Boston College Daily Links: Eagles Basketball Hits Bottom (10)

Hoops

Bottom 10 hits the hardwood in search of all that is wrong in college basketball (ESPN)
Boston College coach Steve Donahue must feel under siege by the rest of New England this season, because his rebuilding Eagles have struggled against nearly every typically inferior team in the local vicinity. Among the losses for this now-5-10 squad: Holy Cross (86-64 in Worcester), UMass (82-46 at home), Boston U. (75-61 at home), Harvard (67-46 at home) and even one to 3-13 Rhode Island (78-72 in double overtime at home). This was always going to be a tough year for BC, but its inability to handle the mediocre teams in its own backyard -- in its own gym, no less -- is making things worse.

Tigers find new stripes (TheState.com)
If there was a road environment to build confidence in league play, it would be Boston College. Forward Tanner Smith said jumping out to a 2-0 mark in league play could be big for the team’s confidence.

Midweek Preview Part 3, Jan. 12 (ACC Sports Journal)
Key for the Eagles. Draw from their second-half comeback against North Carolina. The Eagles cut a 21-point lead down to nine against arguably the nation’s top team in Chapel Hill last Saturday. They need to play with that same kind of energy in order to pull off the upset.

Jared Dudley Tries To Be An Announcer (Awful Announcing)
Jared Dudley of the NBA's Phoenix Suns tries his hand at being a sports broadcaster on a new espisode of "Out of My League" on YouTube. We all know that he can ball in the Association, but does he have what it takes for a post-NBA career? That's up for you to decide after watching this clip. I suppose it is impressive that he can commentate his own badminton matchup against grade school children, but I'm not sure how that will translate into an actual basketball or announcing career...

Football

ACC's top 10 moments of 2011 (ESPN ACC Blog)
4. Luke Kuechly wins it all. In a span of eight days, BC’s star linebacker won the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, the Butkus Award, Lombardi Award and the Lott Trophy. He was a consensus All-American for the second consecutive season [ed. note -- Nope!], and named the ACC’s Defensive Player of the Year. His interception return for a touchdown against Miami helped the Eagles end the season on a winning note, and it was quite the encore performance for the NFL draft-bound Kuechly.

Seattle Seahawks Should Look at Luke Kuechly in 2012 NFL Draft: A Fan's Take (Yahoo! Sports)
The Seattle Seahawks will select either No. 11 or No. 12 in the 2012 NFL Draft, and one of the prospects that the team should take a hard look at comes from the Boston College defense. Junior linebacker Luke Kuechly could provide added support against the run and give the Seahawks another impressive weapon on the defensive side of the ball.

Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III top our first 2012 NFL mock draft (SI.com)
15. Philadelphia Eagles -- Luke Kuelchy, LB, Boston College. Andy Reid doesn't draft linebackers, but the need is so glaring now, Eagles fans may revolt if the doesn't. It's been long enough for them to get over drafting Mike Mamula back in 1995.

Year in Review: Defensive MVPs (Eagle in Atlanta)
Usually the defense carries the day for BC. This year it was the better side of the team, but still not that good. Or at least not as great as BC usually is. Talent was a big issue, as was experience. Even with some holes in the roster a few player stood out.

Meet Your New Neighbors: Boston College Eagles (Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician)
Getting back into this rivalry, we might as well make it count. So, if you see a BC fan in public, your first order of business should probably be to just mention Diamond Ferri's name. After that, feel free to discuss your team's basketball and football titles -- both of which are actually recognized by the NCAA (unlike the Eagles' 1940 "championship"). Sure, they'll probably say something snarky about hockey titles, but you've got 11 lacrosse championships to fall back on. Once they remember their team still plays at the club level, you'll win any round of smack-talk in a rout.

The Last Straw (mgoblog)
Would be this: A dull blowout that invalidates the regular season and proclaims a second-place finisher in their own division a national champion when other one-loss teams are shut out because of… stuff. And things. Afterwards, a system designed to protect the sanctity of the regular season above all causes the winners of that blowout to print up shirts declaring "we won the one that counted."