Seeds of hope for BC
Aiming high, Eagles upset PC
PROVIDENCE -- Now it's all about the seeding.
Projected as a possible No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament, Boston College clinched at least the fifth seed in this week's Big East Tournament with yesterday's gritty 63-54 victory over a 12th-ranked Providence College team that locked up the No. 3 seed after losing its second straight home game before a stunned Dunkin' Donuts Center crowd of 12,993.
"I think we're playing for a seed now," said BC coach Al Skinner, whose team may have improved its NCAA seeding to a possible No. 7 after wrapping up its regular season by winning eight of its last nine games, including the last five. "Most guys want to avoid that 8-9 game [in the NCAAs] if you can possibly do that. Once we beat St. John's [68-54, last Wednesday night at Conte Forum], I just thought we were playing for a seed. So any success we can have in the Big East Tournament is only going to help us and enhance what we're trying to do."
Predicted to finish eighth in the Big East coaches' preseason poll, the Eagles (21-8, 10-6) remained in contention for a No. 4 seed and a coveted first-round bye in the conference tourney at Madison Square Garden after scoring their first win over a ranked opponent since romping to a 95-71 triumph at 14th-ranked Connecticut Feb. 1, 2003.
BC, however, will need to root for its most bitter league rival, UConn, when the Huskies square off against Syracuse in the Carrier Dome today at 2 p.m.
Asked if it would be awkward to openly root for a school that has filed suit against BC for its decision to leave the Big East for the Atlantic Coast Conference, Skinner smiled and said, somewhat sardonically, "Hey, I love 'em."
The Eagles need the Huskies and Seton Hall (19-8, 9-6) to win their respective finales at Syracuse and Rutgers today to force a three-way tie for fourth place with the Orangemen (20-6, 10-5). In that scenario, BC would clinch the No. 4 seed (and the bye) by virtue of its combined 2-1 record vs. Syracuse and Seton Hall and face the winner of the first-round matchup between the fifth-seeded Orangemen and 12th-seeded Georgetown in the quarterfinals Thursday at 2 p.m.
"We're ready, we've been ready," said BC sophomore forward Craig Smith (12 points, 8 rebounds), who fouled out with 2:55 to go and the Eagles clinging to a 50-42 lead. "We're going to go down there [to New York] and shock some people, whether we get the bye or not."
In the first half, BC shocked the Friars (20-7, 11-5) by capitalizing on their putrid first-half shooting (5 for 26) to roar to a 23-4 lead that twice grew to as many as 20 points (27-7 and 29-9). After missing his first seven shots, Ryan Gomes (13 points, 7 rebounds) finally made his first basket of the game by draining a 3-pointer to get the Friars out of the single digits, 29-12, with 3:57 to go.
Led by freshman Jared Dudley, who had a game-high 15 points to go along with 8 rebounds, BC went on to take a 33-15 lead at halftime, but watched as the Friars mounted a furious second-half comeback. PC, however, never got closer than 6 points after managing to make just 1 of 8 shots during a critical stretch when Smith was out of the game.
The Eagles, meanwhile, got some critical performances down the stretch from guards Jermaine Watson and Steve Hailey, who combined to score 16 points (8 apiece), getting 8 of BC's last 9 of the game from the foul line, where the Eagles converted 21 of 29 overall.
In the end, BC not only won its 21st game of the season, but also succeeded in eliminating all the suspense (and disappointment) that Selection Sunday brought last year.
"We didn't want to have a repeat of last year," Skinner said, noting how the Eagles averted a bad loss in their nonconference games. "We did not want someone to pick us apart and say, `Well they didn't do this, they didn't do that.' So we tried to take away all the negatives. I thought we had enough positives last year [beating UConn and North Carolina State on the road] but there was some negatives [notably the nonconference losses to Holy Cross and Northeastern] that they pointed to.
"This year, I think we minimized that," he added. "We're not the best team, but I think we're a pretty good team."
One certainly worthy of an NCAA bid and, quite possibly, a No. 7 seed. 