Boston College's month-long Revenge Tour began when the Eagles clobbered Maryland in the ACC tournament and won't conclude, players hope, until they finish the season in Indianapolis at the Final Four.
Players freely acknowledge they want an opportunity to face any school that beat them, be it Maryland, Duke or even Wisconsin-Milwaukee, which upset the Eagles in last season's NCAA tournament. Such confidence has come with playing markedly better since a mid-January players-only meeting that changed the course of the season.
At that point, the Eagles were 0-3 in their first season in the ACC and were being booed by their own fans. Since the meeting, they are 15-3, which includes two two-point losses to Duke, the most recent in Sunday's ACC tournament final.
As a result, the fourth-seeded Eagles, who will play 13th-seeded Pacific in the first round of the NCAA tournament tomorrow, have become something of a trendy Final Four pick. Not only does Boston College (26-7) have one of the nation's best front-court tandems in Craig Smith and Jared Dudley, but the Eagles also have developed a swagger that allows them to excel at virtually any venue.
Such a turnaround was difficult to envision after an 18-point loss to North Carolina State on Jan. 10 that prompted some critics to ponder whether the Eagles were ACC-worthy after moving from the Big East.
"In the preseason, people had us second behind Duke," said Tyrese Rice, a freshman guard. "Then when we were 0-3, people started to question us. They were like: 'Is this team good enough to play in the ACC? Is this team going to get a win in the ACC?' "
For some time, Louis Hinnant, a senior guard, had noticed problems in the way the Eagles were playing, but he hoped issues like poor shot selection would work out on their own. When they didn't, he called a meeting for players in Boston College's team room, hoping they could find a resolution through dialogue.
Hinnant spoke first, followed by Smith. The tenor of the discussion was calm, although players said they were open and blunt.
"We kind of felt like people were quitting on the court," Rice said. "Players said what usually you only talk about with each other. Nobody took it personal."
Added Smith: "You've got to be a grown man. You've got to respect everyone's opinion."
Coach Al Skinner felt the players-only meeting would help build chemistry and leadership if players both talked and listened, rather than just hurl barbs at each other. By the next day's practice, he said, the effects were clear. And in the next game, the Eagles narrowly beat Florida State, 90-87, at home, but Skinner knew his team was transformed in a sense.
"Even if we would have lost the game," Skinner said, "I would have been happy because we were starting to play the way we needed to play. From there, it just started to build. And we started to build confidence in who we are and what we wanted to do. I think we were lacking that a little."
Players said the team got back to working the ball inside to Dudley and Smith before looking for perimeter shots. It is a methodical, yet effective, offensive scheme that helped Boston College win all but one regular season road game -- a 72-58 loss at Virginia on Feb. 21 -- since the meeting.
In terms of mental toughness, the Eagles remind Maryland Coach Gary Williams of his 2002 national title team.
"Can't shake them," he said. "That's how we were. You could make a run on us and we'd look bad for a couple minutes, but we'd always come back. That's the way they are. That's one team that doesn't care where they play."
Boston College guard Sean Marshall and Rice said they play better on the road because they feed off the crowd's animosity and become more focused than they would be at home. That was apparent last weekend at the ACC tournament in Greensboro, N.C., where the Eagles played North Carolina and Duke on consecutive days.
Rice felt his team had been discounted in its first ACC tournament. He remembers analysts predicting a Maryland victory over Boston College in the quarterfinals. After the Eagles routed the Terrapins, he saw a headline that read: "Duke-UNC showdown?"
After Boston College upset North Carolina in the semifinals, a reporter asked Skinner how it felt to ruin what would have been a dream Duke-North Carolina matchup for Tobacco Road fans.
"I don't think we're crashing their party," Skinner said. "We're all part of a new league. Might as well get used to this. There are some new people in town, and hopefully they will welcome us with open arms."
This week, Boston College's Revenge Tour rolls into Salt Lake City.
Games are played on a neutral court, although the Eagles, despite a higher seed, could play two Western schools -- Pacific and Nevada -- in a Western venue. Don't expect Boston College to cower.
"In the NCAA tournament, it will be worse," Rice said. "People definitely are going to doubt us. I don't understand how they can continue to overlook us."
