Happy UConn Elimination Day

It's always a good day.

Hopefully the UConn women are next.

Hey, at least the 20% of UConn players who actually graduate still have something to look forward to...

BC finally bests Duke

...wow. Every now and then, it feels like we're at a legitimate big time athletics school. Those moments are fleeting, but my God, they sure are gratifying.

The Eagles have now defeated every team in the ACC since joining the league.

I don't hate Duke the way some (most?) people do, but I still hate that weasel Paulus from his tussle with Hinnant in the 2006 ACC championship game. To see him suck it up on the court at Conte was great.

The refs were characteristically bad, but that's to be expected against Duke. Really not surprising at all.

Joe Trapani was a monster tonight. And how can you not love Reggie Jackson? His 3 with about 8 minutes left was one of the top 5 key plays of the game.

Storming the court was fun, and it was especially good to see Gene DeFilippo personally clearing people out of the courtside seats and moving chairs out of the way to give students a lane to run onto the court. A few mouthbreathers from TeamOps tried to hold students back, which really only made things more dangerous as they were getting trampled from all sides.

All Hail Melissa Wade

Melissa Wade, whose unreal hockey photos grace HockeyPhotography.com and USCHO.com, took another gem at Tuesday night's women's Beanpot.

Last night's men's basketball win was an important one, as it's now the type of game that BC "should" win. If the Eagles win all the rest of the games that they "should" win now, based on their record, they'll be dancing in March.

Tonight, the women's basketball team hunts for their 18th win in a huge game against Florida State. I'll be covering the action for EagleInsider.com and will post a link to my story when it's up.

Two days on

Monday night was, plain and simple, an NU tidal wave. In the stands, on the ice - Boston College was blown out of the water, and I was ashamed. It was the worst loss for BC at the Garden during York's tenure. It seems like this team has serious problems, extending beyond the normal slump.

I'll post lots of photos and pics after the final & consolation game.

The women's team won their Beanpot game against NU, 3-1.

The men's basketball team is off to a great start against UVA, up 42-22 at halftime - wow.

Reason to be excited.

The men's basketball team is relevant again, after an outstanding, thrilling win on Saturday thanks to a sick put-back by Rakim Sanders with 0.4 to play.

The women's basketball team plays @ Duke tonight with a chance to make a real statement. The Eagles are 17-4 and knocking on the door of national prominence. A win over Duke would go a long way.

And tonight is one of the best nights of the entire year - Beanpot Monday #1. Satan vs. Harvard at 5 PM, BC vs. Northeastern at 8 PM. Get fired up!

Story of the weekend:

UNH 5, BC 2. Lame.

Molly Schaus got pulled for, I believe, the first time in her career, after BC fell behind 4-1. Backup goalie Keira Kingston did a solid job and BC played hard in front of her, but were unable to pull themselves back into it. Meghan Fardelmann and Danielle Welch scored for BC; Kelly Paton potted three for UNH.

Meanwhile, the men somehow tied awful, awful Providence. Not a good night.

Huge home basketball game tomorrow night in front of what will probably be a packed house. It's a big chance for them to make a splash and regain the 'fan momentum' they lost right after the UNC game. I hear people talking hoops around campus again for the first time in two years. A win tomorrow, and that will only intensify.

The drought ends

Although I certainly wish BC hadn't turned it into a heart attack game, tonight's OT victory over Georgia Tech for men's basketball was Chicken Soup for the BC Fan's Soul. 

Finally, the long drought is over. A win at home over a mediocre NC State team, and suddenly we're 3-3 in the ACC.

The best thing about tonight's win was the heart and effort displayed in pulling it out. Three guys fouled out, and BC blew a big lead late; last year, they would have folded the tent. But tonight, they stood tall. Well done, BC.

Does the drought end tonight?

January 4. That's the last time the BC men's basketball or hockey team won a game. The Conte drought is even longer - back to Dec. 31. The hockey team's drought goes all the way back to November 30, with the last Conte win coming on November 28.

Simply put the marquee BC athletic programs need to put some wins together, and it has to start with a win tonight for the basketball team @ Georgia Tech. Let's hope...

No real complaints...

