The Heights Basketball Preview 2015

A.J. TURNER:

the heights basketball preview 2015

TRUST THE PROCESS WOMEN’S BASKETBALL:

ELI CARTER:

An Inside Focus, C2

The Point God, C8

GARLAND OWENS: BC’s Power Generator, C6

2 THE HEIGHTS NOV. 12, 2015

BASKETBALL PREVIEW WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

THIS MUST BE THE SEASON THAT ERIK JOHNSON GETS HIS TEAM TO BREAK INTO THE PAINT AND BELIEVE IN HIS SYSTEM ALEC GREANEY HEIGHTS EDITOR ARTHUR BAILIN / HEIGHTS EDITOR

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ring the ball up the court. Set a couple screens to get Kelly Hughes or Nicole Boudreau open. Get one of them the ball. Pray she makes it.

Repeat.

That’s the formula Boston College women’s basketball has run with the past couple years.

It makes sense, since relying on threes is one of the easiest things you can do in basketball. Not to say making them is easy—reliable shooters must have steady hands, strong legs, and innumerable hours logged in the gym. But if you don’t have size, if you don’t have strength, if you don’t have the skill to break through some of the best defenses in the country, putting up 3-point shots beyond the arc is just about the only option you got. And hey, you get an extra point for doing it.

Fortunately for the Eagles, they have the “Splash Sisters,” a self-proclaimed name by the trio of Emilee Daley, Boudreau, and Hughes. Last season, the three combined to shoot 37 percent from 3-point range and made 197 of the team’s 240 threes, a figure that placed the team at 12th in the country and first in the ACC. The 3-pointer is what allowed BC to upset No. 15 Duke last season—39 of the Eagles’ 60 points came from the triple, while the Blue Devils made just two of 11. Their explosiveness will put BC’s competition on upset alert again this season, but it’s not what will get them over the hump of mediocrity. After BC broke its own 3-point record for each of the past several years, head coach Erik Johnson wants his team to start taking a more challenging path.

“I hope we don’t break it,” Johnson said, laughing. “We were too homogeneous last year. We were one-dimensional.”

After three years of specialization in the Johnson era, that one-dimensional offense is finally ready to expand. Enter Mariella Fasoula, the 6-foot-4 freshman from Greece, and fellow center, 6-foot-3 Katie Quandt, who are on a joint mission to control the paint.

Quandt started off a little slow in her first year on the Heights last season, but eventually came into her own. She started the last seven games for BC, averaging 24 minutes, 7.3 points, and 4.0 rebounds a game in that stretch. When Quandt wasn’t on the court, however, the Eagles relied on Karima Gabriel and Alexa Coulombe—both 6-foot-2 forwards—to play as undersized fives.

Because of its lack of size, BC struggled with several aspects of its inside game—the most notable, getting boards and points inside. The Eagles outrebounded their ACC opponents in just two of 16 games, and at times had fewer defensive boards than their opponents had offensive.

With the addition of Fasoula, BC gets a center with experience playing for the Greek national team. She will likely need some time to fully adapt to the college game, but at the very least, she provides a frame that will allow the Eagles to improve inside. At best, she has the potential to be a go-to player and top rebounder in the post for BC for several years to come.

Meanwhile, BC has also improved its ability to drive. Sophomore Martina Mosetti and freshman Stephanie Jones, both quick and solid point guards, will split time bringing up the ball. Two players who redshirted last season, Kailey Edwards and Ella Ewobajo, are both slashing forwards that Johnson is excited to see take the court at BC, which should address another glaring weakness for the Eagles last season: getting to the line.

BC took about four fewer foul shots per game than its opponents last season, and took 200 fewer total shots from the

line than the average team in the ACC. These numbers are even harder to swallow because of BC’s shooting ability—the team shot 72.1 percent from the line last season, good for fifth in the ACC. “If the opponent is shooting way more foul shots than you are shooting, that’s a problem,” Johnson said. “But that’s a product of settling for shots.”

Make no mistake, this is still a 3point-shooting team. Ever since Hughes first laced up her Under Armour high tops, the Eagles became a team that loves playing beyond the arc. Now, they finally look ready to try a little something new, something that could allow them to exceed expectations for the second year in a row.

While the ultimate goal is to get back to the NCAA Tournament, a trip the Eagles haven’t made since 2006 (the first year BC competed in the ACC), a WNIT berth is certainly not a far stretch. BC last reached that tournament in 2011 by going 20-12 and 5-9 in the ACC. The thing is, an invite to the NCAA isn’t even as far of a reach as you may think. Although the talent-abundant conference has made for a more challenging schedule, it does widen the tournament window—the top eight teams in the conference made the NCAA Tourney last season, and the lowest seed, Miami, finished 8-8 in-conference and 20-13 overall. With three more ACC wins last season, BC would have been in the

conversation. You might want to get ready to start talking about them this year.

“My biggest goal since I’ve gotten here, that realistically I haven’t thought was possible until now, is to make the NCAA Tournament,” Boudreau said. “I think with this team, that we’ve come together, and I think it’s really possible.”

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hile he watches his team practice, Johnson doesn’t stand still. The head coach paces back and forth in the middle of Power Gym, wearing down the half court line as he surveys his team. The overall image isn’t unlike the one we painted last year: a coach watching his team hustle through its various drills without the need for constant encouragement. The coaching staff had previously needed to provide the energy for the team, Johnson said last November, but now the girls were taking it upon themselves.

Everything isn’t the same, though. Last year’s team was supposed to be the one that pushed itself and built up a positive, competitive culture, not the one riddled with off-court issues and punishments midway through conference play.

“I was shocked that we had off-court issues last year,” Johnson said.

In reflecting back on the suspensions he doled out—Lauren Engeln was removed from the team, while Boudreau and Kat Cooper were each suspended

for one game—Johnson’s first thoughts dart to UConn. Of course, every women’s basketball coach at the D-I level—or any level, really—should be thinking about the Huskies. They’ve gone undefeated in four seasons since 2000 and have won the NCAA championship more times than not in those 16 seasons. They’re in a league above the rest with Notre Dame, Stanford, and Baylor—a quartet that has filled almost two-thirds of the Final Four spots in the last eight years.

But it’s not even the talent of those squads that Johnson envies the most—it’s their overall focus and work ethic.

“There’s no baloney,” he said. “You know, when you’re building culture, you want to minimize drama. We have to start as a coaching staff to set that tone. If kids are going to act in certain ways that clearly defy it, hey, suspensions are things that have to follow.”

But the drama—or at least the drama visible to the outside world—didn’t come from the two younger classes, which combined for 64 percent of BC’s minutes and 76 percent of the starts in conference play. Rather, they were all players that had several years of college experience.

Engeln, a transfer from UConn, was a fifth-year senior. Cooper, who lost most of her sophomore year to a knee injury, was a redshirt junior. Although Johnson never referred to a frustration with playing time as a factor in the team’s shortcomings

“WE’RE A GOOD FREE-THROW SHOOTING TEAM. BUT IF THE OPPONENT IS SHOOTING WAY MORE FOUL SHOTS THAN YOU ARE SHOOTING, THAT’S A PROBLEM”

last season, both had seen significant cuts to make room on the court for the underclassmen—Engeln saw her minutes slashed by two-thirds and started just five of 22 games compared to 31 the year before, while Cooper got just half the minutes and three versus 25 starts.

