Big 10 Basketball: Where To Expect The Unexpected

Watching college basketball last night reminded me again just how wacky Big 10 basketball has been this season.  I know the term "on any given night, any team can beat anyone" gets thrown around a lot in sports, but the Big 10 this season has truly lived up to that phrase.  Last night in particular Penn State, who is tied for last place in the league with a 5-10 record, completed a season sweep of Ohio State. Also Indiana beat Iowa, which although it shouldn't be considered a huge upset, it was probably the most un-Big 10 basketball game I have seen in a while.  When people think of Big 10 basketball they think of long possessions, i.e. Wisconsin, and tough physical play with games usually ending in the 50s.  Last night's Indiana-Iowa game however blew that perception out of the water.  I came home from my class last night, flipped on the game and saw it was 52-49 at the HALF, which absolutely stunned me, and the final score ended up being 93-86.  

While everything in the Big 10 seems to have surprised me this year, it has finally come to the point where I will be surprised if I am not surprised.  Basically whatever team you think will win the game, won't.  Nebraska just won at Michigan State, Northwestern has won a game at Wisconsin, Ohio State had a stretch where they lost four games in a row in league play and Michigan, who lost stars Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr from last years Final Four runner up team along with center Mitch McGary due to injury for the season, is currently leading the Big 10. These are just a few examples of how nuts the Big 10 has been this year. 

There appear to be currently seven Big 10 teams worthy of getting into the NCAA Tournament but I think only six will get in.  Nebraska and Minnesota are my two fringe teams who have both played above expectations this season and I believe whichever squad does better in the Big 10 Tournament will be the team that earns their ticket to the dance.  While the ACC and Big East Tournaments have always been the most talked about league tournaments in the past, if I am a fan of college basketball I would pay close attention to the Big 10 tournament this year just because anything can literally happen. 

Enjoy the weekend of college basketball and be happy March is finally here come tomorrow.   

Should I Be Shocked?

On Tuesday night the Wichita State Shockers became the first Division 1 men's basketball team to achieve a 30-0 record in the regular season.  While I consider it impressive. hell it's over four times the amount of wins my seven win Boston College Eagles have had all season, it does not "Shock" me.  Wichita State plays in the relatively weak Missouri Valley Conference, who will most likely be a one bid league come NCAA Tournament time, and they have only had 3 quality wins all year.  The Shockers have beaten two NCAA lock teams in BYU and Saint Louis as well as beating an NCAA fringe team in Tennessee.  Besides these these wins, which all occurred over two months ago, none of their wins jump off the page to me.

I am not saying Wichita State won't be able to make a deep run in the NCAA tournament, since almost all of the Gregg Marshall's squad that made it to the Final Four last year is back.  However, I am always fearful taking mid-major team seriously when filling out my bracket.  Last year Gonzaga was in a very similar position when they were a #1 seed and they were knocked out in the second round  coincidentally by Wichita State. The Shockers deserves to be a #1 seed and should be strongly considered to be the overall #1 seed especially if they win their conference tournament, but there is a good chance their second round opponent will be better than any team they have faced since they played Tennessee in December.

As I said the Shockers definitely have the talent to make a deep run in March.  Fred VanVleet is one of the best point guards in the country, and Ron Baker (who has one of the best haircuts in college basketball), Cleanthony Early and Tekele Cotton are all also great players as well.  What makes the Shockers so tough to play is that all four of the previously mentioned players are all capable of scoring 25 a night and on most nights they all score about 15 point which makes it hard for the opposing defense to focus on just one or two players.

While I do love seeing mid-majors such as Wichita State make deep runs in the tournament, I am always very cautious about what they are capable of since most of the teams haven't been tested for nearly the whole season. The best part about all of this is that in two weeks the fun begins with the conference tournaments and shortly thereafter the Madness begins.

Expect many more college basketball Rants to come as we enter the month of March.

Combine Again Shows That NFL Is the King Of Sports

Although I am a fan of all sports, football is without a doubt my favorite.  One of the main reasons is it is a relatively short season where you only have to invest a day each week to your team, whereas baseball you have to invest usually 6 games a week over a 162 game season.  Another reason I like football so much is that it is the one sport where I truly like the pro game equal to the college game.  Come fall, good luck trying to get me to do anything non-football related on a Saturday or Sunday.  Football however over the last decade or so has shown that it is not just a fall sport but rather a year round sport with the combine this week being a prime example.

I have always thought that the combine is the most overrated thing in sports.  I understand it helps GMs and coaches further evaluate players and it is a place where they can get to know the players personally through interviews, but I am a firm believer that the game film doesn't lie.  I don't care if a player in skin tight Under Armour gear can run a 40 yard dash fast or bench press X amount of times.  My question has always been has the guy proven over his 3 or 4 years in college to be able to play his position at a high level against the nation's best competition, all while wearing full pads?  If the player has been able to do that then I really could care less what he does in the combine.  With all that being said people seem to be fascinated by the combine as can be seen by the NFL Network's wall to to wall coverage.  How people find it fun to watch the players do drills is beyond me yet ratings show people like to watch it.

