ACC Basketball News & Notes: BC to Play in Early Season Tournament

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In a little over five months, the college basketball season will get underway for ACC teams. The month of November is usually spent playing in what is known as an early-season tournament. These events take place during the Thanksgiving holiday and some can last all week. The Boston College Eagles have been a part of some holiday tournaments over the years, and next season will be no different. BC will be involved in the Paradise Jam that will be held November 18-21 in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The games will be held at the University of the Virgin Islands sports and fitness center.

This will be an eight-team field and Boston College’s first matchup will be against George Mason. The other pairings are Buffalo vs Drake, Howard vs Wyoming, and Belmont vs Tarleton State. For a Power-5 school like Boston College, the field for this event on paper does not look very strong. BC’s first game is against an Atlantic-10 school in George Mason. In fact, the Eagles are the only school in this tournament that is from a Power-5 conference. Buffalo is from the Mid-American, Drake from Missouri Valley, Howard from the Mid-Eastern Athletic, and Wyoming from the Mountain West. Belmont also is a part of the Missouri Valley and Tarleton State from the WAC. The BC vs George Mason game will be the final game on the first day’s schedule set for Friday, November 18 at 8 PM.

The consolation semifinals takes place on Saturday, November 19, with two games. The semi-finals happen on Sunday, November 20. Then the tournament finals are set for Monday, November 21. All eight teams are guaranteed three games. If Boston College wins their first contest, they would get the winner of the Belmont vs Tarleton State game. Boston College is coming off a 13-20 season in Earl Grant’s first season as head coach. They were 6-14 in ACC play. Not much may be expected of the Eagles this winter, but one thing is for sure the Eagles will play hard for coach Grant. This tournament could be a springboard to an interesting season for BC.

Boston College returns four starters from last year’s team including the Langford brothers, DeMarr and Makai-Ashton. Both are guards with outside shooting ability. The Eagles possess size in the middle with 7-0 Quinten Post who had a solid first year with the Eagles after transferring from Mississippi State of the SEC. T.J. Bickerstaff, who missed time last year due to injury, is also looking for a bounce-back year. The 6-8 senior can score both on the wing and in the paint. There are four freshmen on the team and the one to watch is 6-6 Prince Aligbe. Big things are expected from the freshman out of Minneapolis, MN.

Boston College is not the only ACC team playing an early tournament. In the coming weeks, we will look at who else is playing and where.