With the arrival of a second true center this year, it’s likely Gabriel also would have had her playing time reduced, which would explain her transfer to Cal State Fullerton this summer. Cooper also transferred this summer—to Oregon—and Engeln maxed out on her eligibility.

Then there’s Boudreau, the only returning player who faced punishment last year. She’s also the only four-year starter on the roster, someone that BC needs on the court as much as possible, and one of the few players left that came in to BC with Johnson. The pair are both passionate and strong-willed—traits they’ve recognized about themselves.

“Last year, I didn’t wanna ask for help,” Boudreau said. “I kinda just wanted to do it on my own.”

This year, she doesn’t have to. Coulombe—or Mama Lex, as she’s known on the team—will serve as a co-captain this season. And although she doesn’t fill up the statline in the same way her partner does on a given night, her teammates know how much she cares. That makes them listen.

“She keeps me grounded a lot,” Boudreau said. “We’re kind of like the angel and devil—we have two different skillsets, and she balances me out. She makes it a lot easier for me.”

Meanwhile, Johnson has also realized the need to take a step back.

“I had to take a hard look at myself and the ways that I was building relationships with them, building trust, gaining buy-in,” he said. “I accept responsibility, too—this is happening on my watch.”

I

ARTHUR BAILIN / HEIGHTS EDITOR

A GLANCE BACK AT THE 2014-2015 SEASON: 72.1% 4

OF FREE THROWS MADE

FEWER FOUL SHOTS MADE THAN OPPONENTS PER GAME

12TH TH

RANK NATIONALLY WHEN SHOOTING FROM 3-POINT RANGE

2/16 GAMES IN WHICH THE EAGLES OUT REBOUNDED OPPONENTS

n casting down the suspensions, Johnson made it clear that the rules aren’t merely suggestions for how his players should act. He has firm beliefs about what his team should value, and those aren’t going to change. But this past year has made him more open to discussions with his team. Rather than just telling his players what their values should be, he has tried to get them to embrace their values together with his own.

“If kids are going to act in certain ways that clearly defy [the rules], hey, suspensions are things that have to follow,” Johnson said “[But] what you’re seeing now is a group that’s like, ‘we’re not going down those roads.’ And they’re policing each other.”

They also seem to be fully behind their coach, individually echoing the same buzzwords he preached: “accountable,” “responsible,” “toughness,” “team.” Both Fasoula and Quandt praised his ability to be a great coach on and off the court, citing examples of dinners at his house, mini golf outings over the summer, and individual coffees to see how his players are doing.

“I think it’s more of just the little gestures that he does,” Quandt said. “He doesn’t have to be all extravagant to show that he cares.”

It has been Johnson’s goal to make his players see how much he cares. That, along with aligning their values, is what he believes will truly keep them bought into the process. If he’s wrong, if he can’t get his girls to buy in for a full season, if he again has to dole out suspensions this year because of off-court issues, he may never become the coach that makes BC competitive in the ACC. But if this is the year they stay committed (and they keep dropping threes), this will be the first team in the Johnson era to receive a tournament invitation.

NOV. 12, 2015 THE HEIGHTS

BASKETBALL PREVIEW KELLY HUGHES

SISTER

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ARTHUR BAILIN / HEIGHTS EDITOR

TEAM BUT KELLY HUGHES MAY BE ALL ABOUT HER TEAM, THE EAGLES NEED THEIR SUPERSTAR FROM BEYOND THE ARC TO MAKE A PUSH FOR A POSTSEASON BID IN 2015-16.

VICTORIA JOHNSON HEIGHTS STAFF

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fter a preseason scrimmage against Harvard University last week, an SID handed Boston College women’s basketball head coach Erik Johnson the box score. His team had just played a great game, but something was not right. Even though the Eagles scored 77 points and won by 30, there was one thing missing. Next to Kelly Hughes’s name was a zero. This had to be a mistake—his leading scorer did not make a single basket.

“She scored zero points and I didn’t know it,” Johnson said. “No one on the team knew it.”

Most players will let you know they are not having a good game.

Most players will have a poor attitude and let out their frustration.

Their body language will instantly tell you they are disappointed.

Hughes is not like most players. During the scrimmage, Hughes played 30 minutes, and coming off an injury, it was expected for her to be a little rusty. But Hughes was not even getting the ball. She was struggling to get shots off. When she did shoot, the ball was not going in the hoop. The star player was not shining.

Yet her body language was 100 percent positive. Scrimmage stats, which are not available to the public, were the only indication that Hughes was having an off-day. If you were in the crowd, you would have assumed she was having one of her best games.

“She’s out there cheering for her teammates, fist bumping, setting other people up, defending, grabbing rebounds,” Johnson said.

“It just happens that she didn’t make any shots. Kelly doesn’t care whether she scores, she just cares that we score.”

Hughes’ humility, faith, and determination on the court are contagious. It’s her attitude that keeps the team going during tough games and allows them to fight confidently. She is the definition of a team player—someone BC desperately needs to build a team dynamic focused on togetherness.

Hughes knows what it means to rebuild. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy ripped through her hometown of Point Pleasant, N.J., causing major destruction. Three years later, New Jersey is still in the process of rebuilding due to the countless efforts of restorations teams. The Eagles are trying to do a little restoration of their own.

Last year, strong ACC teams knocked around BC women’s basketball week after week. BC boarded up and prepared to ride out the storm. The team stood mightily during the first half of each game but failed to maintain a strong front while its opponents surged in the second half. In six of BC’s 11 league losses, the team was leading or within 10 points of its opponents at halftime. After going 13-16 overall and 5-11 in league play in 2014-15, the team hopes to improve. With the addition of four new players—two freshmen and two redshirts—combined with a new team culture centered on unity, the Eagles are prepared to rebuild with the resources they have.

The BC team is lucky, however, when it comes to making the repairs it needs. While the Eagles may have a few holes in the defense that need to be patched up and a few more plays to hammer into the offense, they have a strong foundation in Hughes. With her on the Eagles’ side, the team can build itself back up and prove they are stronger than the storm.

The team has all the necessary tools to get the job done: a knowledgeable coaching staff, a motivated team, and plan to remodel. The coaches are prepared to lead the team to success—they just need the team to trust the process. The team has the size and skill it takes to win. With key players leading the way, there is no doubt that BC will be a force to be reckoned with this season, especially with splash sister, Kelly Hughes, on its side.

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ughes was key in the limited success the Eagles had last season, especially against league opponents. Her stellar performance outshined the woes the team suffered. She knows it takes more than one person to have success on the court—it

takes an entire team.

In the 2014-15 season, Hughes led the team in field goals, 3pointers, free throws, and rebounds. She was sixth in the league in 3-pointers made and scored a career high of 424 points. In February against Wake Forest University, she scored a commanding, seasonhigh 32 points, 21 of which were beyond the arc, propelling the team to a 75-74 win. In that game, Wake Forest overcame a 10-point deficit to obtain a six-point lead with less than four minutes in the game. Hughes nailed one final 3-pointer and Nicole Boudreau made a layup and sunk two foul shots to give BC a big win at home.

Hughes’ resume is unrivaled on the BC squad, but it is her humble attitude that stands out the most.

