DeFilippo moved by experience
Boston College's game against Pittsburgh last night was not only the final home court appearance for senior center Nate Doornekamp and senior guard Jermaine Watson, it was also the Eagles' last home game as a Big East team.
The next time BC takes the court at Conte Forum, it will be as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
"There's some mixed feelings," said athletic director Gene DeFilippo. "I feel like I did the day I left high school. I was really sad that I was leaving a friendly environment where I had a lot of friends, but I was really, really excited about the new experiences and the new challenges that I'd have in college."
BC, which was a charter member of the Big East, will become the 12th member of the ACC in the fall, joining former Big East members Miami and Virginia Tech.
"In a way it's sad, because I'd like to think that we, that Boston College has helped build the Big East for the last 12 years that I've been in it," said DeFilippo, who came to BC in 1997 after five years as Villanova's AD. "And now to be going into a new league is very, very exciting and we're looking forward to the excitement and the challenge."
Spoil sports
What is it about Pittsburgh? "They just seem to have our number," said BC sophomore forward Jared Dudley, who was held to a season-low 4 points in the 72-50 loss to the Panthers. BC suffered its sixth straight loss to Pittsburgh, and 10th in the last 11 meetings. BC's only victory in that stretch came in the championship game of the 2001 Big East tournament . . . Pitt snapped BC's 19-game home-court winning streak. When BC strung together 25 consecutive home wins from March 3, 2000, to Dec. 16, 2001, it was the Panthers who snapped that one, with a 77-74 victory . . . BC was outrebounded by a whopping 49-27, its worst margin of the season. "Rebounds was clearly the difference in the ballgame," said BC coach Al Skinner. "For them to outrebound us with those types of numbers is an indication of how dominating they were."
Flutie plays
Doug Flutie sat in with BC's pep band, playing the drums, during a break with 3:08 remaining in the first half . . . BC quarterback Paul Peterson, who broke his leg in the Continental Tire Bowl, received the football team's MVP trophy during a break in the first half . . . In other football news, coach Tom O'Brien reported that redshirt freshman offensive lineman Justin Tougas will not participate in spring drills because of personal reasons . . . Channel 5 news anchor Liz Brunner had a tough act to follow last night. Brunner sang the national anthem before the game but was upstaged by Dana Smart, Doornekamp's 12-year-old cousin, who sweetly sang `O Canada." The Canadian flag was displayed and its national anthem sung at a BC basketball game for the first time, in honor of the departing Doornekamp, who is from Odessa, Ontario . . . Pat Newcomb, a BC sophomore from Sudbury, might have been the only Eagle fan to go home happy. He won a Pontiac G6 in the Halftime Skee-Ball Challenge.
