Photo by: John Quackenbos
Seniors Lead Climb Up ACC Ladder And Into Tourney Contention
February 24, 2020 | Women's Basketball, #ForBoston Files
The view from fourth is pretty nice.
Boston College wasn't anywhere near the college basketball radar when the ACC released its 2019-2020 season prediction. Both the conference coaches' poll and a blue ribbon panel slotted the Eagles into the 13th spot of the 15-team league, and players from the powerhouse programs littered the Preseason All-ACC Team. Nobody expected much from the Eagles, who hadn't made the NCAA Tournament since the 2005-06 and were very much still considered a developing, youthful program.
BC pushed past Miami, 75-64, on Sunday afternoon for its fifth consecutive ACC victory and 10th win on the year. It pushed the Eagles into a tie for fourth place with Florida State after the weekend results all went final and gave the Eagles a definitive track to a double-bye in the ACC Tournament for the first time in program history.
"It was Senior Night, and we just wanted to compete hard for each other," senior Georgia Pineau said. "Everyone just kept competing and playing hard. I know our teammates all say the same thing."
Pineau made those remarks through a beaming, candid smile indicative of what exactly is happening in Chestnut Hill this season. She had 20 points and eight rebounds, including six on the offensive window, adding four assists and a steal. Defensively, she added a plus-18 rating against Miami's frontcourt, which included Preseason Player of the Year Beatrice Mompremier, and committed only one turnover in arguably her best performance of a four-year career.
"It wasn't necessarily that (Miami) didn't guard the paint," Pineau said. "We were just working together. Even when shots weren't falling, we still explored other avenues (of ball movement). We were moving a lot. We crashed hard and just kept playing hard, knowing each other's strengths and weaknesses."
It's become a running theme for the best team-based play in the ACC. BC beat Miami for the first time since 2014 to continue a trend of ending losing streaks. The win clinched an over-.500 finish in conference play for the first time since the Eagles joined the ACC in 2005, and their 17th overall win assured them of their most wins since the 20-win season of 2010-2011. It also improved BC to 6-1 in February, its best performance since 2003-2004, which ended in the Sweet Sixteen.
It intensified the sweetness for a senior class entrusted with stewarding the program through murky waters. A coaching change after their sophomore season meant Pineau, Emma Guy and Taylor Ortlepp entered their junior season with a new staff. The team had no senior class last year, forcing them all into de facto leadership roles. In some ways, it accelerated their maturation, but it was a sharp change.
"That (Miami) game was must-win, but it wasn't for any other reason than for the seniors," head coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee said. "They worked really hard through adversity. They could've easily transferred and found something different, but they stuck it out not knowing what to expect. They got everyone bought in to what we wanted to do. The success and the cool things that we're experiencing comes from their shoulders."
On Sunday, those seniors transformed into the centerpiece of a basketball clinic. Guy and Pineau owned the paint against one of the ACC's most-feared and most-respected frontcourts. Mompremier, limited to only 17 minutes, had 15 points and six rebounds. She failed to grab an offensive rebound, though, instead gobbled up by the BC duo, which played most of the game as Taylor Soule fought foul trouble.
When Guy checked in, Pineau rotated to the outside to become a distributor and dished four assists. When Guy checked out, Pineau went down low and frustrated anyone playing against her in the post. Miami's forwards finished the game with a combined 14 fouls, including Sydnee Roby's three in five minutes.
"(Pineau) is the epitome of a stretch-four (power forward)," McNamee said. "She can play face-up to the basket or back to the basket. Her skillset is that crafty, face-up player, and we can really get our pick-and-roll going (with her)."
It led to BC forcing the tempo, which led to forced Miami possessions, even in the first half. Miami committed 15 turnovers before halftime, including nine in the second quarter, as part of a 22-turnover game.
"We know how to force a team into doing what we want them to do, not just reacting to what they want to do," McNamee said. "Our backcourt handled the pressure and limited our turnovers. Miami really feeds off of turnovers for easy offense, and we controlled the tempo for the most part. (Pineau)'s a part of that because she can take the ball out. She's a calming force. We can reverse the ball back to her, and she's not going to go crazy. It's nice to have that leadership."