She would much rather talk about her team’s success and experiences than her own. You can rattle off all of her accomplishments and statistics, but it will not change her attitude.

Her personal achievements are not important to her. It is all about the team, making her perfect for Johnson’s plan.

“The highlight of my career is beating Duke,” Hughes said. “I’d rather have a big team win opposed to any of the individual accolades.”

But ask anyone else and they will not hesitate to tell you how great of a player she is, how important she is to this team.

“She’s an absolute stud,” Johnson said.

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ughes is the type of player who can make heads turn.

Her shooting game is the first thing that you notice as she drains shots from 30 feet out. Hughes may be able to make shots from all over the building, but she’s more than just a shooter. She has incredible game sense and passing skills.

But it does not matter how her game is going—Hughes’s biggest concern is the team.

“She is the one who’s asking her coach, ‘How many fouls are there?

How many timeouts are left?’” Johnson said.

Johnson needs a selfless superstar who is more concerned about the team than herself. When one player stands out from the rest, it can be difficult to achieve a sense of togetherness. As a selfless superstar, Hughes brings her star performance to the court without outshining her teammates. She does not want the team to rely on her own personal success. She constantly supports her teammates, motivating them to generate their own power. By remaining positive even when she’s struggling during a game, Hughes puts her team’s success above her own. Although Hughes is a standout player, padding her resume with stats is the least of her concerns because stats do not win games.

A standout player cannot prevent a second half slump. A standout player cannot close out six league wins. It did not work last year and Johnson knows that. In order to guarantee this season is not a repeat of the last year’s woes, the Eagles need focus on unity follow Hughes’ example.

Hughes is willing to give it all for her team. She puts her team first and contributes her success on the court to the players standing beside her. Hughes wants her team to have just as much personal

success in order to strengthen the team as a whole. To do this Hughes takes on the role of the silent leader.

“I’m not the most vocal person on the team or the most hype person on the team,” she said. “I try to lead by example and by staying composed.”

Stepping onto the court and playing against the country’s best

ARTHUR BAILIN / HEIGHTS EDITOR

teams can be daunting for young players. Hughes uses her composure and versatility to assist them anywhere on the court. Whether it is taking over the point guard position for a possession or going low to assist the forwards at the post on defense, Hughes will be there.

“That’s been a great gift as a coach to have when your best scorer is also a really good defender,” Johnson said.

Her versatility will allow the Eagles to adopt a new type of game this season.

In 2015-16, the Eagles hope to keep the defense on its toes in order to compete with top ACC teams. With an array of strong guards on the outside and sturdy shooters on the post with a great inside presence, BC is ready to execute an inside-outside game. Combine this with Hughes’ offensive presence, and BC will be ready to contend with any defense.

As an all-purpose player, Hughes is vital for the Eagles if they want to achieve their goals this season. Hughes, of course, has adopted the team goal as her own personal goal. Even with last year’s limited number of team victories, the Eagles are aiming high.

“Our big team goal is to make the NCAA Tournament, especially for our seniors, Nicole and Alexa,” Hughes said. “We really want to have them end their careers on a high note, and that would be with a NCAA Tournament berth.”

Hughes might just be the key player to help the team achieve its goal this season.

She knows that the coaching staff ’s efforts will not guarantee a NCAA bid, nor will the individual achievements on the court. The team knows it will have to battle day in and day out to reach their expectations.

For Hughes, it’s simple—it’s all about “togetherness, togetherness, togetherness.”

4 THE HEIGHTS NOV. 12, 2015

BASKETBALL PREVIEW A.J. TURNER

NOV. 12, 2015 THE HEIGHTS 5

OF THE FRANCHISE TOM DEVOTO ASST. SPORTS EDITOR

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ndre Turner remembers the night vividly.

His son, A.J. Turner, was a star basketball player at Algonquin Middle School in Clinton, Mich., preparing for one of the biggest games of his young career. Algonquin was matched up against its biggest rival, Seneca Middle School, of Macomb, Mich. Only a short stretch of open roadway on Route 97 separated the two schools, between which there was a great deal of animosity on the hardwood.

Seneca was coached by Jermaine Jackson, Turner’s former AAU coach, and many of the Jaguars’ players had been on one of Turner’s teams at some point in the past. When Algonquin played Seneca, though, friendships no longer meant much to those involved.

This game was getting a lot of buildup—too much, perhaps, for a game of middle school basketball.

The pregame buzz on the sidelines and around town was that Seneca had the perfect plan to shut Turner down. Jackson’s methodical, superior squad would physically dominate the opposition from start to finish. No one expected Turner to perform well against the stronger, better players from Seneca, let alone for Algonquin to come out victorious.

But Turner thrives on doubt—he has practically made a living proving people wrong.

“A.J. went bananas that game,” the elder Turner said. “That was one of the first times I really thought, man, this kid is gonna be something special.”

Turner was in eighth grade back then. A little over five years after his big breakout game, not much has changed—well, except for his hair.

An immediately-recognizable mop of curly brown locks, dyed a shade below blonde at the tips, sits unsteadily upon the Mt. Clemens, Mich. native’s cranium. Shaved meticulously at the sides, the style probably adds a few good inches to the freshman’s already-large 6-foot-7 frame. Over the years, Turner has experimented with just about every hairstyle out there—braids, high top, mohawk, the “South of France” look popularized by Nick “Swaggy P” Young—so this style was just next in line.

“I’m just going with the flow right now,” Turner said through a trademark smile. “I know my teammates seem to like it a lot.”

A cross somewhere between the hairstyles of New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham, Jr. and Orlando Magic point guard Elfrid Payton, Turner’s ’do juts out in every which way from the top of his head. It commands attention and respect. It demands to be noticed, demands to be observed, demands to be appreciated.

As the college basketball nation will soon find out, his on-court ability demands the same.

BC from its place mired in mediocrity to a genuine competitor on the national stage. NCAA basketball pundits still question how local Midwest schools allowed the Minnesota native to get away.

It’s far too early to tell, but Turner is the type of prospect who could have the “Troy Bell Effect”

ultimate goal.”

Andre and A.J. stepped up the hours they spent in the gym, honing in on the weaknesses they identified in his game. During this period, the pair would head for the courts soon after A.J. came home from school, not returning until midnight on some occasions. The hard work paid nearly immediate dividends, as the offers started coming in less than a year later—first from the University of Dayton, then from a number of schools from the MAAC. It didn’t take much longer before BC expressed interest in Turner.

Even though BC’s recruitment of Turner started

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oston College is a Power-Five school starving for overall athletic excellence.

The Eagles have always been good in most sports, including basketball—though some might not believe it now—but BC has always struggled to reach the pinnacle in athletics. Turner has the potential to turn the trudging tides of rebuilding very quickly, making head coach Jim Christian’s multi-year construction project come to fruition a few years ahead of schedule.

A similar phenomenon happened at BC 15 years ago. By the year 2000, the Eagles were reeling, having rattled off three consecutive sub-.500 seasons following the departures of star guard Danya Abrams and head coach Jim O’Brien. New skipper Al Skinner was left with a depleted roster, since most of O’Brien’s recruits followed him to his new job at The Ohio State University.

BC needed a spark, and it eventually came from an unexpected source: a relatively unknown recruit named Troy Bell.

