(Eds. note: grades and recap won't be up until late Monday night).
BC now has two wins over BCS programs and we are not even in December yet. With that, I say BC's trip to Florida was well worth it. Sure, there were some rough patches, and we didn't win the entire thing, but the team seems to have confidence and ability. This trip proved that they can hang with anyone. It also showed they have some flaws and need to work on
I saw the first two games and listened to the third game on the radio. In each BC was able to control tempo, shift on defense and generate decent shots in the new offense. Outside of a cold stretch in the second half against the Badgers, BC had no trouble generating points. But more than the efficiencies, I liked the way Donahue and the team responded to each other. This is a veteran team. They could have checked out after Yale. Or Wisconsin. Instead they fought to the end in the loss and came out focused today against Cal.
I will have more on the Xs and Os prior to the Indiana game. In the mean time I think this year might have a better upside than we envisioned.
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17 comments:
I watched all 3 games and agree that I was very pleased with the performance. To be honest, all the reasons Gene fired Al and hired Steve are being re-affirmed each game.
The effort is there, the attitude is better, the play is more exciting, there's been more winning than losing. The one thing that remains to be seen is whether the fans and students fill Conte (so far that has failed).
It's still going to be a work in progress for a while, but beyond a few occasional lows I think we can expect to see some serious progress all year long.
The biggest thing I saw during the A&M game was that Donahue took an active role in the game. He made adjustments, he coached players, and perhaps the most enjoyable, he used timeouts to limit A&M runs.
Such a big difference between watching this team and a Skinner team. I only watched the Wisconsin game, but I really liked what I saw despite the loss. Now we just need to recruit some better outside shooters.
Don subs every 30 seconds. They should be able to create havoc defensively.
I don't love college basketball as much as I have over many years in the past - which is a shame.
But I caught some of the Texas A&M game and some of the California game.
Already this team is light years ahead of Skinner's style. BC is once again playing BASKETBALL. We spread the floor and force the opponent to stretch the D. We can get hot and hit threes, etc. We play hard for the entire game, and the players look fully engaged, instead of trying to look cool, like Al.
Bottom line - let's have some fun watching these guys. There will be days when we can't keep up, but it won't be from lack of effort.
When we get some more help on this team, and we are a little deeper - look out ACC. We'll even know how to break a full court press.
Go BC.
I haven't been able to watch a minute of BC basketball, unfortunately, so I really appreciate the commentary from those who have. One question: have they learned an in-bound play or two? I assume they have, because I haven't seen any complaints about it. That alone would justify the coaching change.
mod10aeagle:
they have gotten better BUT they still have shown the long pass into the backcourt a couple of times when they couldn't get the ball in, so I don't think the issue is completely dead yet.
I agree with all of the positive comments. Two more obsevations. There is no more arguing and blaming eachother if someone makes a bad play - that used to drive me crazy - so negative and bad for team chemistry. And, they get back on defense, and if they forget Donohue is after them. He's fully engaged in every second of the game and the results speak for themselves. On the inbounds plays, they are MUCH better, and an inbounds alleyoop from Paris to Jackson iced the A&M game late.
Kuechly voted an ALL AMERICAN
Kuechly, Harris and Castonzo voted 1st team All-ACC
very nice.
mod10aeagle-
The inbounds hasn't been bad, but they haven't been pressured hard on that or a full court press. I'm assuming they'd be fine and their style discourages teams from playing that type of defense, but we haven't faced a nasty press yet. Maybe URI will roll one out.
Teams will be less inclined to press BC since they are a more perimeter oriented team. The problem with Skinner's flex was the slow pace and reliance on set movement. Pressing disrupted the scheme. This squad will drive the lane and hit open threes when provided the opportunity on a broken press.
This team will grind on some during the cold-shooting road games when all the calls are going the other way, but should find a niche in the ACC, much Sendek was able to accomplish at NC St and Hewitt at Georgia Tech. We will never have a top recruiting class in this conference, but a well-coached team should always be an NCAA tourney team.
Providence and Maryland will use some variety of press... Keno likes the score in the low 200s and Gary is never afraid to mix it up.
i hope we can do better than that.
hewitt who has only made the 10 seasons
5 trips to the dance
1 run to the championship game, no other trips extending beyond the first weekend
4 20+ win seasons
sendek:
10 seasons
5 trips to the dance
1 sweet sixteen
20+ wins 5 times
for comparison's sake...Al Skinner:
13 seasons
7 trips to the dance
1 sweet sixteen
7 20+ win seasons
The point is that we would like to exceed what we did before and I would argue that performing like Hewitt's GaTech or Sendek's NCState teams would be treading water at best. If you are talking more about style of play, I get it and I agree to a point. But as far as results, I am not overly impressed with either of those guys.
There's not one GT fan that wants Hewitt to stay around any longer than he has to. Not one. The former AD gave him a ridiculous contract that Tech doesn't want to buy out. Dude has seriously underachieved--with the exception of the NCAA title game vs. UConn-- with the talent he's had. BC has done better with less talent, even though we've underachieved, too.
I don't think we know much about this team yet other than the fact that they look like they're more energetic. The ACC has struggled already in non-conference play (not Duke), and we may not be destined for 10th quite yet. It's hard to know this early.
The Boston Herald has an article about us maybe going to the Sun Bowl against an SEC team.
“I think (BC’s) chances are good,” said Sun Bowl chairman John Folmer, who’ll be meeting with his committee today about the possibilities. “We went into the weekend thinking we were going to go with Miami, but with the loss and then the firing of the coach, we’ve had to regroup here. Boston College, with its television, has a very good shot.”
BC athletic director Gene DeFilippo spoke with Sun Bowl director Bernie Olivas, as well as Military Bowl director Steve Beck, and believes the Eagles can go to either one, or the Independence Bowl.
Leave it to Gene to lean us towards the Sun Bowl(El Paso - Dec. 31 @ noon) or the Military Bowl (D.C.) or the Independence Bowl(Shreveport - Dec. 27 @ 4:00pm) over SF on January 9th.
Even though the Sun Bowl and Independence Bowls are long established, they are not very attractive for a team from Boston IMO.
Sun Bowl against the SEC would be pretty good, I guess.
Just don't know how many BC fans could or would attend the game.
As far as the Independence Bowl - please, give me a break.
One projection had Sun Bowl vs Army, not an SEC team. I'll take anything, but San Fran just Harris, Albright, and other injured players the best chance to play if they're on the fence of healing.
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