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#15/17 Florida St. Seminoles (16-6, 7-1 ACC) vs. Boston College Eagles (7-16, 2-7 ACC)

Time: 7:00 PM Eastern
Date: Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Place: Chestnut Hill, Ma.
Arena: Conte Forum
Capacity: 8,606

TV: ESPN3.com
TV Announcers: Eric Frede, Ron Perry
Radio: WEEI (93.7 FM / 850 AM)
Radio Announcers: Jon Meterparel, Malcolm Huckaby
Internet Audio: BCEagles.com

Line: Boston College +12.5

Last Time Out: Georgia Tech defeated Boston College 51-47, as the Eagles fell to 7-16 overall and 2-7 in the ACC.

Series: Boston College and Florida State have met 8 times. All-time series tied at 4-4.
Last Meeting: Florida State 67, Boston College 51 (January 22, 2011)
Last Meeting at Conte Forum: Florida State 61, Boston College 57 (January 30, 2010)

Last Five Meetings:

L - Florida State 67, Boston College 51 (January 22, 2011)
L - Florida State 62, Boston College 47 (February 14, 2010)
L - Florida State 61, Boston College 57 (January 30, 2010)
W - Boston College 72, Florida State 67 (February 24, 2009)
L - Florida State 66, Boston College 63 (February 23, 2008)

Trends: Florida State has won four of the last five meetings and each of the last three. BC has lost nine of its last 11 and its last six straight meetings. BC is 3-1 against Florida State at Conte Forum.

Florida State's 2010-2011 Record: 23-11 (11-5 ACC)

Florida State's Probable Starters:

G - Michael Snaer (Jr.) - 6-5, 202 lbs., Moreno Valley, Ca. - 13.8 PPG, 1.8 APG, 3.5 RPG
G - Deividas Dulkys (Sr.) - 6-5, 196 lbs., Silute, Lithuania - 7.6 PPG, 1.2 APG, 2.2 RPG
G - Luke Loucks (Sr.) - 6-5, 201 lbs., Clearwater, Fl. - 7.2 PPG, 4.0 APG, 3.0 RPG
F - Bernard James (Sr.) - 6-10, 240 lbs., Savannah, Ga. - 10.2 PPG, 0.5 APG, 8.6 RPG
F-C - Xavier Gibson (Sr.) - 6-11, 248 lbs., Dothan, Al. - 7.8 PPG, 0.4 APG, 5.0 RPG

Boston College's Projected Starters:

G - Jordan Daniels (Fr.) - 5-8, 153 lbs., Fontana, Ca. - 5.8 PPG, 2.3 APG, 1.6 RPG
G - Matt Humphrey (Jr.) - 6-5, 192 lbs., Chicago, Il. - 10.1 PPG, 1.3 APG, 3.5 RPG
G - Lonnie Jackson (Fr.) - 6-3, 170 lbs., Valencia, Ca. - 7.7 PPG, 1.7 APG, 2.5 RPG
F - Ryan Anderson (Fr.) - 6-8, 217 lbs., Lakewood, Ca. - 9.4 PPG, 1.0 APG, 6.8 RPG
C - Dennis Clifford (Fr.) - 7-0, 241 lbs., Bridgewater, Ma. - 9.5 PPG, 1.0 APG, 5.1 RPG

Leave your pre-, in- and post-game comments below.

Go Eagles!

As part of Monday's ACC's men's basketball teleconference, Boston College coach Steve Donahue was asked how Patrick Heckmann was dealing with mono and whether there was a timetable for his return.

"The answer to the former, he's doing fine. It's frustrating, because when you have mono, there is really nothing you're allowed to do exercise-wise. I'm trying to get him to look at games and sit back and really take in, now that you're in that competition and try to learn from what's going on out there what you can do better. So I don't know if there is anything physically. The prognosis going forward, I would think that we're going to try to see the doctor this week at some point. Try to start exercising again for another week or so then get them back here a week to ten days, two weeks, maybe. That's, unfortunately, that's not a really direct exactly when, but that's where it stands."

So ... no news.

This week, Boston College faces Florida State (2/8) and at Virginia Tech (2/12), followed by a trip to College Park (2/16) and BC's home game against Duke (2/19). Sounds like Heckmann might not be back until BC's February 25 game in Winston-Salem at the earlier and could very well miss the rest of the regular season.