Bell went on to lead BC to two consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, becoming one of five players to win Big East Conference Player of the Year multiple times. Bell’s teams launched

for this program.

But while Andre was right about that eighth grade wunderkind becoming something special down the road, it didn’t happen overnight.

Like Bell, Turner was not getting heavily pursued by major collegiate programs. He had some difficulties on the court early in high school, and he was relegated to the JV team in his freshman season. Sensing that this struggling freshman was still chasing a Division-I dream, some coaches told Turner’s parents that he would be better off focusing on his high school diploma rather than a scholarship offer.

But Turner couldn’t give up the dream. He wouldn’t give up the dream.

“That’s what really motivated me,” Turner said.

“From that point on, [playing Division I] was my

PLAYER PROFILE STRENGTHS: ELITE SHOOTING TOUCH FROM OUTSIDE GOOD COURT VISION FINISHES WELL IN TRANSITION

WEAKNESSES: NEEDS WORK AT ON-BALL DEFENDING SHIES AWAY FROM CONTACT AT THE RIM

under former head coach Steve Donahue, Christian knew pretty quickly that Turner was a prospect he couldn’t let slip away.

“He’s a perfect fit for the way I play, and for BC,” Christian said. “You have to try to find guys who think they can thrive in your system, and obviously have the talent to play in this league. I think he has both.”

In addition to his talent, Turner is mature for his class, on paper and in person. The freshman turned 19 years old during the first week of school in September. He looks and acts like an upperclassman, way too comfortable for someone in his first semester at college. Turner does have a leg up on his peers when it came to attending school and living away from home, though. After a few years attending De La Salle High School in

HEIGHT: 6-7

POSITION: FORWARD HOMETOWN: MT. CLEMENS, MICH

NUMBER: #11

Warren, Mich., Turner transferred to the New Hampton School in New Hampshire—Hanlan’s alma mater.

Leaving the house at age 16 was a shock for both A.J. and his parents—Andre and his wife, Tracy, basically had to send their oldest child away to college a few years earlier than originally expected. The first few months were tough for all of the Turners, but especially Andre.

“It was horrible,” Andre said. “I remember that ride home—it was the longest, saddest ride ever.

The days following, it was very tough because for me, every day, A.J. and I were always doing something together. Waking up and going in his room and him not being there, it was rough for all of us.”

Turner often got homesick during the month-long stretches that he couldn’t go back to the Detroit area during the basketball season, and it killed him to not have his parents at most of his games for the first time in his life.

The feeling of homesickness eventually subsided—partially due to Andre and Stacy’s frequent phone calls , and partially because Turner was making a name for himself on the court in New Hampshire. Everyone appreciated the strides that Turner was taking athletically, academically, and socially.

He got a taste of dormitory living a couple years before his BC classmates. He got comfortable with the East Coast, which Andre now calls his son’s “home away from home.” And, perhaps most importantly, Turner completed the transition from a fringe-Division-I prospect to a bonafide, four-star gem.

Despite his slim frame, Turner plays fast and physical, allowing him to excel at both guard positions, as well as small forward, what appears to be his natural spot in the lineup. Turner’s incredible athletic ability, coupled with his innate unselfishness and his elite shooting touch, make him a good fit for the three smaller positions on the floor.

While both A.J. and Christian struggled to come up with a pro comparison for his versatile style of play, Andre has always seen flashes of an NBA legend that he grew up watching—former Chicago Bulls great Scottie Pippen, maybe one of the most versatile players in NBA history.

“Scottie Pippen was a hybrid, and A.J. can do a lot of the same things that he did,” Andre said.

“He could play the point or the two, and he could check the point or the two.”

Turner’s high school mixtapes show him throwing down emphatic dunks and draining shots from well behind the college 3-point line with ease. He finishes well in transition and his jump shot is pure, at its most effective when he shoots spotup from the wing. When the defense steps out to guard his deadly jumper, Turner has no qualms with driving to the hoop and banging bodies with players much bigger than him. The freshman has surprisingly good handles and court vision for a taller player—combined with an explosive first step off the dribble, Turner is a dangerous triple-threat with the ball in his hands.

The face of BC’s future does not come without its imperfections and blemishes. Based on the Eagles’ preseason scrimmage against Bentley University, if there is one thing that Turner could improve heading into the season, it’s his defense.

Too often, the freshman found himself getting beat off the dribble and left out of position—frankly, though, this assessment applied to all of the Eagles

FRESHMAN A.J. A.J .J. J. T TU TURNER URNER .J. REPRESENTS BC’S ONEWAY TICKET TO NATIONAL NAT NATIONA ATIONAL PROMINENC PROMINENCE P PRO ROMINENCE RO RO OM MINENCE M INENCE against Bentley.

His defensive struggles could very easily be chalked up to his first collegiate action, but as a weak defensive team to begin with, the Eagles will need Turner’s A-game to help lock down some of the ACC’s more talented scorers. More importantly, they’ll need Turner’s assistance in grabbing rebounds on each end of the floor, as he will most often be the second tallest player on the floor for BC. Turner promised to deliver well-rounded contributions to a team looking to establish an identity in yet another retooling year. He prides himself on being the kind of guy who can offer a little bit of everything—exactly the type of player needed by a team lacking in just about every category. Off the court, Turner wanted to bring underclassman leadership to the biggest incoming class that BC has had since the just-graduated Class of 2015.

“I know the freshman guys need some leadership, and obviously they can get that from guys like Dennis [Clifford] and Eli [Carter],” Turner said. “But I think it’s easier coming from another freshman that’s going through the same struggles as they are.”

If Turner is struggling right now, though, he doesn’t seem to be showing it. Even before his freshman basketball season has started, Turner exudes a certain level of comfort without straying too far from the humility that got him to where he is today. He has a suave, smooth style about him, an inherent nature that makes his everyday tasks look easy. Turner has a great rapport with his teammates—notably roommate Jerome Robinson, the other jewel from Christian’s second recruiting class—and he feeds off their energy.

Turner’s not short on confidence, either. Part of that can be attributed to how welcoming the BC community has been to him, but it mostly comes from his ability to adapt seamlessly to new, challenging situations. Just under two months since he arrived on campus for the first time, Turner had already crowned himself best-dressed and best NBA 2K player on the team, edging out Carter and Robinson, among others, in each of those categories.

Oh, and don’t get Turner started on the hair.

“I think I have the best hair in the ACC, definitely,” he said.

Yet, when Turner says these things, they don’t come out as cocky or arrogant. These remarks won’t be misinterpreted by friends, teammates, or fans as selfish. His fun-loving personality forbids one from taking his comments out of context. He’s just a kid, after all—goofing around, cracking jokes, enjoying himself with his friends.

At the same time, Turner knows he means more than that to a lot of people at BC. Whether he realizes his on-court potential or not, Turner represents the Eagles’ and Christian’s one-way ticket from the conference cellar to national relevance.

He might joke and kid about the fact that he’s the best, but the fact of the matter is that that’s exactly what BC needs him to be.

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his Saturday, wJhen BC takes on St. Francis Brooklyn in its season opener, it will be a notable day of firsts for many involved.

