Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports

When it came to rebuilding, Boston College basketball head coach Steve Donahue quoted us a number: 50.

It would take the Eagles, which experienced a near-total roster turnover heading into the 2011-12 season, fifty games to come together and start playing as they should. Donahue insisted that this would be the standard. Saturday’s game at Virginia was game number 50.

Now, is this meant to be taken literally? If the coach intended for us to take it literally, then we’ll take it literally. Game #50 was hardly one to write home about for the Eagles — a 65-51 defeat at Virginia in which the Eagles played maybe about ten good minutes — but just because BC lost that game does not mean all is lost. Even the best teams lose games every now and then, but with this team, we are deep into an evaluation process of where they are and where they will go.

BC went 18-32 (5-17) in the first fifty games of this core of players formed by the recruiting class of 2011. As of late, they have been more competitive than last season, but the Virginia game was their least inspiring performance in over a month. Now, if we are to take Donahue’s standard at face value, it’s time to see something from this group. That may not be possible, as they could hit a wall and/or run out of gas, or any number of things could happen related to injury, but nevertheless, here we are.

This season has already been written off in terms of anything special; the only thing for which it counts is ensuring that BC wins some games and builds some forward momentum heading into the following year. Not being able to accomplish that would be a sincere disappointment, but still, that’s almost not even the point anymore.

The point is, as it has been for some time, next season itself. It is not what BC does in the 2012-13 year that will decide their fate or Donahue’s: it is the 2013-14 season, and always has been. The expectation was that by their collective junior year (“they” being Ryan Anderson and his classmates), BC would be “back.” They would contend for an NCAA Tournament bid at a minimum, and in their senior year they would be a solid bet to get into the field. The 9-10 (1-5) Eagles do appear to be somewhat off-course, but there is no way to know now what strides, if any, BC will make next season with some new recruits and a different schedule.

It is saddening for Boston College fans to watch their team lose, but no matter how bad this season gets, there will not be any changes made to the head coaching of the team, nor should there be. Everything, including the long-term future of this program, hinges on next season. If BC is in the same spot next year or looks like a glorified Wake Forest (a team that in its third rebuilding year under Jeff Bzdelik but is still only 10-9), heads should roll. I want this team on the bubble next year at a minimum. Anything less would show us that their trajectory is not going to take them to new heights, that they will not meet their potential, and that Donahue’s 2011 class was a collective bust. The Eagles will make the NCAA Tournament again someday, but if they can’t get back on track towards it next year, then why did we all suffer the last few seasons? What was the point? What improvement did we truly make?

Those are questions to be assessed next season when and if the time comes. As for now, through 50 games of this completely new basketball team, there is a great deal of uncertainty. It is not impossible that they will start to put it together, and we must hope that they will, but our questions about this team will not be solved in January 2013 or at any point this season. This could be a college basketball interpretation of Waiting for Godot, except Godot is an NCAA Tournament bid that never comes, and we waste so much precious time expecting it. Then again, it may come to this BC team after all, but not this year.

Bob Donnan-US PRESSWIRE

The 2011-12 Boston College Eagles men’s basketball team had a season to forget with a roster that most fans couldn’t name when it began. In 2012-13, these new faces are a little less new, but they’re going to have a difficult road ahead with a challenging, expanded ACC schedule.

The schedule in full:

November 11: vs. FIU
November 15: vs. Baylor (Charleston Classic)
November 16: vs. Dayton or Colorado (Charleston Classic)
November 18: vs. St. John’s, Auburn, Murray State, or Charleston (Charleston Classic)
November 21: vs. Auburn
November 25: vs. Bryant
November 28: at Penn State (ACC-Big Ten Challenge)
December 4: vs. Harvard
December 8: vs. St. Francis (NY)
December 16: vs. New Hampshire
December 22: vs. Providence
December 29: vs. Holy Cross
December 31: vs. Dartmouth
January 5: vs. NC State
January 9: at Virginia Tech
January 12: at Wake Forest
January 16: vs. Miami
January 22: at Maryland
January 26: at Virginia
January 29: vs. North Carolina
February 2: vs. Clemson
February 5: at Miami
February 10: vs. Duke
February 13: vs. Wake Forest
February 16: at Florida State
February 19: vs. Maryland
February 24: at Duke
February 27: at NC State
March 3: vs. Virginia
March 5: at Clemson
March 9: vs. Georgia Tech
March 14-17: 2013 ACC Tournament

