The Heights
Editors’ Picks
Thursday, February 17, 2011 The Week Ahead Women’s basketball has a must-win at home against Miami, while the men’s team heads to UNC. Men’s ice hockey has a home and home against Northeastern. Baseball begins their season with three games in South Carolina. And the NBA All-Star game is in L.A.
Standings
A9
Recap from Last Week
Greg Joyce
16-4
Paul Sulzer
15-5
DJ Adams
15-5
Heights staff
14-6
Game of the Week
Jackson dropped 31 to beat Maryland. Women’s basketball lost a tough game at Duke. For the first time in school history, both the men and women’s hockey teams won the Beanpot. And Villanova was unable to pull off the upset at home vs. Pitt.
Men’s Basketball
Guest Editor: Brennan Carley
North Carolina
Assoc. Arts & Review Editor “The only things I know about sports I learned from Nicki Minaj.”
This Week’s Games Women’s Basketball: BC vs. Miami
Paul Sulzer Sports Editor
DJ Adams Assoc. Sports Editor
Greg Joyce Asst. Sports Editor
Assoc. Arts & Review
Miami
Miami
Miami
UNC
UNC
UNC
UNC
Men’s Ice Hockey: BC vs. Northeastern (series)
BC
BC
Split
BC
Baseball: Number of wins in Caravelle Resort Tourney
1
2
2
1
East
East
East
East
Men’s Basketball: BC at UNC
NBA All-Star Game: East vs. West
Eagles travel to Chapel Hill with hopes of redemption By Joe DeMaio For The Heights
The last time the Boston College Eagles (16-9, 6-5 ACC) met the North Carolina Tar Heels (19-6, 9-2) on Feb. 1, the Tar Heels rolled the Eagles 10674, and it was even less of a competition than the score indicates. The Eagles get their chance for revenge on Saturday in Chapel Hill. In the game earlier this month, the Tar Heels shot lights out from the floor, led by freshman Reggie Bullock, whose four first-half 3-pointers put the game out of reach for the Eagles early. Combined with shoddy defense, BC looked hapless to stop UNC. Since that date, however, the Eagles are 2-1, and playing much better on the defensive end, holding Virginia Tech to 56 points and Maryland to 72. If the Eagles want to have a shot at victory on Saturday, it is going to have to come on the defensive end. UNC, on the other hand, is 3-1 since their thrashing of BC, with wins over tourney hopefuls Florida State and Clemson. Combined with a six-point loss to No. 5 Duke, the Tar Heels have continued their winning ways. Their loss to Duke is the only blemish on their schedule since Jan. 16, a stretch of 7-1. The Heels haven’t been winning pretty, however. Their loss to Duke came after never trailing in the first half. The Blue Devils seized control with a 131 run. UNC nearly repeated that collapse against Clemson, as the Tar Heels had a 41-29 lead going into the second half, only to find that whittled all the way down before finally regrouping for the win. And in their most recent game against Wake Forest, UNC shot a mere 36.6 percent from the floor and 18.5 percent from behind the arc.
UNC is going to look to capitalize on poor BC defense to get its offense back in stride. Tyler Zeller and Harrison Barnes, who are averaging 14.3 and 13.4 points per game, respectively, lead the Tar Heels offense. Point guard Kendall Marshall is the lynchpin of the offense. The freshman had a season-high 16 assists in UNC’s win against Florida State. If the Heels can get hot from behind the arc again (they shot 52 percent from behind the arc against the Eagles on Feb. 1), BC will be hard pressed to win. Even if the Eagles defense is up to the challenge, the offense is going to have to play well, too. Reggie Jackson is fresh off of a 31-point game last Saturday against Maryland and a 27-point performance against Clemson. The junior is averaging 18.5 points a game this season. Joe Trapani, on the other hand, is averaging 17.8 points a game in the last four games, including 25 against UNC earlier this month and 22 against Clemson. In addition, the Eagles are going to need production from someone other than Jackson or Trapani. Corey Raji and Biko Paris are both averaging over 10 points a game, and Josh Southern has had three 16-point games and an 18-point game this season. Either Raji or Southern is going to have to establish himself as a legitimate post threat in order to free up the BC shooters to fire away from behind the arc. While not a must-win game quite yet, the Eagles need quality wins in order to boost their resume to get an invite to the Big Dance come March. A win Saturday against UNC could be just the thing to shore up their resume and keep the Eagles in position for a first-round bye in the ACC tournament next month and help position BC for a spot in the NCAA tournament. n
Spaziani ends month-long search for new coordinator By DJ Adams
Assoc. Sports Editor Boston College head football coach Frank Spaziani named Kevin Rogers, the quarterbacks coach of the Minnesota Vikings for the past five seasons, offensive coordinator on Monday. Rogers replaces Gary Tranquil, who in late January, announced his retirement from the Eagles coaching staff. “We are very pleased to make this announcement,” Spaziani said in a statement. “Kevin Rogers will bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to this position. He is an accomplished tactician, and more importantly, a man of great integrity and leadership skills. We are excited to have him join the Eagle family, and I know our student-athletes and fans will be as well.” Rogers completed his fifth season as quarterbacks coach of the Vikings in 2010, his 36th year overall in the coaching profession, 28 of which were spent at the collegiate level. His most recent accomplishment was acquainting veteran Brett Favre with the Vikings offensive scheme after he was signed in mid-August of 