For the first time, A.J. Turner will run out of the tunnel from the bowels of Conte Forum into the bright lights on the main stage, the thumping drum of the pep band beating concurrently with his excited heart. For the first time, Turner will hear the familiar, booming voice of public address announcer Andy Jick bellow “A … J …

Tuuuuuuuurner” after he connects on his first basket. For the first time, Turner will look up to the seats beyond the sidelines in Conte to see Andre, Tracy, and his younger sisters, Jazmyn and Jada, fresh off the flight from Michigan, leaning on the edge of their seats. For the first time, BC fans will get a peek at the future of the franchise in real game action.

And for the first time in a long time, with Turner on the floor, BC will take one big step forward in the process of building a winner.

FAST FACTS: FAVORITE NBA PLAYERS ARE KOBE BRYANT, KEVIN DURANT, AND NICK YOUNG GRADUATED FROM NEW HAMPTON SCHOOL (N.H.), OLIVIER HANLAN’S ALMA MATER TURNER IS BC’S FIRST RIVALS 150 RECRUIT SINCE RAKIM SANDERS IN 2007 ENJOYS THE MUSICAL STYLINGS OF TAYLOR SWIFT AND JUSTIN BIEBER

6 THE HEIGHTS NOV. 12, 2015

BASKETBALL PREVIEW CLIFFORD AND PERPIGLIA

ELDER STATESMEN DENNIS CLIFFORD AND STEVE PERPIGLIA PERPIGLIA, BC ’S ODD COUPLE, ARE STICKING WITH THE PROGRAM AND TAKING THE REINS GRIFFIN CONNOLLY HEIGHTS STAFF

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here’s 12:53 remaining in the first half of a January game in Coral Gables, Fla. Boston College men’s basketball is trailing the Miami Hurricanes by five when backup point guard Steve Perpiglia checks in for Olivier Hanlan. Head coach Jim Christian likes to give Hanlan an extra minute or so of rest ahead of select media timeouts before reinserting his star guard into the game. Perpiglia will presumably trot back to the bench at the first dead ball under 12 minutes, and he’ll stay there. Fifty seconds at Cameron Indoor here, a minute and a half against New Mexico there. The 5-foot-9 walk-on doesn’t complain.

“Usually it’s literally like 45 seconds and you’re out,” Perpiglia said, flashing his familiar, Chip Skylark-esque grin.

But that day, the basketball gods had different plans. Fifty-three seconds rolled by without a whistle. An extra minute flew past, and a deep lactic burn rippled through his thighs. Then another 60 seconds—60 hot, dizzy, delirious seconds—ticked off the clock. By this time, it felt as though someone had jammed a bottle cap down his trachea.

When center Will Magarity took a foul with 9:58 to go in the half, Perpiglia was spent. “I was exhausted,” he said. “I had never played for three and a half minutes straight. I looked at coach Wu [Bill Wuczynski],

and I was like, ‘I’m so tired—but that was awesome!’”

Perpiglia committed two fouls and coughed up one turnover in just under three minutes. He had a neutral net rating.

Entering the 2015-16 campaign, the senior doesn’t have a single career statistic in double digits. In three years and 41 total minutes wearing maroon and gold, he has racked up four points on eight field goal attempts, shooting 0-for-4 from behind the arc, with two rebounds, five assists, and a matching quintet of turnovers. He hasn’t shot an in-game free throw since the spring of 2012, when he was a senior captain at Malvern Prep in Pennsylvania averaging 12 points, six assists, and over five rebounds per contest. Each of his single-game averages in high school eclipses his career totals at BC. On the opposite end of the spectrum there’s Dennis Clifford, a 7-foot1 hulk of a man, the fifthyear center who has battled h i s way

through a flurry of knee complications to return to the court and anchor the Eagles’ interior defense. Whereas Perpiglia saw 29 minutes of action all of last year, Clifford logged the same number in an early-season bout with Dayton, a 65-53 loss in Puerto Rico.

And yet, both see themselves—and each other—as vocal leaders.

If he’s not on the court participating in live drills, and he often isn’t, Perpiglia is scanning the play with laser focus, ready to bark out orders like Ron Weasley in a game of Wizard’s Chess. It’s Year Two of the Jim Christian Era, and the coach looks to his seniors to hold the team accountable.

“We have a lot of young guys,” Perpiglia said. “It puts a lot of pressure on the older guys to be leaders and be vocal during practice.”

Clifford, who opted into his final year with the Eagles instead of looking for a fresh start elsewhere with his fifth year of NCAA eligibility, doesn’t want to leave the program in poor condition when he hangs up his sneakers. He felt an allegiance to Christian’s program.

“He’s special to me because there’s not many guys who do that,” Christian said. “I think that, to me, is probably the best story on our team.”

After a summer of strenuous training and near-constant pickup games, Clifford feels like he has finally smoothed out some of the rough spots in his game. “My rhythm and

being a part of the offense was really thrown off just from not playing for awhile,” he said, alluding to the knee operation that sidelined him for all but two games in 2013-14.

It happened again and again last season. Clifford would muscle his way to the offensive glass or slide along the baseline for a nifty bounce pass from a slashing teammate. Then, right as he was about to jam the ball home, some pesky little guard from the other team would swipe down and dislodge the ball from the big man’s grip. A sure two points for the Eagles had turned into a mad dash the other way.

An extra eight months of live scrimmaging has helped Clifford get back to where he was freshman year, and the coaching staff has worked with its bigs all summer to improve their finishing skills. There’s one drill where a coach tosses the ball off the backboard and Clifford has to collect the rebound at its highest point with two hands. Then, it’s a free-for-all where two managers with pads have full license to clobber, shove, and smack the center as he tries to cram the ball through the net. That’s right: Layups don’t count.

This year, as the lone returnee who averaged over 17 minutes per game last season, Clifford will be counted on to shoulder the lion’s share of minutes at center for Christian’s guard-heavy squad.

“I think, as long as Dennis can breathe, we’re going to need him on the court,” Perpiglia said, turning to Clifford. “ We’re gonna need you for a lot of minutes.”

He’s right.

S ophomore Idy Diallo and fresh-

m a n J o h n c a rl o s Re yes are b ehind Clifford on the depth chart, and both are too raw to see meaningful ACC minutes.

Th at ’s w h e re Pe r p i g l i a comes in. “Sometimes you’re just there to be a coach and be a veteran guy, kinda pulling people around. I’m always trying to help Idy and J.C. out,” he said. “The younger kids sometimes need some direction.

Instead of one of the coaches coming up to them, I’ll just go over and tell them how it should be done or how Coach wants us to execute that play.”

With the body of, as Clifford puts it, “an NBA guy,” Diallo has long arms, a quick second jump, and terrific shot-blocking instincts. But his susceptibility to frequent mental blips has made him something of a lightning rod for criticism from the coaching staff.

Reyes, a freshman w ith a sof t touch and interior finesse, moves at th e p a ce o f a beached whale trying to wiggle its way back to the water when Christian has his team sprinting through defensive positioning drills .

That’s not what you want when Duke comes to town.

All this inex-

perience behind Clifford, of course, means one thing: The Eagles will be playing a whole lot of small ball.

Barring a total surprise, 6-foot-5 junior Garland Owens will begin the season as the nominal starting power forward for Christian, and the four-out-one-in approach carries with it some theoretical positives for Clifford. There should be more space for him to post up on offense with four shooters dotting the perimeter, and positions one through four should be able to switch most ball screens on defense.

