Boston College finished last season eighth in the ACC standings and ninth in scoring offense, scoring defense and turnover margin.
This year’s squad has a new coach and virtually the same roster as the team that went 15-16 in 2009-10, but the Eagles are the odds-on favorites to lead the league in optimism.
“We were the team in the ACC that underachieved the most, I feel like,” senior forward Joe Trapani said at ACC Media Day. “I just think we had a ton of talent. Instead of being 6-10, I thought we could have been 10-6. Realistically, we just kind of gave games away.”
It’s a mentality that starts at the top with new coach Steve Donahue, who takes over the reins from Al Skinner, the winningest coach in BC history. Donahue was last seen guiding a senior-laden Cornell team to its third consecutive Ivy League title and the second Sweet Sixteen in program history.
Though Donahue acknowledges his team’s lack of depth in the wake of swingman Rakim Sanders’ transfer to Fairfield, he thinks the experience of his eight seniors will pay off as it did last season in Ithaca, N.Y.
The Eagles’ front court should be the team’s strength. The unit is led by small forward Trapani, a fifth-year senior who led the team with 14.1 points per game and 6.4 rebounds last season. He’ll be joined in the starting lineup by a pair of seniors in 263-pound center Josh Southern and forward Corey Raji, whose 3.1 offensive rebounds per game last year ranked third in the ACC.
Shooting guard Reggie Jackson will anchor the backcourt and look to progress from a sophomore season in which he was second on the team with 12.9 points per game; however, Jackson shot a dismal 29 percent on 110 3-point attempts. If the work Jackson has put in during the offseason on his outside shot yields any improvement, he could be in line for All-ACC honors.
“Reggie Jackson is athletic as anybody in America,” Donahue said. “Obviously I haven’t been in this league, but if there’s more athletic, full-package guards than Reggie Jackson, then I want to see them.”
But outside of Jackson, the team lacks ACC-caliber athletes. If the Eagles are to make a move into the top half of the ACC standings, they’ll have to do it by outworking the opposition.