This is a pretty interesting collection of at least 32 games, if one counts the first round of the ACC Tournament at a minimum, which promises some challenges and potential for success. One thing that will definitely be repeated by me and others as we close in on the season is this: Boston College has to do well in the non-conference schedule to have a chance at improving upon their record significantly. Games that they lost last year because of stupid freshman mistakes and still trying to get a feel for the college game should not be lost this season.

Boston College can do themselves a big favor and open with a win over FIU. The Golden Panthers were even worse than BC last year.

The Charleston Classic is not going to be easy, especially because they open with Baylor. Expect a nauseating broadcast, replete with “Brady Heslip meets his old team” talking points, most of which will probably make BC look bad. After that, it’s Dayton or Colorado, then one of four teams. Boston College apparently has a chance at playing the SEC’s Auburn twice in less than a week.

After Thanksgiving, the Eagles will face Bryant and then play their first true road game at Penn State for the Challenge. December is all at home for the Eagles and BC can win most of them, and they must if they plan to win double-digit games this season.

BC gets thrown into the pit to start the 2013 part of the season, drawing Sweet 16 team NC State right off the bat. From there in this newly-expanded 18-game ACC schedule, a few highlights are home games against UNC (Jan. 29), Clemson (Feb. 2), and Duke (Feb. 10). With 18 games and one more season of just twelve ACC teams, BC will play seven double-dips, which are NC State, Duke, Virginia, Maryland, Miami, Wake Forest, and Clemson. Surprisingly, BC won’t be seeing Virginia Tech twice this year.

It’s way too early in the process to venture guesses as to how this team will do, but expectations will be a little higher this year.  A good run in non-conference play is the absolute minimum that any recent BC team that’s even been sub-mediocre has achieved. Think of the bad Eagles teams in the last decade, aside from the 2011-12 season: even the ones that stunk up the joint in ACC play managed to win most of their out-of-conference schedule. If BC can’t at least take that leap, then this season will probably look a lot like the previous one. By Christmas, I think it’s quite likely we will know if this team has truly improved or not, regardless of what happens in conference play.

Greg M. Cooper-US PRESSWIRE

Part I: Football

We continue on reviewing the year that was in 2011-12 Boston College sports, giving a final postmortem (for most teams, anyway) and committing their seasons to the history books. Today’s retrospective involves the BC men’s basketball team, which saw a tremendous amount of change.

The head coach, Steve Donahue, was the same, but the players definitely were not. Familiar faces like Reggie Jackson, Joe Trapani, Corey Raji, and Biko Paris, amongst others, were all gone. In came inexperienced 18-year olds such as Patrick Heckmann, Ryan Anderson, Lonnie Jackson, and Dennis Clifford, while adding a transfer in junior Matt Humphrey. In total, 75% of the opening day roster in November had never touched the court in a BC uniform.

As such, most people assumed this 2011-12 team would be bad. How bad was a matter of frequent debate, and the non-BC fan consensus was that the Eagles would win five games or less, probably not one in the ACC, and may rank amongst the conference’s worst teams of all-time. My prediction, on the other hand, was for 10 wins and at least two in the ACC. I was half-right, with BC managing only nine overall wins but four in the conference.

The new-look Eagles began their campaign on November 14 at Conte Forum while hosting the New Hampshire Wildcats. For the first time in a while, BC basketball and its fans were truly sailing into the unknown, not having a clue what to expect from the kids — or, for many, who they even were. On that first night, anyway, they got a 67-64 win in which Patrick Heckmann led the way with 19 points. It wasn’t perfect, and there were a lot of things the kids could do better, but at least for a few days, they were above .500.

Whatever good tidings had been fostered by the UNH win were barbecued at the DCU Center on November 18 as the young Eagles lost to Holy Cross by 22 points in a game that was nearly out of reach at halftime. It got even worse three days later at Conte Forum as the Eagles were pulverized by the Massachusetts Minutemen, 82-46. The latter, which was the fifth-worst BC sports moment of 2011, was basketball’s worst loss in eight years and most lopsided ever to UMass.