But there are some drawbacks, too. “I think it’s tough on the rebounding end,” Clifford said. “Especially in the ACC, every team has two guys who are basically the twin towers.” Owens should be able to hold his own despite the sizable height deficit—he’s fought admirably at the four in limited minutes under both former head coach Steve Donahue and Christian. But if weaker and less experienced types like A.J. Turner get extended runs next to Clifford, the big fella could have his work cut out for him under the rim. There will be games this season where the opposition munches boards, and it won’t necessarily be Clifford’s fault.

Things could also get murky before shots go up, especially early in the season when the NCAA officiating committee looks to hammer home its 25 new rule changes.

Referees have been told to keep a close eye on low-post contact, and if Clifford heads to the pine with two quick fouls, his team has virtually no recourse.

For his part, Perpiglia doesn’t think the rule changes will have a lasting effect. “They come in every year and they have their ‘points of emphasis,’” he said. “By the time the conference season hits, I feel like they don’t enforce those rules as strictly.”

More importantly for the senior from Philadelphia, he’s got a new protege in Gordon Gehan to tutor on sideline celebrations. When former walk-on and current senior Drew Jacobs left the team before last season, Perpiglia felt like he was all alone on Bench Antics Island. He had lost his shenanigan companion.

“When Drew was there we had a lot of different stuff,” Perpiglia said. “We had a 3-point telescope.

We sometimes did a rowboat with the 3-point fingers. I always messed around. I even had a pizza tosser thing.”

During a film session two years ago, Donahue was breaking down a good offensive play from the night before, and he made sure to keep the clip rolling until the camera zoomed in on Jacobs and Perpiglia at the end of the bench. To the surprise of no one, they were performing an original “3-point robot” routine.

Perpiglia has created his fair share of fun memories on the basketball team, but that doesn’t mean the program itself has been steady—far from it.

Players have come and gone throughout the years. Some graduated. Some gave up and got the hell out of dodge the moment things turned south. Joe Rahon suits up for St. Mary’s College this season, and Ryan Anderson will be playing for Sean Miller at the University of Arizona.

Still others stuck it out another year before hitting the reset button.

Lonnie Jackson is at Boise State University. K.C. Caudill (Nicholls State University) and Will Magarity (Davidson College) sought greener pastures, too.

“Those guys had different personal ambitions, and it led them to other places,” Perpiglia said.

But Clifford and Perpiglia stayed.

Now, they’re the only seniors remaining—graduate transfer Eli Carter is a welcome addition to the team, too—and both are looking to point this ship in the right direction in their final year as Eagles.

“Now that there’s a select few of us, we’ve come together,” Clifford said about the remaining Donahue holdovers. “There’s only one common goal.”

BASKETBALL PREVIEW GARLAND OWENS

NOV. 12, 2015 THE HEIGHTS 7

FORCE GARLAND OWENS FLIES AROUND THE COURT AS A VITAL SOURCE OF ENERGY FOR BC BASKETBALL. JACK STEDMAN ASSOC. SPORTS EDITOR

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he locker room in Greensboro Coliseum was quiet.

Only a few voices could be heard as Dmitri Batten pointed over toward Garland Owens, who was sitting alone on the far end of the room.

Boston College had just lost to the University of North Carolina in the second round of the 2015 ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament, and Batten was discussing his role during his one year with the Eagles.

“Coach [Jim Christian] told me when I first came he wanted me to build a culture,” Batten said. “With Garland coming back next year, I look at him like my little brother, so I feel like he’ll bring the intensity next year.”

Batten was the high-tempo guy for Christian’s team last year. He played fast on offense and even faster on defense. It became a big part of the team’s identity: while the Eagles lacked the pure skill to win games, they could outwork and play alongside the elite ACC teams deep into the second half.

On road trips, Owens often roomed with Batten, who shared his insights on the game—especially from a defensive standpoint—with the sophomore. The two had a lot in common. They were from roughly the same area—Owens is from Maryland and Batten is from Virginia—and knew similiar people, leading Owens to bond with and learn from the fifth-year graduate transfer.

Still in touch with his former teammate on a regular basis, Owens is ready to take over where Batten left off.

“I have a bigger role this year, and [Batten] pretty much told me that last year,” Owens said.

With seven freshmen on the roster and only one other returner who played meaningful minutes last year, the slate is clean for this team. As Christian rebuilds from scratch, a lot of trust is involved in this process. It’s going to be a long one, as it’ll take the freshmen a while just to acclimate to the college game, let alone the level of play

in the ACC. For Year Two of Christian’s tenure, the process is more about team culture than results. Before the thought of scoring enough points to win a game enters anyone’s mind, a team must sustain a high energy level at all times. Players have to drag each other to the gym, instill confidence in one another, and not get too down—and there will sure be a lot of downs. Owens is the guy Christian needs to make this happen.

In his first two years, Owens has learned under Olivier Hanlan, who took Owens under his wing and helped him the most in transitioning to BC as a freshman.

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ith seven young basketball minds to mold, Owens is getting his biggest opportunity to utilize what he learned from Hanlan and Batten’s leadership. He sees the freshmen having fun in the gym, and it brings back memories of two years ago, when he was one of those guys.

JIM CHRISTIAN

CAREER HIGHS 16 PO POINTS NTS

From speaking to the freshmen off the court, it’s clear that Owens is a crowd favorite. Matt Milon immediately brought up Owens when asked who brings the most energy to the team. When asked who was the funniest on the team, A.J. Turner and Jerome Robinson both said Garland without hesitating.

“He’s just a goof,” Turner said.

In practice, he’s always moving, even when play stops around him.

He never misses an opportunity to show off his freakish leaping ability and go for a dunk. If Owens has the ball in his hands and a coach halts the drill, he’s going to finish anyway. It’s not just any finish, though. Owens is going to get airborne, swing his arm back, and go for the windmill finish only seen in a dunk contest.

He might miss badly, but he’ll laugh it off with his teammates anyway. After a brief moment of levity, though, it’s back to practice.

For all the goofy energy that Owens brings to the team, there’s an equal amount of ferocity that emerges when it’s time to get to work.

“I think if you asked the guys on our team who’s probably played the hardest in the preseason, Garland would be that guy,” Christian said.

“He competes hard—sometimes too hard.”

Christian uses the word catalyst to describe the junior forward. In the most scientific of terms, Owens is a substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction, or in basketball terms, Owens is the spark plug for his teammates.

It’s more than just being a spark plug, though. Owens is the generator, the source of power that continually fuels the components plugged into a game. Unlike a piece of flint that lights the fire only once, Owens is a non-stop electrical hum, a constant presence on the court. It’s fitting that his teammates call him “G,” because there’s a lot of force coming from his 6-foot-5 frame.

“That’s just how I try to bring energy, just flying around,” Owens said. “Because when you fly around, things happen. A tip dunk,

offensive rebound putback—that gets you going, that gets everyone around you going. It brings energy, and we feed off that energy. We can continue to go.”

This snowball effect will be key for a team that is as young as this.

While the freshmen aren’t completely lacking in confidence at this point, they have yet to be thrown into the ACC fire pit. When the game is moving at a million miles an hour around them, it’ll be easy to fall behind. Enter a player like Owens, who is not only going to be seen flying around the court, but heard, too.

