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May 19, 2006
The BC-Holy Cross Game
Bob Ryan has an excellent column taking Boston College to task for dropping Holy Cross off its basketball schedule.
I don't think I've made it a big secret that I'm not that impressed with college sports, and here's a good reason why. BC wants to run with the big boys in the ACC, but they need some games to fill up their early-season schedule. So they find a bunch of patsies and rubes who want a glimpse of the spotlight (assuming BC is the spotlight), cream them, and everyone's happy. Holy Cross used to have the double advantage of (1) being one of those patsies, and (2) having decades of tradition playing BC in various sports.
The problem came when Holy Cross got -- well -- good. They've been to the NCAA tournament a lot recently; they've never made it out of the first round, but they've caused many a britch to be soiled in Kentucky and Kansas in those first round games. And they beat BC a couple of years ago and play them close other years. Outrage!
(Disclaimer: I grew up in a Holy Cross/rabid-anti-BC household. I'd feel this way anyway but that needs to be on the record.)
So Ryan gets quotes from the principles involved (BC coach Al Skinner, HC coach Ralph Willard, BC AD Gene DeFilippo and HC AD Dick Regan). What are some of the arguments?
* Physical play has Al Skinner worried about the BC team's health
* Upsets tarnish the prestige of a major-conference school
* Strength of schedule matters for tournament seeding
* Stuff like tradition and honor don't matter anymore
* Incessant mockery from other ACC coaches if Skinner loses to a patsy
* Eagles cultivating rivalries with 05-06 opponents TX Southern and Shawnee St.
* Scheduling a 45 minute road trip to Worcester cuts into valuable class time
Read down that list (ahem ahem cough) and see if you can decide what the real reason is that BC has pulled the game off its schedule.
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Comments
Good comments.
Big bad BC is afraid to lose to a team in a mid-level conference, despite it being (a) another Jesuit institution, (b) a traditional rival, (c) another team in Massachusetts, and (d) a team that it will probably beat 90+% of the time.
BC's non-conference schedule next year shapes up as (1) The Little Sisters of the Poor, (2) the Littler Sisters of the Poor, and (3) The Poor.
Anything to get a 20-win season and look good so as to become one of the 8 or 9 ACC teams in the NCAA tournament.
Maybe if the NCAA tournament took just conference champions then the "Big Boys" won't be afraid to play traditional rivals in lesser conferences.
What happened to "toughening yourself up" BEFORE the NCAA tournament, so that maybe you can do well in it?
I hope that BC goes 12-15 or something like that next year.
Posted by: Vin | May 19, 2006 01:05 PM
