Where Do The Eagles Go From Here?

There was some concern about the Eagles after a weak showing in the Paradise Jam Tournament over Thanksgiving Break. They lost to St. Joseph’s and Northern Iowa, with their only win being against South Dakota State.

They rebounded however by knocking off The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and followed up with a win in their first conference game against The University of Miami last Sunday. While people thought that they might start to roll, they lost to the Harvard Crimson for the second straight year at Conte Forum.

Far too many times in Al Skinner’s tenure have the Eagles come out with absolute duds. They lost to Harvard and St. Louis University last year. While they still managed to make the tournament, they were playing with fire by lally-gagging through these non-conference games. They defeated Duke and North Carolina which probably put them over the top and gave them a seven seed.

With already a few suspect losses early on in the ’09-’10 campaign, the Eagles will need to win 10 ACC games again, and probably have to knock off one of the top dogs for an invitation to dance.

Last year, I looked to a lack of leadership from Tyrese Rice to explain their unenthusiastic brand of basketball. It appeared that several times throughout last season that the Eagles forgot what time the game really started. The same was true with Rice himself. He often was scoreless in the first half before exploding in the second.

While Rice was a sub-par leader, the Eagles will need to find a more bona fide one this year if they are to go anywhere. It appears that they are still searching for that man. On Tuesday night, the man who should replace Rice, Reggie Jackson, pulled a similar act. Jackson was aloof in the first half and did not register a single point. He decided to get down to business in the second half and he recorded 13 in the latter frame. While Rice was more of a star from day one, Jackson has the talent to be another Eagle great. He, however, must work on his consistency.

Consistency was not just a problem for Jackson, unfortunately. Joe Trapani got the memo early and had 17 first half points. The lanky junior was raining 3s on the Crimson. He was 4-5, all in the first half. He was shutdown in the second half, however, which put the Eagles at a great disadvantage.

While the Eagles have rebounded very well this year thus far, especially against Miami, they were out-rebounded by Harvard, which is truly inexcusable. Josh Southern wasn’t exactly David Robinson-reincarnate. They are going to have to toughen up underneath. I can only imagine what Kyle Singler and Ed Davis will do if the Eagles’ patsy play continues. The team in general must toughen up. Regardless of what he did against UConn, there’s no reason that Jeremy Lin should be Dwayne Wade-ing BC year after year. BC has the talent to stop Lin but they didn’t yet again. There is a reason he is at Harvard and not BC.

The Eagles need a healthy Rakim Sanders to return soon. They welcome Rhodie the Ram and his boys on Sunday night. This game is a must-win. URI always brings a strong fan base up 95 which usually correlates to a tough game from them. While they don’t have Lamar Odom or Cuttino Mobley anymore, they will probably give the Eagles all they can handle.

I already fear that Bapst will be more full than Conte so the players won’t be getting much help from the SuperFans. I’m not really that sympathetic for the players though as it is their responsibility to get it together. I know the semester is winding down but athletes get more money on their meal plan than most of Sub-Saharan Africa is afforded for a year. They can afford the coffee to wake up and get it in gear. Reggie and Trap must lead the way game in and game out. Raji must keep providing that consistent grinding beat and continually post double-doubles. Perhaps most importantly, Rakim must come back and be the impact player that he can be.

They don’t have any more time to waste getting beaten by kids who were picked last in gym class.

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