A Jersey Guy: Is BC Ready To Make A Move?
The official end of the Boston College basketball season is expected to occur sometime Tuesday evening when the Eagles face a desperate Duke team in the first round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.
Coach Mike Krzyzewski's Blue Devils do not usually play on the first day of the ACC tournament.
In fact, the Blue Devils generally don't play on the second day either, generally earning the coveted double bye.
Not this year.
The Blue Devils are a mediocre 11-11, seeded 10th and know that their only realistic path to the NCAA field of 68 is by winning five games in five days and winning the automatic bid.
Count on the Devils to treat this week like it is an NCAA tournament.
For BC, and interim head coach Scott Spinelli, it is simply time to end a long and frustrating season which resulted in the firing of Jim Christian three weeks ago.
If that happens Tuesday, it makes perfect sense for Kraft to act quickly—perhaps within 48 hours of the official end of the Eagles' season.
There are some caveats to this course of action.
The only way that such a move would be possible is for BC to hire a coach whose season will end this week or has already ended or an assistant head coach on a team still in contention for post season play, a hire which would not disrupt an NCAA tournament bound team.
With that in mind, and assuming there will be an announcement this week—something Kraft said he hoped to do—here is a list of active candidates:
Michigan assistant coach Howard Eisley
Purdue assistant coach Micah Shrewsberry
UCF coach head coach John Dawkins, whose UCF team is not expected to receive an NCAA bid.
Or it could come from coaches NOT currently active this season which would include:
Harvard coach Tommy Amaker
Former Georgetown head coach John Thompson III
If BC ends its season and DOESN"T make an announcement this week, then the choice of a coach opens considerably.
The list (all whose teams are expected to be part of the NCAA tournament field) could include::
Cleveland State coach Dennis Gates
St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt
Loyola (Chicago) Coach Porter Moser
Kraft has reportedly been in touch with all of those coaches, but understands that nothing can be completed until those teams end their season.
So March Madness is upon us.
If you are the rare breed that is a BC hoops fan, watch for white smoke coming from The Heights in the next 72 hours.
If I were laying odds, I would guess the choice would be Eisley, although Amaker would be the best choice for a variety of reasons which I have documented in the past.
But at BC it is foolish to make such bets.
If no news is released it may be awhile before an announcement is made.