As a BC alum and season ticket holder of the football team, I will say it was great to see all the players in this week's combine do well.  Andre Williams was able to build on his Heisman finalist and Doak Walker Award winning season, defensive tackle Kaleb Ramsey led all defensive lineman with 36 reps in the bench press of 225 lbs, and most notably linebacker Kevin Pierre-Louis may have helped his draft stock more than anyone with his strong overall performance.  Below is a video BC athletics posted on bceagles.com yesterday showcasing all the Eagles' performances at the combine.  

The NBA Is A Tanking Ship

I think it's safe to say if you are an NBA fan of any Eastern Conference team this season who is not from Miami or Indiana that you have endured a long and painful season.  As a Celtics fan I had very little expectations for this year's team. While I did like the hire of Brad Stevens as the head coach, losing Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Doc Rivers all within one off-season the Celtics were making it clear that they were planning for a full rebuild.  The one problem with the current NBA is that it is so hard to rebuild.  For the most part the star NBA free agents have limited their options to the major media markets or sunny destinations such as Miami and LA, leaving the rest of the NBA to build their franchises through the draft and signing of marginal players.

The problem with building through the draft is very rarely is there a sure thing.  While most drafts contain players that are adequate pieces to building a successful team, very rarely is there a draft that contain one let alone two or three franchise changing players.  This upcoming draft is considered to be one of the deepest in recent memory, with players like Jabari Parker, Andrew Wiggins and potentially Joel Embiid, and as a result it has become obvious that a lot of teams are tanking this season in order to try to get a high lottery pick.  The 76ers for instance are a team that is not hiding their tanking abilities.  Not only did they recently trade one of their up and coming players in Evan Turner, but they have also been demolished in some of their recent outings.  They have now lost 11 games in a row including last night to the NBA worst Milwaukee Bucks by 20 (and the game wasn't even that close).  Also, in case you were wondering the picture of the guy sleeping court side at the top of my Rant was at the 76ers game last night.

Just to show how bad things are in the Eastern Conference, the third place Toronto Raptors are 10 games behind second place Miami and all 8 teams in the Western Conference currently holding a playoff spot would be a 3 seed or higher if they were in the East.  As mentioned earlier as a Celtics fan I expected a season like this, but for new commissioner Adam Silver the amount of tanking that is going on has to be disconcerting.

There have been talks of changing the draft format in order to prevent tanking but none of the potential solutions have become official.  One thing that I recommend is that once a team has been eliminated from playoff contention that they get a point for each win they accumulate after they have been eliminated.  The team with the most points by the season's end would have the first pick ,the team with the second most points would have the second pick and so on and so on.  While a team could theoretically tank for the first half of the season and then turn it on later in the season to pick up victories, I do think this is a better solution than the current one.  This way a fan of a team can actually root for their team to win later in the season and not for them to lose.

It is for reasons like tanking that I prefer the college game over the pros, and with that being said it's nice to know that March begins next week.

Could Recruiting Save Steve Donahue?

On the heels of BC's upset of #1 ranked Syracuse Wednesday night, Steve Donahue and the Eagles received a verbal commitment  from Jeremy Miller who is without a doubt the most high profile recruit to commit to the Eagles in a while.  Miller is a Massachusetts native but currently goes to The New Hampton School in New Hampshire, the same school current Eagle Olivier Hanlan went to.  Miller is a 6-9 power forward who according to Rivals is a 4 start recruit who also received offers from schools like UConn, Maryland and Providence.  The one catch that I saw with Miller is he is part of the 2015 NOT 20014 recruiting class. As a result he still has to play one more year of high school after this year and who knows what the state of BC basketball will be in come then.

While I am happy Donahue and co. were able to attract such a high profile player, I sure hope Miller picked BC because he liked the school and the allure of playing in the ACC and not just because of the coaching staff.  With the win against Syracuse and now the commitment of Miller, Donahue has been able to add a couple of bargaining chips when it comes to his job security, but the question is will it be enough?  I personally don't think so, but it has been a great couple of days for Donahue without a doubt.  Telling Brad Bates that in 2 years there is a great recruit coming to Chestnut Hill maybe a bit of stretch and I am not sure Bates can give Donahue another full year after this current one to continue to prove himself.  If by chance Bates let's Donahue come back next year BC better make the tournament next or else he is definitely gone.  If Donahue doesn't last until 2015 the question then becomes will Miller still stay committed to the Eagles?  I personally as mentioned earlier would like to think so because he picked BC for the school and not the coach, but rarely is that the case and I am sure the new BC coach will have a say in whether he will honor Miller's commitment.  

Regardless of what happens I don't want to spend this week bashing Donahue and the basketball team. It has been a good week for them and I really hope they keep the momentum going.  Below I have posted a video from YouTube of some of Miller's highlights.  One thing I noticed in particular is he is very versatile; he is strong by the basket but can also hit the mid range jumper and three point shot.  Kind of reminds me of younger version of Adreian Payne who currently plays for Michigan State.  Definitely not as strong and powerful of Payne but I do like the way he will force the opponent's defense to spread out.  Well that's about it for today but as always go Eagles and today go USA.