Another close game, another close loss for the Boston College Eagles. Today's game continued to highlight some of the problems this team has had all season. They had stretches where they played solid basketball, and they had a more than 10 minute stretch in the first half where they couldn't hit a bucket. It certainly was one of the uglier games of the season, and was a very difficult game to watch.

BC started the game off playing well, jumping out to 16-11 lead with twelve minutes to go in the first half. Then everything went ice cold. BC only hit one more bucket for the remainder of the half, and turned the ball over eight times during that span. Fortunately, due to a Lonnie Jackson last second three pointer they went into the locker room only down one. Don't even want to think what would happen if BC has one of these streaks against a team like Duke or FSU.

The second half started with more mental errors for BC. After trading three pointers with Georgia Tech, Dennis Clifford picked up two quick fouls that forced him to sit for most of the second half. During that time GT dominated inside, while KC Caudill struggled both on the offensive and defensive end of the floor. Tech started to heat up with some good interior play by Daniel Miller (10 points) and Kammeon Holsey (10 points) who were left alone under the basket on numerous plays.

The Eagles cut the lead to one in the final three minutes of the game of the game after Ryan Anderson hit a big three pointer, but Glen Rice Jr. quickly responded to stretch the lead back to three. BC had time for one last shot, and the best play they came up with was Lonnie Jackson shooting a 40 foot three pointer which missed badly. GT hit their FTs to wrap up the win for the Yellow Jackets.

With a game high 15 points, Matt Humphrey kept BC in the game, both on the offensive and defensive end of the floor. He showed that veteran leadership that BC sorely needed in a game that could have easily have slipped away from the Eagles. He hustled for loose balls, made aggressive cuts in the lane and made key shots in big situations. This was easily Humphrey's best game in the maroon and gold.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record BC struggled in the same areas that they have all season. They made far too many turnovers (14), went through long stretches without hitting a shot, and tired out down the stretch. Lonnie Jackson hit some big threes, Jordan Daniels was a pesky defender (3 steals), and Ryan Anderson did a solid job on the glass (11 rebounds)

The Eagles' will try to get back in the win column on Wednesday, when they host Florida State at Conte Forum.

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Boston College Eagles (7-15, 2-6 ACC) vs. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (8-14, 1-7 ACC)

Time: 1:00 PM Eastern
Date: Saturday, February 4, 2012
Place: Philips Arena
Arena: Atlanta, Ga.
Capacity: 19,445

TV: ESPNU
TV Announcers: Mike Crispino, Bob Valvano
Online: ESPN3.com
Radio: WRKO (680 AM)
Radio Announcers: Jon Meterparel, Malcolm Huckaby
Internet Audio: BCEagles.com

Line: Boston College +9.5

Last Time Out: Boston College lost to N.C. State 56-51 to fall to 7-15 on the year (2-6 ACC).

Series: Boston College and Georgia Tech have met 13 times. Georgia Tech leads the all-time series 8-5.
Last Meeting: Boston College 86, N.C. State 75 (January 8, 2011)
Last Meeting in ATL: Georgia Tech 73, Boston College 68 (February 27, 2010)

Last Five Meetings:

W - Boston College 86, N.C. State 75 (January 8, 2011)
L - Georgia Tech 73, Boston College 68 (February 27, 2010)
W - Boston College 67, Georgia Tech 66 (March 7, 2009)
W - Boston College 80, Georgia Tech 76 (OT) (January 20, 2009)
L - Georgia Tech 86, Boston College 78 (March 8, 2008)

Trends: Georgia Tech has lost six in a row in ACC play, and 10 of its last 11. BC has lost four straight and eight of its last 10. The Eagles have won three of their last four contests with Georgia Tech, but have won just once in their last four meetings in Atlanta. BC and Georgia Tech have met twice in the NCAA Tournament -- 2005 and 1996 -- yet have never faced one another in the ACC Tournament.

