Tobacco Road Report

by David

So five minutes into the second half my five-year old son informs me that he is rooting for Florida St. While I pondered the fate of his inheritance, BC and FSU played a great game. With every layup he cheered and I added something else to the two-year old's inheritance list. It had everything you wanted: drama, a BC comeback to take the lead, then a run by FSU to reclaim it, and last second shots. Finally, a local boy hits a shot to beat his area college team. They make movies about this kind of thing. (In fact, I hear Disney may be prepared to sue BC and Florida State for copyright violation.)

As the game unfolded you really got the sense that the last team with the ball was going to win it. A key moment was when Isaiah Swann stole the ball but could not stay in bounds as he raced down the court for an uncontested layup. I told my son that was a key play. Neither team was able to pull away in the second half. If you discount the 5 minute period where each team believed their own press reports and shot up everything they could think of.

By the way my son told me he decided to root for Florida State because they beat Duke last week. What can I say to that? There are worse reasons to root for a team and my team (BC) certainly shows no sign of being able to do that. (But we'll see what they can do about that on Wednesday.)

Al Thornton (19 point, 9 rebounds) is clearly a candidate for player of the year, as is Jared Dudley (23 points, 10 rebounds). Both of these guys are terribly entertaining to watch. Both can lead without scoring and play havoc with a defense without touching the ball. Down the stretch though, BC really was able to vary up the offensive looks enough to get some easy buckets.

Let's talk about the flex offense for a moment. There is so much motion and interior passing in the offense that defenders can very easily get confused. You throw in active players like Tyrese Rice (23 points, 5 rebounds) and Dudley and tall players throwing the entry pass and it can make someone look like they are playing the game for the first time.

Tyrese Rice was moving inside so much it was like that scene in Elwood's apartment from the Blues Brothers. Jake asks Elwood how often the "El" goes by and Elwood responds, so often you won't even notice it. You could just see one defender asking the other, "how often does Rice go through the lane or into the post?" "So often you won't even notice it." He had at least two easy layups in the second half.

With about ten minutes to go in the second half my dad calls to tell me BC is on the television. I told him thanks, but I knew that. "They are really playing well," says Dad. Great. I got the five-year old rooting against my team and Dad saying things like that. No beleif in the jinx here apparently.

Well BC survived and it really was a thrilling ending. Florida State put together one of the best touchdown passes I have seen anyone do all year, including on the FSU football team. Thornton could not pull it down with Dudley right there. Tough play and he really was down on himself about it. Tyrese Rice missed a free throw and intentionally missed the second so the Seminoles did not have a chance to set up a play.

This was a key win for BC who faces 5 tough games down the stretch. They could easily lose all five. FSU now needs a couple of wins to shore up their NCAA bid.

Afterthoughts:Dad and I talked after the game. He had two comments: The ACC announcers are really quality guys without much of a detectable bias if they have a relationship with one of the team. Alright, but I am guessing if you are not watching a nationally televised game it is as bad as Miami home football games with the announcers wanting to get in on the team fights.

Second, he has a theory about why Al Skinner kicked Sean Williams and Akida McLain off the team: to shore up his case for Coach of the Year. We'll see. Let's recall that Williams and McLain ran afoul of rules before, such as drug possession and counterfeiting. Yeah, that's right, BC takes the arch criminals. Also, ten minutes into the Maryland-Duke game my son told me that he really was rooting for BC. He's back in the will.