2009. Despite the late arrival, Favre went on to post one of his best statistical seasons of his Hallof-Fame career. Before joining Minnesota, Rogers spent the 2002-05 seasons at Virginia Tech, where he guided Hokies quarterbacks Bryan Randall and Marcus Vick to impressive collegiate careers. Randall was the 2004 ACC Player of the Year. In 2005, Rogers coached Vick through his debut season as a starter for the Hokies. Vick led the ACC in pass efficiency and Virginia Tech led the conference in scoring offense, amassing an impressive 33.8 points per game along with a league-best 51 touchdowns. Prior to his stint with BC’s conference foe, Rogers spent the 1999-2001 seasons with another Eagle rival, Notre Dame, as the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach on Bob Davie’s staff. He played a part in the 2000 Irish squad that finished 9-3 and went to the Fiesta Bowl. Rogers has also coached at Syracuse University, where he spent the 1991-98 seasons, helping the team to two outright Big East titles and a shared third. He also instructed star pupil Donovan McNabb, who left Syracuse with the majority of the school’s passing records and was selected No. 2 overall by the
Philadelphia Eagles in the 1999 NFL Draft. Rogers spent 1983-90 on the staff at Navy, working with the offense, and also spent time instructing running backs at his alma mater, William & Mary, from 1980-82. He started his coaching career at Virginia Beach’s Bayside High (1974-76) before serving as a graduate assistant at Ohio State under the legendary Woody Hayes from 1977-78. Rogers is a 1974 graduate from William & Mary, where he also played linebacker. He received his master’s degree from Ohio State in 1978. Rogers and his wife, Betty, have three children: Kevin, Megan, and Ryan. Football Announces 2011 Schedule Monday also featured the announcement of the Eagles’ football schedule for the 2011 season, which includes home games against Northwestern, Duke, Massachusetts, Wake Forest, North Carolina State, and a Thursday night nationally televised battle against Florida State. Nine of BC’s 12 opponents played in postseason bowl games last year and five (No. 16 Virginia Tech, No. 17 FSU, No. 21 Central Florida, No. 23 Maryland, and No. 25 NC State) finished the 2010 campaign ranked in the Associated Press Top 25. The Eagles will open the 2011 season on Sept. 3 in a home game versus Big Ten opponent Northwestern. The Wildcats finished with a 7-6 record last season and made an appearance in the Ticketcity Bowl. Parents’ Weekend is slotted for the Wake Forest game on Oct. 1, which will be the third straight home game for BC (Duke, UMass) after heading to Orlando on Sept. 10 to face the UCF Knights, an 11-3 surprise squad in 2010 that capped off their impressive season with a 10-6 win over Georgia in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl. Following an away tilt with the Clemson Tigers Oct. 8, and an open date on Oct. 15, the Eagles face back-to-back ACC road games against formidable opponents Virginia Tech and Maryland. Then BC will return home for the highlight of the schedule, a nationally televised (ESPN) Thursday night game against Florida State on Nov. 3. BC will finish its home slate with a Nov. 12 match-up versus NC State. The regular season then concludes with back-to-back road games at Notre Dame (Nov. 19) and Miami (Nov. 26). n
Boston College
The Eagles will travel to the Dean Dome, trying to redeem themselves after the 32-point shellacking the Tar Heels handed them two weeks ago at Conte Forum. Reggie Jackson has broken out of his shooting slump, scoring 58 points over the last two games. He will need some help from his teammates to get the win, in addition to a revamped defensive effort, which was nowhere to be seen in the 106-74 loss. If BC can steal this one, it would go a long way toward solidifying the team’s hopes for an atlarge bid in the NCAA tournament.
Brennan Carley
Miami
vs.
“The ACC is brutal every year. In a bad year, you’ll get six teams in the NCAA tournament. In a good year, you’ll get eight or nine. It has a chance to be a really balanced year. It’s a really tough league, and I think it’s the best league in the country.” –Mike Gambino, Head Coach
First-year coach Gambino ready for challenges ahead Baseball, from A10
hour] the other day in the Bubble. He’s more of a quiet leader and when he says something everybody listens. People respect him.” Gambino has a solid core of returning players, and he realizes that they will need to play a high quality of baseball to have success in the ACC. “The ACC is brutal every year. In a bad year, you’ll get six teams in the NCAA tournament. In a good year, you’ll get eight or nine. It has a chance to be a really balanced year. It’s a really tough league, and I think it’s the best league in the country.” Gambino also emphasized the importance of a large and supportive fan base in Chestnut Hill. “The two biggest factors to winning in college
athletics is recruiting and home-field advantage. And those are things the student body has a direct effect over.” The season begins with a long stretch on the road, beginning at the Caravelle Resort Tournament in South Carolina with games against Coastal Carolina, Indiana and Tennessee Tech. This is followed by a trip down to Florida to face off against some dangerous opponents in the likes of Florida, Michigan State and Florida State, not to mention an exhibition against the Boston Red Sox. Gambino has prepared his team well, and he is fulfilling his dream. “Ever since I left this is what I’ve been working towards,” he said, “the chance to get back here and work on this campus everyday.” n