What Just Happened?

I know I, like many BC fans, have not spoke fondly of this year's basketball team.  Coming into the year there were high expectations based on the way the squad finished last year and the fact that the team had all its talent coming back, but needless to say BC has not come close to living up to these expectations.  The non-conference schedule was brutal and minus a win against a mediocre Washington team The Eagles did not win one of the marquee games.  Their defense has not been good at all and their inability to rebound has been staggering.  I know some of this is due to the fact that the team has been without center Dennis Clifford all season, but you would figure the team would have been able to adjust by February.  Finally, the team has not been able to close out games.  I am not saying BC would be a tournament team, but there were a handful of games that come to mind where BC had a chance to win and somehow blew it in the end.  The game at Notre Dame and most recently at Georgia Tech come to mind.  With all this being said, somehow the stars aligned last night at the Carrier Dome and the Eagles were able to beat the #1 ranked and undefeated Syracuse Orange.

BC clearly came in with a game plan last night and worked it to near perfection.  The game plan was to minimize the number of times Syracuse touched the ball by holding the ball on offense until the final seconds of the shot clock wined down.  While this made for a very boring game, especially in the first half, it proved to be very effective.  Two stats in particular stuck out to me when looking at the box score.  One was BC was 11-22 from 3 point range whereas Syracuse was 2-12, and the biggest eyeopening number to me was BC actually out-rebounded the Orange 40 to 37.  Ryan Anderson played a hell of a game in the post, not only by grabbing 14 rebounds but also making some big baskets down low late in the game.  Olivier Hanlan had one of his best all around games this season by hitting clutch 3's and making some buckets by driving hard to the hole.  The biggest surprise for me however may have been the German born Patrick Heckmann.  Heckmann has been one of the toughest players to understand this year and although he has not gotten much playing time as of late, he made a big 3 and backdoor basket in overtime. Overall, this was a definition of a team win and I am happy the team finally had something special to celebrate. Most importantly however as many have mentioned, including Coach Donahue in his post-game interview with ESPN, this win meant a little something extra with the passing of long time SID Dick Kelley this past week.

After witnessing BC's miraculous upset last night it made me start to think about some of BC athletics' best wins. This win in particular reminded me a lot of BC's football win over Notre Dame in 1993 when no one gave BC a shot to beat the then #1 ranked Irish in South Bend.  Also, there were some correlations between BC's win in football over again undefeated Notre Dame in 2002 and last night's win over Syracuse.  In 2002 Notre Dame broke out the green jerseys, result BC won, last night the Orange broke out the blue shorts, result BC won. Florida State also did a similar thing in 2006 when they wore all black against BC, granted they weren't undefeated, but BC still won.  Moral of the story is don't unveil new uniforms against the Eagles.

Will this win save Steve Donahue's job? I don't think so.  Although I am very happy for him, the team still has only 7 wins on the year. You can tell by watching him and hearing his constant whistling that he gives it his all every game but the big sticking point in determining his future is the fact the team has never made the tournament under his leadership.  I just hope that this victory will boost the team's confidence and help them finish strong.  BC next plays Saturday at Miami.

BC vs. Oklahoma State Debate

At first glance the title to my Rant may seem odd.  BC and Oklahoma State have very little in common and as far as my memory goes I can't remember a time the two schools played against each other in any athletic competition.  However, watching the Baylor-Oklahoma State basketball game last night made me wonder would I currently like being an Oklahoma State/Baylor basketball fan or a BC fan?

Going into last night's game both Baylor and Oklahoma State were fighting for their tournament lives.  Both performed very strong in their non conference schedules but both have struggled immensely in Big 12 play.  I will take Baylor out of the discussion for now since they won the game last night, even though they did their very best to literally throw away the game as time expired in regulation.  With last night's loss Oklahoma State dropped their 7th straight game and their record dropped to 16-10 (a record I'm sure any BC fan would dream of at this point). The Cowboys now will most likely have to make a deep run the Big 12 Tournament to have any shot at making the Big Dance, which must be extremely frustrating to Pokes fans given the team's hot start.  It also doesn't help that their best player Marcus Smart has been suspended for the past 3 games for shoving a Texas Tech fan and whose play has coincided with the team's decline.

Being a BC fan this year has been beyond frustrating.  The team has literally lost a game in every which possible way and it has come to the point where I don't expect the team to win any more games this season.  Would I want Oklahoma State's 16-10 record right now? Of course.  I would do anything to have a winning record but I think the one positive for BC fans right now is I think it's now a given that Head Coach Steve Donahue will not be back next year and as a result BC can look towards moving the program in a different direction with a different coach.  Had BC had a winning record and floundered towards the end of the season like Oklahoma State is currently doing there is a good chance Athletic Director Brad Bates would retain Donahue for one more year and only delay the inevitable.  As much as I would like to have had Donahue succeed at BC, he has shown he can't recruit ACC level talent and the decline of the defense in particular has been staggering.

