"We Have Nothing To Lose"

Basketball has that same familiar feeling when the calendar changes from February to March. It's the same bundle of nerves that create the same anxiety. It's an excitement and drama - a madness - completely untouched by any other sport. It's a mentality that becomes an annual tradition capable of ending seasons in a heartbeat, even as it creates legends in the same split second.

This week, the ACC Tournament kicks off in Greensboro, North Carolina. For Boston College, it starts on with a rematch against the Virginia Cavaliers in the conference tournament's first round.

"All basketball coaches, players, anyone who loves sports - March is what you live for," BC head coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee said. "I sent a group text to the players that this is what we all worked so hard for. It's a one-and-done, kill-or-be-killed mentality. It's everything coming to fruition, and we need to be playing our best basketball right now. Everybody, right now, is 0-0."

Virginia won the teams' first meeting with an overtime, 79-77, but it left one of those bad tastes in the Eagles' collective mouth. The Cavaliers broke out to a 13-point lead in the first half, necessitating a mad dash comeback in the third quarter. BC used two runs, including a 10-0 stretch, in that quarter to carve into the lead and ultimately force the extra session. Makayla Dickens poured in 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, while Emma Guy and Sydney Lowery both posted double figures with 18 and 10 points, respectively.

It was a wild game with nine lead changes and six ties, but the Eagles still left the game wondering about their "what ifs." They played with Taylor Ortlepp, a fact that hung over the team in the early part of the game.

"I think the mistakes we made in that game are controllable," Bernabei-McNamee said. "We weren't really blocking out defensively, and sometimes we rushed into quick shots. We made some poor decisions and had some unforced turnovers. Our defensive intensity was really low outside of the third quarter and especially in the first quarter. We were sulking over not having Taylor Ortlepp, and we didn't like us. We didn't have that wide-eyed intensity, and it hung over us even after that game through the Clemson game. But we rediscovered it, especially in this last game against Syracuse and even against Louisville, though the score got away."

For BC and Virginia, Wednesday's game represents the latest chapter of a budding postseason rivalry. The teams met annually from 2011-14, beginning in the '11 WNIT Third Round game. Virginia won that matchup, then beat BC again in the 2012 ACC Tournament. The Eagles got one back in 2013 when they upset the sixth-seeded Cavaliers, but it stands as the only postseason victory over that time.

"We'll be fired up for this game," the coach said. "But that's the best part about tournament time. Virginia's going to be equally fired up."

The game begins a week-long basketball party in the ACC. All 15 teams qualify for the conference tournament with the bottom six teams drawing into the first round. Teams seeded fifth through ninth receive byes into the second round, where the eighth and ninth place teams are seeded against one another. The remaining three teams await first round winners.

The top four teams, meanwhile, receive double-byes, automatically qualifying them into the quarterfinals. It's a three-day cycle featuring no less than three games each day with upwards of eight hours of basketball drama and chills. For BC, the first round game against the 12th-seeded Cavaliers sends the winner into a game against fifth-seeded Syracuse, with the winner there advancing to play Miami.

It's a bracket that forces teams to focus on the immediate present before allowing anything to move ahead. The single elimination nature creates a sudden ending in defeat, preventing any attempt to focus on tantalizing matchups or rematches from ever materializing before it's allowed.

"The message now is that we don't get to come in and correct mistakes anymore," Bernabei-McNamee said. "So it's our time to do all the things that we've worked hard to become good at since June. This is the time to showcase. There's no time to feel sorry for a play. You have to do everything to the best of your ability with that wide-eyed intensity. You need to have the confidence in yourself and your team that you're ready (for this game).

"I talked to the team about our matchups," she continued. "Our first game is Virginia, which is great for us because we left that game wanting another chance at them. I told them that when we win that game, we get another crack at Syracuse. That's the last time we talked about Syracuse. Our entire focus has to be on trying to beat Virginia.

There are a couple of added benefits for the Eagles, though. First, they won't have to wait around, waiting for their turn on the Greensboro Coliseum hardwood; their game against Virginia is the first game of the tournament, and should they advance, BC would play at 11 a.m. against the Orange. It's a fact that the coaching staff "loves" because they won't have to sit around.

"I get a little anxious (when we wait), so I wish all of our games were at noon," Bernabei-McNamee said. "Our practice slot is early, and we sometimes hit the court at 10 or 11 a.m. So for us, the early time is just like a Saturday or Sunday game."

Second, BC is one of the better overall teams despite the recent string of defeats. The Eagles fell to under .500 for the first time all season with their loss to the Orange on Sunday and harbored a better overall record than a handful of other ACC teams. It's a record that could have been much better if not for three conference losses by five points or less.

BC nearly shocked the college basketball world against a nationally-ranked Miami team earlier this year but lost by just three, and trailed Syracuse by one at halftime this past weekend. So the Eagles enter the ACC Tournament understanding that they have nothing to lose and everything to gain. They've had some big game experience by playing under the bright lights against Notre Dame and Louisville this season, games during which they experienced success even as the scores turned a little bit lopsided by the end.
It's a season stamped by that ongoing maturation process.

The Eagles entered the season with a bumper crop of freshmen, and it gave them those subsequent highs and lows. BC beat Rhode Island and Houston in the early part of the year, then won the Hawk Classic tournament championship with a 112-point explosion against Rider.

It's countered by setbacks against teams like Providence and Minnesota, but it's all served to harden the team for the postseason. Having played against those teams exposed the players to their first taste of what could happen, and the late-season successes, even in the face of defeat, all conditioned BC for its shot at the spotlight.

"(The youth) is a big help for us because the players don't understand the added pressure," Bernabei-McNamee said. "Our players can play with confidence that it's just another game. Every other team in the country has seniors that deal with this pressure. The one-and-done mentality creates some undue pressure because they know it's the end.

"The flip side is that because we don't have senior leadership, we can lose our sense of urgency," she countered. "We got that back in the last couple of games, so I hope we can bring that almost-false sense of confidence into believing that we can accomplish anything because we don't know any better. We have nothing to lose."

BC will play Virginia at 1 p.m. on Tuesday in the first round of the ACC Tournament. The game can be seen via the ACC Sports Network and can be seen locally in New England on NESN. Should BC advance, Thursday's game will air at 11 a.m. The championship weekend will be televised on the ESPN family of networks.

The games can also be heard on Sirius 137/XM 194 (also on SiriusXM app, channel 956).

Players Mentioned

Makayla Dickens

Emma Guy

Sydney Lowery

Taylor Ortlepp

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