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Some things never change.
Every October, the media convene in North Carolina to kick off the ACC basketball season. And almost annually, when the league's preseason poll is released at the end of the conference, Boston College's men's and women's teams find themselves selected near the bottom of those rankings.
Despite returning nine starters and a host of upperclassmen collectively, neither team was picked to finish higher than sixth by the media. BC's women's team took that honor, while the men's squad was picked to finish ninth.
While the rankings might come as a surprise to players and fans alike, neither Al Skinner nor Sylvia Crawley seemed concerned with the projections.
"I really don't buy into a lot of the [preseason] expectations," Skinner said when reached by telephone on Wednesday. "At this time, it's just people's opinions. If you like our players, you pick us higher. If you don't like our players, you pick us lower."
"With preseason polls, it's usually where you ended up last season, so we expected to be sixth or seventh," Crawley said, echoing Skinner's comments. "But we plan on doing better than that."
Last season, the media selected BC's men to finish 11th; Skinner's team ended up tied for fifth. "When we were picked 11th last year, it really didn't matter," Skinner said. "Other than one year, we've probably exceeded the preseason expectations. You could say I don't put a lot of stock into it."
Crawley, who enters her second season as the women's head coach, said her only goal is to be playing in the NCAA tournament at the end of the season. Last year, her team's season went as projected. The media picked the Eagles to finish seventh in the league's preseason poll. Five months later, BC finished seventh and just missed an NCAA berth.
BC's women's team returns all five starters, including center Carolyn Swords, who was selected as a member of the preseason All-ACC team. "I'm really excited for Carolyn," Crawley said. "She works extremely hard, so it's good to see her rewarded."
No players on the men's team received any preseason honors. BC returns two players who likely received consideration in guard Rakim Sanders and forward Joe Trapani. Sanders, a junior from Pawtucket, R.I., averaged 12.9 points per game last season and also shared the team's Defensive MVP award with Corey Raji. Trapani, a junior from Madison, Conn., averaged 13.4 points per game and received the Top Rebounder award.
Including Sanders and Trapani, the Eagles return four starters from last year's team. Still, Skinner said that the media's focus must have been on the team's loss of All-ACC guard Tyrese Rice, who led BC in scoring and assists.
"They obviously believe that Tyrese was a much bigger part of our team," Skinner said. "It just shows that they do not have much confidence in our returning players."
Skinner said that while Rice's departure created a void, the point guard is not irreplaceable. "I expect us to [replace Rice]," he said. "His departure was on schedule in the sense that he graduated. It wasn't like we didn't anticipate it, and he left for the [NBA] Draft. Other guys have matured and will step up. All I know is that we're returning a lot of players, and I expect to finish higher than ninth."
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