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Preseason Sweet 16: Boston College Eagles

clark kellogg

Editor's note: With the men's college basketball season starting to ramp back up, Yahoo! Sports analyst Clark Kellogg picks the teams he thinks have the best shot at making it to the Sweet 16 in 2006.

Each pick is listed alphabetically. Check back soon for his latest selections.


Other Sweet 16 teams: Arizona | Connecticut | Duke | Gonzaga | Iowa | Kentucky | Louisville
Michigan St. | Nevada | Oklahoma | Stanford | Texas | Villanova | Wake Forest | West Virginia

THE REST OF THE ACC

CLEMSON
An NIT berth last year was another good step for Oliver Purnell and the Tigers. All-ACC freshman team member Cliff Hammonds looks solid.

DUKE
The ingredients are there for the Blue Devils to be one of the nation's elite teams – again.

FLORIDA STATE
It's just a matter of time before Leonard Hamilton does at FSU what he did at Oklahoma St. and Miami – build a winning program.

GEORGIA TECH
A young but talented team will need to grow up quickly in the ACC.

MARYLAND
A healthy D.J. Strawberry, a strong group of experienced seniors and no NCAA tournament last season could fuel the Terps to a top-three finish in the league.

MIAMI
With the dynamic duo of Guillermo Diaz and Rob Hite (36 ppg), plus the conference's second-best rebounder, Anthony King, all back, the Canes are expecting to improve on last year's 16-win season and NIT appearance.

NORTH CAROLINA
It's time to start over, but not rebuild for the Tar Heels. David Noel could have a breakout season.

NORTH CAROLINA STATE
They need Cameron Bennerman and Ilian Evtimov to produce all season to match last year's tournament success.

VIRGINIA
First-year head coach Dave Leitao has All-ACC freshman Sean Singletary to run the show for the Cavs.

VIRGINIA TECH
ACC coach of the year Seth Greenberg returns almost everyone from a team that surprised many by going 8-8 in conference play.

WAKE FOREST
Justin Gray is capable of filling the void created at point guard when Chris Paul went to the NBA, but he’s not the only answer for the Demon Deacons at point.

Boston College Eagles
News | Schedule | Roster

Last season was good to the Eagles. They won their first 20 games and finished tied for first in the rugged Big East on their way to landing a No. 4 seed in the NCAA tournament. However, I'm sure this year's team is motivated to do better than last year's 5-5 finish to the season – which included a second-round tournament loss to a very good Wisconsin-Milwaukee team.

Led by All-American Craig Smith, the Eagles return five of their top eight players. Joining Smith are All-Big East performer Jared Dudley and guards Louis Hinnant and Sean Marshall. Promising big man Sean Williams rounds out the list.

In Smith and Dudley, B.C. has two tough inside players who score, rebound and draw fouls while keeping constant pressure on opposing defenses. Hinnant is a capable and clever point guard, and Marshall is an outside marksman. In Williams I see signs of a potentially dominant inside presence, and his all-around improvement will be a key ingredient to B.C.'s success.

But the Eagles did lose three productive seniors from last year's team – Nate Doornekamp, Jermaine Watson and Steve Hailey. Doornekamp, solid inside at both ends, was a nice complement to Smith, while Watson was an explosive scorer off the bench and Hailey provided a spark as the backup point guard. Finding two-to-three players to be productive reserves will be a priority for Skinner and his staff.

Defense, rebounding, turnover margin, winning the free-throw game and good team chemistry were the Eagles' strengths last season, and that shouldn't change. They were a smart, tough team that grinded out wins. But this will be their first year playing in the ACC, and to challenge for league supremacy they will need to score more easy points (and that means more fast breaks and Smith's free throw percentage improving from 67%).

Perimeter shooting also could use a boost. Only Marshall has proven to be a consistent threat from the outside. Someone else must develop in that area to keep teams from being able to collapse on Smith and Dudley. If these weaknesses can be improved and adequate reserves emerge, the Eagles have sufficient experience, talent and poise to challenge for the ACC title.

Speaking of poise, does any coach in America coach more confidently and relaxed than Al Skinner? His understated and reserved approach belies his intensity and overshadows his excellence as a teacher. His teams play hard, unselfish, smart basketball and, for the most part, reflect their coach's demeanor. Those attributes should bode well for the coming season.