Boston College Men’s Basketball: Previewing the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

After letting another close contest slip through the hands last week against the Pittsburgh Panthers, the Eagles flew back north to prepare to defend the ‘Nut against another beatable opponent in Georgia Tech.

Georgia Tech is entering the contest at the bottom of the ACC battle without a single ACC win on the season and holding a 6-8 record. While at first glance this once again points again to a sign of hope for the Eagles in this being a winnable game against a ‘weak’ opponent, I think it is appropriate to pull a Lee Corso ‘Not so fast!’ on this team.

It is no doubt that the Yellow Jackets are certainly one of the weaker teams in the conference, but their strength of schedule has been pretty ridiculous to this point. In fact, GA Tech was ranked in having the 76th hardest schedule in all of NCAA. Just as conference play has gotten underway, the Jackets have already played the likes of Wisconsin, Duke, USC and LSU to which they dropped each of those matchups. Currently, the team is on a three game ACC skid like the Eagles but are certainly out for blood against a BC team that is certainly having some growing pains. And they have the weapons to do it.

The first name that draws the most attention is Michael Devoe. Devoe is currently the ACC leader in PPG with 21.1 per game and against some damn good competition. The senior is essentially a walking bucket as he been filling up the stat sheet against top-tier opposition including a 33 point performance against Wisconsin. He also quite the competitive fire in his belly after he evidently talked some smack against Coach K. No animosity, just sheer desire to topple the goliath that is Duke basketball.

Fortunately for the Eagles, Devoe is the Jackets strongest point of attack and the rest of the areas of their game leave a lot to be desired. They have a difficult time holding on to the ball as they rank 209th in the NCAA in TOPG with 13.5. In the conference, they are also 8th in rebounding and one place above the Eagles in total points per game with 67.9 to BC’s 67.1.

At the time of this writing, odds are not currently available but ESPN is giving the Eagles a slight edge in terms of a Moneyline pick. I would have to probably say that I would hammer the Eagles on this one as well (not sure if I’d take the points depending on where the line is by tip-off). However, I have come to this decision by sheer desire to see BC not let this bottom of the table opponent squeak away with another win like they did with Pitt. With Devoe being Tech’s focal point on pretty much every aspect of the floor, I do not see why BC cannot contain him and force other players so step up. Grant will come with a plan and it will executed with success. You can quote me on that... I just hope I don’t end up looking like the town fool after making such a claim...

Prediction: Boston College 76 - Georgia Tech 68