BC Basketball | Mid-Term grades

18 games down, 13 more to go. The final 13 games will decide BC's fate come selection Sunday. In order to sit hopeful come that fateful day, BC will probably need to win 8 of the last 13 games they play. 7 wins will get them on the bubble. Looking back on the year thus far, we have seen the best and worst from this team. Here are my rankings of our players so far based on expectations coming into the year:

Tyrese Rice: C+
Everybody loves to bash Tyrese Rice when this team has lost to the likes of St. Louis and Harvard. People claim that Rice only plays when he wants to play. While Rice's play has been inconsistent, he still has turned in a decent year up to this point. He's shooting a respectable 45% from the field and is currently second in the ACC in assists per game with 6. He does certainly play out of control at times but he has cut down on his turnovers since the beginning of the year. It would be nice if Rice tried to take over the games a little bit more however. Against Harvard, he started to take Lin off the dribble late in the game and had no problem with doing so. Unfortunately, it was too little, too late and that left me wondering- Why doesn't he try to drive and create on more occasions? Overall, Rice hasn't yet progressed to the type of leader one would ideally like to have, but he has done a pretty good job managing this team.

Rakim Sanders: C
Rakim Sanders has become the poster child of inconsistency this season. Some games he looks like an All-American (see UNC game), and some games he is non-existent (see Wake Forest game). You can certainly understand why he was such a heralded recruit coming out of Pawtucket, RI, with such incredible athleticism and strength, but it's tougher to understand why his skills don't translate consistent success. The issue here could have to do more with focus because he certainly has the talent to be a star. It appears that so far this year, BC's success as a team is linked to Sander's performance. In losses, Sanders averages only 8.0 ppg, but in wins, he averages 12.9 ppg. Much of BC's chances to make the NCAA tournament ride on the shoulders of Rakim Sanders.

Corey Raji: A
In contrast to Rakim, Corey Raji has been the model of consistency this year. Leaving out recent losses to Miami and Wake Forest where Corey saw limited time due to injury, Corey has averaged 15.7 ppg in losses. To be honest, I wasn't expecting such offensive production this year from Corey but I am extremely pleased he proved me wrong. He currently ranks 11th in the nation in offensive rebounds with 67 and shoots a very impressive 54% from the field. As each game passes, Raji looks more and more like a smaller, but more athletic Dudley in his relentless pursuit of rebounds and well as consistent and intelligent play on the floor.

Joe Trapani: B+
BC fans had no idea what to expect from Trapani this season. Yet, from what I've seen so far, I am very pleased that Skinner and co. went out and grabbed him from UVM. Trapani has provided as the second option on offense behind Rice, working both inside the paint, and behind the arc. He rebounds well and has fit in well into the flex offense. One area where he could definitely improve on however is on defense. Trapani isn't strong enough to hang with most 4s in the ACC and as a result he sometimes gets beat down low.

Josh Southern: C
After a promising freshman year, I was hoping Josh could continue to develop into the strong post presence BC has lacked the past few seasons. He's shown some flashes of brilliance in the paint with some good low post moves, but he's overall way too tentative. He played great defense against Hansbrough in out win over UNC, but in other games he has been in foul trouble and is not aggressive enough. Being our only guy over 6'8", our interior defense really lives and dies with Southern who always has to cover the opposing teams' biggest man. So far, he has been consistently out played by guys quicker and stronger than him. Stats can be misleading, but so far this season Southern has only turned in 5.6 ppg and 5.5 rpg. There is a lot of time for Southern to improve and even become somewhat of a force in the paint (just look at the vast improvement of Wake Forest center Chas McFarland), but as of right now he is playing under his potential.

Reggie Jackson: A-
It appears that Al Skinner has found his next diamond in the rough in Reggie Jackson. The freshman from Colorado has proved to be a very capable 6th man for this team. Reggie provides a boost of energy when he comes off the bench and always seems to turn in maximum effort. He is very active on defense and his quickly becoming a go-to-guy on offense. As a freshman, Reggie Jackson is playing like the senior-version of former eagle 6th man Jermaine Watson. It will be very interesting to see what kind of player Reggie develops into over the course of the next 3 and a half seasons.

Cortney Dunn: B-
Coming into the year I wasn't expecting much of anything from Cortney Dunn. He looked rather lost in the preseason scrimmages. Yet, throughout the course of the year Skinner has done his best to develop Dunn into our backup center and it has worked out surprisingly well. Although Dunn provides little on the offensive, Dunn has been pretty solid on the defensive end. He works hard in the paint despite being undersized for the center spot. He grabs rebounds and hustles, and gives the team some energy off the bench. If Dunn keeps improving at a steady pace, he could develop into a rather solid role player for coach Skinner.

Tyler Roche: C-
Roche, who started most games last year for Coach Skinner, has been forced to take on a new role this year. Roche comes All reports show that he's a lights out shooter in practice but it never translates into the game. Roche did help BC beat SC-Upstate behind his 17 points, but overall his shooting percentages are low. Roche is a hard worker and has been rewarded with more minutes lately, but he needs to produce more than he currently is.

Biko Paris: B
Biko's playing time has been nearly cut in half from last season where he played 23.1 minutes per game to this season where he currently logs only 12.2 minutes per game. yet, in limited action this year Biko has proved to me that he will be up to task next year of taking over running the point guard position. His 2.1:1 assist to turnover ratio is good enough for best on the team as Biko plays very within himself and under control. Wednesday night proved to me that Biko also has scoring capabilities, as he slashed his way for 7 points. His defense has been solid throughout the season