...about the show put on in the 2nd half by BC. At the start of the half I turned to my friends and said I don't expect BC to win, and I don't really care - I just want to see them give the people here a reason to want to come back next game. I think they did that in the 2nd half. Good hustle, good D, and Biko Paris provided a nice spark off the bench [WHY wasn't he playing in the first?]. 

At 16:30 of the 2nd I was pretty much ready to take off, but by the end of the game I was hopeful for some entertaining games in the future. Wake's a very talented team and there's no shame in losing to them, I just wish BC played as well in the first half.

The offense is predictable and boring, but that's not really the team's fault.

The fans were great when the team's effort gave them reason to be - pretty much every part of the crowd except for the diehard handsitters in the DBS area on the ticket office side. Fun to see some energy tonight. Let's hope we see it for 40 next time.

A couple winnable games here on the road... 3-3 would be nice going into the NC State home game.

The BC basketball bandwagon quickly derails

BC students and alums who don't like hockey probably should develop an affinity for it pretty soon, because it sadly appears that our two other major sports really are only good for occasional teases, followed by heartbreak and agony.

Remember the oft-ridiculed "It's called Bruins..." ad campaign? It led to many jokes with a punchline similar to "failure...it's called Bruins." I'm beginning to think that soul-sucking defeat is synonymous with BC instead of the B's. If it weren't for Jerry York we'd probably never do anything special. 

Is it bad that I'm feeling this pessimistic today? I love BC fully and 9 times out of 10 I'm an optimist... but this awful day in BC history has me wondering if we truly are fated to watch our two revenue teams continue to torture us forever.

BC basketball's very brief splash of national relevance is over and it looks like the basketball team will now join the football team as the subject of jokes from bitter local BC haters. And who can blame them? 

A loss to Harvard is simply embarrassing and unacceptable. There can be no excuses. I've already heard some fans blame the refs [whine, whine] and, astonishingly, the fans [as if it's the job of the fans to make the players have a little pride in themselves and actually show up to play every game].

They came out flat but unlike many teams that come out flat. they never recovered. It took Rice a very long time to get going. The rebounding was poor and the foul shooting was even worse. 

Say what you will about Al Skinner's program building, his game management SUCKS. His flat style is suited to letdowns like this, and we didn't start pressing until WAY, WAY too late, against a team we are far more athletic than.

I just want to put my hand through the wall right now. I'll post some New Brunswick pictures and videos tomorrow... anything to forget about football and basketball.

I leave the country and the BC sports world turns upside down

At around 6 PM this evening, I thought the most interesting thing I'd have to blog about today would be being present at UNH's exciting 5-4 victory over Maine at Alfond Arena, in which UNH scored four goals in the third period to top the Black Bears. 

Then, over the next few hours, the entire BC sports landscape changed right before our eyes.

The UNC win legitimately is a program-changer; it was probably the best regular season win in team history. It instantly gives the program the national respect and attention that it has lacked since the end of the Sean Williams era. There's a very good chance that BC vaults right into the top 20. 

While it's too early to call this a sure sign of things to come, it's hard not to get excited when Rakim Sanders and Reggie Jackson help Tyrese carry the load and bring home a victory in Tobbaco Road. The guys should be very proud.

Of course, there is also the Jags news; according to very reliable sources, he's gone. Absolutely stunning. I feel almost personally hurt and decieved, as I truly believed Jags was here for the long haul. There's no way he actually gets the Jets job... so this is all just very odd.

I'll be perfectly honest here: any way you look at it, this is going to be an EPIC FAIL for BC, perception-wise, and perception really is one of the most important things here. This is going to be viewed one of three ways:

1] BC got rid of a very good football coach [very true, in perception and reality]

2] BC overreacted to Jags' natural desire for an NFL job, the pinnacle of his profession.

3] BC got played by a slick-talker who professed his loyalty then screwed.

This is also going to reinforce the image of BC as a stepping-stone job. But let's be frank - what isn't a stepping stone job? Nick Saban says hello. Coaches are always looking out for the next offer, that's just the way it is. While I salute GDF for his courage here and hope the program can grow from this moving forward, this is going to make BC look VERY bad and will hurt recruiting unless Gene makes a huge splash with the next hire.

With that said, I'm rooting for Spaz to get the head coaching job. I feel like that's highly unlikely, though.

