Owens to Maryland Football

When he tweeted out a pic of himself in football cleats, I said BC should see if Garland Owens was serious about playing a new sport. It appears that Maryland took it seriously, because the former basketball player will spend his grad year playing football for the Terps.

According to reports out of Maryland, he will be playing Tight End and is just waiting on Admission's at Maryland.

I don't know if BC looked into him playing football for us. Clearly the Admissions component would have been much easier. But I don't know where Addazio is with scholarships and if he wanted to use one on a project like Owens. We have decent depth at TE and WR. Would he have made a difference? Probably not.

Good luck to Garland. Thankfully we don't have to play him this year.

Garland Owens played basketball for BC last season. Looks like he’ll be suiting up for Maryland football this fall. https://t.co/dIdgpBB4z9

— Testudo Times (@testudotimes) May 15, 2017

Garland Owens football joke is not a bad idea

Early Tuesday, Garland Owens tweeted this:

......... pic.twitter.com/rDvOiHx6f7

— Garland Owens Jr. (@Owens_5) May 2, 2017

It got everyone instantly excited. But the basketball reserve was just teasing us. He was just getting ready for some intramural football. However, our collective enthusiasm was justifiable. Owens might not be an elite basketball player, but his physicality and athleticism make him a great candidate to try football for a season.

If it hit social media, I am sure Addazio's staff knows about Owens. I hope one of the staffers follows through, because Owens could be interesting at WR or even at DE. I don't know if the staff has a scholarship to give him, but if you can get him to greyshirt until one opens up this summer (because they always do), that would allows Owens to stretch his college years and maybe get an NFL look. As of now I can't see a future in basketball. Being a converted college basketball player will get him an NFL tryout.

I don't know if Ownes even wants to play football. But maybe his joke will get him thinking.

Basketball Hots and Nots

The ACC held its annual Basketball Media Days and there are plenty of clips and things to read on BC's official Twitter account. My expectations are relatively high for the season, in part because of the new staff and in part because of the things I am hearing. The results won't be bad as last year. Better defense and a smarter schedule pretty much guarantees that. However, there are plenty of good things coming from practice and some not so great. Here is what I am hearing:

Hots
-- The new staff really like Magarity. His size will be an asset and he won't just be a offense only-euro style big man.
-- Of all the wings that carried over from Donahue, Jackson will probably get the most minutes. He bought in early and is also playing good defense.
-- Garland Owens will also get a lot of time at the wing. His defense alone makes him an asset among the crowded bench.

Nots
-- I don't know where the minutes for Heckmann and Dragicevich. Defense matters now. The transfers are not superstars but they will play. Buying in matters. For holdovers like Heckmann and Drago, you hope they impress early in the season, because when the rotation gets tighter, they might be out.
-- Even without his injury Hicks was unlikely to be a major contributor.

Who knows
-- Everyone loves Clifford. The new staff is salivating and consider him healthy. Keep your fingers crossed. If he plays, this team will be very competitive in ACC play.
-- Diallo is raw, but has a good future.
-- Odio can be a defensive asset. However, his minutes really depend on the other bigs and who is healthy.

Spitballing basketball stuff

Just a few random thoughts on basketball...

It is a few days old, but there was some good news out of the BC's private scrimmage with St. Joseph's. Although we trailed when it was starters vs starters, BC won the event and made 14 3-pointers. That type of output should be very exciting. If it is a sample of our mindset we are going to cause every team we play problems. I know chucking 3s is not foolproof. However, if teams clamp down on us, we know Hanlan can penetrate and score at the basket. It should also open up things for Anderson. Maybe this really is Donahue's chance to go "all in." We've got a super tough schedule and an experienced team and an AD who didn't hire him. Why not try to shoot the lights out every night? What's the worse thing that could happen?

...

One rotation guy who is not a shooter is freshman Garland Owens. BC's been a bad defensive team for a long time now. Having one good energy/defensive wing like Owens is not going to change that. But as long as Owens can help slow down the other team's best player, we can go without his offense. 

...

I always seem to come back around to Dennis Clifford, but he's still such an unknown. When thinking about Darryl Hicks' likely redshirt, I started thinking that a Clifford redshirt is probably a good idea too. This team has an effective big man in Magarity. It looks like we will have enough depth and offense and we know Clifford is not going to be healthy enough to start the season. Instead of rushing him back, why not let him sit the whole season and get 100% healthy. It is a move that would certainly benefit Dennis. He could recuperate and hopefully regain his old form. It think it would also help our scholarship distribution. A healthy 5th year Clifford could lead a team after the departure of Anderson and Jackson and others. The only drawback is losing him in this critical season. I am not doctor or basketball coach, so this may be premature or plain dumb (probably both). I just think sitting him is the best long-term decision for Clifford and Donahue.