The Confidential

Another Hoops Loss for Boston College

The Boston College Eagles dropped to 2-7 with a 64-57 loss to the Providence Friars on Thursday evening.  About the only good news is that Boston College were not blown out by the hosts.  After all, Providence is 8-2.

It is no secret that the Eagles were going to have a rebuilding season.  CBS noted as follows regarding the turnover between last year’s Eagles win and this year’s Eagles loss to Providence:

Only two players who scored against the Friars last season played for BC in this year’s matchup. After losing 10 letter winners from last year, the Eagles’ top four scorers Thursday were all freshmen.

That is a lot of turnover.  All in all, it is not surprising that Providence avenged last year’s loss.

The issue here is just how bad the start of the  season has been for Boston College.  The Confidential certainly gets that losing 10 players means starting over.  However, with the exception of this loss, just look at the teams that have beaten Boston College on the early season:

• Holy Cross (3-6) by 18
• UMass (7-3) by 16
• St. Louis (8-1)  by 11
• New Mexico (6-2) by 8
• Penn State (6-4) by 8
• Boston University (4-5) by 14
• Providence (8-2) by 7

While not an embarrassing slate, this is far from the competition that other major conference school teams are facing in tournaments.  And yet only 9 teams in the 6 major-conferences (70 total teams) are under .500.  At 2-7, only Utah has a worse record among the major conference teams.  This is the time of year for these teams to feast on lesser opponents before failing victim to the brutal conference schedule.

But perhaps the REAL issue is that there is a reason to be hopeful.  The Confidential can think of several reasons why Eagles’ fans should keep the faith:

1. Perhaps the Eagles are road warriors, as Providence was the first road game and the closest margin of loss!
2. The loss margins are on the improve.  Setting aside the Boston University debacle, there has been consistent improvement in the margins of loss.  And, really, the margins of loss have not been that bad.  Better teams have been blown-out by much more this year.
3. There may not be any final four teams on the schedule, but there are no patsies either.  A lot of midmajors that will be making some noise in March.
4. The best thing about freshmen is that they become sophomores, Al McGuire once said.  When you have 10 freshmen, you have 10 future sophomores

So, while there are few reasons to cheer right now, there is no reason for utter despair.  In fact, Boston College fans need only look to their football season.  After starting 1-7, the Eagles rallied to finish 4-8.  If the basketball team can show that much growth in the final portion of the season, there will be much reason for optimism heading into 2012-2013.  That does not help today, but should not be forgotten.