Boston College Basketball: Six Observations from the Barclays Center Classic

The Barclays Center Classic was this weekend, and Boston College was swept out of the building by Richmond and Kansas State. Here’s what we saw during the weekend:

1. Jerome Robinson can flat out ball: Watching Jerome Robinson play this weekend should give BC fans such hope for the future. Robinson showed tremendous offensive prowess, especially in the game against Richmond. Robinson shot 87.5% from the field in the first half of the Richmond game. The good news is that, when Robinson has the touch, the offense looks more cohesive, as it did during the first half Saturday evening. That said…
2. Someone else needs to start scoring en masse: During the second half of Saturday’s game, Robinson’s shooting percentage dropped to 25%. The result? BC’s offense sputtered. It begs the question, what will the offense do later in the season? Eventually BC is going to get to ACC play, and one of two things is going to happen. Either Robinson gets shut down by an equal talent, or defenses will double him up. Either way, Robinson doesn’t put up 27 points, which necessitates another scorer. The question is, who?
3. The offense looks really strong: I can honestly say that BC’s offense is better than last year’s, based on the eye test. I was really impressed with BC’s ball movement against Richmond. There appears to be an advent from the Eli Carter hero-ball era, and that’s good news.
4. …until it doesn’t: BC’s offense is very, very streaky. At one moment the Eagles can be shooting the lights out in the gym, and the next they can get very cold. Teams go through this sometimes, but it is beginning to become a pattern. This could be chalked up to youth, but it definitely merits closer examination.
5. Free Throws: I feel like a broken record, but 58.3% from the stripe against Richmond is not going to cut it. This is a big reason why BC is struggling to put teams away late (though not Richmond in this case). When BC misses its free throws, it allows trailing teams to get the ball back and mount a comeback. Again, not a problem necessarily with this weekend, but it’s still concerning.
6. Holiday Tournaments Are Dumb: I thoroughly enjoy watching games at the Barclays Center. I enjoy the Nathan’s fries the most. That said, nobody else appears to enjoy watching games at the Barclays Center.

There are a ton of empty seats in that picture. More seats filled in for Maryland/Richmond (mostly Maryland fans), but there were still gaping holes in the seating. I’m all for non-conference tournaments, but have them at campus sites, and don’t create a scenario where teams are playing in front of empty gyms.

Not that we’d know about that or anything.