Now that BC is at 6-19 (soon to be 6-20 and 2-11 in ACC play after facing #1  ranked Syracuse tomorrow) I like knowing that there will be some serious changes regarding the basketball program coming this off season.  Had BC been a fringe tournament team, with a good chance of making the NIT like an Oklahoma State, there is a good chance the team would just be stuck in neutral without much momentum going forward.  It is for these reasons I tell my fellow Eagle fans that is currently better to be a BC fan than an Oklahoma State one.

Another Day, Another Title

With the victory over Vermont last night, BC secured the Hockey East Regular Season title.  It was the Eagles' 3rd such title in 4 years and 13th overall.  Adding BC's Beanpot victory on Monday to winning Hockey East last night, I think it's safe to say Trophy Season is off to a great start. While winning the title was awesome there were also a few other aspects of BC's play that is worth noting.  I know I am starting to sound like a broken record, but the Gaudreau-Hayes-Arnold line is beyond on fire.  With 2 goals and an assist in the 2 game weekend series against the Catamounts, Hobey Baker favorite Johnny Hockey was able to extend his point streak to 26 games. Hayes and Arnold also kept up their torrid pace with a goal and an assist each over the weekend as well.  Only Greg Carey of St. Lawrence stands in in the way of Bill Arnold on college hockey's point leaders for BC having the top the 3 point getters in ALL of college hockey.  Other positive signs for the Eagles were Patrick Brown continued his strong play with 2 goals on Friday and Brian Billett got the victory in net for BC last night.  Although Thatcher Demko has been the hot hand in BC's 17 game unbeaten streak, it was nice to give him some rest and have Billett fill in admirably.

The Eagles will look to extend their unbeaten streak this weekend when they play a home and home series against UMass-Lowell.

In other BC news, this has been a somber week for the BC community as it lost the man who embodied everything that is great about the institution.  Long time Sports Information Director Dick Kelley passed away after a 3 year battle with ALS.  Although I didn't know him too well, I do remember him from the summer of 2006 in between my junior and senior year at BC when I worked as the office assistant for Jerry York and the hockey team.  Everyday DK would stop by the office and say hi and talk to me for about five minutes.  While it was a simple gesture it is something that I have always remembered.  If you Google Dick Kelley, you will come across numerous articles by local and national sports media personalities  of just how big of an impact Kelley had on them.  Also, starting today and for the remainder of the season BC's men's basketball team will wear DK patches on their uniforms.  

My thoughts and prayers are with the Kelley family.  

A Great Day To Be An American

I will start out by saying never have I ever been so happy to wake up at 7 am on a Saturday. The USA-Russia game had so much hype going into it, and as big as the hype was I think everyone will agree that the game exceeded the expectations.  As cool as it is to win a game at home in front of the hometown fans, I think it's even cooler to go into the opponents' home arena on foreign soil and silencing the crowd with their leader Putin in attendance.

The game had everything a hockey fan could want.  Hard hits, highlight reel goals from both sides and great goaltending.  Ironically two rules that are different in international play than in the NHL helped the US in their 3-2 shootout victory.  The Russian goal that would have put them up 3-2 late in the game and was disallowed due to the net being ever so slightly dislodged would have most likely counted in an NHL game. Also, in the NHL you can't continuously use a player in a shootout after the first 3 players have gone.  Only in International hockey could the legend of Warroad, MN (in my mind now the best name of a town in America) T.J. O$hie be born with his 4 goals in 6 attempts in the shootout.

If there was something that was both a negative and positive to today's game for the US it was their special teams play.  While it was encouraging that both regulation goals came on the power play, on the other hand the US found themselves in the penalty box far too much.  Against teams like Canada and possibly the Russians again, the US cannot afford to allow their opponents to be on the man advantage, especially on a larger sheet  of ice where it is easier to find holes in the defense.

While this was only one win in group play, it was one of those great games where you could tell by monitoring social media platforms that it galvanized a country. Bars throughout the country were packed as the sun just began to rise and numerous people who normally don't watch hockey appeared to be in awe of the intensity of the game.  It is my hope that a game like this will help hockey become a more popular sport in America.

As for Team USA going forward, they have a quick turnaround as they take on the Seattle Seahawk look-alikes in Slovenia tomorrow.  The US should win this game comfortably and will thus help them advance to the quarterfinals of the Olympic tournament with earning 8 out of a possible 9 points in group play.  The one big question tomorrow I have is who will get the start in net?  Jonathan Quick played a hell of a game today, but with the short turnaround and facing an inferior opponent I wonder if coach Dan Bylsma will go with Ryan Miller who was the star of the 2010 games.

As tough as it is, I'm looking forward to getting up again tomorrow bright and early to root on the Red, White and Blue. And remember folks this may be the last time we get to witness the pros in the Olympics so I encourage you to try and enjoy every second of it.