It's all part of Boston College's women's basketball revolution. Florida State and Virginia Tech both lost on Sunday, so BC's win pushed it right into a three-way tie for fourth place. An idle Duke is a half-game ahead, and Syracuse lost to Notre Dame, dropping them one game behind in seventh place.Â
All three teams - BC, FSU and Virginia Tech - went 1-1 against one another, so the ACC tiebreaker goes to a secondary level of head-to-head records against the first place team before counting down through the rest of the standings, eliminating one team before reverting to a two-team tiebreaker.Â
Louisville is the current first place team in the league with a 1.5-game lead over NC State. FSU beat the Cardinals earlier this season, and both BC and Virginia Tech play them over the final two dates in the regular season. So if BC wins on Thursday in Kentucky, it can step into control for fourth place, assuming the Cardinals would rebound past Virginia Tech. A Virginia Tech loss would place the Hokies third among the tiebreaker teams, eliminating them. BC would then win the head-to-head tiebreaker over FSU, though one game against Syracuse still looms next weekend.
Beyond all of that, the continued wins muddy the national picture. BC remains one of the "next four out" of ESPN's Bracketology post, which updates which teams are inside the NCAA Tournament. The losses didn't move any of the six ACC teams inside the bubble, and BC remains the seventh team on the outside looking in.Â
But the Eagles, who were nowhere to be found in Charlie Creme's early updates, are one of the hottest teams in the nation. They were once a 7-5 team with a top-heavy ACC schedule remaining, but the five-game win streak is making it much more difficult to project where they might land. It was once a dream scenario to go on a run to push into the NCAA Tournament, but the doors are swinging and revolving in the right direction. Even with six teams in the dance, it would be incredibly difficult to leave a double-bye contender outside, especially if there's an upset win on Thursday over Louisville
Just don't ask BC to commit to any bombast.
"The ACC is so good, and it's nice to be on top of these (results)," Pineau said. "Everyone's a game at this point, so we just have to be ready for every game. We can keep climbing the ladder."
For the past month, college basketball's best story unfolded in the Northeast in Chestnut Hill. The conversation, which once seemed so easy to project, is now impossible without mentioning the Eagles. A team built by chemistry and love for one another is continuing to show why team-based basketball is capable of winning games over and over again.Â
Two games remain in the regular season, but the year is far from over.
Boston College will play at Louisville's KFC Yum! Center on Thursday at 6 p.m. The game can be seen via the ACC Network Extra online as part of the ESPN family of online streaming.
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BC pushed past Miami, 75-64, on Sunday afternoon for its fifth consecutive ACC victory and 10th win on the year. It pushed the Eagles into a tie for fourth place with Florida State after the weekend results all went final and gave the Eagles a definitive track to a double-bye in the ACC Tournament for the first time in program history.
"It was Senior Night, and we just wanted to compete hard for each other," senior Georgia Pineau said. "Everyone just kept competing and playing hard. I know our teammates all say the same thing."
Pineau made those remarks through a beaming, candid smile indicative of what exactly is happening in Chestnut Hill this season. She had 20 points and eight rebounds, including six on the offensive window, adding four assists and a steal. Defensively, she added a plus-18 rating against Miami's frontcourt, which included Preseason Player of the Year Beatrice Mompremier, and committed only one turnover in arguably her best performance of a four-year career.
"It wasn't necessarily that (Miami) didn't guard the paint," Pineau said. "We were just working together. Even when shots weren't falling, we still explored other avenues (of ball movement). We were moving a lot. We crashed hard and just kept playing hard, knowing each other's strengths and weaknesses."
It's become a running theme for the best team-based play in the ACC. BC beat Miami for the first time since 2014 to continue a trend of ending losing streaks. The win clinched an over-.500 finish in conference play for the first time since the Eagles joined the ACC in 2005, and their 17th overall win assured them of their most wins since the 20-win season of 2010-2011. It also improved BC to 6-1 in February, its best performance since 2003-2004, which ended in the Sweet Sixteen.
It intensified the sweetness for a senior class entrusted with stewarding the program through murky waters. A coaching change after their sophomore season meant Pineau, Emma Guy and Taylor Ortlepp entered their junior season with a new staff. The team had no senior class last year, forcing them all into de facto leadership roles. In some ways, it accelerated their maturation, but it was a sharp change.
