Basketball Outlook

Is there anyone you would rather have on your team?

I’ve really neglected basketball this offseason. Fortunately TWood has created a very good BC Basketball blog. I will be covering basketball here and at AOL this year, but want to start things off with my mini-preview of the 2006-2007 season.

Outlook: BC enters its second season in the ACC with plenty of confidence. They know they can win on the road and hang with the Big Boys on Tobacco Road. The team has to replace the leadership and production of Louis Hinnant and Craig Smith, but has enough remaining pieces to challenge for the ACC title and make another run in the tournament.


What’s new: Supposedly the flex will expand this year. Without Smith’s big body, Al and company plan on stretching the court and use sets that would remind people of the Troy Bell days. Despite my reservations, I trust Al. If worse comes to worse, I think a transition back to the packed sets of last season would not be that hard. My fear with the spread flex is that Marshall’s perimeter game is streaky, Dudley is best close to the basket, and Williams was looking better on offense in March. But the new look could also help keep teams expecting a bruising BC team off balance.

The team also includes new faces Shamari Spears, Tyler Roche, Daye Kabe. Spears is expected to be the biggest contributor of the bunch. Al’s success in finding Freshman contributors is well known. In past years word of mouth would alert us to the breakout freshman before the games even started. Unfortunately things have been quiet from the Heights. Hopefully one of the guys will blossom to all-Freshman ACC status as the season progresses.

Al also has some new assistants. Bill Cooley and Ed Coen got much deserved head coaching jobs this offseason. Al reshuffled and hired some new guys. Mo Cassara joins the team as an assistant. Duquette and Colson got promoted and Preston Murphy takes over Colson old job as the Ops guy. I really liked the Cassara hire as he has head coaching experience and has evaluated plenty of high school talent.

What can we count on: Jared Dudley. He is one of the best players in the country. With a great Senior season, he has a chance to finish his career as the best Forward in Boston College history. I don’t think he’ll miss Smith. In fact, I think he’ll be more productive and get more people involved in the offense. A team with a healthy Dudley is lock to make the tournament.

What do we need to be better than just a tournament team?: To win the ACC and make a deep run into the NCAA Tournament, BC needs three guys to step up. The first is Sean Marshall. Marshall can be a solid player when he plays to his strengths. When he tries to be something he is not (a ball handler or a sharp shooter) his contributions hurt the team. If he and the coaches can keep his game in check, He can be a huge positive for BC. The second step up guy is Ty Rice. He was reckless with the ball at times, but equally cool when BC needed a big shot. The offense is his now, so he needs to get to a turnover-assist ratio close to what Hinnant maintained. A few huge threes wouldn’t hurt either. The final piece to the puzzle is the mercurial Sean Williams. His short suspension leaves me worried. But based on his play late last year and progress over the summer, I think he can be the ACC defensive player of the year. If he is, BC will be a Top 10 team.

Bottom Line: Skinner got over his Sweet 16 hump last year. Now let’s see us go a step farther. I like the mix on the team and love Dudley. Should be a very good season with a chance at something special.