Rooting Guide for NCAA Tournament

Everyone's filling out a bracket right now. Experts and idiots alike all think they know who is going to win. But who do you actually want to win? Who do you hope makes a nice run. Obviously you can't root for BC. However, this year there isn't even a good BC-related angle to the Big Dance. BC guy Mark Schmidt and his St. Bonaventure team saw their bubble burst. BC alum Bruce Pearl didn't turn Auburn around yet. No Steve Donahue or Al Skinner guys snuck in with their mid-majors. It is slim pickings. Plus all our enemies seem to be there. Duke and Notre Dame got favorable draws. Holy Cross is dancing! Teams that have knocked us out of tournaments like USC and Villanova are there. UConn too. There is nothing to like. But here is how I am looking at things.

-- Providence. The Friars remains a basketball rival, but I can't root against Ed Cooley. He did great things at BC and probably should have been hired as Head Coach. It would be nice to see him make a run.

-- All ACC teams. It is hard for me to flip the switch and go from hating to liking an ACC team just because of the tournament. But seeing our conference mates advance does help BC. It makes the conference stronger which brings in more money and excites more recruits. 

-- Gonzaga and St. Joseph's. People root for mascots or uniforms. Why not root for other Jesuits? People wonder if BC cares about sports. Seeing other Jesuit schools using the Tournament as a platform is a good thing. Who knows, maybe our future leaders are now at one of those schools and loves basketball. 

BC-centric takeaways from Tourney Teams

While we dream of even being near a bubble, there are still plenty of BC-related storylines and takeaways from the NCAA Tournament teams. Hindsight on these things is always 20/20, but overall I still believe BC's future is bright.

Coen and Cooley

Both of Al Skinner's former assistants made the Tournament. As much as I love Al and wish we had hired one of his proteges, I understand why we passed on both guys twice. Steve Donahue turned out to be the wrong coach, but he wasn't the wrong hire. I didn't love the Christian hire last year, but Coen's uneven track record at Northeastern didn't help his candidacy. Cooley's resume was arguably better than Christian's but I can rationalize Christian over Cooley. In the end, I am happy for both and don't think there success speaks to BC's mistakes. BC might not be better off right now, but I don't think there is anything either are doing at their current school that Christian cannot do at BC.

Notre Dame

The Irish just won the ACC Tournament and secured a 3 seed with a Massachusetts-heavy roster. As frustrating as that might be to BC fans, it gives me hope. There is more than enough local talent for us to compete in the ACC. We just need to identify the right kids and get them to commit. We haven't recruited well locally since the JOB days. Despite ruffling a few feathers, I think Christian will change that. 

The Big East vs the ACC

The smaller, refocused Big East earned six selections from a ten-team conference. The mighty ACC also got six. As the teams were announced, I was convinced that Mike Tranghese was still on the committee. But it seems it was just a good year for the old basketball schools. Good for them. As much as they screwed up the conference, I never begrudged their demands. It was the UConns and West Virginias of the world that always upset me. In most years the ACC will lead the nation and our former home when it comes to tournament teams.

Power 5 prevailed
When it came to the bubble, the committee went with bigger schools and traditional powers over the mid majors. That's great news for BC. One season doesn't always set a precedent, but it is good for BC that the benefit of the doubt seems to be shifting to the Power 5 teams.

Hockey gets a No. 1 seed and other links

The Hockey team earned the No. 1 seed in the Northeast region. They will play Denver Saturday.

Baseball lost another ACC series, this time to Wake Forest. The lone bright spot is that BC didn't get swept and won their first ACC game of the season. The Globe featured Freshman third baseman Johnny Adams.

Florida State swept Softball.

Lacrosse lost a close game to UNC.

In case you missed it last week, here is the latest Andre Williams diary for MMQB.

Hockey gets top seed and other links

BC earned the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Hockey Tournament. BC will face Air Force this weekend in the opening round. ESPN put up a good preview of the Tournament here.

Clemson swept the baseball team this weekend.

The baseball team wasn't the only BC squad that had a rough weekend. The softball team lost three straight to Georgia Tech.

Profootball Weekly posted a feature on Luke Kuechly.

A Boston College rooting guide to the NCAA Tournament

BC missed the NCAA Tournament. Shocking, I know. I still believe that if we had gotten to 10 wins we would have been off the bubble! But just because we are wallflowers during the Big Dance doesn't mean you shouldn't jump on some other team's bandwagons. The following programs are all important for any BC fan thinking about our future triumphs.

