Boston College March Madness: What If Semifinals and Championship
How do the last ten years' worth of BC basketball teams stack up against one another? We'll soon find out and crown a champion of the decade for the Eagles.
Here are the results from our BC What If Tournament semifinals and championship game.
Semifinals
(1) 2004-05 Eagles vs. (5) 2002-03 Eagles
(2) 2000-01 Eagles vs. (6) 2008-09 Eagles
The 2004-05 squad that was picked by some to win that year's NCAA Tournament dispatched the 2002-03 team 75-66 in the What If semifinals. Jared Dudley went off for the 04-05ers, scoring 30 points on 11-21 shooting. Craig Smith added 12 points along with 11 from Sean Marshall.
The surprising 2002-03 squad was paced by Troy Bell (17 points). Craig Smith added 13 and Uka Agbai came off the bench to score 11. Ryan Sidney had 11 assists in the losing effort.
In the second semifinal matchup, the 00-01 Big East champs built up a 10 point lead at half, and held on to win 86-77. Troy Bell scored a game-high 35 points on 9-17 shooting, including hitting 5-8 from 3 and a perfect 12-12 from the charity stripe. Ryan Sidney came off the bench to add 21 points.
The 08-09 Eagles run in this year's What If tournament comes to an end, despite 23 points, 7 rebounds from sophomore Joe Trapani. Both teams shot only 31.6% from beyond the arc (6-19).
After two quarterfinal upsets, the 1 and 2 seeds hold serve to advance to the What If Championship game.
Finals
(1) 2004-05 Eagles vs. (2) 2000-01 Eagles
In the Championship game, the 00-01 Eagles erased an 11 point second half deficit, upsetting the top-seeded 04-05 Eagles 77-69. Kenny Walls hit a 3 pointer with 4:49 to play to put the Big East champs on top for good. The 2010 What If Champions had four starters in double figures, including Xavier Singletary (16), Kenny Harley (15), Troy Bell (13) and Kenny Walls (10). Starting center Uka Agbai had a quiet game, scoring only 2 points and adding 6 boards before fouling out of the game.
Jared Dudley and Craig Smith led the way for the 04-05 squad with 16 points each. The 04-05 team went cold from 3 on the night, shooting only 3-14 from beyond the arc (21.4%). Louis Hinnant, in particular, couldn't connect on much of anything, shooting 1-6 from 3 and finishing 2-8 from the field. Free throw shooting was the difference in this one, with the 04-05 team shooting just 52.6% from the charity stripe (10-19).
There you have it. The 2000-2001 Eagles squad - a team that put BC basketball back on the map - wins the 2010 BC What If Tournament. Congratulations to Troy Bell, Kenny Walls, Kenny Harley, Xavier Singletary and Uka Agbai, and of course the big winner in this whole What If Tournament, Al Skinner. Give the man a hug, Gene!
Do you agree? Were the 2000-01 Eagles the best of the decade? Thoughts?
Create your own What If matchups using whatifsports.com.
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Comments
in a best of 7 series
I still like 04-05 eagles over the big east champs.
it’s all about matchups, and louis hinant is a well-oiled machine when it comes to running the flex.
Best of 7 Series
Game 1: 04-05 Eagles 89, 00-01 Eagles 86 (OT)
Game 2: 00-01 Eagles 81, 04-05 Eagles 71
Game 3: 04-05 Eagles 89, 00-01 Eagles 87
Game 4: 00-01 Eagles 69, 04-05 Eagles 66
Game 5: 00-01 Eagles 73, 04-05 Eagles 67
Game 6: 00-01 Eagles 88, 04-05 Eagles 71
2000-01 Eagles win the best of 7 series 4-2.
BC Interruption, a Boston College sports blog
Admittedly I know very little of the 2000-2001 Eagles. When they won the Big East Tournament, I was 15 years old and had watched about 10 minutes of college basketball in my life to that point.
As a matter of personal preference, however, I liked the 05-06 team better than 04-05. The 20-0 start is what most people remember about 04-05, but I was annoyed with how they went nowhere in both the Big East Tournament and NCAA Tournament. 05-06, however, came within a hair of winning the ACC in their first season and would have been in the Elite Eight if not for some bad calls and untimely errors.
It doesn’t necessarily mean 05-06 was THE best team, I just liked it better than 04-05.
Visit Soaring to Glory for BC sports analysis. Go on, you know you want to.
Any discussion of NBA history starts with the Boston Celtics
Any discussion of NBA history starts with the Boston Celtics. Under the direction of Red Auerbach, the Celtics produced three dynasties winning 16 World Titles from 1957 to 1986.

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