I'll have pictures and stories from New Brunswick and Maine either later tonight or tomorrow... for now, I'm trying to take this all in.

More from UNB

Last night, the #7 women's hockey team defeated Yale 1-0 in overtime on a Danielle Welch goal. This is a pretty solid win on the road and it gave the Eagles a four point weekend after beating Colgate on Friday.

The men's basketball team travels to UNC today. Let's hope for a miracle and/or Hansbrough going pro by 6 PM.

More from last night's BC-UNB game:

As I mentioned, Lyles looked very impressive. I understand that he probably had more incentive to play hard than some of the other guys, but he really did look like someone who's capable of stepping in and being a valuable part of the defensive corps next year. He looks very poised with the puck and makes smart decisions. He also plays a very good physical game and banged bodies with some much bigger UNB forwards. He even picked up an assist on BC's 3rd [?] goal. The only negative was that he got a penalty in the 3rd period - it was in a sequence where he and the UNB player were really going at it away from the puck and really both could have been whistled down, then Lyles reached out and held him one more time to draw the call. All in all, a very good performance for him.

Bradford and Ferriero were the two shooters in the post-game shootout; although they missed, they were both very deserving of 'all-tournament team' honors, although I think Matt Lombardi deserved some consideration because he was everywhere for BC in both games even though he wasn't on the scoresheet as much as those two.

It's really tough to judge much of anything from these games, although it's hard not to be impressed by UNB's team. Overall it's just good that a) the whole roster played and b) nobody got hurt. On to Vermont...

A dubious list while I head into Canada

I'm in Falmouth, Maine this morning, getting set to drive into New Brunswick for the exhibition series between the Eagles and the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds. Being on the road has helped me avoid any discussion of the Game That Never Happened, but I've still been steaming over it internally, which led me to think of the following list: The Top 6 losses that made me sick during my time as a BC student. These aren't the most depressing or heartbreaking losses [i.e. National Championship game, ACC title games, etc.], but rather the losses that left me with a sick feeling because of how awful the loss and/or opponent was.

Enjoy:

1. Football - Music City Bowl vs. Vanderbilt - 2008

Yep, this one is the worst; it continued to stain the ACC's already horrible reputation, it broke our one small source of pride, the bowl streak, and it created some big fears about the future of our offense. I respect Vanderbilt as one of the few classy programs in the SEC, but losing to them stinks - especially in a bowl game. This one is tough to stomach.

2. Men's Hockey - vs. Northeastern, March 2008

Senior Night at Conte Forum was the penultimate game of the regular season and the start of a home-and-home with NU. The Eagles needed to step up and win at least one in order to secure home ice for the Hockey East playoffs, but they came in reeling after an 0-1-1 weekend against previously ice-cold Providence.

BC scored just nine seconds into the game, but the rest of it was miserable as Northeastern outhustled BC to every puck and won every battle along the boards. A late Mike Brennan rocket tied the game, but Northeastern dominated and broke through in overtime. After this game, I further adjusted my already low expectations - I just wanted to make it to the Garden for the Hockey East semifinals. How little I knew...

3. Men's Basketball - vs. Duquesne, December 2006

The 2005-06 basketball team should have gone to the Final Four - I maintain that to this very day - and I held out hope that the '06-'07 team could make a similar run. But the loss against an awful Duquesne team at home really put a damper on that. I do recall Duquesne coming back from a late double-digit deficit, and Sean Williams [who?] picking up a very dumb technical foul in overtime to help gift-wrap the game.

4. Football - vs. Georgia Tech, September 2008

We don't lose home games, for the most part; for all the talk about our crappy home field advantage, BC football has dominated at Alumni Stadium over the past five seasons or so. The Class of 2012 was not as lucky as '10 or '11 as their first home game was a bitterly disappointing loss to a team we expected to beat. Chris Crane's struggles poured cold water all over my theory that Crane's mobility and the return of Raji and Toal would make the '08 squad better than their '07 counterpart.

5. Women's Hockey - vs. Northeastern, December 2007

In hindsight, realizing how good Leah Sulyma is in net makes this one easier to swallow, but at the time a loss to Northeastern was very, very tough to take; it was the official sign that the '07-'08 version of the Eagles had something missing, and that the rest of the season would be difficult to watch.

