Monday, January 18, 2010

Hoops heavies now weighing in on BC

Two big Al Skinner fans with national perspectives and Boston ties, both took time to comment on BC's floundering basketball team. If play doesn't pick up, the tone of these articles are going to become more and more negative over the coming weeks.


Like many of us Bob Ryan thought things were settled after the win over South Carolina. He doesn't have any hard insight, but comes out and says what many of us are thinking "Something is going on off the court with this Boston College basketball team. There has to be." Like me, Ryan is a bit of a Skinner apologist. If Al loses his support you know things are bad.


Jeff Goodman, who covered the team before going national, hints that the staff might be the issue.

The lack of local recruiting and the departure of Bill Coen (Northeastern) and Ed Cooley (Fairfield) may have finally begun to catch up with Skinner. Just think about all the local talent that went – or is going – elsewhere.


We need a competitive game against Miami to breathe life back into this season.

1 comment:

ObserverCollege said...

SERIOUS COMMENT--One of John Feinstein's less prominent books, "Forever's Team", dissects the disappointment that comes about when a team's chemistry erodes. One would have thought the 1978 Duke team with Spanarkel, Gminski and Gene Banks would have made more Final Four runs. However, following the 1978 run the Duke team was undermined by jealousies and hidden agendas that we can't predict on the outside.

I suspect there is some serious dissension going on behind closed doors. Whereas other coaches rely on defense as their foundation, Al seems to rely more on the flex (which can overcome talent issues). If the guys don't buy in, and they dog it on both ends, then you get what we're seeing.