Georgia Tech's 2010-2011 Record: 13-18 (5-11 ACC)

Georgia Tech's Probable Starters:

G - Mfon Udofia (Jr.) - 6-2, 193 lbs., Stone Mountain, Ga. - 11.0 PPG, 2.2 APG, 3.5 RPG
G - Brandon Reed (So.) - 6-3, 180 lbs., Powder Springs, Ga. - 7.5 PPG, 1.1 APG, 3.2 RPG
G-F - Jason Morris (So.) - 6-5, 210 lbs., Hephzibah, Ga. - 8.4 PPG, 1.0 APG, 3.3 RPG
F - Kammeon Holsey (So.) - 6-8, 226 lbs., Sparta, Ga. - 8.5 PPG, 0.8 APG, 4.4 RPG
C - Daniel Miller (So.) - 6-11, 258 lbs., Loganville, Ga. - 7.6 PPG, 1.5 APG, 6.3 RPG

Boston College's Projected Starters:

G - Jordan Daniels (Fr.) - 5-8, 153 lbs., Fontana, Ca. - 5.8 PPG, 2.4 APG, 1.5 RPG
G - Matt Humphrey (Jr.) - 6-5, 192 lbs., Chicago, Il. - 9.9 PPG, 1.2 APG, 3.5 RPG
G - Lonnie Jackson (Fr.) - 6-3, 170 lbs., Valencia, Ca. - 7.6 PPG, 1.7 APG, 2.5 RPG
F - Ryan Anderson (Fr.) - 6-8, 217 lbs., Lakewood, Ca. - 9.6 PPG, 1.0 APG, 6.6 RPG
C - Dennis Clifford (Fr.) - 7-0, 241 lbs., Bridgewater, Ma. - 9.6 PPG, 1.0 APG, 5.3 RPG

Leave your pre-, in- and post-game comments below.

Go Eagles!

We are big fans of the boys over at From The Rumble Seat. So much so that we decided to exchange Q&A in advance of today's ACC pillow fight between 1-7 Georgia Tech and 2-6 Boston College. Below are our questions and their answers.

Be sure to stop by From The Rumble Seat and check out our answers to their questions on BC hoops.

BC Interruption: Georgia Tech has played every game this season away from Alexander Memorial Coliseum as the school undergoes a $45 million renovation. Only Georgia Tech and Miami have averaged lower per-game attendance than BC in the ACC this season. Has the fact that GT hasn't played on campus all season taken the wind out of the sails of the Yellow Jacket faithful?

From The Rumble Seat: This is the mulligan season. Gregory lost Iman Shumpert to the NBA, Brian Oliver to transfer, and Maurice Miller to graduation. Gregory doesn't have a true home court and it's almost impossible to get a college atmosphere in the NBA-style Phillips Arena. Tech fans are optimistic that Gregory will create some momentum in the program. I'm not sure if we're convinced he is the longterm solution but we like the attitude and enthusiasm he is bringing to the job. I think most Tech fans feel Gregory is coaching like it's his last Division I job and that underdog, scrappy attitude warrants some positive feedback.

BCI: After knocking off N.C. State on the road back on January 11, Georgia Tech has now lost six straight in ACC play. What did the Yellow Jackets do right against Wolfpack, and what hasn't gone so well since?

FTRS: Tech is just not very deep in talent or experience. We lost around 50% of the meaningful guard minutes from last season and around 50% of our scoring. Gregory inherited a fairly bare cupboard. I think the big factor for Gregory's major wins this season (@ Athens and @ Raleigh) were just sustaining offensive momentum. Tech can score in spurts but has a real streaky turnover bug. If Tech can sustain scoring runs and avoid sloppy turnovers, Tech can make huge runs. The second half against Clemson is a good example where Tech was down double digits going in to the locker room, cleaned up their offensive game, and only to lost by two.

BCI: Far too early to pass judgment on Brian Gregory, but what do you like about his performance so far? Where can he improve?

FTRS: I think Tech fans want to see how Gregory handles NBA defections. He's shown he can recruit some 5 star studs and that he is a fairly decent ingame coach keeping most of the losing efforts fairly close (minus the UVA debacle). We want to see how good of a recruiter he is in the long term. Hewitt would put a ton of time in to recruiting a one and done, make the NCAA's as a 9 seed, lose the talent to the Draft, and drop three or so sub-500 seasons in line until he recruited another star talent. He wasn't focused on a sustained program but rather a shooting star approach. Hewitt considered the Carmelo Anthony model as the future of college hoops when Tech fans just wanted to see the same team together for four years growing and maturing and then making a run (i.e. 2004).