6. Men's Hockey - vs. BU, December 2008

We were lucky enough to go the entire year in '07-'08 without seeing BC lose to BU, so I was able to forget how sickening it is to see a loss in a huge rivalry game. Coming on the heels of the ACC championship loss earlier that afternoon, watching BU fans celebrate all over Conte left me with a sick feeling that lingered for days. Making matters worse: the team hasn't played yet since then.

Too easy

The men's basketball team came just shy of breaking 100 today in a 99-61 win over Maine, who must be the worst D1 basketball team I've ever seen in person.

There were maybe 900 people there, which was actually kind of neat, in an intimate, cozy sort of way; if you're a purist, and you like hearing on-court conversations and the directions of the coaches from the bench, then you probably would have had fun at the game.

Corey Raji was feelin' it, with a 26 point, 13 rebound double-double. Rice had 21 points, 9 assists, and one of his best defensive games [albeit against a team of midgets].

Next up: a relatively important game against San Francisco on Monday night.

Two escapes

The men's and women's basketball teams both escaped with solid victories on Saturday afternoon.

The men finally shook off the Providence bugaboo, beating the Friars 81-76 at Conte Forum. They led from start to finish, but very nearly choked it away in the final minutes, letting a fourteen point lead shrink to four points in the last minute. This is an important win against a decent team, and a 9-2 record ain't nothin' to be ashamed of.

The women's basketball team beat a very good Houston team 62-56 on the back of a 27-point second half effort by Mickel Picco. The win came in spite of a woeful first half, after which the Eagles trailed 28-14. The victory put BC into the finals of the St. John's/Chartwell Holiday Tournament; the Eagles will face St. Johns at 3 PM on Sunday. 

Rivalry hoops

I dismissed Providence College basketball this year when I heard they'd lost to Northeastern 70-66 in their season opener. But since that point, coach Keno Davis's squad has put together a 7-2 record. I'll grant that the seven wins haven't come against the best competition [their most impressive win is probably over Rhode Island], but BC's wins haven't exactly come against world beaters either.

The fact that the Eagles have lost to the Friars two years in a row has been one of the most annoying storylines in BC athletics during my time as a student. The Friars are, I would argue, our best basketball rivalry, and while many BC fans probably view PC as an inferior program, the Friars hold a 57-45 lead in the all-time series against the Eagles.

Last year, BC lost to PC in overtime at the TD Banknorth Garden in front of a crowd that heavily favored Providence. I expect the crowd to be 50-50 at best this afternoon in Conte, as the Friars will be sending busloads of fans up for the game. It should create a lively, albeit tense atmosphere in the Forum. I'm already sad that I can't make it, as I have prior commitments that I can't get out of. The game is on NESN, so I'll fire up the VCR; hopefully it'll be worth watching in full.

BC All Access has a preview up for the game, including a breakdown of PC's starters and leading scorers. Friars.com has posted PC's game notes.

Tipoff is 4 PM this afternoon.

WBB beats FIU 93-65; Photos from men's and women's games

Maybe it's because I had just been watching the Flex for two hours, but watching Sylvia Crawley's up-tempo offensive style is just incredibly entertaining.

It was far from a perfect day for the women's basketball team, but they still managed to score 93 points and run their record to 8-2 - and a perfect 7-0 against unranked opponents.

The game was even more of a blowout than the score would indicate, but FIU was shooting the lights out - particularly their Croatian Sensation, Monika Bosilj, who left the game with 30 points; she got a pretty good ovation from the BC fans as she left, a truly classy response to her great performance.

Mickel Picco got her stroke back today, knocking down three 3-pointers and finishing with 23 total points. Carolyn Swords was dominant as usual, racking up a double-double: 19 points and 10 rebounds. She's also developing a little bit of range with her jump shot, which could be very scary for opponents.

Ayla Brown had herself a pretty good game, too, with ten points and four rebounds; she looked really comfortable out there, which seemed to be occasionally lacking last season.

Jaclyn Thoman seems to be struggling a bit this year; she finished with two points and four turnovers in 14 minutes. Perhaps she was better suited to Inglese's system? She's a talented ballhandler and I expect her minutes to rise as the season goes on but right now it looks like Brittany Johnson is the go-to player at point guard. Johnson had nine points in 22 minutes.

