Welcome to The Sports Bank’s second annual college basketball season preview series. Last year we looked at 99 teams in 99 days. This year, we are being slightly more aggressive and expanding to 111 teams in 111 days. We will rank the 74 power conference teams and top 37 mid-majors in reverse power ranking order. We’ll break down rosters, non-conference schedules, and pick a player to watch for each team.
Coming in at #110 in our “111 in 111” is the Boston College Eagles who lose pretty much everybody from a year ago and face a massive re-building effort.
GO HERE for the Boston College football season preview.
BOSTON COLLEGE EAGLES
Last season: T-4th, 9-7 in ACC, 21-13 overall
Predicted ACC Finish: 12th
Projected Depth Chart
C: Kyle Caudill (Fr)/Dennis Clifford (Fr)
PF: Ryan Anderson (Fr)/Ryan Kilcullen (Fr)/John Cain Carney (Fr)
G/F: Danny Rubin (So)/Eddie Odio (Fr)/Patrick Heckmann (Fr)
SG: Matthew Humphrey (Jr)/Lonnie Jackson (Fr)/Deirunas Visockas (Sr)/Peter Rehnquist (Jr)
PG: Gabriel Morton (So)/Jordan Daniels (Fr)
Gone: G-Reggie Jackson, PF-Joe Trapani, SF-Corey Raji, PG-Biko Paris, C-Josh Southern, G-John Cahill, PF-Courtney Dunn, SG-Dallas Elmore (transfer)
2011-2012 Outlook:
In his first year running the show at Boston College, Steve Donahue did a solid job with a veteran team; nearly leading the Eagles to the NCAA Tournament. However, with seven of their top nine scorers gone from a year ago including star combo guard Reggie Jackson who left for the NBA after his junior season, Donahue transitions to a re-building project by welcoming eleven new players to town.
Experience will be absent for B.C. this season as sophomores Daniel Rubin and Gabriel Morton are the top returning scorers despite only averaging 4.1 and 2.5 points respectively last season. The addition of Oregon transfer Matthew Humphrey will provide the Eagles with a needed upperclassmen who has at least played significant minutes for more than one season at a high Division One level.
Of the nine freshmen, 6-8 power forward Ryan Anderson figures to make the biggest splash. He is more of a face-up four who can step out and knock down jump shots. 6-11 Kyle Caudill will be counted on to bring the muscle down low while 6-10 Dennis Clifford should also add some athleticism and versatility to the frontcourt. Eddie Odio, John Cain Carney, Patrick Heckmann, and Ryan Kilcullen figure to compete for minutes off the bench.
With Rubin, Humphrey, and Morton expected to log a lot minutes in the backcourt, freshmen Jordan Daniels and Lonnie Jackson will try to work their way into the rotation. Deirunas Visockas is an unknown for the Eagles. He transfers in from Lafayette College as a graduate student after not playing the past two seasons due to injury.
This figures to be a season filled with growing pains at Boston College… what else can you expect with nearly 88% of last year’s offense missing? If BC has any ray of hope for not finishing in the cellar of the ACC, it is that several other teams like Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, N.C. State, and Maryland are going through their own periods of transition and are also filled with numerous question marks as well as turnover on their roster.
Player to Watch: Matthew Humprhey
During his two years at Oregon, Humphrey was primarily a three-point shooter with two-thirds of his field goal attempts coming from beyond the arc. Donahue and the Eagles will need Humphrey to become a more well rounded player while also bringing leadership to this extremely young team. He already has a year of practicing with B.C. under his belt as he sat out last season which should ease his transition back to real game action.
Key Non-Conference Games:
11/24 vs. St. Louis (76 Classic)
11/25 vs. Villanova/UC Riverside (76 Classic)
11/27 vs. New Mexico/Santa Clara/Oklahoma/Washington State
11/30 vs. Penn State
OTHER 111 IN 111’S:
#92 Oregon State Beavers
#93 Washington State Cougars
#94 Iowa Hawkeyes
#95 Ole Miss Rebels
#96 Nebraka Cornhuskers
#97 Oklahoma Sooners
#98 South Florida Bulls
#99 LSU Tigers
#100 Colorado Buffaloes
#101 DePaul Blue Demons
#102 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
#103 Wake Forest Demon Deacons
#104 Seton Hall Pirates
#105 Providence Friars
#106 Auburn Tigers
#107 South Carolina Gamecocks
#108 Texas Tech Red Raiders
#109 Penn State Nittany Lions
#110 Boston College Eagles
#111 Utah Utes
David Kay is a senior feature NBA Draft, NBA, and college basketball writer for the Sports Bank. He also heads up the NBA and college basketball material at Walter Football.com and is a fomer contributor at The Washington Times Communities. David has appeared on numerous national radio programs spanning from Cleveland to New Orleans to Honolulu. He also had the most accurate 2011 NBA Mock Draft on the web.
You can follow him on Twitter at DavidKay_TSB.