By: Dave Cheng, YawkeyTalkies Staff Writer

It is the time of the season that college basketball fans have been waiting for.  As the calendar turns into the new year, college basketball fans are looking forward to one thing: conference play.  In the coming months, the Boston College Eagles (1-0 ACC, 9-5 overall) will square off against powerhouses like defending national champion North Carolina and those hated Duke Blue Devils.  Even Georgia Tech, who finished with just two conference wins last year, has a heavily improved team due to a stellar freshmen class that includes the heavily recruited and highly touted Derrick Favors.

Out of the twelve teams that are in the ACC, the Eagles are being picked by most to finish near the bottom of the conference.  The optimistic fans will say that the football team wasn’t expected to make a bowl game this year either, let alone put up a fight against USC.  Other fans realize it’s going to be a long season for these Eagles.  Sure, they already have a head start on the conference after squeezing out a one point win against Miami (0-1 ACC, 14-1) early last month.  They will also pull out a few upsets here and there, but the first three conference games should add a little perspective.

Clemson (0-1 ACC, 12-3 overall) is up first and is currently ranked as the 21st best team in the country.  That game is then followed by Coach Mike Krzyzewski and the number five Duke Blue Devils (1-0 ACC, 12-1 overall).  Then Maryland (0-0 ACC, 9-4 overall) senior guard Greivis Vasquz (17.3 ppg) will lead the Terrapins into the forum to face off against the Eagles.

If the Eagles can win either of their first two games against ranked teams, it will certainly help them get into the big dance when March rolls around.  However, it will be the games against other bubble teams such as Maryland and Miami that will be the deciding factor between the national championship tournament, the NIT or even sitting at home in front of the television.  At this point, it looks as if the national championship tournament would be a reach, although not impossible.  A loss earlier this season to an Ivy League school such as Harvard (0-0 Ivy, 11-3 overall), however, will not help the cause.

At this point, even if BC wins every game they are “supposed” to win, as in inferior teams such as Harvard and URI (who they also lost to), it will be tough for them to get into the big tournament.  They will have to pull off a few upsets along the way and the Eagles seem to be too under matched for a win against a Duke or North Carolina, but then again that’s why they call it an upset.  Maybe the Eagles will shock the college basketball world.  That’s what BC fans want to hear.  Unfortunately, it just doesn’t seem likely.

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