Lost in all this football stuff is the huge win for the men's basketball team. Last year when speaking with a basketball staffer, he said that when the freshmen hit the road for ACC play they all looked like deer in headlights. They were overwhelmed by the stage and playing at Cameron or against North Carolina or how loud things got at Clemson. Those days are clearly over. Now that doesn't mean anything yet. They are still young and will still have off nights. But this shows they are capable of getting some big wins. It also provides a real resume win for a team that looks bubblish. In addition to the good defense and Rice playing like Rice, the real boost came from Sanders and Jackson. If both can play up to their potential on a regular basis, this becomes a very dangerous team.
Here is what the two biggest BC basketball boosters out there had to say:
-- Andy Katz
-- Bob Ryan
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
7 comments:
It's unfortunate that the mishandling of the Jagodzinski situation is overshadowing a great victory for BC bball (I could have strangled FOX and NESN for messing up the feeds in the final minutes so I only got commercials). The team really showed how good they can be when everyone's playing well together (how about all those forced turnovers??). Now BC has to continue to play up to every tough competitor's level, regardless of whether we're underdogs or ranked ahead of our opponents.
Oh yeah, and BC just made top 25 (24th) in the NCAA rankings (knocking North Carolina down to the 3 slot).
BC got even more love from the press. #17 in the AP! Here's hoping they can continue to earn the love.
Wow to that ranking!
I stand corrected, CHI_Eagle.
Screw the football talk -- everyone is greedy and power hungry, the players and the fans suffer. Done.
To transition this, Al Skinner might be the only BC person enjoying this story. Not only does it make fans appreciate him even more (which he doesn't really care about), but it makes his team remain as under the radar as possible, which is very hard to do after this HUUUUUUUUGE win he just had. And we know that he hates attention.
Let's all take a step back and look at this. For about the last 12 months, BC basketball fans have had our expectations tempered and our spirits in the dumps. Now I don't think we'll be contending for the ACC crown (or even one of the top 3 spots), but we have set ourselves up nicely to be in the 4-7 range and into the field of 65.
This team has a different feel than last year's team. Last year's team was not as bad as its record -- it just lacked confidence and had trouble playing a complete game. Losing kind of spiraled out of control, and we lost games that we normally would have won. This team has a different feel. Rice thrives against the best teams. Sanders and Raji are comfortable in the ACC now. Southern will hopefully continue to harness his defensive ability and remain a strong big man. Jackson... seems too good to be true. He doesn't play flashy and he doesn't turn the ball over. He seems like a great spark-plug off the bench, and has been giving very consistent efforts. Everytime he is on the floor, our lineup has a unique yet productive feel to it.
Why am I so encouraged by our win yesterday? Joe Trapani, who in my opinion is our second best player (and a very, very complete one) had his season low in minutes and scored in single digits. How the heck did we pull out a win? Other people stepped up, we executed our game plan to perfection, and played with energy/confidence.
If nothing else, Al just gave us 3 months of more exciting basketball. Either way my support would have been there, but it is now more fun to check the acc scoreboard and try to see how things are shaking out in the conference. 9-7 in the conference is reasonable... only one loss that can be considered "bad"... and ONE HUGE VICTORY that will bounce us off the bubble and into the tourney.
After one year of rebuilding, let's hope that BC basketball is again a tough opponent in conference play. Regardless of how things shake out this year, this team will soon be a force to be reckoned with again.
I only watched the second half of the game. I honestly didn't even realize it was a national broadcast. That said, the second half was scintillating. The backdoor and flex cuts really gave UNC fits, especially when Rice and Sanders were driving to the rim. My favorite play, though, was Sanders' block of Wayne Ellington on the break. Just a freak play. Last year there's now way Sanders even goes after Ellington on the break, but last night he beat him to the rim after being three steps back. The effort, not the athleticism, was just stunning. It was a savvy, locked-in play and I hope that Sanders and Co. bring that intensity every night.
Congratulations on the win!
AEM
Post a Comment