Boston College Men’s Basketball at Florida State: Preview and Predictions

BC played good basketball for a solid win over Syracuse on Wednesday night and head to Florida State today for their final matchup before the ACC tournament. These teams met back in January and BC came away with the 81-75 win at home.

ACC Tournament Implications

The Eagles are currently in 12^th place in the ACC, but they have the opportunity to jump up a few slots with a win today. With a win, BC ties FSU’s conference record and would be seeded above them in the tie-breaker as they swept the Seminoles in head-to-head meetings. Syracuse plays #18 Clemson this afternoon, and BC would also pass them with a BC win and Syracuse loss. A Notre Dame loss at Virginia would also tie them with BC in conference record, but BC would lose the head-to-head tie breaker and stay behinf ND in seeding. That means that BC’s best case scenario this afternoon (with a win and Syracuse loss) would put them in 10^th place seeding- not enough for the first round bye, but placing them in a very favorable first round matchup with last place Pitt. BC’s lead over 13^th place Georgia Tech is enough that a loss today would not result in them moving down in the seeding. So, BC’s worst-case scenario today (BC loss, Syracuse and GTech wins) would keep them 12^th in seeding and match them against 13^th-seeded Georgia Tech in the first round of the tournament.

Keys to the Game

Steffon Mitchell left Wednesday night’s game on crutches with a hamstring contusion and BC has not updated his status at the time of this writing. If Mitchell is out or on limited minutes, then BC will need some solid playing time from Luka Kraljevic. The Eagles will need rebounding help if they are missing their season rebounding leader in Mitchell. Popovic, Reyes, and Bowman will need to chip in on the boards. Finally, defense has been a real struggle for the Eagles on the road. BC will need to bring the defense that we saw against Syracuse to Tallahassee this afternoon.

FSU’s Strengths

The Seminoles play mostly man defense and have rim protectors that will make the inside play difficult for the Eagles. The Eagles will have to work to recreate the crisp ball movement that we saw against Syracuse earlier this week.

Seminole Player To Watch

#0 Phil Cofer

The senior forward has been averaging over 13 PPG and 5 RPG, and and is on a roll after putting up 21 points at Clemson earlier this week.

Predictions

Matt: 75-68 BC

Katie: 71-69 BC

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