Last season, Boston College's Tyrese Rice scored more than 20 points 15 times, including a 28-point performance at Cameron Indoor Stadium Feb. 9 and a career-high 46-point outburst March 1 against North Carolina.
The Eagles lost 10 of those 15 games.
This season, Rice, a unanimous preseason All-ACC selection, will need more help from his teammates if the Eagles are to improve on their 14-17 mark of a year ago.
And head coach Al Skinner expects that production from 6-foot-5 sophomore Rakim Sanders, who averaged more than 11 points per game as a freshman.
"Rakim needs to learn to take full advantage of his physical ability," Skinner said. "I don't think there's another guard in this league who has the tools he has physically."
If Sanders can emerge as a solid second option behind Rice, the Eagles will undoubtedly show improvement and could challenge for a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
But if Sanders and fellow sophomores Corey Raji and Josh Southern cannot fill the void left by transfer Shamari Spears and graduated senior Tyrelle Blair, then it could be another long season for the Conte Forum faithful.
"We're still a fairly young team, except for Tyrese," Skinner said. "You'd like to think we're going to grow and mature and really compete in this league."
While support from younger role players will certainly make a difference, this team will only go as far as Rice can take it. Still, Skinner isn't necessarily counting on increased scoring from his star guard.
"As I told him, if his scoring goes down, his assists go up and his shooting percentage goes up, then we're a better basketball team," Skinner said. "Because what that means is that the people around him are doing the jobs they're supposed to be doing."
This year, the Eagles were picked to finish second-to-last in the ACC by the coaches. That ranking, though, may not hold in the end-with Rice in the lineup, after all, Boston College could go off at any time.
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