, one who went on a big run of improvement over 10 months. Since last May, he has gone from being a gunner to a floor leader, and with that began to show his full potential. He took it to another level during the school season, leading Lawrence Academy to a perfect record en route to a NEPSAC Class C title.

• On a related note, this weekend will start our coverage of travel team basketball with the Boo Williams Nike Invitational in Hampton, Virginia. This year, things are a little different: it’s one of three events Nike is running as part of its Elite Youth Basketball to determine the teams that will play in the Peach Jam in July. It isn’t a tournament, so there is no champion unlike past years. More details and player evaluations will come early next week.

• There is always something striking about the coaching changes, and what leaps out this time around is that there are quite a few even with the season over. Oftentimes, most vacancies have been filled by now simply because of the ability of athletic directors and coaches to meet at the Final Four, but as of now three (soon to be four, according to reports) high-major openings exist, and each could set some dominoes in motion when the new coach is hired. Vacancies at places like Charlotte and Marshall could do that as well.

• Brad Stevens’ new 12-year contract at Butler is not only well-deserved, but a great move because he’s the perfect fit there. He’s an understated guy who loves where he is and at a program that knows what it is and has had a great run of success even before this season.

• UNC Wilmington probably didn’t have in mind what has transpired when they let Benny Moss go during the season. The search has dragged on, and after having over a week to decide former Citadel head coach Ed Conroy opted to take the head coaching job at Tulane instead. It’s anyone’s guess where they go from here, but this hasn’t been the school’s finest hour from a PR standpoint.

• Gene DeFilippo said he wanted the next Boston College head coach to be one who will go out and sell the program to get more people in the seats. While he got a fine head coach in Steve Donahue, I’m not sure he’s getting quite what he wants otherwise. Donahue is a humble and very likeable man, but he’s not a charismatic, rah-rah guy who will go to the ends of the earth to put fans in the stands. One can’t blame Al Skinner for attendance there being spotty considering that Boston belongs to the Red Sox and Patriots first and foremost, with the Celtics a distant third and the Bruins an even more distant fourth before we get to college sports.

Effort Not a Problem For Boston College of Late

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – There have been times this season where Boston College’s effort has been in question.  Much like Saturday afternoon, when the Eagles beat North Carolina, Wednesday night wasn’t one of them, as the Eagles blew out Virginia Tech 80-60 largely from playing harder.

Boston College won all the effort plays.  It came in the form of stopping chances Virginia Tech had close to the basket, getting all the loose balls and 50-50 balls.  Almost anytime the ball was deflected or an Eagle lost the handle, it came right back to the home team.  Even when it looked like the Hokies might get an easy basket off a broken play, an Eagle suddenly was right there to break it up.  And it happened throughout the game.

“You’ve got to give them credit,” Virginia Tech head coach Seth Greenberg said.  “They played at a high level tonight, and they’re capable of playing at a high level.”

Virginia Tech certainly didn’t play their best game on Wednesday, laying an egg at a bad time.  No one could have seen it coming, as they played well in a losing effort at Duke on Sunday and had a couple of good practices leading up to Wednesday night.  That contributed to the margin of victory, but there’s no question Boston College looks like a different team now.

The first difference is that the Eagles have now been using a press for several weeks, and it has made a difference in the results.  Teams had been able to press the Eagles into submission, but now they’re turning the tables and better at breaking the press.  While they haven’t won every game, they’ve been right there in all of them and they look more comfortable pressing teams.  The last two times, they have played well in winning efforts.

Another key difference is the play of Reggie Jackson.  The sophomore guard has been inserted into the starting lineup, and after struggling at times earlier in the season has been hot of late.  Jackson started games earlier in the year due to injuries, but moved back to the bench once the Eagles were healthy.  There isn’t an Eagle with his physical gifts, but he’s been a little on the feast-or-famine side thus far.  Lately, it’s more feast.

