Saturday, March 17, 2007

BOSTON COLLEGE ELIMINATED FROM TOURNEY


I honestly didn't expect BC to beat Texas Tech. And I didn't even think it was possible for BC to beat Georgetown. The Eagles fell to the Hoyas, but not without putting up a pretty damn good fight.

The Big Three of Marshall, Rice, and Dudley combined for 50 of Boston College's 55 total points. Tyrelle Blair was the only other Eagle to have a field goal. BC fell behind 12-2 in the first 4 minutes, but roared back, tying it at 19 just after the midway point of the 1st half. The teams went into the locker room at halftime with BC up 30-26. The Eagles extended their lead to as much as 8 before Georgetown staged a comeback, eventually taking a 40-39 lead. The game went back and forth, but Georgetown pulled away. The point gap forced BC to try desperate shots, which allowed Georgetown to eventually win the game 62-55.

Georgetown won this game for two big reasons.

#1: More than three of their players scored. BC had 5 points from guys that weren't named Dudley, Marshall, or Rice. Georgetown similarly had three big scorers in Green, Hibbert, and Wallace (43 combined points), but they also got 6 from Ewing, 5 from Summers, and 8 from Sapp. Let's be honest, we all know Georgetown is a deeper team than us, so this sort of thing is to be expected.

#2: Georgetown was bigger than us. They outrebounded BC 37 to 29. They had a large number of 2nd chance points and we had very few. Georgetown got to the line 19 times, we got there 11 times. We made 7 of our 11 free throws, Georgetown made 14 of 19. You get to the line because you drive to the hole, you drive to the hole because you can. Georgetown also had a good number of And 1 opportunities. They were strong enough to get fouled and still put it in.

All in all, this season was a good one for BC basketball. Considering that the team lost a key player in Williams, plays in the best conference in the country (and finished tied for 3rd, only one game behind first place), and had a less than easy bracket to work through going up against Texas Tech then the Big East champions; the end result of a 1-1 NCAA tourney isn't so bad. guys like Rice got some good experience, and even though Dudley and Marshall are gone, the team will be back next year.