Under the Radar Game of the Day: Maine at Boston College, 5:00 PM Eastern, espn3
Despite the fact that Yours Truly will be attending Monmouth’s lone non-conference home game of the season today (vs Wagner, 2:00 PM Eastern, espn3), the UTR Game of the Day simply could not pass up such a perfect matchup in Boston this evening, as two teams that apparently are not major college programs will be matching up. The visiting team today comes from one of two states that has never put a representative into the NCAA Tournament. Given that the other state does not have a D1 program (Alaska), the state of Maine is truly unique. Unfortunately, the state’s streak is likely to continue this season as their Black Bears are off to a 2-6 start including losses to Dartmouth, Wagner and LIU-Brooklyn. Their two wins both came at home, against Central Connecticut and Longwood, both sub-300 rated programs. The Black Bears have a shot for their first non-conference road win since December 2013 today, however, as they travel down I-95 to Boston.
Maine’s opponent tonight is a team that stands at 3-6 on the season, having lost 6 games in a row including a home game to UMass-Lowell and a neutral court game to Santa Clara. Their wins have come against Central Connecticut St Francis-Brooklyn and Harvard. While their court has markings that indicate they are a member of the ACC, we here at Hoops HD are still trying to actually determine what conference they are in, because the program has not sniffed an NCAA tournament berth in six years. Of course, this team is Boston College, a program that has spiraled downwards almost uncontrollably since replacing Al Skinner as their head coach, and this season seems to be more of the same. The team did suffer a rough stretch last week after a food poisoning incident at a Chipotle, but should be back at or near full strength for today’s matchup. Unfortunately, that may not even be enough for the Eagles. Today’s game should be a close one, and the mere fact that we are saying that when an ACC team plays a team from the middle or bottom of thee America East is not a good sign for the direction this program is taking. Perhaps Jim Christian can find a way to rebuild the Eagles, but his first two years at the helm have not been good so far.
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