Boston College Basketball Recruiting: PF Billy Magarity Commits to Eagles

Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports

Football recruiting news has dominated Eagle sports for the last month or two, but sooner or later, another team was bound to steal the headlines. Today, Boston College’s men’s basketball secured a big (literally) recruit in the person of 2013 power forward Billy Magarity.

He turned down offers from Seton Hall and Temple to come to the Heights.

Magarity is a Swede who measures in at 6-11/225, instantly making him one of the biggest men on the Eagles when he puts on the uniform; he will join Patrick Heckmann as the second European native on the BC basketball team. He has played the Eurobasket circuit and is therefore older than the typical recruit who will join the Eagles as a freshman: in 2013, he will be 20 years old (if he’s not already).

During the 2012-13 season, in which he played 27 games for Swedish outfit Eco Orebro, he averaged 6.9 points per game, 5.3 rebounds, 0.7 assists, and 0.6 blocks. Those numbers may not scream out, but Magarity did have several schools pursuing him for his services, and at the end of the day, the Eagles won the race.

His usefulness to Boston College is obvious to those who follow the program: the Eagles are sorely lacking in size. With Dennis Clifford’s health having fluctuated for much of last season and (in the most recent year) no other “big men” to whom they were willing to turn for extended minutes, BC needed another large body to put down low, and with Magarity, they have it. Magarity gives the Eagles some more flexibility on handling Clifford, as they no longer need to rely upon him for minutes he may or may not be able to give. With the other newcomers joining the fray, including Darryl Hicks, Garland Owens, and transfer Alex Dragicevich, the Eagles are beginning to put together respectable depth in several areas.