They came up empty in hours of need
CLEVELAND -- Boston College 25-5. Back home today with an empty feeling it can share with Syracuse, Kansas, and, undoubtedly a few more heavyweights to come.
Someday the Eagles will reflect on the accomplishment inherent in a 25-win season. But the only relevant issue now is the 40 minutes of quality basketball BC needed, and didn't get, that would have validated the season.
BC needed to get to the Round of 16. Period. But for the second year in a row and third time in five years BC was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament after winning just one game. The Eagles are home mourning an 83-75 loss to a scrappy Wisconsin-Milwaukee team.
The more deserving team won. The better team? Doesn't matter. BC probably would win a best-of-anything series against this team. They'd be more ready for UWM's full-court press for one thing. But the beauty and essence of the NCAA Tournament is that every game means someone advances and someone goes home, until there is only one team left standing. You lose, you're done. No exceptions.
UWM was the constant aggressor. UWM spotted BC an 11-0 lead and then controlled the final 37 minutes, forcing BC into a continual defensive posture. UWM answered every BC run with not just a big play, but with a clear act of basketball aggression.
You know what UWM played like? The Heinsohn-era Celtics. Seriously. The Panthers ran out of BC makes, and they did it at the most pivotal times.
When a Craig Smith basket gave BC its first second-half lead at 56-55, the Panthers came flying downcourt and Joah Tucker wound up with two successful free throws to regain the lead. Elapsed time: nine seconds.
When a Smith follow-up created a 67-67 situation with 4:35 remaining, rocket ship point guard Chris Hill took flight, getting himself to the line for 2 more points. Elapsed time: eight seconds.
That is old-style, winning, take-it-to-'em basketball. It's the kind of basketball that, coupled with UWM's game-long dominance of loose-ball situations, led Smith to a logical conclusion.
"We were the higher seed," said BC's Mr. Inside (25 points on 11-for-19 shooting). "We had advantages. We took advantage in the second half. But they wanted it more."
That, of course, is always the assumption when a 12 seed plays a 4, or when a team from a so-called "mid-major" conference plays a team from an establishment "power conference," and there may be some truth to it. But it's not all about emotion in these matters. This game was very much about a technical issue.
What was the big question concerning this game? It was whether BC could handle the vaunted UWM press. The Eagles played a first half in which it seemed they were determined to make a proper seer out of coach Al Skinner, who, when asked the day before just how a team could get ready for a press such as UWM's with one 99-minute practice, said, "You can't."
Boy, was he right. BC got off to that 11-0 lead, a circumstance that prevented the Panthers from setting up their press. When they did, it was a BC disaster. By halftime, BC was trailing, 41-37, despite shooting 12 for 20 from the floor. That's because BC had an astonishing, unacceptable 16 turnovers, leading to 23 Panther points. In one three-minute stretch, UWM had five consecutive baskets emanating from BC turnovers.
BC settled down in the second half, but the damage had been done.
It wasn't just the press. BC needed to defend UWM's 3-point shooters, and it couldn't. The Panthers were 11 for 24 from beyond the arc. BC was also unable to stop the clever Tucker, a 6-foot-5-inch inside-outside combo player. Tucker went for 23, mixing threes (3 for 4) with slashing drives. He is the kind of delightful, unknown star the tournament annually showcases.
What a night for UWM coach Bruce Pearl. As has been endlessly chronicled, he is from Sharon, Mass., and he is BC '82. On any other night of the year he would be rooting for the alma matter, as he does for all Boston teams. But last evening, he had only one thought.
"When they started playing `For Boston,' " he said, "it got me conflicted -- but only for a second." His team was never conflicted. In monomaniacal pursuit of a cherished goal. His team will be going to Chicago to face the No. 1-ranked
My advice to Illinois: Just be ready. That's all I'm saying. Be ready.
Bob Ryan is a Globe columnist. His e-mail address is ryan@globe.com.