The Future of Olympic Hockey

While I consider myself to be more of a Summer Olympics fan, without a doubt my favorite sport over the past few Olympics whether it be in the Winter or Summer games has been the men's ice hockey.  What makes this event so good is that these are legit all-star teams and the level of competition is awesome to watch.  Another reason why I enjoy this event so much is that one week earlier a lot of these players were teammates with players they are now competing against.  With all that being said there seems to be a lot of chatter that in the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea NHL players won't be allowed to participate.  Many feel that the owners don't want the players to play as they don't want to give up another 17 days in the middle of the season and have the added risk of one of their star players getting injured.  While I don't blame the owners for this, I do think it will hurt hockey as an Olympic sport and turn it into the winter version of Olympic Soccer. The only way I wouldn't totally mind this decision is if hockey started a World Cup style tournament every 2 or 4 years in the summer, similar to what soccer has.

The main reason I am writing this Rant however is because if the pros weren't allowed to play then college/amateur players from the various countries would be the most likely replacements.  As a BC alum and die hard fan of the hockey program this could have a huge impact.  For instance if the Sochi Olympics this year had college/amateur players, there is a very good chance that the Gaudreau-Hayes-Arnold line would be the top line for team USA. Also, Thatcher Demko may have been one of the goalies chosen for USA and Michael Matheson very well may have been a defenseman on team Canada.  All these guys were all keys to BC's Beanpot victory on Monday night, but had they been in the Olympics they wouldn't have been able to play in the game.

The question now becomes if Olympic hockey decides to use college/amateur kids what would be the commitment?  Would they pull the college kids from their respective team for instance deep in the season as conference battles heat up? Or would they do what the current women's teams in the Olympics do where the collegiate players take a year off from school and playing hockey for their college and totally focus on preparing for the Olympics with their national team?  I know college teams lose players to the World Junior Championships each year, but usually that means the players only miss 2-3 games as it occurs over college hockey's winter break where the only games being played are the various small holiday tournaments.  The Olympics on the other hand occur in mid February with only a couple weeks left in the college hockey regular season.

I know the 2018 Olympics are still 4 years away, but it will be very interesting to see what the NHL decides on this matter in the coming months.  Anyways, I will close by saying Go USA!  and Go Eagles!

Make It 5!!!!!

Another year, another Beanpot championship for the BC hockey team.  Last night the #1 ranked Eagles defeated the gritty Huskies of Northeastern 4-1 to claim their 5th Beanpot title in a row and 19th overall in school history.  Despite the 3 goal difference in the final score, this was in many ways a very close and competitive game.  Northeastern gave BC their best shot and BC played a very good game overall as well but both BC goalie Thatcher Demko and NU goalie Clay Witt were able to stop shot after shot.  It wasn't until five and a half minutes remained in the 3rd period that BC was able to break the 1-1 tie, when Patrick Brown made an amazing tip of the puck as he was falling to the ice off a shot from the point that was able to get by Witt.  After that the flood gates opened up when Johnny Hockey, who's point streak was extended to 24 games, was able to put home an empty netter and Patrick Brown put the exclamation point on the game when he notched his second goal shortly thereafter.

As mentioned, kudos to Northeastern for playing a great game and kudos to the students from both schools who were both very loud during the 3rd period and made for an electric college hockey atmosphere.  The two things I really liked about this game was BC got clutch play from an unusual source in Brown and BC showed they could win a tight game.  I went to the Merrimack game Friday night where Bill Arnold recorded a hat trick in BC's 6-1 rout over the Warriors, so it was nice to see in a span of 3 days that BC could win both in a blowout and in a slug fest.

Between Friday night's game against Merrimack and last night's game the Arnold-Hayes-Gaudreau line continued to show that they are an unstoppable force but at the same time BC has also showed their depth by getting goals from a variety of different people as well.  BC will now look to extend its unbeaten streak to 16 this weekend when they travel to Vermont for 2 games at Gutterson Fieldhouse.

P.S. props to Barstoolsports.com for pointing out in their blog last night that each BC player held up the number of fingers of the number of Beanpot titles they have won (as can be seen in the pic at the top).  That is now two senior classes in a row that have been able to hold up four.  Not a bad way to kick off trophy season.

National Signing Day

I will be the first to admit, that I don't follow college football recruiting religiously, but if you are a college football fan, today is probably the biggest non-college football gameday of the year.  Today is National Signing Day, or as I like to say the equivalent to the draft for the NFL.  It is the day when high school players across the country officially make their verbal commitments binding by faxing in their National Letter of Intents to the school of their choice.

