Sunday, March 15, 2009
Trojan time!
First of all, the selection committee had more respect for BC than the talking heads. While all the analysts pegged BC as a 9 or 10 seed, the people that matter considered us a 7. As a 7 we will face USC in Minneapolis on Friday. My first reaction is that this is a good match up for us. The Trojans are very hot but have been very uneven this year. If we get by I also like our chances against Michigan State. More analysis later tonight.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
30 comments:
Are we session 1 or session 2 on Friday?
I am so excited for this seven seed! Many were hoping we'd be a ten to avoid the second round number 1 matchup, but instead we get the 7!!!
I cheered when BC got a 7 seed but that happiness quickly turned to horror when USC was announced. This is a horrible matchup for BC. USC is much more athletic, has size, and has players BC will not be able to guard like Gibson and Derozen. BC actually matches up with Michigan State better considering they do not have really athletic guys and like to play at a slower tempo.
The Pac-10 hasn't been spectacular this year so I think USC is a manageable team for us. It won't be easy by any means and we'll have to play well, but don't underestimate the fact that this is Tyrese Rice's last tournament. I think that is going to play a big roll in how the team plays in the tournament.
I was right! A couple days ago after the duke loss i left a comment saying that i thought we were a number 7 seed at best and that's what we were! USC is a dangerous team though, like Bravesbill said. They ran through the pac 10 tournament beating 3 of the best 4 teams in the confrence in Cal, UCLA, and ASU. We get through this game i think we have a really good chance against MSU. LET's GO EAGLES!!!!!
does anyone know the game-time???
Troy Bell, come and inspire us. Please.
No easy games at this stage. USC is going to give BC a fight and I hope we are not one and done. I'll be thrilled if BC can make it to the 2nd weekend. Not likely, but it sure would be nice.
Clemson is also a #7 seed? WTF?
LSU is an #8 seed? Talk about a weak SEC.
Anyway, so USC lost at Oklahoma by one point. They beat Ga. Tech by 19at home.
They lost two close games to UCLA in the regular season, before beating them in the tourney. Two 12 pt. losses were their worst all year.
I haven't seen them play, but I'm guessing they should be favorites.
Why would anyone talk about a 2nd round game? Has this team taught you nothing?
Bill - we're gonna win and look good doing it.
Here's hoping that the west-coast opponent gets us an evening game. For all the ups and downs of this season, it's just awesome to have a team in the tournament. On a good day I think we can beat anyone in our bracket. Time to avenge the devastating '01 loss to USC!
Seems like it will be a trendy thing to pick USC to beat us, which hopefully will give us some extra intensity and focus this week.
ATL, are you going to do a blog pool this year?
CT--not to mention that USC beat ASU twice, Cal twice, and AZ once.
As we all know, stats can be sliced and diced to make any point one wants..
For example, a pro-BC perspective might highlight that USC lost to Seton Hall (not a good team) and also lost 6 of 7 games played in February. While USC did well in March, they are a very inconsistent team. BC was pretty good in both Feb and March and seems to have more mojo going for it...(how's that for an intangible!!)
Anyone have a good link to a USC basketball blog? Luv the read what they are saying..
every team at this stage in the game is solid. no easy outs.
i hope that usc becomes the trendy "upset special" pick. i think that we have a pretty decent draw. but we need to take care of usc.
if anyone knows anything about usc, could you share? someone said they are big, athletic?
play tough d? good shooters? i hate tim floyd.
interesting first round match up considering the history between bc and usc.
here is a look at the size of our top 6 vs USC's top 6. Seems sort of even..no really big guys at USC, both have only one key senior
USC
DeRozan, DeMar F 6-7 220 Fr
Gibson, Taj F 6-9 225 Jr
Hackett, Daniel G 6-5 215 Jr
Johnson, Marcus F 6-6 210 Sr
Lewis, Dwight G 6-5 215 Jr
Washington, Leonard F 6-7 230 Fr
BC
Jackson, Reggie G 6-3 193 Fr
Raji, Corey F 6-6 214 So
Rice, Tyrese G 6-1 190 Sr
Sanders, Rakim G-F 6-5 225 So
Southern, Josh C 6-10 242 So
Trapani, Joe F 6-8 218 So
Tim Floyd is an excellent college coach. He did a superb job at Iowa State before making the idiotic decision to coach the Bulls. Rest assured, they will know how to inbound the ball. Virtually every team we face will have an advantage when it comes to game-day coaching (Floyd, Izzo, Self..all great coaches).
More stats...this is shaping up to look like BC vs FSU. BC has a relatively high offensive rank, but low defensive rank. USC, like FSU, has high defensive rank and a low offensive.
Kenpom offers these stats:
USC overall # 27 off 82, def 19
BC overall # 59 offense 27, defense 131
and consider this...
USC vs top 25 rpi -- 0-4
Bc vs top 25 rpi -- 3-4
Its going to be interesting...