Continue reading this post »

I don't follow the Boston College women's basketball program all that closely, but what in the world is going on with the Boston College women's basketball program?

The Lady Eagles are coming off three straight games where they were more or less run out of the building -- a 77-46 loss at No. 25 North Carolina, followed by a 88-57 home loss to No. 10 Miami and most recently, a 86-44 beatdown in College Park. That setback was the Eagles' ninth straight loss -- all nine losses have come during ACC play.

The first few paragraphs of the AP's writeup of BC's loss to Miami earlier this week struck me as very strange.

BOSTON (AP) - Boston College coach Sylvia Crawley is hoping that having her team watch film on its own will get her Eagles' players out of their funk.

The Eagles were overmatched for much of the game, falling to the 10th-ranked Hurricanes 88-57 on Sunday for their eighth straight loss.

"We've given them game tapes and they're going to watch it themselves together to see what we saw," Crawley said. "Sometimes it's different when you're on the court. We're trying a lot of different things with this group. They're young. We're trying to help them be visual learners and not to make the same mistakes."

Boston College committed 15 of its 20 turnovers in the first half and gave up nine of 23 offensive rebounds in the opening 20 minutes.

Sorry, but 0-8 in conference play (now 0-9) is a little more than a funk. Particularly with three of seven games remaining against ranked opponents (and two of those against teams currently ranked in the Top 10). The Eagles are now more than halfway to becoming just the fourth program to finish at least 0-14 in a single season, joining the 2007 Wake Forest (0-14), 1998 Wake Forest (0-16), 1997 Florida State (0-16) and 1985 Georgia Tech (0-14) teams.

So what ails the Boston College women's basketball team? Leave your own thoughts below.

Youth / inexperience. But can't be more youthful and inexperienced than the men's team, right? Two players -- Alyssa Fressle and Kerri Shields -- have two years of experience under their belts going into this season. Seven players have one year of experience and just four players are true freshmen. I get that it's no easy task to replace two of the Eagles' all-time greats in Carolyn Swords and Stefanie Murphy, but the drop off shouldn't be this dramatic, should it?

To be fair, the Eagles are one of the younger programs in the ACC. BC returns just two starters from last year's 20-win team. Only Clemson returns fewer starters. BC's 2011-12 roster lettered in just 11 seasons, again, second lowest to Clemson. BC's junior (2) and senior count (1) gives the Eagles the second fewest upperclassmen on the roster in conference, tied with Duke (2 seniors, 1 junior) and better than only Clemson (zero juniors, 2 seniors).

Continue reading this post »

In addition today's announcement of the future ACC football schedule and new football divisions, the conference also released details around the new men's and women's basketball schedule format.

The conference will play an 18-game schedule starting in 2012-13 (previously announced). When Pitt and Syracuse join the fold ... whenever ... each school will have just one primary partner -- Boston College and Syracuse; Clemson and Georgia Tech; Duke and North Carolina; Florida State and Miami; Maryland and Pitt; N.C. State and Wake Forest; Virginia and Virginia Tech.

That means BC will get a home-and-home with Syracuse annually, which is a good thing. Probably the best situation possible for the Eagles. This also means BC avoids playing both Virginia Tech and Miami twice a season. Another win, as those primary partners always seemed a little forced in a "football rivals aren't the same as hoops rivals" sort of way. For the ACC's other 12 programs, BC will see the likes of Duke, North Carolina and Pitt four times in three years.

While BC-Syracuse become locked at the hip in hoops (as they should be), not everyone is all that pleased with the new scheduling format.

Since the conference is scaling back the number of primary partners from two to one (the Coach K scheduling model), a few ACC programs are none too pleased.

Maryland is the biggest loser in all of this, as the Terps replace 12 games with Duke and Virginia over a three-year span for six with new primary partner Pitt and eight with Duke and Virginia. I'm sure N.C. State fans can't be thrilled either that they lose a home-and-home each season with UNC and keep two with just Wake Forest.