The 76 Classic in Anaheim over Thanksgiving break wasn’t much kinder. In the first game, BC played a better game against Saint Louis and still lost, then scratched and clawed their way to an overtime win over UC-Riverside (in which Heckmann dropped 32), and were easily dismissed by New Mexico. The two teams that beat them ended up being NCAA Tournament teams as expected, but it was still needed experience in playing better opposition.

A recurring theme in these losses, as it would be in many more of BC’s defeats in 2011-12, were sloppy mistakes and inexplicably-cold shooting. The dumb turnovers were a problem in most games, but the Eagles began to develop of habit of going offensively comatose for an extended stretch, sometimes for upwards of 10 minutes, allowing the opposition to pull away. What Eagles fans saw up until this point was only the beginning of the freshman frustration.

On January 2 of this year, we knew a lot less about this men’s basketball team than we do now, and by January 2, 2013, we will have some fairly concrete signs of their trajectory. On the former, Soaring to Glory released a list of five expectations for the calendar year 2012; today, we will set out some very early expectations for the team for the full 2012-13 season, which are subject to change as circumstances warrant.

The five expectations from two months ago were as follows:

• Development of current freshmen into more seasoned ACC players (in general).
• Ryan Anderson taking a big step forward (in particular).
• A respectable uptick in wins from 2011-12 to 2012-13 through the non-conference schedule.
• Victories in ACC game(s).
• Playing more aggressive defense — and getting results.

We won’t have answers on some of those items until the end of 2012, but some of those expectations have already been met. Even if they had not been reached, it is not at all unfair to raise the bar higher next season as these freshmen become sophomores.

These are a few things which must happen for this team next year:

• A respectable uptick in wins from 2011-12 to 2012-13 through the non-conference schedule, and an improved OOC performance in general. This cannot be avoided. Towards the end of Al Skinner’s tenure, the Eagles had some lousy teams, but even they cleaned up outside the ACC. Simply put, a losing record before conference play is absolutely unacceptable. It would be a sure sign that they won’t even rise to the level of those very sub-par 2007-08 or 2009-10 teams.

Granted, BC underachieved outside of the ACC this year and overachieved (relatively speaking) inside of it, but a team with any hope whatsoever of being decent sets the table by having a respectable resume in non-conference play.

A tournament berth is not an expectation for next season, but losing fewer than 20 games is. It’s all going to start in the non-conference schedule, so they have to own it. This also means that they can’t be getting atomic wedgies from teams like UMass and Holy Cross; BC has to be much more competitive.

• A reasonable increase in win total (13-15 wins). This is an arbitrary number, but one would figure the Eagles should be able to win at least four more games next year with the extra experience under their belts. If they were able to become a .500 team, give or take a game or two, that would be a definite success.

If they were to win, say, 12 games, it’s an improvement, but that still gets BC very close to 20 losses. If it’s 11 wins or less, especially if it’s peppered with some blowout losses to normally-inferior teams, people will probably make the case that BC didn’t improve much at all. The Eagles need to take a step forward, and that means winning some of those games that they couldn’t close out in 2011-12 and taking care of business with the teams they should beat.

• Ryan Anderson’s continued emergence as the team’s leader. Anderson came on strong towards the end of the season and ended up being BC’s best player. He has played like the top recruit he was, and the Eagles should be able to continue reaping the benefits.

There is every reason to believe that he will take another step forward in 2012-13.

• Better shooting. Boston College’s offense was reliably anemic almost all year long and they repeatedly hit a ceiling of about 60 points. This was helped by some extensive scoring droughts during the course of games. Every team has dry spells, but if this team really wants to show us that it has improved, they will avoid the ten-minute what-the-hell’s-a-basket stretches in each game.