He is, by far, the loudest on the team. Whereas Clifford is the elder statesman of BC and Eli Carter is a leader by example, Owens is a vocal leader.

Clifford, Owens, Steve Perpiglia, and Darryl Hicks are the only holdovers left from Steve Donahue’s tenure, and they’ve stuck together to be leaders on this team.

Owens is using all these experiences to help out the freshmen, but he still has to focus on his game as he looks to take a starting role this year.

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n the court, Owens’ biggest impact is on defense, where his vocal and highenergy style of play counts the most. This year, however, the switch from playing the three to the four—a position he has never played—is going to put added defensive duties on Owens.

He will be tasked with guarding bigger men, and that means he’ll be doing his work in the paint. It’s no longer running with guys on the perimeter, it’s battling for position down low. At it’s simplest, defense is the same at any position, in that the main goal is to prevent the other player from scoring. But the positional switch brings a whole new set of defensive positions, as you have to look out for new screens and make new switches, all while going up against 6-foot-1, 250-pound monsters that can eat you alive.

On the other end, though, Owens might have the advantage.

Offensively, he’s gifted with tremendous ups and likes to live above the rim. The speed and athleticism should be in his favor against more traditional power forwards, most of whom will have a hard time keeping up with him.

For a player that has only averaged 3.7 and 3.4 points per game, respectively, and started six games in his first two seasons, the switch is a big one, but Owens has come a long way since his freshman year under Donahue. He is more confident than he ever has been.

He recalls how, in his first year, BC was a passive team that never went out and attacked. Christian has wholeheartedly changed that, creating a team that relies on personalities like Owens as the nucleus. With a new culture, and another brand new team, Owens is looking forward to making some noise.

“It’s kinda cool, a lot of dudes don’t know about us, because they don’t know what we have,” Owens said. “It’s definitely an underdog approach that we embrace.”

Owens, who grew up a half hour from College Park, knows some of the players on the basketball team at the University of Maryland. The Terrapins have made a dramatic switch from an average program to top-five team in the country, and Owens looks at that team as an example of where he wants BC to go.

Maryland is a success story in rebuilding. Building things is hard. It takes time, manpower, and a lot of effort. Building a team, in particular, is one of the hardest things to do, as you aren’t just putting steel beams together with big cranes, you’re putting people together.

Dmitri Batten was told to build something last year, and now he’s passing the baton.

Garland Owens is the foreman now, and he’s doing that job with a little bit of goofiness, a lot of confidence, and a constant flow of energy.

8 THE HEIGHTS NOV. 12, 2015

BASKETBALL PREVIEW ELI CARTER

JOHN QUACKENBOS / BC ATHLETICS

ELI CARTER ELI C CA ARTER A RTER’S JOURNEY TO BOSTON COLLEGE HAS BEEN RT SIMPLE. SIMPLE SIMPLE E ALL IT TAKES IS THREE THREE STEPS. STEPS STEP ST EP PS S MICHAEL SULLIVAN SPORTS EDITOR

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here’s usually a process to how things are done.

Follow a recipe to make the best dish. Listen to your coach to perfect your shot. Abide by the syllabus to get an A. (Ideally.)

For Eli Carter, his entire playing career has followed a process—a fairly simple one at that. It takes only a couple of steps to sum up how he has gotten to this point.

Care. Comeback. Conquer.

He doesn’t use those words, per se.

But those steps have created a three-part symphony that symbolizes the guard whose travels have taken him along the Eastern Seaboard. They compose the perfect harmony, beautifully humming to glimmer into the ear. Boston College men’s basketball head coach Jim Christian brought in Carter, a fifth-year transfer, first from Rutgers and then from the University of Florida, to teach those same lessons to his crop of seven green freshmen.

But if Carter follows that scheme himself, he can become the missing piece on the court for an Eagles team that will largely spend the 2015-16 season looking for answers for their future.

Hell, why not? That blueprint has gotten Carter this far in his basketball career.

Especially when it probably shouldn’t have gotten very far at all.

CHAPTER ONE:

CARE

Q

uick, what comes to mind when I say: New Jersey? Perhaps it’s a thick accent screaming at a Giants game in the Meadowlands. Or the mindless hours you’ve spent watching Snooki galavant on a beach under an orange-tinted sky with a bunch of shirtless men. Or the fact that the state ranks as the country’s third-richest, with a per capita income of $36,027, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

That’s the place I remember, the one where I spent my childhood summers wading in the cool Atlantic Ocean water of Spring Lake and Long Beach Island—two of the state’s prime shoreside destinations. But it’s far from the New Jersey where Eli Carter grew up.

Carter grew up in Paterson, N.J., a city of almost 150,000 that sits only 40 minutes outside of New York. Paterson citizens have a per capita income of less than half the state average, $15,876, while its poverty rate is almost triple (29.1 vs.

10.4), making it one of New Jersey’s most financially disadvantaged areas.

There wasn’t a lot to do in his neighborhood, but a kid has to get out of the

CHAPTER TWO:

house. So he chose to focus on sports. “We had nothing else to do,” Carter said with a shrug.

On the streets, he first turned to football, a sport he admits he was pretty good at—in fact, everyone from his neighborhood knew him as a dangerous and speedy wide receiver.

But it was in basketball where he really shined. It wasn’t a family member who introduced it to him or anything. His dad, Dale Sterling—with whom he lived in nearby Willingboro, N.J., after the age of 12 when his mom, Valarie, passed away—was a star soccer player. Carter simply had that natural feel for the game.

Unfortunately for Carter, that natural talent didn’t help him when the games got organized. He enrolled in the Life Center Academy in Burlington, N.J., as a freshman, with the goal of playing basketball.

Yet he spent two frustrating years on the junior varsity squad, failing to impress his coaches or college scouts.

Instead of blaming others for his inability to make the jump to the varsity lights, Carter searched for that fatal flaw.

But it wasn’t a lack of ability. It was just a lack of effort. He now laments the fact that he didn’t care enough back then to make a bigger impact for the sake of his team.

Nevertheless, he remembers the moment when his attitude changed, and is forever grateful that it did. “Once I really noticed I was kinda good at it, I could maybe make some money from it,” Carter said. “Get out of the neighborhood, stuff like that.”

So began the care stage of the process.

Carter opted for a fresh start, transferring to St. Anthony’s High School in Jersey City, N.J., to play under Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame head coach Bob Hurley. The 27-time state champion wasn’t going to give his newest player the easy route into getting his name called—it took Carter until the end of his junior campaign to crack the starting five. But once he did, he made sure Hurley wouldn’t regret it.

In his senior season, Carter averaged 15.2 points, six assists, and five rebounds, earning All-Hudson County honors and leading the Friars to the NJSIAA NonPublic North B championship. He signed a letter of intent with St. Bonaventure University in Western New York, making that dream of getting out of the neighborhood a reality.

But Carter wanted more. And he felt he had the responsibility to stay home so his family could see him shine.

Ironically, he did that by spending a prep year at New Hampshire’s Brewster Academy. There, he helped the Bobcats—one of New England’s best basketball programs—to a 31-3 record.

