Dick Weiss on NCAA Tournament
BROOKLYN, N.Y.—There was a distinct North Carolina a feeling to Boston College’s 91-87 upset victory over fifth-seeded North Carolina State in the second round of the ACC tournament here at the Barclays Center yesterday.
Eagles’ guards Ky Bowman and Jerome Robinson both have their roots in that basketball rich state.
Bowman, a 6-1 sophomore, is from the tiny town of Havelock and originally committed to play football as a wide receiver for the University of North Carolina. But his first love was basketball. He wanted to play in the ACC but had only one offer.
Robinson, a 6-6 junior who was a first team All ACC selection and runner up for the ACC Player of the Year award, went to high school in Raleigh Broughton, just 500 yards from the State campus. But even though he played with the son of former NC State coach Mark Gottfried and was close friends with the family, he never got a sniff from the Pack.
Both signed with BC and are suddenly in the middle of a surprising revival at a school that went winless in the ACC two years ago. Robinson scored 26 points, grabbed six rebounds and contributed four assists and Bowman added 24 with five assists as the 12th seeded Eagles (19-14) won their second game in this tournament and advance to a 2:30 p.m. quarterfinal matchup today against third-seeded Clemson.
Bowman and Robinson have emerged as what NC State coach Kevin Keatts said was arguably “the best backcourt in the ACC” and the victory did wonders for BC coach Jim Christian, who is from nearby Bethpage, L.I. Christian had been on the hot seat, but a 19-14 record and a probable NIT bid should do wonders for his job security with this huge turnaround season.
The best could be yet to come, too. BC has no seniors in the starting lineup and Bowman and Robinson both have the look of future NBA players. If Robinson stays, the Eagles, who also start two improving big men—6-11 sophomore center Nic Popovic and 6-8 freshman forward Stefon Mitchell—should definitely be an NCAA team in the strongest league in the country.
“In my first two years we had two ACC wins, and we knew that was just a process,’’ Robinson said. “I stuck with it, with coach. It’s hard for some people to think though a smoky mirror but we knew it was going to pay off. We listened to coach. We knew he had a vision.’’
BC played like the more aggressive team against NC State, constantly shredding the Pack’s pressure and successfully attacking the rim. They raced out to a 45-31 half time lead, then made the big plays at the end after State (21-11), which got 20 points and 9 rebounds from its massive 7-3 center Omer Yutseven, put on a furious rally to wipe out a double-digit lead in the final 10 minutes and tying the game five times. The last occurred when guard Torin Dorn made a pair of free throws as State made it 85-85 with 40.7 seconds remaining.
Then Robinson took over. He dribbled away from a screen, left Yurtseven behind and drained a smooth pull-up jumper from 10-feet with 17 seconds left to break the tie and then forced a turnover on an inbounds play moments later to set the stage for BC’s best win since a stunning 89-84 upset of Duke at Chestnut Hill in early December.
“I knew they would come back,’’ Christian said. “They are a good basketball team. You are talking about one of the top teams in the country, a team that’s going to win games in the NCAA tournament, so again, when they made a run at us, we’ve been in this situation the last couple weeks, so this is growth. This was growth attacking pressure. This was growth making free throws. This was growth with poise on defense, and they still made some great plays. They made some great shots and we responded, and that’s what happens in great games.’’