• Fewer liberal player rotations in the early part of the season. This year, anyone with two brain cells to rub together could tell that Coach Steve Donahue was doing hockey-style line changes, especially early in the year, to try to get guys into games. This was presumably to throw proverbial crap at the wall and see what stuck, but next season, with some roleplayers figured out, I expect that this will happen less. Along those lines…

• The team will have greater stamina and perhaps better builds. Another part of the reason Donahue made major substitutions, especially later on, was because players were gassed. Going forward, we can’t afford to have a team that involuntarily packs it up after a certain amount of game play. Next season’s sophomores have got to build some endurance so they can play 40 effective minutes; a lot of time in the weight room wouldn’t hurt, either.

Bob Donnan-US PRESSWIRE

Hockey seems to be the focus around Boston College athletics this week, and with good reason, but there are still loose ends regarding basketball which need to tied up. It may be convenient, if not preferable, to toss dirt on the 2011-12 campaign and pretend it never happened, but the development of the young players will be crucial to the success of the program over the next several years, and we must take stock of it. This all begs the question: How did individual players perform this season?

If only it was easy to answer. Inconsistency largely reigned over the course of the year, but sometimes, our Eagles didn’t even look different from game to game — more like half to half. As such, you will see the “inconsistent” theme appear quite a few times; try not to be bothered by it.

Players will be evaluated in numerical order.

Salah Abdo | 0
Graduate student

2011-12 evaluation: INC

Abdo barely touched the court. If you want exact totals, he played eleven minutes for the Eagles this season, took two free throw attempts (missed both), and committed a foul. One would believe his primary role on the team was to be a mentor to the freshmen. Salah, we hardly knew ye.

Gabe Moton | 1
Sophomore

2011-12 evaluation: Needs work

Moton was limited to a bench role this year once again and averaged just shy of 16 minutes per game. His offensive numbers are virtually indistinguishable from his freshman season and any contributions, though not unheard of, were rare.

He did hustle and there were some games where I said “he looks better than last year,” but Moton was largely a non-factor. With the highly-touted Olivier Hanlan coming aboard next season, it is hard to imagine Moton in a more significant role in the future.

Deirunas Visockas | 2
Graduate student

2011-12 evaluation: INC

Visockas played more than Abdo, but still not enough to be able to assign a grade. He played the equivalent of one full game this season — 40 minutes — and managed only three points.

Visockas made his first appearance in the first Miami game and got his most playing time (11 minutes) against ACC champion Florida State. He did little of note, but at least the injury-plagued Lithuanian was able to finish his collegiate career in peace and without incident.

Eddie Odio | 4
Freshman

2011-12 evaluation: Needs work

Odio appeared in 24 games during the season, including some more significant playing time early in the year, but he never managed to stand out.

His minutes steadily declined towards the end and then he unfortunately became injured, but when he was on the court, he was just “there.” At times, Odio looked rather lost.

It will be interesting to see if he can bulk up in the offseason and contribute off the bench next season. Odio is athletic and that is meant as a compliment, but it needs to translate into results when he’s on the floor.

Bob Donnan-US PRESSWIRE

On Thursday afternoon, a season that all Boston College fans knew would be long and painful came to an end. A team with nine freshmen got broken in and, predictably, the Eagles basketball program had its worst stretch in quite some time. While expectations were extremely low, some benchmarks were set and fans counted on seeing some player development as well. Keeping all of this in perspective along with BC’s 9-22 (4-12) record, did this basketball team accomplish its goals?

Recall our basketball season preview in November. In it, I said that I was not buying the media’s 25+ loss predictions of doom. Furthermore, I predicted this:

• Boston College basketball wins at least 10 games
• Boston College basketball wins at least 2 ACC games

Here’s what actually happened:

• BC basketball wins 9 games
• BC basketball wins 4 ACC games (including one against a ranked team)

Boston College basketball underachieved on the overall win mark but overachieved in the ACC, and anyone who watched this team play in the conference will tell you the latter is definitely the case.

With regards to the former, we all knew that it would be a bumpy start for the Eagles, but they did manage to win their first game of the season against New Hampshire. Few expected that they would be as bad as they were in the non-conference schedule, however. If you had asked me for a specific breakdown of wins before the season, I would have said eight out-of-conference wins and two ACC wins; we got five and four, which is great on the ACC side but weak outside of it. BC could have won that tenth game, but it went up in smoke in Blacksburg, Virginia with about two seconds to go.

