By: Jeff Arnold
Before the artificial crowd noise blares and Tom Burke’s voice announces the starting lineups over the PA system, a video plays on the two Jumbo Trons at the Conte Forum. The video highlights the past players from recent Boston College basketball history. Jared Dudley, Reggie Jackson, and Olivier Hanlan are shown in their playing day before the team motto, “Respect the past, represent the future,” flashes across the screen. Despite a run of atrocious seasons in the past five years, there is a new feeling surrounding Boston College basketball.It is one of hope, optimism, and energy that has not been seen since the Al Skinner days. Despite standing at 3-4, Eagles basketball seems to be back on the rise.
The issue for this year’s team will be patience. Patience with themselves and a system that, in its infancy, can be extremely frustrating to play and watch. Considering that none of the regular rotation players have spent significant time together on the floor, spacing and timing are often times poor. Both guards will find their ways within a few feet of each other, the big men are forced to operate in limited space on the low block, and off ball cuts are often met with poorly timed passes. All in all, when the offense clicks, it clicks and looks miles better than it did at any point last season, but, and it’s a big “but,” when the offense is off kilter in any way, it is brutal to watch and ends in contested threes and forced mid range jumpers. If the team can stay patient and learn to work the system correctly, they could beat any team in the country. If they don’t however, it could become another season of hero ball and losses.
Thus far in the season the team is not realizing any of their potential. After winning their first three games, they were blown out by Michigan State which seemed to fluster the inexperienced team. They are now losers of five in a row, the last of which was against a far inferior UMass Lowell team.
All that being said, the chance for a turnaround is very real. This chance truly began in 2012, the year that Olivier Hanlan signed on with BC. Different from many of the other Steve Donahue recruits who transferred when he was let go by the school in the spring of 2014, Hanlan stuck with the team before finishing his junior season and leaving for the NBA. Hanlan finished his career as one of the most prolific scorers in BC history, but it is his connection to the New Hampton School, his alma mater, that has been most beneficial to this year’s team.
Enter AJ Turner. The 6’7″ small forward from Michigan was one of the most coveted talents in the class of 2015. Despite being slightly undersized for the modern small forward and, at 185 lbs, needing to bulk up, his talent is undeniable. Having received offers from Stanford, Harvard, Michigan, and Iowa State, the New Hampton graduate chose to spend his college years playing for second year coach Jim Christian. This decision, along with the rest of the freshman class, is the reason there is hope for the team.
Turner, when he gets the ball, is the best player on the floor. Having modeled his game after Kevin Durant, his ability to play like a guard while also body big men on defense is something that hasn’t been seen on a Boston College basketball since Rakeem Sanders, six years ago. If Turner puts on some weight and gets stronger there is no reason he can’t play in the NBA, he has that kind of skill set. The good thing for Jim Christian is that Turner has yet to make the physical jump he needs to in order to play in the pros. Because he has yet to do this, Christian likely has at least one or two more years with him and the rest of the freshman class which seems the best a BC coach has brought in since Biko Paris’ freshman year in 2007.
The other highlights on the team come in the form of talented freshman guards Jerome Robinson and Matt Milon and redshirt-freshman forward Idy Diallo. Robinson and Milon provide entirely different benefits.
Robinson at 6’5″ is bigger than a lot of other point guards in college basketball. This should give him a defensive advantage as well as more freedom in shot selection. He is athletic, a rarity for many BC guards, and plays with a fire that is infectious for the rest of the players on the floor. He looks to be the perfect compliment to Turner.
Milon is a pure shooter. The lefty plays hard-nosed defense and fights for rebounds well considering he is only 6’4.” Also, different than Robinson and Turner who both need to add muscle mass, Milon’s body is already developed. On top of this, he moves extremely well off the ball and has proved to be a spark plug when the offense goes stagnant. If he can improve as a cutter and as a passer he could easily be a reliable starter.
Diallo provides both the most question marks and the most potential. At 6’11”, 253 lbs, he already possesses the ideal body for a power 5 conference big man. The issue is that he is unpolished on both sides of the ball. Defensively he is prone to get in foul trouble early, however, if he can weather the first few minutes of the game without picking up quick fouls, he has also proven to be a valuable paint presence. As an offensive player, Diallo is good on the low block. His post-game is better than that of Dennis Clifford, and he has good vision across the court. When he is moved to the top of the key, it’s an entirely differnet story. He plays timid and struggles to make the right pass. This could be difficult to improve, but if he does, he could easily transform into a solid traditional forward.
If those three improve to realize most of their potential, and they all stick around long enough to learn the system, they could provide the Eagles their first tournament berth since 2009. Right now it isn’t being demonstrated, but they might have the highest ceiling in the ACC. If they get through this season without major injury and learn how to keep games close, they should be able to learn how to finish in crunch time. For the first time in a long time they have the talent, the test now becomes whether they can stay patient and stick around long enough to realize their immense potential.
