Let’s Not Start the Nonsense Now
Boston College lost for the first time this season on Tuesday night, as host Notre Dame handed them a 68-65 loss. With it are sure to come many claims along the lines of “overrated” or how this proves that the Eagles are not as good as their win streak would suggest. Naturally, all of that is pure nonsense, but detractors typically don’t care much about the facts. So against that backdrop, let’s try and nip this in the bud right away.
It should be obvious that one game hardly proves any of the above, especially in college basketball where we have seen how any team can beat any team on any given night. What is perhaps most comical is how there will surely be plenty of people who think this loss proves that the Eagles are not so good, but there weren’t people saying that some of their wins prove that they really are very good. No one said this team is legitimately good when they won at Connecticut; no one has cited their No. 3 RPI rating according to the Collegiate Basketball News RPI ratings and collegeRPI.com as evidence that this is really a good team. (In fact, they entered the week rated higher than Illinois.) Even here on Hoopville, the Morning Dish news item for the Illinois win on Tuesday night started off by saying, “With the demise of Boston College…” The word demise means death or the end of existence or activity. Tuesday’s loss did not end the season for Boston College by a long shot.
The Eagles have won a number of close games, even against mid-major teams that they have played. Detractors will look at that and use it to support their arguments, but there is an important fact to remember: the Eagles won those games, and a win is a win. Plenty of teams in the RPI top 20 have lost games like that, but the Eagles won them. Prior to Tuesday night’s loss, the Eagles had won 12 games decided by 10 points or less, and anyone who has seen many of those games realizes that they won them the way you expect a good team to do it – they made key plays down the stretch when the game was on the line. Time and time again, they have done that, whether they had to come from behind or led all the way.
Tuesday night’s loss simply proves that Notre Dame played a better game than Boston College. The Fighting Irish got a career night from sharp-shooting wing Colin Falls and a very good game from Chris Thomas. The Eagles didn’t shoot well, and Craig Smith didn’t play his best game at the offensive end. But the Eagles outrebounded the bigger Notre Dame front line, including 15 offensive rebounds, and they still had more assists than turnovers, which they have done in most games this season.
The Eagles have won in a variety of ways this season, so this loss didn’t expose a weakness that was hidden by other things they did well up to this point. If there is anything that has been common in each game, it has been good chemistry and smart basketball. They aren’t loaded with big-time talent and freely admit as much. They are a well-coached bunch, intelligent players and know how to make plays when it counts. They have made adjustments during the game about as well as anyone, as evidenced by their prowess in the second half this season.
One important fact for detractors to remember is that they are still 20-1 overall and on top of the Big East with a 9-1 record. Right now, the Big East is their focus, and the coaching staff has done a masterful job of keeping this team focused. When they made history with their 20th straight win on Saturday night, most of the players will tell you they had no idea until they had been told that.
“We’re just trying to stay on top of the league as best we can,” head coach Al Skinner said after Saturday’s win. “Every night is a dog fight, and unfortunately for us, it’s going to be that way.”
The Eagles knew that once they kept winning, they would get the best shot from every team they play. Teams that are on top have a big target on their backs, and the Eagles are no different. That, along with the general lack of respect for the team, kept them feeling like an underdog, a role they have relished all season.
“A lot of people don’t respect us, still, they probably think we’re one of the worst top five teams, we’re supposed to lose to Notre Dame, they don’t think we’re the best team in the Big East,” said sophomore forward Jared Dudley, who had 16 points and 11 rebounds in the loss to Notre Dame for his second straight double-double. “It definitely motivates us. Respect is earned. If we keep winning, eventually they’ll change their mind real quick.”
Dudley’s comments illustrate that while the Eagles certainly don’t care about outside opinions, they don’t live in a vacuum. They know how they are perceived, but like the hometown New England Patriots, they know that winning games is all the respect they need.
“Every game now, we just got to prove people wrong. That’s what this team is about,” said junior forward Craig Smith. “I feel more like we’re a 15-6 team or something like that, the way they talk about us.”
The Eagles will bounce back, especially with eight days between Tuesday and their next game against Rutgers. The team’s character has been one reason why they have won games to this point, and the coaching staff has kept them focused. During non-conference play, Skinner talked about the focus on winning non-conference games; now he speaks of having success in the Big East. That consistency clearly gets through to the players, and they are surely aware that more winning will keep proving the detractors wrong after losing Tuesday night.
“We didn’t talk about it at all,” Skinner said of the winning streak, which also set a school record. “All we’ve got to do is focus on being successful in this league. That’s all we got to focus on; we don’t need any other incentives, we don’t need any other motivations, our focus needs to remain on trying to do the best we can in this league. If we do that, then we’re fine. We don’t get distracted, it’s nice and narrow, it’s tight, and anything that happens after that is just a byproduct.”
Win or lose, there will continue to be those who think the Eagles’ winning is just a fluke and that they can’t make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. They aren’t loaded with talent, but a boatload of All-American talent has never been a prerequisite for that. There are many who have not seen this team and consistently ask, “Are they really this good?” Yes, the Eagles are a good team. No, they aren’t loaded with All-American talent, but they know how to win games.
The New England Patriots recently won their third Super Bowl in four years. None of the teams had extraordinary amounts of talent by a long shot, and they weren’t always playing with all of their top players. The Super Bowl XXXVI champions were never expected to even be there; last year’s team had numerous starters missing come Super Bowl Sunday due to injuries, and this year’s team had numerous doubters because of two injured starting cornerbacks and not having defensive lineman Richard Seymour prior to the Super Bowl. Nonetheless, they won, and that’s all that counts; along the way, this year’s team also lost to the lowly Miami Dolphins, a team that is hardly the NFL’s answer to Notre Dame in college basketball. If the New England Patriots can win three Super Bowls in four years without a team full of All-Pro players, surely Boston College can make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.