St. Bonaventure -- The Bonnies are coached by an Eagle, Mark Schmidt '85. As Kool-Aid drinker No. 1, I am not suggesting we think about Donahue replacements, but it is always nice to see BC guys succeed knowing that they could come back to the Heights one day. Plus I know a few other Eagles like me who have proud fathers who went to Bonaventure.

Michigan -- If you want some reassurances in what Donahue is building it would nice to see the guy whose program is most closely aligned with his strategies succeed. Michigan runs a motion offense with an emphasis on 3-pointers. John Beilein's stocked his team with a mix of under the radar shooter types and blue-chippers. He's doing "it" the right way. If Michigan makes it to the Final Four, it would be encouraging to all BC fans.

Harvard -- Harvard has made our lives miserable on the court of late, but the better they play the better it is for BC's reputation. Harvard's going to be on our schedule every year, so we want that potential win to be respectable.

Any ACC Team -- The ACC seems to be the whipping boy for the national media. They love to bash us and talk about the mistakes of expansion. Another NCAA Championship from our one of our members helps the league's reputation and BC's basketball recruiting.

Could Skinner end up back at URI?

URI fired Jim Baron and people are already speculating that Al Skinner could be a candidate to replace him. Prior to his time at BC, Skinner coached URI from 1989 to 1997. I love Al Skinner but I don't know if going back to URI is a good idea for him or the Rams.

The challenge in Skinner going back to URI is that there will be higher expectations for him. He led URI during a successful time and they've just fired a semi-successful coach. I think Al would be much better suited to take over a program in the northeast that hasn't had success and doesn't have any familiarity with him.

I actually think URI should consider a Skinner assistant like Pat Duquette. That way you get someone who would implement some of the same Skinner blueprint yet comes to the fanbase with a relative blank slate.

Hopefully Al finds a good job this offseason. I still think he can be successful at the right program.

BC knocks off Nanooks

I've used the survive and advance cliche a lot recently, but it held true again today as BC beat a stubborn Alaska team 3-1.

One of the reasons Jerry York's teams do so well in the NCAA tournament is that they can take another team's best effort and still win. Today Alaska came to play and looked like they might upset BC. They slowed BC's attack early and put plenty of pressure on Muse. But he held up and BC took control later in the game. Sunday the guys face Yale with a chance to advance to the Frozen Four.

Hockey gets top seed; baseball gets swept and other links

Things are lined up pretty well for the hockey team. After winning the Hockey East Tournament, the team locked up a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. They will play out of Worcester and take on Alaska-Fairbanks in the first round. The winner will face the winner of Yale-North Dakota.

Saturday's hero Matt Lombardi came up big when it counted.

The baseball team's weekend wasn't as nice. They got swept by UVA and now sit at 7-12 and 1-5 in the ACC. Hopefully things will improve when they begin their home stand this week.

In the things you will only see at BC...our leading rusher is working a student job at Hillsides.

These articles were from Friday, but the Herald had a write up on the QBs and Harris. HD also had a two-part Q&A with Castonzo last week (part 1, part 2).

Matt Tennant has a busy private workout schedule. The Falcons are hoping Tennant drops to the 5th round.

Big Dance Indifference

My freshmen year at BC was 1994-1995. BC wasn't even close to making the tournament yet when the Big Dance rolled around, I was as excited as everyone else. Things are different now. We are not in it, so I care a bit less. Sure I will watch most of the games. I'll fill out a bracket. I'll probably watch during lunch on Thursday and Friday. I'll stay up too late. But it is not the same without BC. I think that makes me a bit spoiled.

This post is not designed to restart the Skinner debate. It is not supposed to be a pity party about the struggles of a poor BC fan. It's more about how things have evolved. We (or at least I) can now live BC sports 365 days a year and BC has been involved in the tournament for most of this past decade. When we are not involved in something, getting emotionally worked up is a bit harder. Am I the only one who feels this way?

I'll probably get sucked in with one angle or another as the tourney develops. When all else fails, I'll get on the BC Guy bandwagon.

We have a winner

Congrats to "Matt Ryan's Hair" for winning the Eagle In Atlanta NCAA Tourney pool. He correctly picked 47 of 63 games and beat out 188 other blog readers. Drop me a line so that you can claim your prize.