He earned several offers from prime programs: Penn State, Creighton, Cincinnati, Oregon, and Texas A&M (where current BC assistant Scott Spinelli recruited him), to name a few.

None was more important than the call he got from Mike Rice to join his Rutgers Scarlet Knights.

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verything was going smoothly down in New Brunswick.

C ar ter broke onto the scene as an impact freshman in the Big East.

He led Rutgers in scoring with 13.8 points per game, finishing 19th in the conference and fourth among freshmen, behind only St. John’s duo of newcomers, D’Angelo Harrison and Mo Harkless, and Providence’s LaDontae Henton. The shooting guard even emerged as a leader on his own team, pacing the Scarlet Knights in minutes played.

And he made highlight reel plays. Not the type that might make the SportsCenter Top 10, but the ones they’ll show when they recap Rutgers’ wins.

Though the success wasn’t all the way there for the Scarlet Knights—they finished just 14-18, 6-12 in the Big East—the potential clearly showed.

Then came the 2012-13 season, a year that will go down as the most infamous in Rutgers history, and one that nearly broke Carter’s will.

It began on Feb. 16, 2013, with an actual break.

While going up for a rebound late in a 75-69 loss to rival DePaul, Carter—again Rutgers’ leading scorer with 14.9 PPG, 11th best in-conference—fell hard on his right fibula. The bone fractured, which was enough to keep him sidelined for the rest of the season. Carter still has no idea exactly how it broke. All he knew was the pain.

But that grew into emotional pain after ESPN’s Outside the Lines investigated Rice, his head coach, the man who Carter credits with teaching him how to play basketball, about claims of bullying.

The beleaguered head coach had already gotten suspended three games earlier in the season and fined $50,000 for alleged abusive behavior. In April, however, videos obtained by ESPN that were sent to Rutgers Director of Athletics Tim Pernetti revealed that the cases of abuse far exceeded what was originally thought.

Rice hurled racial and homophobic slurs at his players, not to mention hurling basketballs at their heads. It resulted in his immediate removal from the head coaching position.

To this day, Carter defends Rice.

Despite the video evidence, he believes a lot of the talk was exaggerated. “That’s not his reputation with me,” Carter said in response to his relationship with Rice.

“What anyone else says is their opinion.”

But Carter was forced into phase two of the process: the comeback.

Because of the circumstances regarding the firing, members of the Scarlet Knights were free to transfer to whichever school would take them without being forced to sit out a year. Between that and Rutgers’ departure from the crumbling Big East to the less prestigious American Athletic Conference, Carter took that opportunity.

Although Spinelli again tried to recruit him, this time at Maryland, Carter headed to Florida to join Billy Donovan, whose

COMEBACK

Gators were coming off their 15th consecutive 20-win season. Instead of stepping into an active role in Donovan’s offense, Carter’s lingering leg injury sidelined him for the year after only seven games.

That turned out to be the best thing for him.

With starting point guard Scottie Wilbekin set to depart after the 2013-14 season, Donovan worked tirelessly with Carter to switch from the two to the one.

Each day during his rehab, Carter focused on bringing the ball up and acing his passing skills.

Carter also began to understand what it took to be on a winning team at the NCAA level. During the Gators’ march to the Final Four, they lacked that one-man show, something Carter had been both at Rutgers and in his high school days.

Though Wilbekin won SEC Player of the Year, he didn’t dominate the court without help the way BC’s Olivier Hanlan did last season—Florida had four players average between 11 and 13.8 points per game.

Carter then realized perhaps the most crucial skill to playing the point: trusting your teammates and covering for their mistakes. And most importantly, how not to be the primary scoring option.

Once Carter returned to full health, the results were … average, to say the least.

Finally ready to play after almost 18 months, Carter averaged a respectable 8.8 points per game but only two assists. SB Nation’s Andy Hutchins described him as “a square peg in a round hole” because of the combination of his physical limitations and his fit in Donovan’s system. And after a trying 2015-16 season, Donovan bolted for the Oklahoma City Thunder coaching position.

So once again, despite his reformation, Carter needed a fresh start.

CHAPTER THREE:

CONQUER

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hus we arrive to today, where Carter sits at the final stage of his career-long process: conquer. This is the point where your hard work and ability to care translates into the reward.

You can extrapolate that into wins on the court—he has had plenty of them in his high school and college careers. But Carter prefers to turn that into the effect he can bring to the next generation.

That’s why he was finally sold by Spinelli’s long-standing recruiting process.

Several schools made the push to claim the highly coveted graduate transfer.

Georgetown, UNLV, and Seton Hall—the latter a school 20 minutes south of his childhood home—to name a few. But this time, Spinelli wouldn’t be denied. “He tells me every day that I should’ve been stuck with him before,” Carter said.

Carter loved the idea of his role in Christian and Spinelli’s second year of the

grand master plan to rebuild BC basketball to a respectable level—it’s really one where he can’t lose. For his own career, Carter will have an opportunity to shine in the country’s most competitive conference, the ACC, while running an offense that, according to Christian, is perfectly suited to his style of play.

In that sense, Christian sees him playing a Hanlan-esque role. Despite his transition to the point, Carter’s new head coach understands that he will likely be the team’s primary scorer. He’ll also be the team’s lead facilitator, trying to get into the lane as fast as possible and dishing out to the 3-point line to give guys good, open shots.

“Not good shots,” Carter corrected himself, “but great shots.”

Excuse me, great shots.

But for Carter and Christian, his bigger role will be in helping BC’s seven freshmen learn that patented process— care, comeback, conquer.

He has already begun to do that with the Eagles’ promising young stars: A.J. Turner and Jerome Robinson. Though Turner will likely play small forward this year, the two crave Carter’s attention to detail and style of play. He works well with the young players, showing them everything he has learned from his many travels. And they appreciate the fact that he could’ve stayed at a school with a lot of recent success and the pieces to win now, but instead chose to come to BC. “Eli had to know the situation he was coming into, so it shows that he was comfortable coming here and playing with us,” Turner said. “It shows that he trusts in the system.”

Whether that translates into wins remains to be seen. But Carter has already showed both his teammates and the sparse crowd at Conte Forum his ceiling from BC’s scrimmage against Division-II Bentley University.

Carter demonstrated his shortcomings in the beginning of the first half, not pressing on defense and making several turnovers that looked forced and were without conscious decision-making.

Similar to the Portland Trail Blazers’ Damian Lillard, who often gets criticized for lack of hustle on defense despite his natural abilities, Carter makes passes and shots that are difficult look easy. Because his dribbling skills aren’t as sharp as they could be, that equates to a player that can look clumsy and lazy.

But then he got into the flow of the game. Carter began to drain shot after shot, often from beyond the 3-point line. He has no fear in driving to the net and will put up (and make) heavily contested shots. At one point, following a timeout, Carter showed off his more fun side, knocking down a turnaround 3-point jumper from deep. The shot was so impressive that Steven Daniels and John Johnson, two of BC football’s defensive stalwarts in attendance, got up immediately and started screaming and hollering in support.

He finished the day with 33 points on 12-of-18 shooting. If he can do that in the way he did it—with hands in his face and quickness to the rim—Carter will have no problem adjusting to ACC play.

It wouldn’t even be close to the hardest thing he has faced. And even if he struggles, chances are he’ll come out on top. He always has.