ACC Basketball News & Notes BC heading to Sunshine Classic

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Coming off a 4-16 record, and an overhaul of the coaching staff, the Boston College men’s basketball program got some good news and some not-so-good news on the non-conference schedule front. The good is the team will be a part of the Sunshine Slam in Daytona Beach, Florida in November. The bad is because of a last-place finish in the conference a year ago, Boston College will not be a part of the ACC-Big 10 challenge next season.

The Sunshine Slam is an eight-team early season tournament that will feature teams like the Eagles, Utah Utes of the Pac-12, Rhode Island Rams of the Atlantic- 10, Tulsa Golden Hurricanes from the American Conference, Air Force Falcons of the Mountain West, Holy Cross Crusaders of the Patriot League, Bryant College Bulldog of the Northeast Conference, and Bethune-Cookman Wildcats of the Southwestern Athletic Conference. The Northeast Conference will be the sponsoring conference of the tournament. Let’s take a look at the teams that will join Boston College in this event.

Rhode Island returns a group that has a shot at competing for the league championship next season. Three members of the team, guard Jeremy Sheppard, and the frontcourt duo of Antwan Walker and Makhel Mitchell started 23 of the 25 games the Rams played a season ago. Walker (8.1 points, 6.5 rebounds) and Mitchell (9.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.7 blocks) are considered two of the best big men in the league. Rhode Island is hoping to get a major contribution from Ball State graduate transfer Ishmael El-Amin who is a two-time All-Mac selection, who averaged 16 points a game and is considered a very good three-pointer shooter.

Tulsa returns three big pieces from a team that went 11-12 overall and 7-10 in league play. The conference Sixth Man of the Year, Darien Jackson finished first in the league in field goal percentage at 64% and shot over 50% in 18 of Tulsa’s 23 games. In addition to the returning players, the Golden Hurricanes will bring in seven newcomers. Three freshman, two JUCO transfers, and two four-year transfers.

Air Force has an experienced team coming back for next season. They bring back two returning starters to go along with eleven lettermen. The Falcons are led by last season’s All-Mountain West point guard A.J. Walker averaged 15.3 points a game as a junior last year. As a senior, Walker will be asked to duplicate his junior season production.

Holy Cross will be hoping to continue their strong play from a season ago. The Crusaders bring back three starters and six of nine players who saw game action last winter. One of those players is Gerrale Gates who made third -eam All-Patriot League after scoring 16.4 points per game, 7.6 boards, and just under one block per contest. The Cross is looking at a talented freshman class to compete in the Patriot League.

Bryant College put together quite a season for themselves in 2020-21. They finished the year at 15-7 and were ranked in the Mid-Major Top 25 for the first time in eight seasons. The Bulldogs return five starters from that team, led by Peter Kiss, a USBWA All-District selection who dropped 16.6 points per night. Kiss will be joined by Charles Pride (13.7 PPG), Chris Childs (14 a game), and Hall Elisias (10.3 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.5 blocks). The Bulldogs will be looking to build off a postseason tournament bid for the second time in the program history when they were invited to the College Basketball Invitational.

Bethune-Cookman decided to opt-out of playing last year. Prior to last season, the Wildcats put together winning seasons in two of their past three campaigns. This will be the team’s first year playing in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. The team will be led by Joe French who, as a freshman, averaged 8.5 points a night. He would earn Freshman of the Week honors three times on the way to being named to the All-Rookie team in the Mid-Eastern Conference, the former home of this program.

The tournament begins with on-site games on November 12, 13, and 15 before the event moves to the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach on November 20, and 21 for semi-finals and championship rounds. Since this is an eight-team event there will be two champions of this tournament. Boston College, Utah, Tulsa, Rhode Island will be one set of teams. Holy Cross, Air Force, Bryant, Bethune-Cookman will be the other set.

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