A day later

Still not ready for any real analysis, but wanted to weigh in quickly on the debate going on in the comment section of the previous post and on both message boards. Friday night was frustrating and the second half was not a good 20 minutes of basketball, but on a whole, this season was a huge success. We are ahead of schedule with our six sophomores. We hit a hot team and didn't fight back. That stinks, but overall there is a ton of encouraging things to take away from this past month and this season. I think Al is the perfect coach for BC and actually under appreciated. Is he perfect? No. But he is a great coach.

Everyone take breath. This will be a long offseason and we can breakdown all aspects of this team.

Done

We played our style in the first half. They played their style in the second. It didn't help that we spent long stretches in a daze. Thank you Tyrese Rice for four good years. I wish your era had a different ending. I'll have more on him, this season and the future in the coming weeks. More thoughtful game commentary this weekend and hopefully some good hockey news (the hockey game took a turn for the worse quickly).

Guest Blogger: Conquest Chronicles

I imagine most casual fans can rattle off a few nuggets or quick scouting report of USC football. But what do any of us not on the West Coast know about USC basketball? To find out more about our upcoming opponent, I asked Laughing Stock from USC blog Conquest Chronicles a few questions about the Trojans. His answer are below.


1. Why did the Trojans struggle so much on the road? How much do you think the trip to Minneapolis will impact the team?

CC: For a little background, the Trojans didn't so much struggle on the road as they struggled to close on the road (which I guess might be te same thing, but just bear with me). Very winnable late game situations were blown against Oklahoma, Oregon State, Arizona, Arizona State, Cal, and Stanford. USC also gave up double digit leads in losses to Seton Hall and Missouri on Neutral courts. SC was very competitive in pretty much every game, except for the game at Pauley Pavilion, but for some reason they just could not maintain their composure in late game situations away from home. The only explanation I can come up with is that Tim Floyd simply lacked players who were willing to step up and carry the team through difficult situations. Daniel Hackett began to shoulder that load as the season went on, but it is only recently that Demar Derozan and Taj Gibson have shown a willingness to bite back in those pressure situation. Hopefully this means that the players have overcome those road woes, but we'll only really know how the trip affects them once they hit the courts.

2. The outside opinion seems to be that this year's team is very different from last year's Mayo-led version. Aside from not having Mayo, how is this team playing differently? Who has filled the void? Has the style of play changed?

CC: The team is really only different in so far as what left when Mayo declared for the draft early. Last year OJ was the go to scorer and primary outside shooter while also sharing ballhandling duties with Hackett. The outside shooting has diminished somewhat as Dwight Lewis can be somewhat mercurial to the say the least, but Derozan has a silky smooth jumper that seems to extend out to just inside the three point line. There were a lot of struggles early on with turnovers due to the lack of a secondary ball handler and the transfer of backup PG Angelo Johnson, but Hackett has improved as the season has gone on and the TOs have been reduced dramatically since the beginning of the season. Finally, while it is sometimes painful to have no true go to scorer, the Trojans are a very balanced team offensively and feature four players who score in double digits which make them a difficult team to defend.

3. What is the key to stopping the USC?

CC: The key to stopping USC is not so much in stopping them, but not allowing their D to stop your team. The Trojans rely heavily on their defense and are 17-5 when their opponents score less than 70 points. If BC is taken out of their offensive game plan and has to force shots then they won't win pure and simple. SC's bread and butter has been defense all season long, and the main goal out of the gates will be to stop the Eagle's top two or three scorers. To stop USC, Boston College will need another player outside of the regulars to step up and provide offense As Tyrese Rice will have a tough time carrying his team to victory on his own.


4. What is your prediction for the game?
CC: I predict a close SC win. I have always been a fan of guys like Ken Pomeroy, Jeff Sagarin, and John Gasaway, and all of them have USC as favorites over Boston College based on their various metrics for ranking college hoops teams. More importantly though, I think SC matches up very well size wise and has a ton of momentum heading into this game. USC could certainly come out flat and prove me wrong (trust me, they've done it before), but even Vegas picked the Trojans as the favorite to win.

Tim Floyd stuff and other links

Tim Floyd doesn't have the greatest reputation in college basketball. The man is known for doing what it takes to get recruits, whether it be signing their friends as a package deal or hiring family members. But we BC fans shouldn't cast the first stone as Preston Murphy had prior relationships with Southern and Sanders. He's been great as Director of Ops and is seen as a rising coaching talent, but having an in with Al and two highly touted recruits didn't hurt his chances for getting the job three years ago.

