Eagles Dealt a Blow
Boston College will have its full team for just one game in the 2006-07 season. That became certain on Wednesday, when juniors Sean Williams and Akida McLain were dismissed from the team for a violation of team rules.
It could hardly have come at a worse time for the Eagles, who are 5-0 in the ACC and looking very much like a team that could finish in the top three of the conference. Tuesday night’s 82-63 win over Miami was the first time all season they had the entire team together, as a rash of injuries and suspensions have hit the team over the course of the season. Just as they looked like a team that had righted itself after some questionable non-conference home losses (Vermont in the second game of the season and Duquesne in late December), they lose one of their top players and a reserve who figured to help once he got healthy.
Williams has always been known for his shot-blocking, and was doing that in bunches this season. The school’s all-time leader in blocked shots had a school-record 12 blocks in his first game of the season, a loss at Providence, then broke that record in the loss at Duquesne with 13 as part of a triple-double. This season, he had become a force at the offensive end, which started with him demanding the ball more. He showed a much-improved game with his back to the basket and also showed an improving touch from around the foul line, while continuing to score on some offensive rebounds and running the floor.
McLain didn’t have nearly the star potential of Williams, but had the tools to be a solid reserve/spot starter at either forward spot. There were times last season where he looked very good in his role, but the consistency has never been there. This season, an academic suspension and a bad ankle sprain sustained in his first game back have kept him off the court save for a few minutes. In the sense that the Eagles never really had him this season save for practice (he practiced throughout the suspension), his loss is not a big one.
The departures mean the Eagles’ frontcourt needs more from role players like juniors John Oates and Loyola-Chicago transfer Tyrelle Blair. Oates isn’t the most physical player and is certainly not an enforcer, while Blair has had his moments but plays limited minutes for a reason. Shamari Spears has shown promise with a couple of nice rebounding efforts, but he’s undersized at 6’6″. The Eagles will almost certainly go small from time to time at the very least.
With this, the Eagles begin auditioning for the NCAA Tournament right now. Their 13-4 overall record and 5-0 mark in the ACC basically go out the window. Should they reach the NCAA Tournament, they will not have Williams or McLain, so how they play from here on out will dictate their postseason fate more than anything. Essentially, they are 1-1 with no ACC record, as that is how they fared without both in the lineup to start the season, blowing out New Hampshire and losing to Vermont.
Making it that far would seem a tall order. The Eagles still have the meat of the ACC schedule in front of them, including road games at Clemson (who they also have at home next month) on Saturday and Duke next Sunday, as well as a tough home stretch with Duke and North Carolina three days apart next month. They also have two meetings with Virginia Tech and Florida State in front of them and a road date with Georgia Tech to close the regular season. The lack of depth on the front line, which is compounded by Jared Dudley playing with a stress fracture in his foot, is a major hurdle for them to overcome.
Head coach Al Skinner won big in the Big East in 2000-01 with a relatively small team, so he has done it before. Whether he can do it again this time around remains to be seen.