While there are many people who follow sites like Rivals, Scout and ESPN to see where the top players are going, I tend to take the wait and see approach. As a BC fan I know BC can't compete with schools like Alabama and LSU when it comes to raking in 4 and 5 star recruits, but I do know throughout the years BC has produced many 3 star recruits to become stars in the NFL like Matt Ryan, BJ Raji and most recently the 2013 NFL Defensive Player of the Year Luke Kuechly.  The one 5 star recruit that I can remember BC signing was linebacker Brian Toal, whose younger brother Greg also played for BC.  While Brian wasn't a bust, due to injuries he was never able to live up to the hype.  For instance I remember him more for his goaline touchdowns when he was known as "First and Toal" than his linebacker play that he was recruited for at BC.  It is for reasons like this why I tell not only BC fans but college football fans in general whose teams weren't one of the highly ranked recruiting classes to not put too much stock into the star system.
Would I like BC to start having more 4 and 5 star recruits commit to the program? Obviously yes, and I am confident over time with Steve Addazio as the head coach, who is a relentless recruiter, that BC will become a place top players across New England and the country will want to come to.

For all I've read this BC class is pretty good.  It was a class that for the most part committed to the Eagles last fall, so BC didn't have too many last minute surprises.  It appears to be a class, at least on the offensive side of the ball that is made up of speed, as the BC offense transitions to more of a spread and up-tempo offense.  The part that I like the most is that BC reestablished itself in Massachusetts and the New England area.  While the quantity of players the New England area churns out in college football isn't much compared to the South or Texas and California, the area throughout the years has had several quality players.  Over the last few years it appears BC lost its stronghold on the area, but with Addazio (a Connecticut native) now as coach you can tell he has made a commitment to making BC a place local kids want to come to play.  For instance 12 of the  30 players BC players signed are from the New England, including linebacker Connor Strachan, who is from my hometown Wellesley, MA and high school St. Sebastian's.  It also looked like BC did a great job in the state of New Jersey, which I feared they would lose their footprint in after former coach Bill McGovern left to take a position with the Philadelphia Eagles.

While I am excited for this class, it will be interesting to see how early these kids see the field.  I am very interested in particular who gets the nod at quarterback whether it's Florida transfer Tyler Murphy or incoming freshman Darius Wade.  I am usually not one for playing freshman, but it does appear that Addazio may want to transition to more of his style of play and that may mean starting the youth movement.  While it may result growing pains early on, I am hoping it will pay dividends 3 years down the road.

As for recruiting on the national level, there really weren't too many surprises as Alabama appears to be the consensus #1 class again with many of the traditional powers following.  The one school that appears to be the Ole Miss of last year is Tennessee who according to Scout.com finished at #4 by signing a whopping 32 recruits.

Anyways, time to put college football on the back burner for a bit as the Olympics and March Madness are on the horizon, but hopefully August 30th will be here soon enough when BC travels to Gillette Stadium to take on UMass, and until next time #BEADUDE

Survive and Advance in the Drive for Five

The first round of the 62nd playing of the Beanpot was played tonight, and although it was probably one of the worst games the Eagles have played during their undefeated stretch since Thanksgiving, they were still able to come out with a 3-1 victory over their struggling rival Boston University. Before I talk about the game I do have to admit it was a bit weird seeing a BC-BU Beanpot match-up and not seeing former BU coach Jack Parker behind the Terrier bench.  One of the great parts of the rivalry, albeit friendly I'm sure if you were to ask either coach, was the rivalry between coach Parker and BC head coach Jerry York.

Now back to the game itself, BC began the scoring early with a power play goal by Ryan Fitzgerald after a beautiful cross ice pass from the point by defenseman Teddy Doherty.  Although BC found itself in the penalty box more than I like to see, they doubled their lead when the hottest line in college hockey scored on an exquisite goal by Kevin Hayes after two picture perfect passes from Johnny Gaudreau and Bill Arnold.  I have to admit in the 3rd period the Terriers played with great grit and did all they could to try to win.  Although BU was able to cut the lead in half to 2-1 midway through the 3rd, BC goalie Thatcher Demko, who had a solid night, bailed them out with some key saves down the stretch and Johnny Hockey added to his nation leading point total with an empty net goal to seal the victory for the Eagles.

As mentioned earlier, it definitely wasn't BC's best game but it was nice to see the team beat their rival on the big stage, as they began their quest for their fifth consecutive Beanpot title and the school's 19th overall.  Next week's opponent Northeastern, who hasn't won the Beanpot since 1988, should be a more formidable opponent than BU as they dismantled Harvard, who failed to show up YET again in the Beanpot, in the earlier game 6-0.

Finally I'd like to give props to the BC student section who made the trip to The Garden.  They by far were the biggest group of students amongst the four schools, and could be heard all night long on my television.

Seahawks Brought the Boom

Well I don't think there is much to talk about in terms of last night's Super Bowl because the Seahawks flat out dominated.  I'm not sure there is a way to dominate a game more than Seattle did last night, as they scored an offensive, defensive and special teams touchdown.  If there is a definition for a pure team win then the Seahawks epitomized it last night.

