Road To Postseason Starts With Virginia

Heading into the ACC tournament, the Boston College men's basketball team's draw sounds like the plot of a certain Seinfeld episode. George is driving with his girlfriend in the car and sees a pigeon in the street. In order to impress his new lady friend, George swerves out of the way of the pigeon, seemingly saving the day and the date. When he comments on the close call with the bird, however, his date screams, "What pigeon? You just ran over that squirrel!"

As abstract as it sounds, this is the danger of BC's position in the bracket, heading into today's action. Being the eighth seed, an opening-round win would mean a second-round match-up against Duke, the tournament's top seed and heavy favorite. It would be easy for the Eagles to focus only on the Blue Devils and lose sight of the immediate road ahead. An error like that, however, would send the Eagles veering off course before they face the University of Virginia.

There are a number of explanations for why the Eagles might overlook the Cavaliers. For one, they're shorthanded. Their star sophomore and second-team All-ACC player, Sylven Landesberg, has been suspended for the remainder of the season due to academic issues. Before his suspension, Landesberg led Virginia in scoring, assists, and minutes. Without Landesberg or team captain Calvin Baker, who left the team on Monday for personal reasons, Virginia is down two key members and has no experience playing without them.

Virginia has been beyond dismal in the last five weeks, currently riding a nine-game losing streak, with six of those losses coming by double digits.

BC was one of the teams that handled Virginia, beating the Cavaliers, 68-55, March 3 at Conte Forum. Of those losses, six were on the road; the skid followed a once-hopeful eight-game winning streak. The Cavaliers are 14-15, which is just a half-game worse than BC.

Cavaliers first-year coach Tony Bennett has not exactly found the rhythm that helped him lead Washington State to an NCAA tournament bid in 2008. In fact, he may have cost Virginia a chance at a major upset in its final regular season game against Maryland on Saturday.

With less than a minute to go, and down one point, the referees called a blocking foul on a Cavaliers player. Bennett, obviously appalled by the call, decided to rip his coat off and throw it to the floor. He was immediately called for a technical foul, which gave Maryland two free shots and propelled the Terrapins to victory.

In order to avoid being upset by the ninth-seeded Virginia team, BC must focus on consistency, a trait it demonstrated in its previous victory. Each player contributed just about what was expected of him.

Third team All-ACC player Joe Trapani, Corey Raji, and Rakim Sanders put up double digits in the game, while three Cavaliers did the same.

Virginia actually outshot the Eagles (46 percent to 44 percent), while the Eagles outrebounded their foe, 33-29. BC made one more 3-pointer than the Cavaliers. If the Eagles can focus on playing their game, mixing the slow-and-steady flex with fast-break opportunities, they have a shot at taking down Virginia again.

Still, the Eagles stand in a long line for a ticket to the Big Dance. In order to enjoy March Madness, the Eagles must do a bit more than "play their game."

Instead of the up-and-down play that the Eagles have displayed throughout the season, they need to be firing on all cylinders. Sanders must step up and carry the load as people expected he would when the season began. Tyler Roche needs to hit his 3-point shot at a rate similar to other top shooters like Duke's Jon Scheyer and Maryland's Greivis Vasquez. The subs have to bring energy to the floor and play with total intensity. Head coach Al Skinner must match wits with the likes of Mike Krzyzewski and Gary Williams.

Basically, everything must fall in place for a chance at a tournament bid.

Again, though, let's not forget to steer clear of the squirrel in the road.