Jackson has been excellent in the past two games as a starter.  He scored 17 points and handed out seven assists in the win over North Carolina, with 14 of those points coming in the second half.  Against Virginia Tech, he had just five points but eight rebounds to go with the 11 assists.  He has the quickness for the position, but has generally played off the ball as he’s learned the game at this level.  Now, it’s almost hard to believe there was a point where he was struggling earlier this year because he seemed to be consumed with playing the position.

In part because of Jackson, the Eagles were sharp early and ran out to a 15-2 lead.  The scoring pace slowed considerably, but the Eagles got hot again and scored both in the paint and on the long ball as Jackson racked up eight of his career-high 11 assists in the first half.

“I think we were just executing well,” said junior forward Joe Trapani, who led the Eagles with 17 points, all in the first half.  “We were very patient, setting screens, waiting for screens, and that’s kind of been our problem in the past.”

Virginia Tech looked like they might have a run in them to start the second half, but the Eagles quickly regained the momentum.  Throughout the second half, they continued to have the edge on effort plays, out-rebounding the Hokies and getting every 50-50 ball, something not lost on the Hokies.

“I just felt like we started out slow, and we couldn’t get back in,” said junior guard Malcolm Delaney, who didn’t score his first points until more than 10 minutes were played.  “We weren’t getting stops and we weren’t getting 50-50 balls.”

It wasn’t an accident that the Eagles kept it up in the second half.  One thing Trapani was quick to point out was how the Eagles out-scored the Hokies by five in the second half instead of relaxing with the lead they had, something they have done a few times this season.

Boston College hasn’t had an effort issue of late, which had dogged the Eagles for much of the season up through January.  The games they have lost haven’t been ones they should have won or where they got embarrassed.  They aren’t going to suddenly make a run and reach the NCAA Tournament, but they look more and more like a tough out and like a team that could knock someone off in the ACC Tournament.

Quick Hitters – January 29, 2010

Quick hitters as we head into another weekend, the first full weekend of Ivy League play:

• Boston College is suddenly relevant again after knocking off Clemson 75-69 on Tuesday night.  The Eagles looked dead after a 1-3 start in ACC play, with all three losses being by double digits, and a tough loss at Virginia Tech on Saturday didn’t help.  But the Eagles took over Tuesday’s game with the press – something that has more often killed the Eagles when other teams have done it – and played their best game in a while.  Reggie Jackson sparked the Eagles as soon as he came off the bench, and led the way with 18 points and seven assists.
  While he’s the second-youngest player on the team (Brady Heslip has displaced him as the youngest), Jackson clearly has a keen sense of where his team stands in the grand scheme of things.

  “We figured, we want to win to be a contender in this league and make the NCAA Tourney,” Jackson said.  “Also, I preached to the team when we came out at halftime that if we want (the fans) to keep showing up, we’re going to have to get W’s, because this is basically a professional city.  With the Red Sox, the Patriots and Celtics, if we want people to show up, we’re going to have to put up more W’s and stop letting people down.”

  The Eagles still have a lot of work to do to reach the NCAA Tournament, but knocking off Clemson makes the case that a run by them can’t be counted out just yet.

• Clemson was without junior point guard Demontez Stitt due to a sprained foot, but that wasn’t why the Tigers lost.  In the first half, after running out to an 8-3 lead they simply didn’t look like they were in the game.  The offense didn’t have much life to it, and Oliver Purnell hasn’t had quite the depth he’s had in the past as his freshmen don’t appear to be as good right now as those he’s had in past years were as freshmen to help spell the starters for a few minutes.
  “For whatever reason, I thought we were a bit flat in the first half – flat-footed, we weren’t tough with the basketball, missed layups, and just weren’t sharp and tough,” Purnell said after the game.

• Purnell added that while Stitt still played over 30 minutes in games since the injury, he turned it over again in each game and got to the point where it would be more prudent to hold him out given the time in between games.  The Tigers don’t play again until they host Maryland on Sunday.

• One had to wonder how Providence would bounce back from the meltdown against South Florida.  In their first game after it, the Friars showed no ill effects in beating Connecticut 81-66.
  “I couldn’t have dreamed that we’d bounce back like this,” said head coach Keno Davis, after what he called “our best game of the year.”

