Boston College Basketball vs. Maine/Binghamton: Final Thoughts & Predictions

The Eagles host America East outfits Maine and Binghamton on the Heights this weekend. Neither is very good. Let's break it down.

Game Facts

Game 8 vs. Maine Black Bears

Thursday, December 11, 2014, 7:00 PM
TV: ESPN3
Radio: WEEI 850 AM, BCEagles.com

Preseason Opponent Preview: Maine Black Bears

Series History: 14-4, Boston College

First Meeting: Boston College 45, Maine 25 (January 29, 1921)
Last Meeting at Conte Forum: Maine 52, Boston College 51 (January 2, 2010)

Game 9 vs. Binghamton Bearcats

Sunday, December 14, 2014, 1:00 PM
TV: ESPN3

Preseason Opponent Preview: Binghamton Bearcats

All-Time Series vs. Boston College: First ever meeting between BC and Binghamton. The Bearcats have only been a member of Division I since the 2001 season.

Roster Notes

It's been really quiet on the injury news front. Almost too quiet. Diallo? Jackson? Odio? Your guess is as good as mine. Wild guess, but I'm expecting Odio back (eye)...and wouldn't expect either Diallo or Jackson this weekend.

Projected Starters

G Olivier Hanlan, junior
G Aaron Brown, graduate
G Dimitri Batten, graduate
G Patrick Heckmann, senior
C Dennis Clifford, junior

Three-Point Preview

1. Hanlan takes control. After scoring just nine points in the win over Marist, Hanlan came alive with a 24 point performance to lead the Eagles past Providence. These next two games are perfect opportunities for Hanlan to build on the performance against PC and really take over the offense once again.

2. Another solid performance from Brown and Batten. Both guards had big games against Providence. Christian will need both to serve as the Eagles' scoring options #2 and #3 vs. Maine and Binghamton as well. I just don't know how much mileage Christian is gonna get from Clifford as legit scoring threat. The Eagles' big man has scored exactly 6 points every which way over the first seven games. If its not happening now, I doubt Clifford is gonna start finishing better around the basket and scoring in bunches once ACC play starts. We're starting to see what this year's offense is all about under Christian. It's becoming increasingly clear that the offense runs almost exclusively through Hanlan, Brown, Heck and Batten.

3. Stay motivated. Despite the student section sitting (?) for much of the PC game, the crowd was pretty good last Friday night. That's probably not gonna be the case over the next two games, with Conte reverting back to a morgue vs. Maine and Binghamton. The team is playing with much more energy than at any point last year (@ Syracuse game excepted, I guess). They're gonna need to rely on one another to get up for these next two games as I'd imagine the crowd will be pretty sparse.

Steve Addazio* Previews Maine and Binghamton

[Coach Addazio is busy preparing for the Pinstripe Bowl matchup with Penn State. He'll return to preview the USC game but wanted to commend Jim Christian for being a "dude" and notching the big W over Providence.]

Scoreboard Watching / Out of Town Notes

North Carolina at Kentucky (Saturday noon, CBS) is the marquee matchup of the week. I'm also interested in seeing how Florida State fares at Notre Dame in both program's ACC opener. Also keeping an eye on Sunday's Auburn-Clemson score. Clemson confuses me this year.

Gametime Song of the Week

The Good, The Bad & The Queen - Kingdom of Doom. You probably have never heard of The Good, The Bad & The Queen, a concept album put out in 2007 by a British alt rock supergroup made up of Damon Albarn, Paul Simonon, Simon Tong and Tony Allen. Though you've probably heard of bands like Blur, Gorillaz (Albarn), The Clash (Simonon) and The Verve (Tong).

This is where BC basketball is headed should they drop either of these games.

Random Factoid

America East has had its fair share of conference realignment over the years. Still, BC has faced five of the conference's nine teams and will face two more (Binghamton and UMass-Lowell) for the first time in program history this season. The only current America East programs BC has never faced are Albany and UMBC.

Dot Dot Dot

These two teams are really, really not good.

Maine is 1-7 on the year and 0-5 away from home. The Black Bears just lost to LIU-Brooklyn, giving the Blackbirds their first win of the season. Binghamton is 1-9 on the year and has lost seven straight, including a loss to Division II Caldwell. The Bearcats' one win on the season is an 82-51 victory over Division II Hartwick. Binghamton was also dealt a serious blow when All-America East guard Jordan Reed announced his intention to transfer out on the program. Maine currently ranks 344th nationally (of 351) according to Ken Pomeroy. Binghamton isn't much better at 336.

As joegrav said, "So you're saying we would have lost to them last year." Well, yes. This is what I'm saying.

I'm also saying that Boston College better take care of business in these next two games. A loss in either of these games would set the season back quite a bit, especially after coming off victories over Marist and PC. If there's one stretch of the schedule where BC can rattle off a few wins in succession, this is it.

BCI Predictions

Congrats to Coach, hoya, Jeff and Kwani on picking the Eagles upset of the Friars.

	BC-Maine	Score	BC-Binghamton	Score	Pts.
Brian Favat		70-48		75-52	7
Jeff Martyn		68-54		78-48	7
John Fidler		80-58		80-52	7
hoyaeagle		79-61		75-50	7
A.J Black		67-50		74-51	6
Dan Doolan		80-64		85-65	6
CSOM_97		85-65		90-65	6
Kwani Lunis		68-65		50-43	6
Joe Gravellese		64-55		72-51	4
Dan Rubin		82-68		76-59	3
Grant Salzano		56-52		70-49	3

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Leave your thoughts / predictions on Boston College-Maine and Boston College-Binghamton below. Go Eagles!

* Steve Addazio actually didn't say these things