Some of those non-conference losses for the Eagles were legitimately atrocious. The worst of them all had to be UMass, who went to Conte Forum in the team’s third game and beat BC by 36. Boston College was able to recover somewhat, but considering the quality of their opposition, the out-of-conference schedule was a little disappointing, even for a brand new team.

The Eagles far and away exceeded people’s expectations for the ACC part of the schedule. Media talking heads on ESPN and elsewhere had this team firmly on track for zero conference victories while others compounded it by saying BC would end up as the worst ACC team of all-time. Neither of those things happened, and along the way, Boston College was able to spring a major upset of then-#17 Florida State. Of course, eight of their nine wins during the season (including FSU) were at home, but they still count, and few people gave BC a chance to even play competitively with such a team.

BC’s record in the ACC does not even take into account the handful of games in which they were close to their opponents well into the second half, only to run out of gas and collapse, including Thursday’s ACC Tournament game. A better-conditioned, more seasoned Eagles team might very well have been able to flip some of those games from losses into wins.

Steve Donahue had his work cut out for him not only in trying to win games, but attempting to mold 18-year olds into serviceable ACC players. It happened for some. Ryan Anderson, the star recruit the Eagles hauled in from California, played like one. In my estimation, he was the only player who, once he began to develop and get comfortable in his own skin, started looking consistently good from game to game, especially towards the end. Of course, there were some bumps in the road, but Anderson outshone the rest of the freshmen.

As for the rest of them, some (the ones who got off the bench, that is) had better seasons than others, and some had individually great games, but the results were somewhat uneven. Individual player evaluations are coming soon.

Did Boston College improve as the season went along? Yes, but again, it was not uniform. Their four ACC wins count for a lot more than their five non-conference wins against crap teams, though even during their ACC schedule, they did not always look like they got better from game to game. Some nights they were competitive, while others they looked like they wanted to go back to their dorms and play Xbox 360 right from the start. This sort of thing can be expected from a team of freshmen, and conditioning over a 31-game season plays a factor, so it would be reasonable to say BC did make strides during the 2011-12 campaign.

If you are looking at Boston College’s goals in terms of wins and losses, then they certainly exceeded expectations. They started slower than we thought, but finished stronger. In terms of player development, there were successes and disappointments like on any team, though there are pieces with which Donahue can work in the future. It was not a smooth linear progression from really bad and raw to decent and seasoned, because it never works that way, but in some respects BC basketball did get better, and they have at least set themselves up to be somewhat respectable in seasons to follow.

Paul Abell-US PRESSWIRE

The nightmare season is over.

On Thursday afternoon in the first round of the 2012 ACC Tournament, the 12-seeded Boston College Eagles lost to #5 North Carolina State, 78-57. BC will finish the season with a record of 9-22 (4-12) as their class of freshman will next take the court as sophomores.

The first half of the game was utterly dreadful. NC State started on a 14-0 run and it took Boston College nearly seven and a half minutes to get their first basket. As bad as BC’s shooting was, however, the Eagles’ biggest problem before halftime was limiting turnovers. The Eagles forked it over 13 times in the first half, with their last two in the closing moments in the half and causing a huge momentum swing. In fact, NC State cashed in on a BC turnover and turned it into a buzzer-beating three to give the Wolfpack a 13-point lead.

In the second half, Boston College was able to make the game competitive. The Eagles cut NC State’s lead to six, seven, or eight points on a number of occasions, but that was as close as they got. Eventually, the Wolfpack woke up again and pulled away for good.

At the end of the day, Boston College had a chance to make this a close game, but they screwed up every single opportunity they were afforded. How many times in the second half did BC cut it to 6 or 7 down, get the ball back, turn it back over, and give up a basket to the Wolfpack? It was these kinds of large, quick point swings against the Eagles that prevented them from getting back in the game, and it was entirely their own fault. BC sabotaged themselves repeatedly throughout the course of the contest, and not just in times when they had crucial opportunities to make it close but failed.

NC State appeared to be running up the score at the end, jacking up threes and dunking with the shot clock off. I don’t particularly take well to that sort of thing, but the outcome would not have changed, anyway.