Floyd thinks the game will be physical. All this physical talk is funny to me. First, I don't think we are nearly as physical as we were a few years ago. I also don't think we have ever been as physical as some of the old Big East teams or Bob Huggins teams or even the Washington State teams that USC faces annually. But let the Trojans think that. It can't hurt.

Vega is moonlighting back on the BC beat and had a nice article on Sanders. Rhode Islanders are paying close attention to Sanders' first shot at the big stage.

Spaz confirmed my prediction from yesterday -- he is unlikely to name a starter until summer.

BJ is in Detroit today meeting with the Lions. I hope he goes No. 1 overall, but I don't think Detroit is going to take a risk like that after what they've been through the past decade.

Finally this is one last image from the ACC Tournament. Matt really is a good sport.

Mega game watch potential

Attention regional BC Club folks: please be sure to send me your info for Friday night. And if you are trying to drum up interest from a sports bar or from your local BC fans, remind them that they can watch the hockey and basketball games at most bars.

Image courtesy of BC Mike.

Join the Minnesota BC Club for a pregame event

The Minnesota Chapter of the BC Club is rolling out the red carpet for BC fans. They will host a pregame Friday. Join your fellow Eagles to get in the mood. The location is only three blocks from the Metrodome. Info below:

MN Chapter NCAA Tournament Pregame Event


The Restaurant Max (1st floor of Hotel Minneapolis)
215 4th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55402
612. 340.0303
**Complimentary Valet Parking after 4:00pm
www.therestaurantmax.com

Date: Friday, March 20, 2009
Time: 4:00-6:00pm C.S.T.


There will be give-aways, and happy hour pricing on food and drinks. And it is walking distance to the Metrodome. Let's go Eagles.

Announcers and gametime and other links

Gus Johnson and Len Elmore will call the game Friday night. The tip off is 7:20 ET. I love the pairing and love the time slot.

The LA Times had a quick breakdown of the game.

Sunday's baseball games against Georgia Tech got washed out.

Enter yet another pool

Since BC is back in the Big Dance, I created a bracket for BC fans and readers of the blog. You can join here at Yahoo. The password is: skinner. For those who have trouble with the link you can go to Yahoo and use the Group ID #104968.

No money to enter. The winner will get a to be determined BC flavored prize.

Why I like our chances against USC

The reaction to playing USC is mixed among BC fans. Some fear playing the hot, young athletic team. Others think we match up well. Put me in the second camp. I don't take anything or anyone for granted this time of year. I just think USC is one of the better teams we could have faced, in part because of who they are and in part because who they are not.

Reasons I think we will win
-- USC is a terrible road team. I know this is a "neutral" game, but this will be a long cold trip for USC. 10 of their 12 losses were on the road. I think the travel and weather will impact them more.
-- We are playing in a Dome. Supposedly playing in a Dome takes an adjustment as far as shooting perspective and dealing with the noise, drafts, etc. We played in a Dome this week. USC hasn't played in a Dome all year.
-- They are not a midmajor. Given how our guys have played up and down to the level of their opponent, I feared playing a mid major. We won't come out flat against USC. They are a name and just won the Pac 10. Our guys will be pumped and ready.
-- They are bound to lose. They have just won five in a row, including three to win the Pac 10 Tournament. Two of those wins were by two possessions or less. They won't stay hot forever.
-- They are not a methodical, consistent offense. USC is not going to bury us with 3s or even run some sort of patient scheme that we have to prepare for.
-- They haven't face an offense like ours all season. A few Pac 10 teams have elements similar to our flex, but no one tries to run it as tightly with so many bounce passes. We haven't been nearly as dependent on it lately. I hope Al uses it over and over on Friday.
-- They are athletic rather than a bunch of shooters. I would say they remind me most of Georgia Tech or Florida State. Both those teams frustrated us, but we also won those games.
-- We left Atlanta with confidence. Andy Katz said it tonight. These guys know they could have won the ACC. They have unfinished business.

My concerns
-- They can and will press. They did it against Arizona State this past weekend. We will need to break it early so they have to abandon it.
-- They are hot. I know I put this as a reason why I think we will win, but it works both ways. They are on fire and we just might be their next victim.

Kenpom thinks very highly of USC.

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.