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.