Christian: BC will surprise ACC foes
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Jim Christian likened his Boston College basketball program to an expansion team in professional sports.
Year 1 was about finding enough players to fill out a roster. Years 2 and 3 were about building a foundation.
Now that Christian is in his fourth season with the Eagles, still without a senior that he recruited, he said it’s time for the next phase of the process to begin, and the progress he and his players have made to start showing up in the win column.
“When you have nine scholarships available when you get a job, there’s only one, two guys in the country than can fill nine spots and have a really good team,” Christian said yesterday at the ACC men’s basketball media day, alluding to Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski and Kentucky’s John Calipari. “We’re not going to be able to get those guys, so ours are going to come over time.
“Historically that’s the way BC has been built. When the team gets older, they’re going to be good. But you’ve got to get those guys. It was an expansion team and now it’s a team that’s grown and is competitive.”
Despite losing their final 15 games last season and finishing with a 13-19 record, the Eagles did begin to show signs of growth.
It was most evident in the play of guards Jerome Robinson and Ky Bowman, a backcourt Christian said is as good as any in the country.
Robinson, a 6-foot-5 junior, blossomed as a scorer while averaging 17.4 points per game while posting 20 or more points an ACC-leading 17 times. Bowman, a 6-1 sophomore, went through some growing pains as a rookie point guard, but progressed as the season went along to earn a spot on the ACC AllFreshman team.
The chemistry between the two North Carolina natives got even stronger over the offseason, as has their desire to lead their team to its first winning season since 2011.
Said Robinson: “I come from a winning background and Ky comes from a winning background. That’s really our main focus. As great as individual stats and accolades are, it makes it that much better when our whole team can prosper as well.”
Few outside the program believe BC will enjoy such prosperity this season. Christian even acknowledged that the Eagles are almost certain to be picked last or next-to-last when the ACC’s preseason poll is announced today.
But Christian has seen things others haven’t and he can’t wait to show fans the new pieces he’s assembled around his budding stars when the team opens its season against Maine on Nov.10 at Conte Forum.
He’s especially high on two newcomers: forward Deontae Hawkins, a graduate transfer who led Illinois State in both scoring and rebounding a year ago; and high-energy freshman forward Steffon Mitchell, a player Christian predicted will make a significant and immediate impact.
“I sat here last year and talked about Ky Bowman and everybody looked at me like I had three heads, but at the end of the year everybody knew who he was,” Christian said. “It might not be in point numbers, but there’s a guy on our team nobody knows, Steffon Mitchell, who’s going to have a very pivotal role on our team for our success.
“Every year, I think there’s one team that you come in here and you don’t know what to expect from them and they catch you by surprise but not (themselves). I think we’re that team.”