Preview:
We last played Boston College when Erica McCall was a young player, so it has been a while. BC is 13-14, having just lost to Cal, and is 4-10 in conference. Its record is very similar to our own. Massey has them at 83, so the computers seem to think we have played a stronger schedule or acquitted ourselves somewhat better, since we are at 41 (and declined from 39 with our last win!) Boston College handily beat Clemson, who we lost to (most everyone but us seems to beat Clemson) but otherwise has lost its last 7 games.
Boston College is led by a phenomenal three point shooter. T'yana Todd, a 6'0" junior guard, has hit 64 of them so far on 51% shooting. She averages 14ppg. She went 4/6 from long range against Cal the other night. Given that we put Ijiwoye on the taller Syracuse three point specialist, could we see a similar size mismatch? It will be interesting to see if Paye repeats that strategy or varies it. It did not work all game, but seemed to throw Syracuse off in the first quarter.
Dontavia Waggoner, a 6'0" grad student guard, and a transfer a couple years back from North Carolina State, is the second leading scorer at 13ppg. She doesn't take a lot of threes and makes 49% of her shots, so I presume she is a driver.
Teya Sidberry, a 6'1" junior forward, and a transfer last year from Utah, is the third leading scorer at 12 ppg. She takes a few threes but is predominantly an inside player.
The other starters against Cal included yet another 6'0" senior guard and a 5'8" redshirt senior guard. Thus Boston College plays four guards and an undersized forward. We should have a size advantage in the paint, but by the same token we should not expect to see a lot of Umeh in this game. This might be an excellent game for Harriel to come roaring back. She had her first full day of practice the day before the Syracuse game, apparently, and I imagine we could use her against this guard-heavy team.
For that matter, Agara would probably have a very good day against the Boston College lineup if she is healthy. Agara has been most bothered by taller players who form a ceiling over her around the basket. It does not look like Boston College has anyone who could stop her. But we all know how finicky concussion protocols are...which is what I presume is going on with her. So I'll be delighted if we see her but we should not count on it.
Massey thinks this is our easiest remaining game and gives us an 84% chance, predicting a 78-65 victory. We really need to make that prediction into reality. How nice it would be to have a sweep on the weekend, before going off to play a tough Virginia Tech team.
We last played Boston College when Erica McCall was a young player, so it has been a while. BC is 13-14, having just lost to Cal, and is 4-10 in conference. Its record is very similar to our own. Massey has them at 83, so the computers seem to think we have played a stronger schedule or acquitted ourselves somewhat better, since we are at 41 (and declined from 39 with our last win!) Boston College handily beat Clemson, who we lost to (most everyone but us seems to beat Clemson) but otherwise has lost its last 7 games.
Boston College is led by a phenomenal three point shooter. T'yana Todd, a 6'0" junior guard, has hit 64 of them so far on 51% shooting. She averages 14ppg. She went 4/6 from long range against Cal the other night. Given that we put Ijiwoye on the taller Syracuse three point specialist, could we see a similar size mismatch? It will be interesting to see if Paye repeats that strategy or varies it. It did not work all game, but seemed to throw Syracuse off in the first quarter.
Dontavia Waggoner, a 6'0" grad student guard, and a transfer a couple years back from North Carolina State, is the second leading scorer at 13ppg. She doesn't take a lot of threes and makes 49% of her shots, so I presume she is a driver.
Teya Sidberry, a 6'1" junior forward, and a transfer last year from Utah, is the third leading scorer at 12 ppg. She takes a few threes but is predominantly an inside player.
The other starters against Cal included yet another 6'0" senior guard and a 5'8" redshirt senior guard. Thus Boston College plays four guards and an undersized forward. We should have a size advantage in the paint, but by the same token we should not expect to see a lot of Umeh in this game. This might be an excellent game for Harriel to come roaring back. She had her first full day of practice the day before the Syracuse game, apparently, and I imagine we could use her against this guard-heavy team.
For that matter, Agara would probably have a very good day against the Boston College lineup if she is healthy. Agara has been most bothered by taller players who form a ceiling over her around the basket. It does not look like Boston College has anyone who could stop her. But we all know how finicky concussion protocols are...which is what I presume is going on with her. So I'll be delighted if we see her but we should not count on it.
Massey thinks this is our easiest remaining game and gives us an 84% chance, predicting a 78-65 victory. We really need to make that prediction into reality. How nice it would be to have a sweep on the weekend, before going off to play a tough Virginia Tech team.