Boston College's Season Might be Already be Over

By Jeff Kelly
Mark L. Baer – USA TODAY Sports

Before this season began, there was some cautious optimism surrounding the Boston College basketball program. After all, they returned potential All-Atlantic Coast Conference performers in Olivier Hanlan and Ryan Anderson.

But after three losses to open the year, most recently a 95-92 defeat at the hands of Toledo, things are already looking dire for the Eagles, and head coach Steve Donahue is suddenly feeling his seat getting remarkably warm. Things aren’t going to get much easier for the Eagles either with games against Connecticut and either Indiana or Washington looming next week, and games against Purdue, USC, Maryland, and Virginia Commonwealth all coming in December.

If the Eagles can’t get things turned around in a hurry, they could be in for a very long, very frustrating season. The good news is that next up on the schedule is a Florida Atlantic team that they should beat, so they should be able to avoid going 0-6 to open the season. After UConn and whoever they face between Indiana and Washington, they get a little bit of respite when they play Sacred Heart.

But looking at the schedule, there’s a very realistic chance that they could find themselves closing in on double-digit losses by the end of December.

Of course, the most frustrating part for Boston College fans should be the way the Eagles have failed to close out games thus far. They led late in overtime against Providence before falling by four and in the loss to Toledo, they held an eight-point edge with under four minutes to play, but gave up a 14-2 run.

There’s no easy explanation for why Boston College has stumbled so horribly out of the gates other than the simplest one: maybe they just aren’t as good as many people expected them to be. As we’ve mentioned before, they need more than just Hanlan and Anderson and right now, the lack of overall depth and talent behind their two stars is glaring.

They’d better right the ship quickly, or else the season — and Donahue’s coaching stint at BC — could be over in a hurry.

Jeff is an ACC basketball writer on www.RantSports.com.  Follow him on Twitter @jekelish and like him on Facebook.

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