Analyzing the 2020-21 BC Men's Basketball Schedule

Yesterday the ACC released their men's basketball schedule, which gave us a glimpse at what the schedule will look like for Boston College. Here are some of the takeaways from the schedule. For discussion purposes BC has a KenPom rating of 106 heading into this season.

* The out of conference schedule is brutal. This was a really odd decision for a team that is on a bit of shaky ground, and is relying on a combination of grad transfers, underclassman and an injured returning star.

The Ken Pom ratings for their schedule is ridiculous. Villanova (4), Baylor (1), Arizona State (36), Minnesota (35), St. John's (72), Rhode Island (98), Cal (119). Now some of that is out of BC's hands, as they drew the Golden Gophers in the ACC/B1G, while URI/Cal was already scheduled. The biggest question has to be the Empire Classic games against Villanova, Baylor & ASU. Have to imagine BC got stuck scrambling for a local MTE after they couldn't travel to the previously scheduled Junkaroo Jam in the Bahamas and this was the best they could find. Playing against elite teams is great, but you look at that bracket and the Eagles stick out like a sore thumb.

* BC has played good teams early before. In the past five years they faced Michigan State and Texas Tech both very early in the season. Both teams were either Top 25 or ended up going deep in the NCAAs. However, BC lost both of these matchups.

* There is still one more game missing. As I mentioned before, there is one game missing from the schedule. Rumors are going around online that it will be Missouri at Mohegan Sun, which would just add another challenging opponent to BC's schedule. The Tigers have a KenPom rating of 58.

Update: 11:37. Jon Rothstein says it is Missouri (confirming what Jake Klein had reported earlier in the week)

Sources: Missouri will face Boston College and Oregon will play Virginia Tech on December 2nd at Mohegan Sun.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) November 11, 2020

* The schedule is going to look different because of COVID: If you look at the schedule you will notice that they are pairing dates, to give flexibility for the teams. So there may be a game on one day, but if there are issues they can flex it to the other date.

* BC avoided double games against some big opponents. The Eagles only have one game each against heavy weights like UVA, Duke and UNC.

* However, some of the lower rated teams also got one game a piece. BC however only got one game against Pitt, Georgia Tech and Wake Forest, all three could be games that are considered winnable.

* Road to the NCAAs is going to be very tough. An ACC schedule is going to be tough no matter how you parse it out. However, adding in a really tough out of conference schedule, and you are suddenly looking at a very hard path to make the first NCAA tournament in over ten years. A lot of things are going to have to fall BC's way in terms of their improvement, but this schedule looks daunting.

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