Friar Basketball

Boston College Q&A with Eric Hoffses

Jim Christian ACC Media Day Boston Globe

With Boston College in town tonight, I asked Eric Hoffses of BC Interruption a few questions regarding the state of the Eagles’ program.

Q. Is this the year BC turns the corner under Jim Christian? I’ve always appreciated how honest you’ve been about the state of BC’s football and basketball programs, and it seems like you are high on this group.

A. This is the best team that Christian has coached at BC, and probably the best BC team since Donahue’s 2013-2014 team.

I do like that Christian stacked the non-conference with a lot of winnable games—Providence and Texas Tech being the lone exceptions, and it isn’t close— to help raise the team’s confidence. Christian figures the team has plenty of chances to get resume building wins in the ACC, so there is no need to run  through a gauntlet in November and December. That was Donahue’s fatal flaw with the ’13-14 team in that he stacked the non-conference with top 50-100 opponents and the team’s confidence was shaken before ACC play started after they started the year 4-10.

Q. I still think people are sleeping on the Ky Bowman/Jerome Robinson backcourt. Christian seems to think they are as good as any tandem in the country. What are your thoughts on where they rank in the ACC and how their games have grown this year?

The best in the ACC might be  strong but its not a big leap. I think they are without a doubt a top three or four backcourt in the league.

Both guys have gotten stronger this year. Bowman has developed into more of a point guard instead of a pure scoring guard which is pretty evident from his assists going from 2.9 APG to 5.8 APG.

Q. Transfer Deonte Hawkins has been critical addition to the frontcourt. How has he changed the way in which BC attacks teams?

A. Hawkins gives the team a legitimate third scorer which it hasn’t had since the Steve Donahue era. He can score inside and out. Most importantly he brings rebounding, leadership and plays with a chip on his shoulder. Hawkins’ no nonsense attitude is something that has been severely missing for several years.

Q. Is there anyone else Providence fans should keep an eye on Saturday night?

A. Guard Jordan Chatman is a streaky shooter from the outside and has the potential to give the team some scoring as a fourth scorer. Chatman is coming off of a 17 point performance against Colgate and had three treys. Last year he had a 30 point performance against Virginia Tech and 22 against Wake in back-to-back games, so it’s not just the bad teams that he can light it up against.

Sophomore center Nik Popovich flashes at times with a nice offensive game underneath. However, he needs to do better to keep his emotions in check and not get too down when things aren’t going well.

Q. What has been BC’s best performance to date?

A. I thought BC dominated LaSalle in the 82-61 win last week. The Eagles held LaSalle to 34% from the field and outrebounded the Explorers 48-30. Both defense and rebounding are areas BC has struggled the last several years, so it was refreshing to see so much success in both areas. I know comparing scores isn’t a perfect science, but LaSalle lost to #20 Northwestern by 8 and #11 Miami by 11 so it was impressive BC was able to double up the winning margin of those two teams.

Q. Is there a growing feeling that the Eagles could crack the top half of the ACC this year? 

I don’t think most of the fanbase believes the top half of the ACC is realistic because the top half of the ACC basically means you are going to the dance. I think people are starting to believe that the team could be good enough for the NIT though.

Q. Taking a look forward, how is recruiting going? 

BC has done a nice job identifying under recruited guards like Robinson and Bowman. Next year they have guard Wynston Tabbs committed and he is a Rivals150 player.

The next big hurdle is getting some really good local talent. I think BC fans believe that Christian should be able to match what Cooley does in terms of getting some big name local guys once every few years.

Q. Finally, I’m interested in hearing the overall feeling of the fanbase under Christian and in the beast that is the ACC. 

The few remaining BC hoop fans are obviously losing patience with the program. BC hasn’t made the NCAA Tourney since 2009, which I do realize is slightly less than the drought that PC fans had to endure in the Tim Welsh and Keno Davis years. Still, as Im sure PC fans can relate to, anything over a couple years feels like an eternity in college sports.

I think there is a small percentage of the fanbase that has had it with Christian and want to move on.

However, I believe the majority of the fanbase sees that Christian has built a great backcourt with Robinson and Bowman and paired him with a legitimate ACC starting forward with Hawkins.

Can Christian get more production from other players to really turn this into a special season? The majority of BC fans want to see Christian get a NIT berth and be in legitimate contention for a NCAA Tourney berth as well. A season anything short of that and he will have few supporters left.

One Comment

  1. Derec Lamendola

    November 25, 2017 at 8:32 pm

    Providence Colllege Men’s Basketball Will Be Redey For Tonight Game And Providence College Men’s Basketball Will Will Have A lot Cwrod Tonight And Providence Colllege Men’s Basketball IS Going To Be Jaming This Cotty Tonight And Becuase Ed Coooley Is Geting Redey For Tonight Game And I’m Am Redey For You Ha Coach Form Boston Won’t FIT Me I Don’t Think So Pall Becuase Providence Colllege Men’s Basketball Ed Coooley Will SPOL You Right Down On The Flow Tonight And Providence Colllege Men’s Basketball Will Be Redey

You must be logged in to post a comment Login