I said it yesterday and I'll say it again today, DEFENSE wins championships.  I didn't think the Broncos would play as poorly as they did, but the reason I picked the Seahawks to win is because they are a vastly physical team.  There were four plays in particular that showed the disparity between the two teams.  The Kearse, Baldwin and Harvin touchdowns by the Seahawks showed just how soft the Broncos were with their inability to tackle and the fourth play that stood out to me was when Byron Maxwell punched the ball out of Demaryius Thomas' hands.  The Seahawks brought the boom as was seen by the multitude of big hits they unleashed on the Broncos receivers and it is for that reason why I find them to be such a fun team to watch.  I know a potent offense is good for TV ratings, but there is nothing more in football that I enjoy more than watching a physical, hard hitting defense.  Although I thought Kam Chancellor should have been the MVP, since he had an interception and his early hits really set the tone for the game, I was at least happy that the MVP went to a defensive player, because they were the unit that dominated the game.

As for Russell Wilson and the Seahawks offense, they played better than I thought.  I thought Wilson, although he didn't put up huge stats, was constantly in control of the game and made some beautiful passes including a great touch pass to Doug Baldwin in the first quarter and an absolute rocket to Jermaine Kearse in the third quarter.  I tweeted it last night, but Wilson reminds me a lot of Tom Brady in his early years.  I know both quarterbacks have very different skill sets, but in terms of composure and leadership they both are/were wise beyond their years.  The only surprising thing of the night in terms of the Seahawks offense was that Marshawn Lynch was for the most past a non-factor, although they didn't need him to be.

Finally as for the Peyton Manning legacy, I think it took a hit last night.  If Manning had lost but played great I don't think I would think of him much differently because football is the ultimate team sport, but from the first snap when there was miscommunication and the Broncos gave up a safety, Manning was off. Granted his end of the game stats weren't horrible in terms of completions and yards, the most important stat was his 2 interceptions, including a pick 6 to Super Bowl MVP Malcolm Smith.  The one stat however that truly showed the dichotomy of play between the two quarterbacks last night was Wilson had a QB rating of 123.1 and Manning had a rating of 73.5.  I'm not here to prop TB12 up on pedestal (well maybe I am a little), because Manning beat the Patriots 2 weeks ago, but after last night Brady is still the all time leader in playoff wins with 18 (with 3 Super Bowl rings) and Manning is now the all time loser with 12 playoff losses (and only 1 Super Bowl ring).

One final side note I'd like to mention, in a small way I'm actually kind of happy Pete Carroll won a title.  Say what you want about how he ran things at U$C, but I still think he got kind of a raw deal as the Pats coach.  The Patriots weren't awful while he was the coach, but by no means were they contenders.  The Patriots flat out didn't have the talent and a lot of that was because of their poor drafting.  While I would have liked to have seen Pom Pom Pete succeed in New England, on the bright side if it wasn't for his mediocre 27-21 record as the Pats head coach , Bob Kraft would most likely have never hired Belichick and the Patriots  would most likely have never won one let alone three Super Bowl titles, so I guess there is that silver lining for Pats fans like myself.

RANDOM THOUGHTS FROM WATCHING THE SUPER BOWL:

First off,  before the opening kickoff even occurred, I think it's safe to say Broadway Joe won the Super Bowl with his jacket.   As for Bruno Mars' halftime show, I didn't think it was bad, although I wish the Red Hot Chili Peppers played a bigger role in it besides performing one song.  My one question was, how can they have a Super Bowl in New Jersey and not have Bruce Springsteen perform? Yes I know he performed a few years back, but I would argue he had the best halftime performance of all time. And finally, I was vastly disappointed in the Seinfeld bit.  When I saw they were filming something the other week, I had high hopes, but for the most part I didn't find the 3 minute piece that aired last night to be funny at all.

P.S.

Remember today is the first Monday in February and that can mean only one thing here in Boston; the first night of the Beanpot.  So Go Eagles and as always remember it.......

Super Bowl Pick

I know I'm pretty late with posting my Super Bowl pick, but I guess it's better to be late than never.  Looks like the final line in Vegas has the Broncos as a 2.5 point favorite.  While it absolutely wouldn't shock me to see the Broncos win and cover the spread, I'm going to pull a Lee Corso and say "No so fast my friend."  I'm riding the Seahawks train and have them winning 23-21 (my little attempt at using Seahawks colors, and for those who may have bad eyes or color blind, I have the Seahawks winning 23-21).

I believe more times than not a good defense beats a good offense.  I've learned the good way when the Patriots stymied the Rams and "The Greatest Show on Turf" and I have learned the hard way when the Giants held the Patriots in check in the Super Bowl when the Pats were looking to go 19-0.  Another reason I like the Seahawks is because they are a run first offense and as a result I think they will be able to control the clock more.  Granted I said the same thing about the Patriots going into the Broncos game 2 weeks ago, and the Pats failed at running the ball, but I do think the Pats abandoned the run too early, whereas I see the Seahawks sticking to their game plan and keep feeding Marshawn Lynch the rock.  As a result of this I'am also picking Lynch to win the MVP.  I think he will get over 100 yards and at least 1 touchdown.

