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Message: [QUOTE="reedny, post: 296333, member: 1423"] We shouldn't be complaining too much, because we're going to be playing BC twice a year when we enter the ACC -- they're our league "partner". Better to have them struggling on the recruiting front -- we don't get many kids out of Boston anyway. But I agree it's not fair to say that BC has never been good. They have. They're just not consistently good. As far as their players, Craig Smith was pretty tough, and Dudley, Bell, Sidney as mentioned. Reggie Jackson could play, and I think wound up in the NBA. But even in its heyday under O'Brien in the 80's and early 90's, or with Skinner thereafter, although it has had some good players and made the NCAA's frequently (under Skinner), BC has always had blue collar teams that survived on work ethic more than raw basketball talent. This has created a "spoiler" type mentality that has characterized the program -- they rise up and beat somebody good, then they'll loose to a mid major. They have a good season or 2 and make the NCAA's, and then they tank. The inconsistency has resulted in some ugly (and public) meltdowns between the university and its coaches. In the late 90's, O'Brien left on really bad terms (he sued the school). Skinner came in and made BC competitive -- they made the NCAA's 6 or 7 times and got some good players. But after joining the ACC in 2005, the boom/bust cycle reappeared. In 08/9 they were 22-11. But the next year they had a loosing season and Skinner got canned (another ugly fight). In retaliation, he took the teams' best player with him (Sanders). Then a couple of recruits asked to be released. Donahue was brought in as the new coach, coming over from that great Cornell team we played against (sweet 16 I think). In his first year he had a winning record (playing Skinners seniors), but last year he had a young team that became the ACC doormat. The program is still recovering from the changeover. Not sure about this year's recruits (Francis could give better insight), but Donahue's got a big class (6 or 7 kids) coming in for the 2013 season. They also got a 6'7 transfer (Dragicevich) from ND, who can shoot. He'll be on ice for a year. On balance, I don't see the ACC as being the primary reason for BC's issues -- the program has been mercurial for 30 years, and is again rebuilding in the ACC under a new coach. [/QUOTE]

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