Anger, disappointment, frustration, and confusion are probably the emotions felt by the Friars players and staff after not being included in the NCAA Tournament. A year where you achieved 21 wins, with 6 of those being Quad 1 victories and no bad loses in Q3/4 in a conference as good as the Big East, should be enough to make the NCAA tournament. This year, for whatever reason, those credentials weren’t enough. Despite all this, those emotions have to be quickly pushed to the side as there is basketball to be played.
The Friars will open up the NIT as a 3-seed hosting Boston College at the AMP. It will be the first time PC has met this local and former Big East foe since 2018, a 5-point OT victory for the Eagles at Conte Forum. The Eagles were 19-15 this season under 3rd year coach Earl Grant, finishing 11th in the ACC. Here are some things to monitor for this game.
Friars Shorthanded- No, BC fans. When I say shorthanded, I’m not talking about hockey. The Friars will be missing some of their key players in this one.
Rich Barron suffered an injury after a Marquette player fell on him in PC’s Big East semi-final loss to the Golden Eagles. This game would’ve figured to be one that Coach English would have liked to play Dicky B heavy minutes, but he will be without his freshman shooter.
PC will also likely sit Devin Carter for maintenance purposes. With Carter seemingly getting banged up every game and the potential for him to be a lotto pick in this upcoming NBA Draft, it seems only smart to give him some rest. It will be interesting to see though if PC were to advance in the tournament if Carter would suit up for the Friars potentially one last time.
This also gives guys like Corey Floyd and Garwey Dual additional opportunities to play big minutes for the Friars to further build off their respective sophomore and freshman campaigns.
With the transfer portal open, who DOESN’T play may also be telling as to who is on the roster next year. I’ll be particularly keeping my eye on that aspect of the game.
Play in the (Quinten) Post- Josh Oduro is probably disappointed he’s not playing in the big shabang but seemed eager enough to play in his first postseason tournament game of his collegiate career when he met with media on Monday. He will be opposed by BC’s Dutch big man Quinten Post. The 7-footer is BC’s leading scorer, rebounder, shot blocker, and 2nd on the team in assists.
Post has faced some good big men in the ACC this year but probably hasn’t gone against a guy with as deep of a bag of post moves than Josh Oduro. It should be an fascinating matchup to watch. The good news is BC will probably double the post a lot less than Marquette did.
A Game of Mindset- For those not familiar with the NIT, the winning team is usually one that “wants the game more”, especially in the early rounds. Do the players actually want to play to win in this tournament?
Every year it seems you’ll find that out pretty quick when some teams that are significantly better than their opponent lose. One that comes to mind is when Kentucky lost its opening round NIT game to Robert Morris in 2013, a game that was at Robert Morris due to Rupp Arena hosting NCAA tournament games.
It’s honestly hard not to blame kids, especially if you just missed out on the NCAA tournament after a long grueling season. Ironically enough, the opening round of the NIT is the ultimate mindset game. Are you going to come in with a mindset of going through the motions and see how the game turns out? Or are you going to come in with the mindset that this is another opportunity to get better as a team and try to advance?
This is an extended audition for Kim English and staff to show that you have the right mental make-up. It’s a perfect chance to end the season on the right note and springboard to a successful next season.
Underdogs Under God- After Earl Grant’s Eagles scored an upset over Clemson in the second round of the ACC Tournament, he addressed his team with this message postgame: “They say we are underdogs but I say we are under God”.
Well the Eagles will be underdogs on the road in this game as well. PC opened up as a 5-point favorite against BC but that has dropped to 3.5 with the Friars expected to be out 2 starters.
If you can’t make it to the AMP, the game will tip at 7pm on ESPNU. Hopefully the fans can give these Friars the proper send-off for what was an adversity filled season.
Why are we playing this game you may ask? Money, Money, Money. Yup, its all about the money. Hopefully, the PC administration puts all of it into a NIL account so we can get some portal players for next year. Sonon is gone but we got a player nobody has heard of in Nilavan Daniels. Perhaps Kim should worry about next season instead of one more opportunity for the gang that can’t shoot strait to once again show us they can’t shoot strait. As Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino said the other day, “After thorough consideration of all that goes into postseason participation, we believe at this time it is best for our team and basketball program to prepare for next season,”
Kim needs to heed this advice in the future. Seems he needs to prepare for next season too or watch as top transfers ride by and wave at Providence.