This contest was very strange from a BC perspective. There were times when BC looked composed and as though they were capable of making a run, but for every good play they made, they committed an equal or greater error. Give credit to NC State, because even though they looked average for much of the game, they did not pass up on the mistakes the Eagles made. All the pressure was on the Wolfpack to win, not BC, and yet it was the young Eagles who looked flustered and often completely out of control. That can be expected from such an inexperienced bunch, but it was still very frustrating to watch — especially for Steve Donahue, who looked at times as though he would need the services of an oxygen mask and/or defibrillator paddles.

In a way, the game was a microcosm of the entire season for Boston College: start out by looking like green freshmen and get run out of the gym, show some fight, make mistakes, show some more fight, and then fade into complete irrelevance.

A few players did have notable games, though if we’re only talking about BC players, it was just Ryan Anderson. He had 22 points and 12 rebounds in the loss, and definitely was the sole player to show up for the Eagles. Lots of other guys, however, ranged from below-average to brutal. Matt Humphrey was 3-13 in shooting (0-6 from three), Lonnie Jackson and Jordan Daniels had some pitiful turnovers, Dennis Clifford was a non-factor on the glass, and outside of a great four-point play, a recovering Patrick Heckmann looked lost again.

Boston College battled despite playing poorly, which hopefully counts for something, but this season ended precisely the way we all thought it would. There is plenty to break down with regards to the BC basketball season; stay tuned in the days to come.

That is not the outcome for which BC fans are hoping, but nevertheless, the reality is that the Eagles are the #12 seed for a reason. Still, it is (probably) worthwhile to examine their draw and see if there is any chance at all of victories.

(Click to enlarge (if you dare)):

Boston College will be substantial underdogs in their first game against the NC State Wolfpack. The first time these two teams faced each other in Raleigh, BC was barely competitive. The second time at Conte Forum, where the Eagles went 4-4 against ACC competition, Boston College lost by a respectably-close margin. Given this team’s propensity to play poorly outside of Conte Forum, however, it is unlikely that they will get beyond this round. It did not make much difference who the Eagles drew in this game, as they would not have been close to favored in any potential 5/12 matchup.

The only possible source of inspiration for BC fans is to remember the first round in 2008: the Eagles played Maryland, who were on the bubble at the time. 4-12 Boston College beat the Terps that night and wrecked their season (they then followed that game with a loss against Clemson that had to rank amongst BC’s most embarrassing defeats of the 2000s, but we don’t need to talk about that). It is March Madness after all, and perhaps the Eagles saved the best for last.

Should BC be fortunate enough to make it that far, they would play Virginia in the quarterfinals. Boston College actually managed about 33 good minutes against the Wahoos when they visited in Charlottesville, but again, it ended up being a lopsided road loss. Virginia is probably somewhere in the ballpark of an NCAA #8 seed right now, and a loss to Boston College here — if present in this contest — would shave quite a bit off of their standing. Regardless, the Eagles would be heavy underdogs in this game as well, and it would take a full 40 minutes of effort to make the game competitive.

It is not even worth evaluating the latter portions of the draw, because let’s be honest, BC is not getting that far. As a matter of fact, it will take one of their best efforts of the season (if not their best) just to escape from Thursday. Getting through Saturday and Sunday would require the direct intervention of a supernatural being, as well as a bunch of guys growing up very quickly.

This season was always supposed to be a learning experience. These young guys have had a full season of ACC play and now get to experience the ACC Tournament, where hopefully they will do a lot of winning in the years to come. Few will be disappointed if that winning does not begin now, but Steve Donahue will doubtlessly make good use of whatever game time he has left with him team in teaching them how to win at this level. Whether the season ends on Thursday against NC State or some other day, they will at least be able to get their feet wet.

On Saturday afternoon in southern Florida, Boston College men’s basketball was defeated by the Miami Hurricanes, 77-56. The loss in the Eagles’ regular-season finale has given them a 9-21 (4-12) record with no road wins, and has locked them in as the #12 seed in next week’s ACC Tournament. As for the Hurricanes, they needed to avoid a season-killing loss to BC to keep themselves in NCAA Tournament contention, and they accomplished their goal.

