Boston College Athletics
Utah-Boston College Men's Basketball Preview
March 17, 2004 | Men's Basketball
March 17, 2004
From the Associated Press
GAME: No. 11 Utah (24-8) vs. No. 6 Boston College (23-9).
REGIONAL: St. Louis, First Round.
TIME: Friday, 12:30 p.m. EST.
SITE: Bradley Center; Milwaukee, Wis.
Utah may no longer have Rick Majerus, but it does have momentum.
The Utes, who used a last-second 3-pointer Saturday night to win the Mountain West Conference championship, will play an NCAA tournament game without their longtime coach for the first time in 18 years when they take on Boston College.
Majerus directed Utah to a 15-5 record before taking a leave of absence on Jan. 26 due to medical reasons. The colorful coach led the Utes to 10 tournament appearances in 15 seasons, including a magical run to the championship game in 1998, when they lost to Kentucky.
And while the Utes will undoubtedly miss the big-game experience of its former leader, interim coach Kerry Rupp has to feel confident as his team prepares to face the Eagles.
"I think the kids did what we want them to do - that is finish strong at the end of the season and play our best basketball," Rupp said. "It was nice to see the kids kind of see that through and now we've got a new goal."
That goal was set up by Nick Jacobson's long-range jumper with 1.3 seconds remaining, which gave the Utes a 73-70 win over UNLV on Saturday and an automatic berth into the tournament.
"We played well in Denver. We played hard. We're going to build off what we did in Denver. At the same time it's a whole 'nother ball game," Jacobson said.
Boston College comes into Friday's matchup on a run of its own. While it was knocked out by Pittsburgh in the semifinals of the Big East tournament, BC upset defending national champion Syracuse a round earlier.
Forward Craig Smith was a first-team, all-conference selection and has helped fill the offensive void created when 2003 Big East Player of the Year Troy Bell graduated.
The 6-foot-7, 255-pound sophomore averaged 17.3 points, 8.4 rebounds and shot 55 percent from the field to rank among league leaders in each category. He headlines a powerful Boston College frontline, which also includes 6-8 Uka Agbai and 6-7 Jared Dudley.
Though both teams have offensive leaders, this game will likely be won on the defensive end.
Boston College allowed just 63.8 points per game and the opposition to shoot just 40.4 percent from the floor. The Eagles held 11 opponents to fewer than 60 points.
Utah allowed opponents to score 57.3 points per game and shoot 41.1 percent from the field. The Utes have also owned the boards this season, pulling down roughly seven more rebounds per game than their opponents.
Boston College has won at least 20 games in three of the last four seasons. The Eagles have won 90 games overall in that span, the best total over a four-year period in school history.
Utah leads the all-time series 2-0, with both games played on neutral courts. The teams last met on March 23, 1974, in the NIT Final Four with the Utes prevailing 117-93.
PROBABLE STARTERS: Utah- F Richard Chaney (9.6 ppg, 4.2 rpg), F Andrew Bogut (12.3 ppg, 9.9 rpg), C Tim Frost (9.1 ppg, 4.6 rpg), G Tim Drisdom (5.9 ppg, 3.7 apg), G Jacobson (16.8 ppg, 2.1 rpg). Boston College - F Smith (17.3 ppg, 8.4 rpg), F Dudley (12.2 ppg, 6.7 rpg), C Agbai (10.8 ppg 5.2 rpg), G Louis Hinnant (6.7 ppg, 3.1 apg), G Sean Marshall (8.0 ppg, 2.8 rpg).
HOW THEY GOT HERE: Utah - Automatic bid, Mountain West champion. Boston College - At-large berth.
ALL-TIME TOURNAMENT RECORD: Utah - 33-27, 24 years. Boston College - 17-14, 13 years.
