Boston College punctuated an extremely successful regular
season by winning at Providence, likely enhancing their NCAA Tournament seed. With a tough frontline of Craig Smith, Jared Dudley and Uka Agbai in place, the Eagles are going to be a tough out the rest of the way.
Boston College coach confident on tournament (again)
March 8, 2004
AP
BOSTON (AP) The way Al Skinner sees it, Boston College's NCAA credentials were secured almost a year ago, when its Big East rival Syracuse won the national championship.
"The league proved itself out," Skinner said on Monday, a day before the Eagles were to leave for the Big East tournament. "We sent four teams in; four teams went to the Sweet 16, with the national champion. I think we proved the success of our league."
BC was surprisingly omitted in 2003, as was Seton Hall, when the NCAA selection committee took just four Big East teams. Skinner thinks they were left out of the 65-team field because the committee didn't understand how deep and difficult the conference is.
Then, all four Big East schools made it to the regional semifinals - and Syracuse won it all - giving the conference a 12-3 record overall in the tourney.
"We've got a lot of very good teams. It's been one of the toughest conferences," said sophomore forward Craig Smith, who was named to the All-Big East team on Monday. "Last year was just a heartbreak. But we know why we were left out."
BC was 19-12 last year with a 10-6 record in the Big East that was good enough to win a division under the league's old format. But they also had embarrassing losses to Northeastern and Holy Cross, lost by 37 to Connecticut in the season finale and then scored just 48 points in a conference tournament semifinal loss to Pittsburgh.
When the 65-team field for the tournament was announced, the Eagles watched and waited for their team to appear.
"It was a huge disappointment. It was terrible. It really was," sophomore Nate Doornekamp said Monday. "We just didn't want to leave it up to the committee. We wanted to make the decision for them."
This year, the Eagles are 21-8 with a 10-6 conference record that puts them fifth in the league as a whole. They have wins against two currently ranked teams - No. 17 N. C. State and No. 20 Providence - their power ranking is much better than last year and they have one of the stronger schedules in the nation.
They have won six straight and nine of their last 10, including an impressive win at Providence on Saturday. They will play Georgetown in the first round of the conference tournament at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday afternoon; a win would put them against 19th-ranked Syracuse.
Skinner has said for a week that his team is just playing to improve its seed in the NCAA tournament.
"I think we've covered all our bases up to this point," he said. "The more games we win, the higher seed we're going to get. I don't think anything that happens in New York will keep us out."
Of course, that's what he said last year, too.
"There's no question that I felt a little jaded coming into the season," said Skinner, who confessed that he'll feel a little relief when he sees "Boston College" in the brackets. "There's always going to be a little doubt until the selection's made. But I feel the same way this year as I did last year. I feel that we're going to be selected."
AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service
Boston College Eagles
Record: 21-8
RPI: 0.6110 - 25
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2003-2004 Schedule & Results
Date Opponent Result
Nov 22 vs Appalachian St W 92-67 (Paradise Jam)
Nov 23 vs Monmouth W 60-50 (Paradise Jam)
Nov 24 vs Wichita St W 84-81 (Paradise Jam)
Nov 29 Boston U W 67-44
Dec 2 Holy Cross W 64-51
Dec 6 Massachusetts W 76-75 OT
Dec 9 @ Saint Joseph's L 57-67
Dec 14 Sacred Heart W 72-70
Dec 20 Kent St W 58-54 OT
Dec 23 Stony Brook W 82-64
Dec 30 @ Clemson L 62-72
Jan 3 St. Bonaventure W 77-70
Jan 6 @ Georgetown W 72-64
Jan 10 @ Syracuse L 73-96
Jan 14 Villanova L 89-92
Jan 17 Seton Hall W 72-63
Jan 20 North Carolina St W 66-65 OT
Jan 24 @ West Virginia L 62-65
Jan 28 @ Pittsburgh L 58-68
Jan 31 Connecticut L 58-63
Feb 4 Notre Dame W 76-69
Feb 8 @ St. John's W 89-61
Feb 11 @ Miami-Florida W 74-72 OT
Feb 14 Providence L 52-61
Feb 16 @ Seton Hall W 67-63
Feb 22 Rutgers W 76-44
Feb 25 Virginia Tech W 56-48
Mar 3 St. John's W 68-54
Mar 6 @ Providence W 63-54
Mar 10 vs Georgetown (Big East)
