2010 ACC Tournament: 9 Virginia vs. 8 Boston College

Boston College has played in four previous ACC Tournaments.  They won at least one game in all four of those tournaments; even in 2008 when they were a pathetic 4-12.  Of course, that Eagles team paid for their victory the next night by getting embarrassed by Clemson.

In my view, it is highly unlikely that the Eagles will check out on Thursday.  Consider the following:
-BC beat Virginia last week by 13 points; Sylven Landesberg played
-Sylven Landesberg is now done for the season
-Virginia is the coldest team in the ACC with 9 losses in a row
-UVA is averaging 57 points per game in their losing streak
-For purposes of comparison, in BC’s last 9 games (3-6), the Eagles average almost 61 points per game

BC is better than Virginia, but not much better.  The suspension of Landesberg will be a significant net loss for the Wahoos in this game.  I don’t think Virginia would win this game with him, but without him, it’s the same result.  If the Eagles wanted to win this game big, they probably could, but I could just as easily see a BC win by a slim single-digit margin.  The only thing that would truly surprise me is an Eagles loss, which, if they manage to pull it off tomorrow, would be one of their most disgraceful losses of the year.  UVA has the look of a team that has just about packed it in, their tough Senior Day loss notwithstanding. 

Winning this game won’t do much for the Eagles but keep them alive for another day — whether or not that’s a good thing.  Having faith in the Eagles this season is probably a mistake, but I at least hold the hope that they will make it to Friday.