ACC Basketball News and Notes: Grant gets two year extension

Read Time:2 Minute, 58 Second

The Boston College Eagles men’s basketball program seems to be moving in the right direction. So much so that the school and head coach Earl Grant have agreed to a two-year contract extension that will run through the 2028-29 season. In the two years that Grant has been the head man on the heights, the basketball program has made progress toward the upper half of the Atlantic Coast Conference. This past season, the BC Eagles recorded three wins over nationally ranked teams. The nine league wins were the most since the 2010-11 season, and the 16 total wins were the most since the 2017-18 campaign. He has done the job off the court as well, raising the talent level of the team. Grant was able to sign two four-star recruits in the same year for the first time in program history. The 2022-23 freshman class was rated 30th nationally by Rivals.com and 33rd by 247sports.com.

All of this good news must be tempered by what has become the new safety net for college athletes these days, the transfer portal. Several members of last year’s team have entered the portal looking for a better situation to show off their skills. TJ Bickerson has entered the portal. The 6-7 power forward made 21 starts in 33 games and averaged 5.2 points a game along with 5.6 rebounds. He was a .63% free throw shooter (34-of-54). Demar Langford, a 6-5 junior, is also looking for a new home. He made 15 starts out of 23 games played. He averaged seven points a game and 2.8 boards a night. His assist-to-turnover ratio numbers are not bad at 42 assists to 36 turnovers. He is not a great 3-point shooter going 5-of-19 (26.3%). Andrew Kenny is a 6-6 senior who only appeared in four games for the Eagles last season. He played just over six total minutes on the year. He averaged under a point in those games.

Boston College has gained a portal member. Kawacie Brown, a 6-6 sophomore who last season was a member of the Florida Gators, has chosen BC as his new home. He appeared in 31 games with seven of them being starts for the Gators. He averaged 8.5 points and 2.6 rebounds. His shooting numbers tailed off from 3-point range once SEC league play began. In non-conference play, he shot .262 from deep, and in league play, that number dropped to .197. He did have 13 double-figure games, eight of them in conference action.

Quinton Post has decided to test the NBA waters as he has declared himself for the upcoming draft. The seven-foot center battled injuries this year. When healthy, Post was a very effective inside presence and Boston College took full advantage. After missing all of the non-conference schedule, Post returned to play 19 games for the Eagles. He averaged 15.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and one block. From the field, Post shot 53.9%, 42.6% from 3-point land, and 86% from the free throw line. He was the only player in the country that played a minimum of fifteen minutes a night that put up those kinds of numbers. He scored 20+ points six different times and scored in double-figures 15 times. Post has not hired an agent, so if he does not like how this plays out he could return to Boston College.