2023-24 Previews: Boston College
The Eagles will look to continue their upward trend in 23-24
This is a part of a weekly series that will analyze the upcoming season for each ACC Men’s Basketball Team every Thursday leading up to the 2023-24 season.
Today, we’re taking a look at the Boston College Eagles.
2022-23 Season Recap
The Eagles have been slowly improving over the last few years and almost broke the .500 mark last season - without some tough losses last season (Tarleton State, New Hampshire, Maine) - the Eagles would have finished somewhere around the 20-win mark.
The Eagles played well last season and got some really high-quality wins - UVA, at Wake Forest, sweep of Virginia Tech, Clemson.
As you can see above, they struggled from behind the 3-point line, getting to the free throw line, AND defending 3 pointers.
2023-24 Roster Outlook
The Eagles have a very interesting roster this upcoming season.
The addition of Claudell Harris, a scoring guard who can also distribute, adds much-needed three point shooting to the roster (they were one of the worst 3 point shooting teams in the ACC last season).
The return of Quinten Post gives them one of the best post presences in the ACC.
Jaeden Zackery started to emerge as a consistently high-performing guard in ACC play last season.
Prince Aligbe and Devin McGlockton were both athletic freshmen last season who will come back for more efficient sophomore seasons.
Mason Madsen is a capable shooter off the bench.
The Eagles are also bringing in some decent new pieces in Jayden Hastings (a 4-star forward coming from IMG known for shot blocking) and Fred Payne (a fringe 3-star/4-star guard). Elijah Strong was initially headed to Wofford but will join the Eagles as a forward.
2023-24 Schedule Outlook
The official non-conference schedule hasn’t been made public yet, but here are a few games that have been confirmed for the 2023-24 season (note: I did the best I could with this without there being an official media release - bear with me if there are any mistakes here):
ACC/SEC Challenge at Vanderbilt
Hall of Fame Classic - first round against Colorado State; second round against Creighton (likely a top-15 preseason team) or Loyola
St. John’s (12/10) at the Barclays Center
Fairfield
Central Connecticut State
at The Citadel (a “weird” game on the schedule, but where Earl Grant got his start; The Citadel will travel to BC the next two seasons)
Vanderbilt is a nice matchup for Boston College in the ACC/SEC Challenge.
Colorado State was a fringe Top-100 KenPom team last season.
Creighton will be a big matchup for the Eagles (top 10-15 team) if they can get past Colorado State.
The St. John’s game at Barclays will be intriguing to say the least.
In ACC play, the Eagles’ double-opponents are:
Florida State, Louisville, Miami, NC State, Notre Dame, Syracuse
Their home-only ACC opponents are:
UNC, Pitt, UVA, Wake Forest
Their road-only ACC opponents are:
Clemson, Duke, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech
A few things of note on the ACC schedule (based on projected strength)
Duke will come into the season as the highest ranked ACC team; BC travels to Durham for their only matchup
UNC will be a top-20 team to start the season and BC hosts them, but doesn’t travel to Chapel Hill
Miami will also be a top-20 team to start the season; BC plays them twice
Having FSU, Louisville, and Notre Dame as double opponents could be very beneficial for the Eagles in the ACC win column…Miami twice isn’t a great thing though
Those are some tough road-only games for BC - Clemson, Duke, and Virginia Tech
Boston College hasn’t had a winning season in over five years - but that could very well change this season.
The Eagles have a few questions to answer in regard to depth, but they have a starting lineup that can score, shoot, and play inside.
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