On a more subjective level, as a TB12 and Patriots fan, I do not want to see Peyton Manning win and the love fest that would ensue afterwards.  Also I like the Seahawks uniforms.  Hell of a color scheme.  If I didn't have an NFL team that I rooted for already, hands down I'd pick the Seahawks based on their uniforms alone.  And finally I am picking the Seahawks because I'd love to see how this Seattle power couple would celebrate their team hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.

Johnny Be Good; Basketball Be Bad

With Trophy Season beginning tomorrow night in the first round of the Beanpot when BC takes on Comm. Ave Rival BU, I figured I'd help make people aware of just how good BC's hockey (both men's and women's in fact) has been since Thanksgiving.

The day after Thanksgiving I had the misfortune of attending the Holy Cross-BC hockey game.  Only reason I really went was because my father is an HC grad, and I never even had a thought that BC would lose the game.  Well BC lost the game despite a ferocious attempt at a comeback in the 3rd period, and although the HC loss at the time seemed like one of the worst losses the program has sustained given the opponent that I can remember, looking back on it, the loss may have been a blessing in disguise.

Since the loss, BC is 11-0-1, have moved up to #2 in the most recent polls behind #1 Minnesota who has been equally as hot as BC, and as a result of the loss to HC, Jerry York, college hockey's all time winningest coach, put together the line of Johnny Gaudreau, Bill Arnold and Kevin Hayes, which has set the college hockey landscape on fire.

If you go to USCHO.COM you will see that Gaudreau (the favorite to win the Hobey Baker award) leads the nation in points, and right behind him at #2 is Hayes, and if you scroll down just a tad more Bill Arnold is at #6.  Having three of the top six point getters in the nation on the same team, let alone on the same line, is absurd (in a good way). It will be interesting come April to see if Gaudreau and Hayes finish one and two in Hobey Baker votes.  I'm not much of a college hockey historian but it wouldn't shock me if this would be the first time two players on the same team competed for the sport's highest individual award.

I know college hockey is a tough sport to follow because once you start to get into it, it takes a few weeks off in December and it doesn't garner much attention from the sports media compared to other sports, however with the addition of ESPN, there are more television outlets than ever that are broadcasting the sport.  Now along with ESPN, there is the NBC Sports Network, CBS Sports Network, the Big 10 Network and NESN locally here in New England that all broadcast college hockey games now.  Although college hockey is a niche sport, since it's regional  (mainly in the Midwest and New England, although somehow Alabama-Huntsville has a team) and so few schools have a division 1 team, college hockey fans have to be happy the with the direction the game is going.  On any Friday night now, one can watch 4-5 games on TV, which five years ago you would be lucky to see maybe 2 games at most.

So if you are a BC Alum or fan, and if you haven't started following this year's hockey team I recommend you start tomorrow night because the rest of the season has the makings to be a memorable one.  Another reason to start following the hockey team is that I have found them to be the perfect remedy to the nagging pain the hoops team has inflicted on me this year.......

.......Speaking of the BC basketball team they suffered YET another horrendous loss yesterday.  I was really hoping to not have to write this section of the Rant after they played one of their best games of the year in their victory over Virginia Tech earlier this week, but yesterday's loss again re-opened the wound that won't stop bleeding.

I won't spend too much time writing about this team, because quite frankly they don't deserve much of my time, but watching yesterday's Syracuse-Duke game made me long for a day when BC hoops is relevant again.  During my time at BC (2003-2007) going to a basketball game was fun.  The squad had swagger and was competitive.  In 2006 the team was one half court shot by Louis Hinnant that actually almost went in to win the ACC tournament and a questionable goaltending call against Villanova from advancing to the Elite 8.  Flash forward 8 years and the basketball team is struggling to finish the season with double digit wins.  I'm not asking the team to be Syracuse or Duke, because I am a realist and know that that won't happen, but I am asking for a team that can compete and has a shot every year of earning an NCAA tournament bid.

I know this year's squad isn't going anywhere, and by now the writing is on the all that the Donahue era is most likely going to come to a close at season's end, but the way yesterday's game ended irked me so much.  Up by 1 with under a second to go, and it looked like Eric Atkins wasn't going to get a clear shot at the hoop and Olivier Hanlan decides to foul him.  Granted Atkins missed the back end of his 2 foul shots and the game went to overtime, Atkins made up for it with his near buzzer beating 3 pointer to win the game for the Irish.  Yesterday's game was just another installment in the coulda-shoulda-woulda games that BC should have won.

Well that will do it for now, I will have another Rant later today with my Super Bowl predictions.

PS:

Couple of items to share, first off thanks to my buddies at Soaring to Glory a great website if you are a BC fan, for doing the math about my magic number question yesterday in regards to BC clinching Hockey East's regular season title.  Also, one of my loyal readers JOD asked if I would share the story about his high school alma mater's hockey squad Fairfield Prep Hockey .  I know a couple of my readers are proud grads of Fairfield Prep so I figured I would throw them a bone and spread the news about the Fighting Jesuits.