2023–24 ACC Men’s Basketball Previews: Boston College
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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