Previewing Boston College

2008 Scouting Report / 2008 Game Plan
2008 Schedule
2008 Roster

Boston College Offense 07-08

Four Factors	Percent	Nat'l Rank
eFG%	51.9	95
Turnover Rate	21.7	194
Off Reb Rate	35.5	78
FTM/FGA	28.6	62

Sans Dudley and Marshall, BC's offensive factors are all down. It's still an above-average offense, but it's scoring about 8.5 pts/100 poss fewer this season.

Predictably, with less help than he's ever had, Tyrese Rice's usage is higher than its ever been. He can handle it, but he doesn't have to like it!







Starters:

Tyrese Rice (6-1, 190) -- If there is a weakness in Rice's game--and it's only a minor one--it's his outside shooting, where he's been a high-volume but average shooter over the past two seasons. But it's not like Boston College would rather those shots go to someone else, so they take what they get. He scores very effectively off of dribble penetration, though, and he gets to the line plenty.

Rakim Sanders (6-5, 225) -- If Rice isn't taking the shot, Sanders probably is. He and Rice take 56% of the field goal attempts when they're on the court together. Sanders has handled the high usage well for a freshman--his 54% eFG is the highest among the starting five, and he is BC's best three-point shooter (41.1%).

Shamari Spears (6-6, 238) -- His shooting percentage has regressed some, but that's probably due at least in part to an increased workload. Good offensive rebounder.

Tyler Roche (6-7, 220) -- Two-thirds of his shots have come from outside, where he's shooting 33.8%. He won't be asked to shoot often. His rebounding numbers are horrible--3.1% at the offensive end, 8.1% at the defensive end. Being perimeter-oriented is going to hurt your ability to rebound at the offensive end, but it's hard to find an explanation for that DR%. Just damn, dude. That's shameful. Eight-point-one percent is about half the national average DR% for a 6-7 player.

Tyrelle Blair (6-11, 242) -- One anagram of Tyrelle's name is Terrible Ally. He'll block some shots, but, yeah, he's shooting 38.9% and turning the ball over 25.9% of the time. He hardly factors into the offense at all (13.3% of the shots), so his negative impact at that end is minimal.

Bench:

Biko Paris (6-1, 200), Corey Raji (6-5, 210), Josh Southern (6-10, 255), and John Oates (6-10, 255) round out the rotation.

Oates remains the infrequent/opportunistic type, choosing his spots carefully. He's never been an effective outside shooter...until this year. He's at 55.6% (20-36) for the year, 72.7% (16-22) in ACC play.

Raji tends to be much more involved offensively than the other bench players, and that's not a bad thing as long as he's shooting over 60% from the field. He's also an excellent offensive rebounder.

Boston College Defense 07-08

Four Factors	Percent	Nat'l Rank
eFG%	48.4	106
Turnover Rate	17.4	329
Off Reb Rate	36.3	295
FTA/FGA	26.2	17

BC's defensive profile is eerily similar to our own, and every bit as ineffective. We feel your pain, Eagles fans. Over the course of the six-game losing streak they're currently enduring, three opponents managed to turn the ball over less than 10% of the time.

They do a very good job keeping opponents off of the line, unfortunately (in conference play, their defensive FTR is even better than ours), and that's a definite concern for a Wolfpack team that relies so heavily on free throws for offense, especially on the road where calls tend to be less generous.

Pomeroy has the Eagles by four, which indicates that the teams would be just about dead even on a neutral floor. Flip a coin.