ACC Basketball: When Will Boston College’s Losing Streak End?

Boston College is sinking to the bottom of ACC basketball like a lead balloon, similar to how things went in most of the previous coaching regime.

Television analysts may have said during the Syracuse game last night that the Eagles are “better” than their current 8-9 (0-5) record, but you are what your record says you are, and Boston College hoops is a program that has lost 72 games and counting in their last three and a half seasons.

Since the 2011-12 season and up through yesterday, the Eagles have lost 42 ACC basketball games, not including the three defeats they suffered in the ACC Tournament over that period. Even for Boston College, this is a period of unprecedented losing.

With respect to this 2014-15 season, the Eagles have not a single victory inside their conference five games in, and are tied with Georgia Tech with five losses in the ACC.

Ironically, the Eagles head to Atlanta to face Tech in their next game. Someone is going to get into the win column, unless the Jackets should somehow defeat Virginia tomorrow in Charlottesville.

When is Boston College going to achieve that feat?

January 25 (Saturday afternoon) against those aforementioned Yellow Jackets is a serious contender. Georgia Tech is 9-8, sinking quickly once conference play began. Assuming they lose to Virginia, they will enter that game at 0-6.

Here’s the thing about Georgia Tech’s ACC basketball losses: they have all been close games. They took Notre Dame to the wire twice, held Syracuse to 46 points in a one-point loss, and were narrowly defeated by Wake Forest and Pitt. While GT is keeping it close at the ends of games, Boston College typically fades away. The Jackets are probably just as optimistic about beating the Eagles as Eagles fans are about beating them.

Following that, it’s January 28 against Louisville, a likely loss. Follow that with a January 31 trip to Clemson and a February 4 visit to Notre Dame. Neither of those are places where Boston College typically does well. Then it’s February 7 at home against North Carolina, February 11 at home against Syracuse, and February 15 at Conte Forum versus Miami. The Eagles will be underdogs in all three.

Should the Eagles fall to Georgia Tech on Saturday, the answer to this question becomes a lot more hazy. If the 0-5 start turns into 0-6, it will almost certainly become 0-7 at Louisville. Clemson is not a great team, which gives Boston College a chance of avoiding 0-8. If not, the Eagles probably head into the Syracuse rematch at 0-9, and may come out of the Miami rematch 0-10.

There is a lot of potential for this to go wrong and not a lot for it to go right. Boston College could conceivably hit double-digit ACC basketball losses before their first win. Georgia Tech on January 25 and Clemson on January 31 are decent candidates to be the first victory, but marginal at that. It is difficult to imagine the Eagles being a road favorite in either one and will have to pull minor upsets to win.

Boston College Eagles

The best-case scenario is that Boston College wins their first ACC basketball game on Saturday to end the discussion. The worst-case scenario gets very disturbing. In that sequence of events, BC is an underdog in — and loses — their conference road games, except perhaps Florida State on February 18 or Virginia Tech on March 2. If the latter, the Eagles could be something like 0-16 heading to Blacksburg.

It is doubtful that things will get as bad as the worst-case scenario, but unfortunately, reality is not sure to be much better. How many ACC wins will the Eagles have going into that penultimate game against the Hokies? Maybe four if they’re lucky?

One thing is for sure: even if the losing streak ends soon, the losing is likely to continue as a general trend.