What should we even think about this season? A lot of Boston College fans had high hopes for the Eagles before the season began, with sights set even as high as making a bid to the NCAA tournament. Most of our writers weren’t that optimistic, but we did at least expect some improvement and for Earl Grant to fix some issues that had been plaguing the team during his tenure. You can read our preseason predictions here to get a better sense of what we were thinking.
The Eagles finished 19-15 with an exit in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament, and will finish the postseason with a bid to the NIT. How did this line up with your preseason expectations?
Kieran: Record-wise, I think BC performed a bit better than I expected. But on the court, I think they were who I thought they were! (Insert Dennis Green sound bite here.) QP was pretty outstanding, but the rest of the team didn’t take a big enough step forward. It really seemed like they were going to beat Virginia there at the end, but alas, it wasn’t meant to be.
Brian: I thought this may be the year BC took a big jump forward and made the tournament. They showed flashes of a tournament team throughout the season, but they could never string enough games together to make that big jump.
Curtis: This is right about where I thought they’d be! They underperformed expectations slightly in conference because they didn’t really punch above their weight against any top ACC teams. But they did win basically all of the games they were “supposed” to. And they also performed really well in their out-of-conference games, taking care of business against the bad teams (which is an improvement over last year) and even nabbing an upset of St. John’s in Brooklyn.
Why do you think BC didn’t take a big jump in the regular season, like some of us were expecting?
Kieran: Aside from Post, the rest of the starters and reserves didn’t develop as much as Earl Grant needed them to. BC desperately needed another go-to scorer after QP, and Claudell Harris was great at times. He just wasn’t as consistent BC needed him to be. Mason Madsen shot lights out at times, but again, he didn’t score consistently enough. I really do like the players on this team, but I wish they had a more explosive scorer to help Post.
Brian: I thought there were phases throughout the year where we lacked energy and had trouble taking care of the basketball. I also think the roles of the players should have been more defined to start the year. I understand that roles and playing time change throughout the season, but had these been more established, I think the team may have been better off. Post was relied upon too much, and once Harris had that bad shooting spell, we lacked a second scorer until Madsen stepped up.
Curtis: The supporting cast just didn’t develop at the rate we were expecting. Quinten Post, Claudell Harris Jr., and Jaeden Zackery were their three primary stars and generally performed at a high level, or at least met expectations, but they didn’t do so consistently. When those inconsistent performances crop up, its nice to lean on the team’s depth, but outside of a solid year from Devin McGlockton and the occasional hot streak from Mason Madsen, the rest of the roster lacked development. The team would have been better served if Madsen, Prince Aligbe, Chas Kelley, Donald Hand, or someone else stepped up to fill in some gaps, but nobody really did.
Which players really stood out to you as top performers this season?
Kieran: Quinten Post has to be the runaway favorite here. He was one of the best bigs in the ACC and I hope he excels in whatever level of basketball he plays next. Claudell Harris, Jaeden Zackery, and Devin McGlockton should also be acknowledged. And I loved watching Madsen when he was on fire from three.
Brian: The one player who really stood out to me was Devin McGlockton. At some points throughout the season, he was our most consistent player. Quinten Post was another obvious top performer. Mason Madsen also had a great second half of the season.
Curtis: Like I said, Post, Harris, and Zackery were the primary drivers to winning basketball games. I especially enjoyed watching Claudell Harris play, his game is really fun to watch and his shot creation ability is something special. He did go on cold streaks fairly often, but maybe it’s the Celtics fan in me that didn’t mind suffering through those subpar performances (Jaylen Brown, anybody?).
What was the high point of the season?
Kieran: This season didn’t feel like it had a lot of highs and lows. That said, I think overtime against Virginia in the ACC tourney might have been the high point for me. I didn’t really expect BC to have a shot in that game, so it was really fun to see them take a quality team like Virginia down to the wire.
Brian: The high point of the season was this ACC tournament run, which honestly, makes the season more frustrating. Imagine if we played with that much intensity throughout the entire season? It’s obvious Earl can get the guys excited for the postseason, but why can’t we keep that energy throughout rest of the year?
Curtis: It’s obviously got to be the ACC Tournament run. They were able to unlock everything that worked about this team: relentless defense and running the offense through a few very talented players. It was so fun to watch Earl Grant’s vision for this team finally be achieved, even if it only lasted for a few games.
What was the low point of the season?
Kieran: Getting smacked by Duke by 15 points in February, right after losing to Florida State by one point definitely was not fun.
Brian: The loss at Syracuse was a low point. The team was going through an illness, but that was where the season started to really unravel.
Curtis: The collapse towards the end of the season had things looking pretty bleak. They were 6-8 in conference with a chance to nab some wins against beatable teams down the stretch and make a push towards 20 overall wins. But they instead dropped four losses in a row, capped off by a blowout loss to Pitt despite a huge game from Quinten Post.
Do you think Earl Grant has this program on the right trajectory? What needs to change, if anything?
Kieran: Ehhhh, I am unsure. He doesn’t seem like a bad coach, but I don’t think he’s recruiting well enough to win in a premier conference. If BC was a mid-major, things might be okay, but they are still in the ACC (for now…). So if Grant can find some gems and get better talent on the court, he might just make it.
Brian: I would say the program is in a better spot now than when he took it over. With that said, he’ll need to fill Quinten Post’s shoes if he wants to continue the upward trajectory.
Curtis: I would answer a solid YES to this question, but it doesn’t come without caveats. Only a couple of players have shown serious growth under Grant’s tutelage (Post, McGlockton, and Zackery to an extent), so I’m nervous that we could be lacking talent in the coming years unless we grab someone good from the transfer portal. But I do believe in Earl’s culture-building and overall vision for the program, and he’s done a very good job so far.
Early thoughts on this team’s expectations for next season?
Kieran: No Quinten Post is gonna be strange. I’m not really sure who’s going to be the team’s go-to scorer next year, and next year may go a long way towards determining Earl Grant’s future.
Brian: I expect last year to be similar to this season and last season. Right around .500 with a win or two in the ACC tournament.
Curtis: I’m expecting a regression, mostly because they’re going to lose Post’s production and possibly others. Every program goes through these yearly cycles of additions and subtractions, though, so I’m not too worried about the overall state of the program.
Who’s your pick to win March Madness?
Kieran: Give me a Final Four of Baylor, Utah State (why not!!), UConn, and Houston. I really just want to see UConn and Houston in the championship, so that’s what I’m hoping for. I’ll take UConn to win it all.
Brian: I don’t see anyone beating UConn again this season.
Curtis: I’m still figuring my bracket out, but my early favorite is Arizona.