Quick Slant: Looking Up

After one of the worst showings I've seen from a Boston College Basketball team Saturday against Maryland, it was incredibly refreshing to see the effort put out last night at Miami. The team was flat and almost non-existent for a full 40 minutes in the Maryland game and Joe Trapani continued a run of noticeably poor play. Fortunately, last night's game has shown signs of a possible turn. I always trust Al Skinner to be able to motivate and to be able to squeeze out all the talent from his underrecruited players, but this season I have found myself questioning him for the first time. Needless to say, I am exuberant to see the beginnings of these questions being put to rest.

The Eagles came out on fire. They hit shots early and you could see them moving around the court with a fluidity that I hadn't seen since the first half of the South Carolina game. I continue to question Joe Trapani's shot selection, but a few fortunate makes and some great interior passing by Rakim Sanders produced early points. Miami, despite seeming to be outplayed, stayed close early with the 3-ball. When Josh Southern went out with his second foul early in the half, Miami went on an extended run of inside dominance. Johnson and Collins were a little too much for Trapani, Dunn and Ravanel to handle inside, and combined with some serious shooting, Miami was coasting.

That's when I really started to appreciate the effort. Down double digits for the majority of 17 basketball minutes, the team didn't seem to let down much at all. Their interior defense was suspect, but more for matchups than lack of effort. The Eagles were troubled by a 2-3 zone for periods of time when their shooting went cold, but the energy level stayed up and kept the game from getting too far out of hand. This enabled them to take advantage of the opportunity once Miami's hot shooting began to taper off. Then Reggie Jackson took over. Biko Paris had struggled at the point against the 2-3 zone as he lacks ability to slash toward the basket, often ending up trapped on the baseline. I have admittedly gotten on Reggie Jackson's PG skills this season and continue to doubt some of his abilities as a distributor, but Reggie can CREATE SCORING. When Miami brought the zone back, Reggie cut through it to the basket dropping off a couple balls to Joe Trapani (with 3-point-plays resulting from an impressive display of power inside) and getting himself to the hoop or to the line. Some timely shooting from Trapani and Raji accompanied Jackson's efforts, and before you knew it the Eagles were on top and rode out the last 2 minutes to the victory. And having watched the game, the score isn't far from where it should have been. This game was played close through and through, but for bouts of too-hot and too-cold shooting.

For those that have been watching lately, this has to be incredibly encouraging to see from the Eagles. I still worry about Rakim Sanders healing ankle, as he seems to still lack the explosive ability of the past. If Rakim can get back to that level where Reggie Jackson now resides, the Eagles can be a very difficult team to defend, regardless of whether the 3s are dropping.

APT