Another Easy Win

BC put the wood to Miami tonight for their 4th straight easy conference win, and 10th consecutive W over the 'Canes (nice to stick it to them in hoops to offset their football dominance). Skinner's charges definitely seem to be finding their groove. The Eagles went up by 20 midway thru the 1st half, and the Hurricanes never really challenged, even though BC put it in cruise control in the second frame.

The Heroes:

1. Sean Marshall (15 points) and Jared Dudley (18 points, 5 boards). Another solid outing for the seniors.

2. Ty Rice. 16 points, 12 assists (career high) and only 3 turnovers. Rice couldn't find his range from three, but he had some strong drives and pretty teardrops. A little shaky on defense, especially in transition, but his play of late is really showing me he has what it takes to be a solid pointguard in this league.

3. Shamari Spears (9 points, 10 boards). He was huge on the boards for the second straight ACC game. He had some really stupid turnovers with interior passing, but that's a little nitpicky.

4. Sean Williams (10 points, 6 boards, 3 blocks). Got in some foul trouble, but a pretty solid effort with limited minutes.

The Villains:

1. John Oates. This a real stretch calling Oates a villain tonight. He submitted a subpar game, but it really wasn't that bad. His rebounding was so-so, his defense weak, and his offense non-existent (3 points). But a lot of that might be attributable to Miami big man Dwayne Collins, who had a monster game.

2. Transition D. BC got burned often and ugly by the 'Canes in the second half, when they were off to the races on every defensive rebound. The rotation D has reared it's ugly head on a few occasions in the recent past, and I think some adjustments might be in order. Rice likes to drive, and someone has to rotate back when he does that. But a lot of that happened tonight after BC got the big lead and was coasting.

Other Thoughts:

1. Billy Packer - why does that know-it-all dork hate BC so much? Goddamnit, he is annoying. With BC up 15-20 virtually the whole game, all he could do was rave about Collins and talk about how BC "better be careful." Whaaaat? Miami never got closer than 12, and that was with 3 minutes left. C'mon. BC is in your beloved ACC, Billy. Get used to it.

2. Nice to see Akida McLean on the floor after his injury, albeit for only a few minutes. Having McLean back in the rotation could be huuuge.

3. Sean Williams was quoted in the paper professing his intent on returning to school next year, and returning the faith BC has showed in him. Nice to hear, but I'll believe it when I see it. He is a no-brainer 1st rounder - who would turn that dough down?

4. BC is now 18-3 in ACC play over the past 21 games going back to last season (tourney games included), and has beaten every team except Duke. And they get two cracks at the overrated, insufferable Blue Devils in the next few weeks.

Switching gears a little, Sports Illustrated came out with their 2007 college football Power Rankings, and the Eagles check in at No. 20. The only ACC team ahead of them is VTech. ND is nowhere in sight I'm pleased to say (God I hate the Irish), but it concerns me that 4 Big East teams made it, including BC recruiting rival Rutgers.