• Bryant stayed with Fairleigh Dickinson on Thursday for a while, but the Knights had too much in the backcourt with Terence Grier and Sean Baptiste, who combined to go 7-9 from long range.  The Bulldogs, who remain short-handed due to injuries as Cecil Gresham is done for the season, aren’t far away but that first win is still proving elusive.
  “I can’t fault our effort in any way,” said head coach Tim O’Shea.  “I said in the locker room, they really are a much better team than they were a few months ago, it’s just a matter of trying to get over the hump here.”

• Santa Clara made a pretty good bid to knock off Gonzaga, but the Bulldogs played like a conference leader in coming back to basically win the game going away on the road.  There might not be a player more valuable to his team than Matt Bouldin is to Gonzaga, and Thursday night marked the eighth straight game in which he played at least 37 minutes.  With Demetri Goodson having some growing pains at the point, Bouldin has had to handle a lot of responsibility, but he just keeps winning games.

Another Bad Effort Has Skinner At a Loss

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Al Skinner is normally soft-spoken and comes off as being quite mellow.  But even by his standards, the Boston College mentor seemed very subdued and at a loss for words following his team’s latest poor showing on Saturday.

In losing 73-57 to Maryland, the Eagles were never in the game and looked overmatched at times.  The margin of victory is very deceptive, as the game never felt that close.  The Eagles never got going offensively, and Maryland just picked them apart at the defensive end, which has been a concern for a while.  The Eagles fall to 1-3 in the ACC with the loss, but all three have been by double figures and the one win came last month.

“There’s nothing at all that I’m very pleased about,” said Skinner.  “Our attitude on the floor is not what it needs to be, particularly on the defensive end.  Until that improves, we’re going to remain where we are.”

Skinner has talked about this team’s effort before, and it was clearly the story on Saturday as they never seemed ready to play.  While the Terrapins played a terrific game and deserve all the credit, the Eagles certainly helped.  They never appeared to be in the game save for a little late momentum near the end of the first half.  But even with that, they went into the locker room down by 10 thanks to 34.6 percent shooting from the field and 11 turnovers.  Those turnovers led to 14 Maryland points and helped the Terrapins with a 22-4 edge in points in the paint.

The Eagles’ effort has come and gone this season, and it goes a long way to explaining the team’s Jekyll-and-Hyde personality.  In the past, Eagle teams have won games on their effort, but this season they have more often lost on the lack of it.  This team is experienced but not very talented, and more and more it looks like intangibles are going to be their downfall.

“I’ve had some teams that lacked talent, but didn’t lack a certain toughness,” Skinner said.  “This team is playing that way – it’s not that they lack it, because we’ve demonstrated it in different venues at different times.  Of late, we have not played the way I’ve had my teams play.”

In the past, the Eagles often had to fight off zone defenses when they didn’t have snipers or when their offense was dominated by inside play with studs like Craig Smith and Jared Dudley.  Lately, it seems like being pressed hurts them.  It hurt them against Clemson and again on Saturday, but that wasn’t all.  Even when they got past the press, the Terrapins had their way with the Eagles.

Despite the 1-3 start in the ACC, the Eagles can still turn it around.  With the non-conference losses they have, they’re running out of margin for error as far as the NCAA Tournament is concerned.  They’re fast reaching a point where even a 9-7 ACC mark may not be enough, especially if it doesn’t include a couple of wins against the top teams.  Still, there’s no clear favorite right now as only surprising Virginia is undefeated in ACC play, which gives them more reason for hope.

“The water’s muddy in the league right now, meaning that there’s no clear-cut favorite,” Skinner noted.  “Everybody’s got a tarnish.  That’s why I’m feeling as strongly as I feel, because I know there’s still some light at the end of the tunnel and there’s some hope here.”

Added junior Joe Trapani: “I’m not worried.  We have 12 ACC games left, and I really think we can do some damage in this league.”

If the Eagles are to do so, they must show a better effort than they have on several occasions this season.  Skinner, who is nothing if not consistent in his demeanor, will surely still seem soft-spoken if that happens, but he probably won’t be at a loss for words to explain his team’s play.