"That (Miami) game was must-win, but it wasn't for any other reason than for the seniors," head coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee said. "They worked really hard through adversity. They could've easily transferred and found something different, but they stuck it out not knowing what to expect. They got everyone bought in to what we wanted to do. The success and the cool things that we're experiencing comes from their shoulders."
On Sunday, those seniors transformed into the centerpiece of a basketball clinic. Guy and Pineau owned the paint against one of the ACC's most-feared and most-respected frontcourts. Mompremier, limited to only 17 minutes, had 15 points and six rebounds. She failed to grab an offensive rebound, though, instead gobbled up by the BC duo, which played most of the game as Taylor Soule fought foul trouble.
When Guy checked in, Pineau rotated to the outside to become a distributor and dished four assists. When Guy checked out, Pineau went down low and frustrated anyone playing against her in the post. Miami's forwards finished the game with a combined 14 fouls, including Sydnee Roby's three in five minutes."(Pineau) is the epitome of a stretch-four (power forward)," McNamee said. "She can play face-up to the basket or back to the basket. Her skillset is that crafty, face-up player, and we can really get our pick-and-roll going (with her)."
It led to BC forcing the tempo, which led to forced Miami possessions, even in the first half. Miami committed 15 turnovers before halftime, including nine in the second quarter, as part of a 22-turnover game.
"We know how to force a team into doing what we want them to do, not just reacting to what they want to do," McNamee said. "Our backcourt handled the pressure and limited our turnovers. Miami really feeds off of turnovers for easy offense, and we controlled the tempo for the most part. (Pineau)'s a part of that because she can take the ball out. She's a calming force. We can reverse the ball back to her, and she's not going to go crazy. It's nice to have that leadership."
It's all part of Boston College's women's basketball revolution. Florida State and Virginia Tech both lost on Sunday, so BC's win pushed it right into a three-way tie for fourth place. An idle Duke is a half-game ahead, and Syracuse lost to Notre Dame, dropping them one game behind in seventh place.Â
All three teams - BC, FSU and Virginia Tech - went 1-1 against one another, so the ACC tiebreaker goes to a secondary level of head-to-head records against the first place team before counting down through the rest of the standings, eliminating one team before reverting to a two-team tiebreaker.Â
Louisville is the current first place team in the league with a 1.5-game lead over NC State. FSU beat the Cardinals earlier this season, and both BC and Virginia Tech play them over the final two dates in the regular season. So if BC wins on Thursday in Kentucky, it can step into control for fourth place, assuming the Cardinals would rebound past Virginia Tech. A Virginia Tech loss would place the Hokies third among the tiebreaker teams, eliminating them. BC would then win the head-to-head tiebreaker over FSU, though one game against Syracuse still looms next weekend.
Beyond all of that, the continued wins muddy the national picture. BC remains one of the "next four out" of ESPN's Bracketology post, which updates which teams are inside the NCAA Tournament. The losses didn't move any of the six ACC teams inside the bubble, and BC remains the seventh team on the outside looking in.Â
But the Eagles, who were nowhere to be found in Charlie Creme's early updates, are one of the hottest teams in the nation. They were once a 7-5 team with a top-heavy ACC schedule remaining, but the five-game win streak is making it much more difficult to project where they might land. It was once a dream scenario to go on a run to push into the NCAA Tournament, but the doors are swinging and revolving in the right direction. Even with six teams in the dance, it would be incredibly difficult to leave a double-bye contender outside, especially if there's an upset win on Thursday over Louisville
Just don't ask BC to commit to any bombast.
"The ACC is so good, and it's nice to be on top of these (results)," Pineau said. "Everyone's a game at this point, so we just have to be ready for every game. We can keep climbing the ladder."
For the past month, college basketball's best story unfolded in the Northeast in Chestnut Hill. The conversation, which once seemed so easy to project, is now impossible without mentioning the Eagles. A team built by chemistry and love for one another is continuing to show why team-based basketball is capable of winning games over and over again.Â
Two games remain in the regular season, but the year is far from over.
Boston College will play at Louisville's KFC Yum! Center on Thursday at 6 p.m. The game can be seen via the ACC Network Extra online as part of the ESPN family of online streaming.
Â
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