Syracuse 69, Boston College 61: Rapid, Uncut Reactions
By Joe Micik
Syracuse 69, Boston College 61 was the final score at the Carrier Dome on Tuesday night. The Eagles played another bad game despite flashes of competence.
With the loss, the Eagles fall to 8-9 (0-5), keeping their goose egg in the win column.
Syracuse 69, Boston College 61: Reactions
1. Early in the game, Len Elmore said that “Boston College is better than their record reflects.” Considering how light on talent they are, they were lucky to come into this game at 8-8. Most of those eight wins were against low-majors.
Last year, the narrative was “Boston College would be so much better if Dennis Clifford was still in the lineup.” This year it’s “Boston College is so tall and has so many upperclassmen.” Have either one of those things helped this team out this season? I didn’t think so.
2. Boston College’s prerogative seemed to be nothing but shooting threes. It’s like they thought it was their only chance to win the game. Maybe it was, but it did not work. Syracuse closed the first half on a 31-5 run. They started going inside more in the second, but even with Rakeem Christmas on the bench, they could not figure out how to make it work.
3. Eddie Odio seems like a nice kid who is trying, but that one or two good plays he makes per game is not enough to offset the five or six bad ones. Are we going to single him out, though? Of course not.
4. Boston College’s lack of talent is embarrassing enough, but when guys like Olivier Hanlan are invisible most of the game, the Eagles have very little chance. That has happened more this season than people would care to admit. Even some of the other games where he has gotten into double digits, they have been quiet points. Tonight, Hanlan did most of his damage in garbage time.
I’m not going to get angry about it; it is what it is.
5. It is something we have decried for a long time, but the talent on this team is wretched. The Eagles simply do not have the men to win in this conference on a regular basis, or at all. The only way to fix it is walk the team across the stage at graduation and recruit better.
Boston College Eagles
6. If you’re looking for any credit to give the Eagles, they did not quit, making the score look much more respectable late. The only problem is that everyone and their cousin knew Boston College was never in a million years going to complete the comeback. We all know better by now not to fall for it. A missed free throw here and a missed layup there and the Eagles torched their own rally.
The reality is that Boston College lost that game long before the last few minutes.
It truly is a miracle that the Eagles beat this team last season.
7. As for Syracuse, they are not a great team, but it’s clear they’re better than BC. This taking into account the fact that they had some stretches of real sloppiness. They could have lost to a better squad tonight with the way they played. My opinion on whether or not they are a legit tournament team has not changed: they’re not.