Tobacco Road Report

by David

BC came out flat in their first road game after a disappointing homestand last week against Duke and UNC. Va. Tech reinserted themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the last weeks of the ACC season.

This game was all Va. Tech after about ten minutes. They had the intensity and the effort you expect from a team trying to contend for supremacy in the ACC, shooting 56% from the field and 83% from the charity stripe. BC came out flat and never impressed shooting 38% from the field and 67% from the free throw line. That really says it all. That and John Oates fell asleep and let Va. Tech inbound the ball off his back for a layup. Way to keep aware of the game around you. No really, thanks for playing BC, we have some lovely parting gifts for you. It's called the NIT.

When you lose by 17 and the first thought that comes to me is that it really was not even that close, you have problems. Only two Eagles were in double figures for points: Tyrese Rice (15 points) and Jared Dudley (15 points). BC only managed 11 assists for the whole game, six from Rice. That really is too low for a flex offense.

Zabian Dowdell (23 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists), Deron Washington (19 points, 8 rebounds), and A.D. Vassallo (18 points) provided outstanding perfomances for the Hokies. They had to because the Va. Tech bench only scored six points in the game and provided eight rebounds. The Hokies need improvement here down the stretch to make an impact in the ACC tournament and the NCAA tourney.

The Outlook:
BC has a home game against Clemson and a road game against Ga. Tech. Neither of these will be easy, especially given that BC seems to being going through a crisis of confidence. They need at least one of these and preferably both. If the season ended today I would guess BC is into the NCAA tournament but with a lousy seed.

Va. Tech has Miami at home this weekend and then next week goes to Virginia (currently #19) and then hosts Clemson in the regular season finale. I would again wager that the Hokies are in but you definitely do not want to lose the last three and give the committee a reason to drop you seed or leave you out. (I use the term wager and you should understand I have only one rule in gambling and college basketball: Bet against Bill Self in a big game. Don't laugh, I'm not kidding. You look back over the last few years and tell me I'm wrong.)