2024 North Carolina Sports Network
Atlantic Coast Conference Basketball Spotlight:
Boston College

By Ben McCormick
North Carolina Sports Network

School: Boston College

Location: Chestnut Hill, Mass.

Previous Conference Affiliations: Independent (1945-79), Big East (1979-2005)

ACC Member Since: 2005-06

ACC Ranking Among 32 Leagues (KenPom): 7th (2023), 5th (2022), 5th (2021), 4th (2020)

NCAA Tournament Bids: 18 (1958, 1967, 1968, 1975, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009)

NCAA Championships: 0

Final Fours: 0

Conference Titles: 2 (1997, 2001 in Big East)

Conference 1st-Place Finishes: 5 (1981, 1983, 1997, 2001, 2005 in Big East)

Head Coach: Earl Grant (47 years old, 3rd season at BC)

As A Player: Georgia College (1998-2000)

Record As Head Coach (through Jan. 19): 167-132 (.559) in 9+ seasons overall; 40-43 (.482) in 2+ seasons at BC

Previous HC Experience: College of Charleston (2014-21)

AC Experience: The Citadel (2002-04), Winthrop (2004-07), Wichita State (2007-10), Clemson (2010-14)

Assistant Under: Pat Dennis, Gregg Marshall, Brad Brownell

2022-23 Record: 16-17, 9-11 (10th in 15-team ACC)

2023-24 Preseason Prediction (Media): 12th in 15-team ACC

2023-24 Record (Through Jan. 19): 11-6, 2-4 ACC

2023-24 Midseason Ranking (KenPom): #92 nationally (12th in ACC)

Upcoming Schedule Highlights: #4 North Carolina (1/20), at Virginia Tech (1/23), Syracuse (1/30)

It has been 15 years since Boston College made the NCAA Tournament. That’s the longest drought in the ACC, and the third-longest of any Power Six program.

Third-year BC coach Earl Grant has not been able to end that drought, but his tenure in Chestnut Hill has come with a few glimmers of hope.

In the 2022 ACC Tournament, for example, the Eagles upset Wake Forest and ACC Player of the Year Alondes Williams, effectively ending the Demon Deacons’ NCAA Tournament hopes. The next day, BC took a talented Miami team to overtime. That same Miami squad reached the Elite Eight just two weeks later.

Yes, the Eagles still fell short of reaching their first ACC Tournament semifinal since 2011, but they sent a message. Grant’s Eagles wouldn’t be easy to take down. They returned most of that team’s core in 2022-23 and brought home nine conference wins, their most since 2010-11.

While Boston College lost veteran guards Makai Ashton-Langford (graduation) and DeMarr Langford (transfer to UCF) and starting power forward TJ Bickerstaff (transfer to James Madison) after last season, they returned the 2023 ACC Most Improved Player honoree: fifth-year center Quinten Post.

A 7-foot graduate student who rarely played during his two seasons at Mississippi State, Post has continued his amazing three-year evolution at BC in 2023-24, leading the team in scoring (16.9 points per game) and rebounding (7.4 per game).

Likewise, senior Jaeden Zackery, now in his third year as BC’s starting point guard, has made a significant jump from last year. He’s averaging 12.2 points and team-bests of 4.3 assists and 1.7 steals per game, all while dramatically improving his assist-turnover ratio (almost 3-1 this season).

“I’m just trusting my experiences,” Grant said. “I’ve been in a lot of winning programs. I’ve been to the NCAA Tournament everywhere I’ve been. I’ve been day one with a lot of head coaches. I took over College of Charleston, a program that hadn’t been to the NCAA Tournament in 25 years, and we got back.

“A big part of all of that has been retaining your roster, developing your roster, adding more athleticism, and then a lot of it is just trust and belief. But it’s hard to trust and believe if you’ve got a new team every year. I think we’re in position. We’ve got a lot of returners and a couple new guys that can help us really make that progress, and we’re just excited about seeing it happen this season.”

Zackery and Post are joined in the starting lineup this season by two other returnees, swingman Prince Aligbe and power forward Devin McGlockton, plus Charleston Southern wing guard transfer Claudell Harris Jr., who is putting up 15 points per game.

Even with an experienced and skilled starting group, the Eagles fell victim to an early season upset by Loyola Chicago. Still, they weathered non-conference play with just one other loss, to an impressive Colorado State team. Meanwhile, they rattled off a pair of Power Six wins, over Vanderbilt and St. John’s.

Thus far, conference play hasn’t been as forgiving. BC is 2-4 in that regard, with its only wins coming over other “bottom-third” ACC teams, Georgia Tech and Notre Dame. This is a skilled group, though. The Eagles hung around with Wake Forest and took N.C. State to overtime.

Thanks in part to their impressive 3-point shooting — at 36.4 percent, BC ranks fourth in the ACC in that category — the Eagles appear capable of posting much-needed upsets down the stretch. However, they give up a similarly high rate (36.0) on 3-pointers, and their defense often lets them down.

2023-24 Boston College Eagles
(11-6, 2-4 ACC; through Jan. 19)

Starters

PG Jaeden Zackery*, Jr. — 33 mpg, 12 ppg, 3 rpg, 49% FG, 83% FT, 30% threes, 73/26 ATO, 2 blocks, 29 steals
(6-2/220); 2021 Chipola JC transfer (starter); Westosha Central HS; Salem, Wis.

G Claudell Harris Jr., Jr. — 31 mpg, 15 ppg, 3 rpg, 46% FG, 67% FT, 42% threes, 29/15 ATO, 0 blocks, 18 steals
(6-3/190); 2023 CSU transfer (starter); Hahnville HS; Hahnville, La.

F Prince Aligbe*, So. — 23 mpg, 6 ppg, 5 rpg, 41% FG, 66% FT, 10% threes, 10/13 ATO, 2 blocks, 11 steals
(6-7/225); 21 mpg, 6 ppg in 2022-23; Minnehaha Academy; Minneapolis, Minn.

F Devin McGlockton, So. — 29 mpg, 10 ppg, 7 rpg, 58% FG, 75% FT, 33% threes, 18/13 ATO, 20 blocks, 9 steals
(6-7/230); 18 mpg, 6 ppg in 2022-23; South Forsyth HS; Cumming, Ga.

C Quinten Post*, Gr. — 32 mpg, 17 ppg, 7 rpg, 50% FG, 83% FT, 44% threes, 51/45 ATO, 33 blocks, 10 steals
(7-0/235); 2021 MSU transfer (reserve); Cartesius Lyceum HS; Amsterdam, Netherlands

Key Reserves

G Mason Madsen, Sr. — 17 mpg, 7 ppg, 3 rpg, 45% FG, 100% FT, 49% threes, 14/14 ATO, 3 blocks, 12 steals
(6-4/200); 2022 Cincinnati transfer (reserve); Mayo HS; Rochester, Minn.

G Donald Hand Jr., r-Fr. — 17 mpg, 6 ppg, 2 rpg, 37% FG, 73% FT, 35% threes, 9/8 ATO, 4 blocks, 8 steals
(6-5/200); 2022-23 medical redshirt; Landstown HS; Virginia Beach, Va.

G Chas Kelly III, So. — 14 mpg, 4 ppg, 2 rpg, 35% FG, 63% FT, 26% threes, 26/20 ATO, 1 block, 12 steals
(6-3/185); 15 mpg, 3 ppg in 2022-23; The Phelps School; Houston, Texas

*—returning starter (started at least 50% of current team’s games last season)