The Eagles showed some early fight, hanging around with the Hurricanes but unable to break through. At about eight and a half minutes in, BC was able to fight off a Miami run and close to within two points at 20-18. Unfortunately for BC, it was all downhill from there. The Hurricanes shot very well from beyond the arc, and within minutes, BC trailed by double-digits. At the end of the half, thanks to a desperation three from Durand Scott at the buzzer, the Eagles found themselves behind by 21.

Boston College was able to get a 31-31 split in the second half, but by then, the damage had long since been done and there was virtually no hope of a comeback throughout.

Miami shot 61% from the floor in the first half, and 50% for the game. BC, meanwhile, had a good game (from their perspective) in shooting 43%, but the Hurricanes’ 12 three-pointers was just one reason why it was not in the cards for the Eagles today. This game was a poor defensive effort for BC from start to finish.

One lopsided statistic from today’s game comes by way of “bench points”: Miami had 31, and BC had 7. In other bad news for the Eagles, they committed 17 turnovers.

We have all wished the best for these kids and look forward to seeing them grow in the future, but this season needs to be learned from — then buried, staked through the heart, and never spoken of again. One way or another, that will happen in Atlanta this upcoming week.

Jeremy Brevard-US PRESSWIRE

Boston College’s elusive first road win not only evaded them again, but it got further away than ever.

On Saturday afternoon in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Boston College men’s basketball lost to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, 85-56. This loss was noteworthy (in a negative manner) for several reasons, the first of which is that it saddled the Eagles with their twentieth loss of the season. Next, it was the Eagles’ worst road defeat (29 points) of the year, their most lopsided ACC loss of the season, and finally, their second-worst defeat of the year behind UMass in November (36 points).

Wake Forest opened the game on a 5-0 run, but the Eagles were able to counter with a 14-6 spurt to take a lead of their own. From there, Wake and BC would punch and counterpunch a few times, and Boston College took their last lead at 21-20 on a Matt Humphrey layup. Once the Deacs retook the lead shortly thereafter, however, it was all downhill for the Eagles.

For about the last seven or eight minutes of the first half, the Eagles began to visibly unravel, feeling Wake Forest’s pressure and creating a number of unforced errors of their own. BC began missing layups and other short-range shots, committing a flurry of turnovers, and missing at the free throw line (mostly Ryan Anderson). What had looked relatively promising at the midway point of the half became a nine-point deficit. Eagles fans had no way of knowing how much worse the second half would get.

The second period began with a turnover which led to Wake Forest points, helping the Demon Deacons open on a 9-2 run. Boston College was then able to make some baskets and swim against the tide, but it was not long before Wake Forest washed them further out into the depths. With about nine minutes to go, the Eagles trailed by 20, and Wake Forest was able to extend their lead to as many as 32 points before settling at the final margin of 29.

There is absolutely no way to assess this game kindly from a Boston College perspective. Without question, this BC team matches up poorly with Wake Forest, as they have now been soundly defeated by them twice, but the Eagles’ listlessness and overwhelming appearance of being out-of-sync were very hard to ignore. For long stretches, BC looked like they did not belong on the same court.

Ryan Anderson was again the star of the Eagles’ show, coming up one rebound shy of yet another double-double, but even he was far from perfect, missing seven of nine free throw attempts. Lonnie Jackson made a few three-pointers and ended up with 12 points, and very few other players were relevant.

Boston College committed 15 turnovers throughout the game and got only seven points off of their bench. Praiseworthy contributions were few and far between. Of note, Patrick Heckmann returned to the floor after several weeks nursing injuries and overcoming mononucleosis, but his was hardly a game to remember, either.

It is very likely that Boston College, though they have one road game left, will not win any in an away venue this season. If we are going to be honest with ourselves, their best chance at it went up in smoke with two seconds to go in Blacksburg, Virginia. They will conclude with a contest in Miami, and the Hurricanes are a bubble team who will need that victory badly.

Eagles fans should be looking towards next season, as the odds of getting any more positive developments from this one are remote at best. Boston College will wrap up its home slate at Conte Forum on Wednesday against Georgia Tech.