Season in Review: Boston College

The dust has settled on the ACC season and it's time to look back and see how each team did. Did the season perform up to expectations? Or was it a disappointment? We start with Boston College.

Boston College

21-13 (9-7 ACC)

You have to say this season was a pleasant surprise for BC. They were coming off a bad season, lost their best player from the year before (Tyrese Rice) and had a new coach. But you have to give Steve Donahue credit. He took what was a fairly experienced team that was used to playing the flex offense and got them to buy into his system. The team started off well, beating Texas A&M and Cal in Orlando. They started the ACC season with a road win over Maryland and put up some solid wins from there on out.

The season did end in disappointing fashion for BC. They lost by a wide margin in a key ACC Tournament game against Clemson, and didn't make the cut for the Big Dance. They ended up losing in the second round of the NIT, at home against Northwestern. For the Eagles this year, it was all about Reggie Jackson. Jackson ended up scoring more than 18 points per game and ran the point efficiently.

Biggest Win:

67-65 vs. Texas A&M on 11/25 (in Orlando)

This was the game where people started to take notice of Boston College. They played a tough Texas A&M team that was a quality tournament team and got out to a hot start. This was the opening game in the Old Spice Classic, which ended up being a 2-1 week for BC.

Worst Loss:

70-47 vs. Clemson on 3/11 (ACC Tournament Quarterfinals)

This was probably the game that kept BC out of the NCAA Tournament. They had losses to worse teams than Clemson, but there wasn't a more important loss. And it wasn't just the fact that they lost - they got blown out. After this game, the team really didn't have an argument for getting left out of the tournament.

Postseason Play:

You'd have to say that the postseason was disappointing. BC won their first round game in the ACC Tournament over Wake Forest before losing to Clemson. In the NIT they went down to McNeese State and won before losing to Northwestern before a sparse home crowd on a Saturday morning.

Looking Ahead:

Much of what happens with BC next year depends on what Reggie Jackson does. Right now, he has declared for the NBA Draft but has not hired an agent, leaving open the possibility that he comes back. Even if Jackson does come back, there isn't much around him. BC loses seniors Joe Trapani, Josh Southern, Biko Paris, Corey Raji, Courtney Dunn and Josh Cahill. That represents four of the top five scorers this year. The next best player left is Danny Rubin, who averaged four points per game. I think Donahue is a good coach who will do well at BC, but next year will probably see some growing pains.