Every other program besides BC and Maryland loses just one primary partner. Clemson-Florida State, Duke-Maryland, Georgia Tech-Wake Forest, Miami-Boston College, N.C. State-North Carolina, Virginia-Maryland and BC-Virginia Tech will now be played just four times over a three-year span instead of six times as they do today.

With only one primary partner, you're probably never going to make N.C. State or Maryland fans totally happy. But this awkwardness could have at least been partially avoided if the league instead paired Maryland with Virginia and Virginia Tech with Pittsburgh.

Football rivalries do not always equal hoops rivalries, and while Maryland and Pittsburgh share a state border, an annual basketball rivalry seems way too forced. Much like BC-Virginia Tech and BC-Miami always seemed forced, as the three schools share little in common other than a shared history on the gridiron, not the hardwood.

Continue reading this post »

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N.C. State Wolfpack (15-7, 4-3 ACC) vs. Boston College Eagles (7-14, 2-5 ACC)

Time: 8:00 PM Eastern
Date: Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Place: Chestnut Hill, Ma.
Arena: Conte Forum
Capacity: 8,606

TV: ACC Network (TV38 in Boston)
TV Announcers: Tom Werme, Dan Bonner
Online: ESPN3.com (subject to blackout)
Radio: WRKO (680 AM)
Radio Announcers: Jon Meterparel, Malcolm Huckaby
Internet Audio: BCEagles.com

Line: Boston College +10

Last Time Out: Boston College fell to Miami 76-54, the Eagles fourth straight loss.

Series: Boston College and N.C. State have met 12 times. Boston College leads the all-time series 8-4.
Last Meeting: N.C. State 76, Boston College 62 (January 19, 2012)
Last Meeting at Conte Forum: Boston College 75, N.C. State 66 (January 11, 2011)

Last Five Meetings:

L - N.C. State 76, Boston College 62 (January 19, 2012)
W - Boston College 75, N.C. State 66 (January 11, 2011)
L - N.C. State 66, Boston College 54 (March 7, 2010)
L - N.C. State 74, Boston College 69 (March 4, 2009)
W - Boston College 79, N.C. State 68 (January 24, 2009)

Trends: BC has lost four straight and seven of its last nine games. The Eagles won their last home game against N.C. State, but have lost three of their last four in the series. N.C. State is +5.9 in rebounding margin while BC is -5.9. The Eagles are averaging 60.5 points per game and allowing 68.8 a game.

N.C. State's 2010-2011 Record: 15-16 (5-11 ACC), home for the holidays

N.C. State's Probable Starters:

G - Lorenzo Brown (So.) - 6-5, 189 lbs., Roswell, Ga. - 12.0 PPG, 6.7 APG, 4.3 RPG
G - C.J. Williams (Sr.) - 6-5, 224 lbs., Fayetteville, N.C. - 11.9 PPG, 2.0 APG, 3.8 RPG
F - Scott Wood (Jr.) - 6-6, 177 lbs., Marion, In. - 13.0 PPG, 1.6 APG, 2.0 RPG
F - Richard Howell (Jr.) - 6-8, 250 lbs., Atlanta, Ga. - 11.7 PPG, 1.2 APG, 9.4 RPG
F - C.J. Leslie (So.) - 6-8, 209 lbs., Holly Springs, N.C. - 12.8 PPG, 1.3 APG, 6.3 RPG

Boston College's Projected Starters:

G - Jordan Daniels (Fr.) - 5-8, 153 lbs., Fontana, Ca. - 5.9 PPG, 2.3 APG, 1.4 RPG
G - Matt Humphrey (Jr.) - 6-5, 192 lbs., Chicago, Il. - 9.6 PPG, 1.3 APG, 3.5 RPG
G - Lonnie Jackson (Fr.) - 6-3, 170 lbs., Valencia, Ca. - 7.5 PPG, 1.7 APG, 2.6 RPG
F - Ryan Anderson (Fr.) - 6-8, 217 lbs., Lakewood, Ca. - 9.7 PPG, 1.0 APG, 6.6 RPG
C - Dennis Clifford (Fr.) - 7-0, 241 lbs., Bridgewater, Ma. - 9.8 PPG, 1.0 APG, 5.2 RPG

Leave your pre-, in- and post-game comments below.

Go Eagles!