USC seems pretty well-balanced--four guys averaging double figures. Two pretty good 3 pt shooters (Lewis and Hackett at 39% and 38%, respectively--Rice shot 35% this year). Their leading scorer is 6'-9". Trapani is going to have to bring it.
AJC.com columnist Mark Bradley (the Atlanta folks know him) has BC in the Elite 8!
"Boston College, which plays everybody tough, will subdue Michigan State in Round 2 and advance to the Elite 8."
He obviously didn't watch us play Wake. Or Harvard.
Kiss of death! He's usually pretty bad with these things.
He also has Maryland and FSU in the Final 8.
'Nuff said.
Seems the big difference with USC of late is that their freshman forward Demar DeRozan, F 6-7 220, has become a star ... double digit rebounds, leading scorer and over 50% shooting...
he is a beast...
CBS won't announce game times until tomorrow. I think BC-USC is likely a night game. Good match-up, two big name schools, in two big media markets. I think this would help BC a lot, as we have struggled in early games. I'm hoping for the 9-10pm tip-off slot.
As for USC, let's hope they go the way of many surprise conference tourney winners....and fall in the first round of the dance.
I agree that this will be a tough game for BC but USC is by no means a horrible matchup. BC is athletic enough to match up with just about any team. Both Duke and UNC are above average teams in athleticism and BC fared well against them. Plus, Rice, Sanders, Jackson and Raji are all very athletic players.
Floyd is also not a better coach than Al Skinner. USC has been to just as many sweet 16's as BC in the last five years and USC had, O.J. Mayo, one of the ten best players in the country. Just as Al Skinner is an excellent offensive coach, Floyd is an excellent defensive coach. It is an interesting challenge.
I just don't understand the doom and gloom. Every opponent for BC from here on out will be talented and accomplished, just as BC is.
BC has a real chance to reach the sweet 16 and maybe even beyond that and I am really excited about their chances.
Yeah... I'm just gonna go by feelings on this one, and I feel like we are playing pretty good basketball right now.
I find it funny, that if we are to reach the second round, look at our possible opponents... we've had better luck against MSU than we have Robert Morris is the last couple of years!
Its at 7:20 EST per bceagles.com
USC plays decent defense. They also mix it up a lot, so Skinner will be tested. Remember the pac 10 is a west coast style team, like to get up and down, and gets in passing lanes. The flex might disrupt them, and if we make smart passes we can control the tempo of this game. They don't shoot the 3 exceptionally well, so i think we'll always be in this game and have a good shot at pulling it out.
Did someone really just say that Duke is athletic? Outside of Henderson, their athleticism is really lacking. Duke plays well because of clutch shooting, strong defense, and great fundamentals. The reason why they have not fared well in the tourney recently is because they always lack an inside presence and most teams are just more athletic than they are. As for UNC, they are one of the more athletic teams in the country. With that said, USC's two big stars are Gibson and DeRozan. Who on BC is going to cover these two? Southern? Trapani? Please. Southern is still too raw and fouls way too much. Trapani is not athletic at all and has slow feet on the defensive end. BC is going to need to double down on these two which is going to leave open shooters on the 3 point line. If USC can hit its fair share of those open looks, it wins this game easily.
The USC athletic site lists the game as being a 3:30 start pacific time, so 6:30 on the east coast. The BC site lists at 7:30 eastern. I'm not exactly sure when it will start but I'll assume it will be the first session two game in Minneapolis.
Henderson, Smith, Williams and Singler are all athletic. Height does not have to match up with height so between Trapani, Sanders, Raji and Jackson, BC can deal with USC's more athletic players. BC just played to a one point nail biter against one of the ten best teams in the country. Plus Duke is an even better defensive team than USC and BC scored more than a point per possession. BC will be in this game throughout with a great chance to win. Just to remind, BC also presents problems for USC.
I've said before that I don't think Duke is all that athletic and I would expect them to lose their second or third game. For the conference, I wouldn't mind them making the Elite 8, but I just don't think they're all that good. They have one guy who causes problems--Henderson. Singler is good, but can be limited.
Everybody forgets that without those Biko Paris 3's late in that game, we would have lost right then and there and probably by a margin closer to 10 than 1.
Everybody here thinks Rice is such a good 3 pt shooter. Fine. USC has two guys that shoot higher %s.
Anyway, USC may be more athletic, but check out their offensive stats. Low-scoring. Not wide-open. Not "Pac-10," whatever that means. Or maybe they are.
What would've been better would be a Noon start time--9am for the left-coasters.
BC is pretty incapable of blowing anyone out, so this one should be close.
USC presses for pretty much the entire game, don't they?
That's my main worry, because our inability to inbound the ball well probably won't be addressed in practice this week. Why change now?
If this is a close game down to the wire, I hope the players have a plan as to how they will RUN THE FLOOR. My advice is - don't call a timeout late - GO WITH IT - and give it your best shot within the rhythm of the game.
Go BC - beat USC, the PAC-10 Tournament Champions.
Post a Comment