The overall team D will have to improve and they'll have to convert some of the easy chances that they missed if they're going to knock off strong ACC teams, but all in all, BC looks like an NCAA tourney contender right now. In year one of the new regime, that's about all you can ask. This team will be fun to watch during ACC play.

Photos

Rice misses a shot

Southern at the line

Reggie Jackson

The starting lineup

Intros

Rusin on D

Swords

Final

BC 67 - SC Upstate 55

It was about as inspiring as the scoreline would suggest. Nonetheless, the mantra has to be, once again, 'take the win and move on.'

Tyrese Rice went scoreless, although he did have several assists including a very nice pass to Raji late in the game. 

However, the team seemed to play much better - and much harder on defense - when Rice was off the court. The game was won in a first half sequence with Rice on the bench. With BC trailing by 5 for most of the first half, Tyler Roche suddenly and unexpectedly went off, banging down four three pointers in six possessions including three in a row which gave BC a lead that they would never relinquish.

Roche ended up leading the way with 17 points including 5 tres. Trapani added 16.

Free throw shooting continues to haunt this team, as they simply could not bury USC-U down the stretch despite getting numerous chances to do so at the line.

Biko Paris needs to be the point guard in the future; he runs the offense far better than Rice does, in my opinion; put Rice back in the 2 where he played when we had Louis Hinnant. Maybe that can be a recipe for success.

I'm heading back to Conte now [microeconomics book in tow...ugh... just one exam to go.] for the women's basketball game; pics later.

We interrupt this study/exam block to scratch our heads...

...as we learn that UMASS BEAT KANSAS??? whatttt?!!!

So, by transitive property and several other bits of faulty logic, BC is a contender for the national championship!

In all seriousness, this development is very good for BC's RPI should the Eagles somehow get themselves into tournament contention come March. It's also very good for a UMass program that has gotten off to a pretty disastrous start this year. As a Mass. native, I would like to see the Minutemen succeed, despite the fact that they are our " "basketball" "rival" ." [Sort of like how the nail is the hammer's Home Depot product rival.]

Speaking of the hoopsters, they hit the Conte hardwood again tomorrow with yet another marquee non-conference matchup against South Carolina-Upstate. The Spartans enter the game with a robust 0-6 record, including an RPI-boosting loss to perennial powerhouse Duquesne, 79-69. They recovered from that loss to come within just two points of beating Kennesaw State [who I'm pretty sure isn't even D1... they can't be, can they?].

I'm sure the joint will be jumping.

Part two of tomorrow's hoops doubleheader features the women's team taking on Florida International. The Eagles are 6-2, including a 5-0 mark against unranked teams. 

FIU is 1-5 on the year, but they did beat NC State over Thanksgiving break, 58-42. In their other ACC clash, they lost to perennial conference doormat Miami 66-49.

I'm guessing the NCSU game was an aberration, but the Eagles better make sure they don't get caught sleeping. BC will need to clean up on these non-conference foes in order to get back into the 'also receiving votes' category.

Back to work for me... I will be at tomorrow's games so I'll have a brief report and pictures to post in the late-afternoon.

BC women's hockey throttles BU, 5-0

After BC's last game, a loss on Friday night at UConn, I posted that it had been over a month since the Eagles put together a truly convincing performance.

No longer.

Last night at Walter Brown Arena - a place that's been a house of horrors for BC the last three seasons - BC smashed their cross-town rivals, 5-0. Allie Thunstrom scored a hat trick, including a pair of shorthanded goals.

I wasn't there. I wanted to go to both this game (at 5 PM) and the end of last night's basketball game (7 PM), but as circumstances worked out, I couldn't make it to either one. I missed a great one at Walter Brown.

The game broke BU's 7-game home winning streak, including a pair of wins over powerhouse UNH. BU had also not been shut out in 14 games.

BU has been an up-and-down team, but they undoubtedly came into last night's game as top dogs in Hockey East. This is a huge win for the Eagles.

On the hardwood, Boston College (7-2) beat Bryant (1-7), 80-61. Not the most impressive win over a first year D1 team, but a win's a win.