Getting to next level remains a tough climb
Boston College went into last night's game against North Carolina tied for first in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Not Duke, which won the national championship in 2001, has been a perennial Sweet 16 team, and has won the ACC tournament title seven of the last eight years.
Not North Carolina, although the Tar Heels are ranked No. 4 in the country and won the national championship in 2005.
Not Maryland, which won the national championship in 2002.
Not Georgia Tech, which lost to Connecticut in the NCAA championship game in 2004.
But Boston College, which brought a record of 18-7 (9-3) to Conte Forum for a showdown with the Tar Heels in an atmosphere that rivaled anything in the Eagles' Big East days -- you remember those -- when UConn, Syracuse, and Georgetown would come to town.
A win would have made it perfect. But the Eagles didn't get it.
Oh, they put on a show for the sellout crowd of 8,606, a better performance than the one they submitted against Duke Wednesday night, but in the end the result was a 77-72 loss, which dropped BC out of first place in the conference and makes the next two weeks a dangerous journey indeed.
"We had our opportunities," said BC coach Al Skinner, who said he took some satisfaction in the effort. "Sometimes it just doesn't go your way.
None of the hoopla should shock anyone who has watched what Skinner has built in 10 seasons at The Heights. The Eagles' landing in the ACC has been smooth in football and basketball, the two revenue-producing sports that draw the most attention.
A year ago, BC came within a basket of winning the ACC tournament -- in Greensboro, N.C., along Tobacco Road -- facing Carolina and Duke on successive days.
The Eagles are a solid team that plays sound, fundamental basketball and is led by a player, senior forward Jared Dudley, who has first-team All-America credentials.
But last night they weren't the better team, including Dudley, who missed three free throws in the last two minutes and then missed a 3-pointer in the final 10 seconds that could have tied the game.
Once again, the Eagles could not take the next step, submit a top performance against a marquee team.
And that is why last night's game was a crossroads. It was a remarkable week for BC basketball in terms of exposure, including ESPN's "College GameDay" broadcasting live from campus yesterday. It was a week the Eagle community embraced.
Duke came to Conte on a four-game losing streak and left with a 78-70 victory as the Eagles did not bring their "A" game, at least not for long enough.
Carolina arrived still feeling the sting of losing to Virginia Tech for the second time this season, a Tech team BC beat by 21 points two weeks ago. So the Eagles were clearly capable of beating the Tar Heels. But they didn't, and now they must deal with a series of challenges, needing to win at least one game to feel more secure. It could be a tough task with a game at Virginia Tech Wednesday, a home encounter against Clemson -- a 20-point winner over the Eagles in January -- and a road game against Georgia Tech.
As secure as the Eagles felt about their NCAA Tournament hopes at the beginning of the week, they still don't have a win over a solid tournament team. Sweeping Florida State and beating Michigan State and Virginia at home was nice, but those teams should not be making any NCAA Tournament plans yet.
And there are home losses to Vermont and Duquesne that could still haunt the Eagles.
"We have to win some games," said Dudley.
Skinner said there was disappointment in the BC locker room, but not panic. "We didn't win the game," he said. "But if you asked me if we played this game over would I follow the same script, I would say yes. We had opportunities. And we will continue to have opportunities. Have the wheels fallen off? Absolutely not. I'm not at all disappointed about my club, I appreciate the effort."
But last night it wasn't quite good enough.
Mark Blaudschun can be reached at blaudschun@globe.com. 
