On Saturday, the Boston College Eagles come to Lawrence, Kansas and battle our Jayhawks. I'm already in a pissed off mood for tomorrow, because I already know I won't be able to watch the game with watching Michigan - UCLA instead. Anyways, enough about me and my personal battles, let's talk more about the 7-2 Eagles of Boston College.
They started off the year with a W vs. New Hampshire, but then were upset by the Catamounts of Veromont at home by 14 points. If you remember, Vermont was in the national media a couple of years ago for their NCAA Tournament run led by their star Taylor Coppenrath.
Coppenrath...Remember him?
After the Eagles lost that game, they went on the road to old Big East foe Providence, but they lost to Providence too 73-64. That put the once Top 25 Eagles at 1-2 forcing them to start winning games. They have won each game since without leaving the state of Massachusetts. They beat Rhode Island and Michigan State at home, then made a crosstown trip to Amherst, Massachusetts to beat the University of Massachusetts. They then had 3 other games at home, where they took care of Fairfield, 2K Sports Tournament winner and fellow ACC member Maryland and Sacred Heart. In those 9 games, 8 have been in Massachusetts and the one game that they left the state (@ Providence) was in Rhode Island, a state that borders Massachusetts.
Boston College hasn't left New England this season
The Eagles are led by Senior Jared Dudley, the old running mate of former Eagle Craig Smith. Dudley is a 6'7" foward who is averaging 19.3 points and 9.1 boards a game. Two other notable players are G Tyrese Rice who is averaging 14.3 a game while shooting 51 3-pointers so far this season, which is more than 5 per contest. They also have one of the leading block artists in the NCAA with F Sean Williams, who has already swatted 38 shots while playing in only 7 of their 9 games. That translates to 5.43 blocks per game, an absolutely absurd number. He is shooting over 60% from the field, which is always possible when you can do this...
Hopefully we won't see that a lot on Saturday
Boston College will likely make the NCAA Tournament, probably with a #6 or #7 seed. This will be their toughest non-conference game of the season, and with already losing two tough non-conference games will be on fire. I think Julian Wright can handle Dudley, they are similar players except Dudley is a better outside shooter and not quite as athletic. If Wright can handle Dudley, and Chalmers and Robinson can contain 3 point shooting Tyrese Rice, then we have a really good chance to win.
I'll make my prediction sometime tomorrow in my Open Thread, but I think we have a very good chance to add another notch to our NCAA Tournament resume by beating a quality opponent.