By: Dave Cheng, YawkeyTalkies Staff Writer

If any BC basketball fans went into the opening week of conference play with an optimistic attitude, chances are their hopes died as quickly as each of the games ended.  Early this season, BC managed to squeeze out a 61-60 win against ACC foe Miami.  Since then, BC has lost their last three conference games by a combined score of 52 points, and the Eagles never managed to break the 60 point barrier in any of the losses.  BC is now the lowest team on the totem pole and is tied for last in the ACC with Miami and North Carolina State.

In case any of the readers out there missed any of the games, here’s a quick recap.  Trevor Booker led Clemson with 19 points and BC forward Joe Trapani did his best trying to keep up leading the Eagles with 13 but it was all for naught as the Tigers handed the Eagles their first conference loss of the season.  The Duke Blue Devils crushed (sorry, there really is no other word that fits appropriately here) the Eagles by 20 points in a 79-59 loss.  On a positive note, BC’s Reggie Jackson scored 20 points and the Eagles scored the most points they would all week against their toughest opponent.  Then Greivis Vasquz led Maryland into the forum at Chestnut Hill to score 17 points and deliver 9 assists on his 23rd birthday as the Terrapins beat the Eagles by 16 points.  Apologies to BC fans for digging up any painful memories they had over the past week.

Before the week began, some fans may have had some sort of slimmer of hope to make the national championship tournament.  After all, miracles are the reason people love watching sports.  If you think otherwise then look at the tournament run George Mason University made a few years ago.  At the end of the week, however, it doesn’t look like the Eagles have a chance. Even squeezing a spot into the NIT tournament may be a stretch.

It’s still a bit early in the season but it looks as if the teams from the ACC will most likely be #6 Duke, #16 Clemson, #18 Georgia Tech (who will probably jump in the rankings after a week of beating Duke at home and North Carolina on the road), and #23 North Carolina.  There will be strong cases made for Maryland and Wake Forest (who sits at 2-2 in the ACC but was predicted to have a solid season after 2008 top recruit Al Farouq Aminu decided to stay for his sophomore season), and possibly a surprise Virginia team who beat Georgia Tech last week and currently sits in first and 3-0 at the top of the ACC.  Chances are that at least one or more of these teams will be left out of the discussion come March since it’s unlikely seven teams from one conference will make the tournament.  Of course, a lot of this could still change during the course of the season and there’s still a conference tournament, but it’s not a good sign that the BC Eagles are not even in the discussion.  It looks as if the teams only hopes of making it to the big dance is winning the conference tournament.  It’s still early but it seems that if BC once had any dreams of even contending for a national title, they are now waking up to face reality.

The Eagles face Miami again tonight for a shot at a second ACC win.

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