Drafting All-Time BC Men's Basketball Teams of the 2000s
A 12-round draft, three teams, and one winner to be crowned later using WhatIfSports.com.
Like The Athletic’s Vancouver Canucks beat writer duo of Harman Dayal and Thomas Drance, the three of us here at Bird’s Eye View have been left with a void in our lives with the absence of sports. Dayal and Drance created the Sedin Cup, drafting players from the last 15 years of Canucks’ hockey and declaring a winner by simulating the games at the end.
We’ve decided to adopt that idea and convert it to Boston College men’s basketball, and here’s how it’s going to work. By using a snake draft, we’re going to construct 12-man rosters made up of Eagles’ since the 2000-01 season. Each player will be picked based on a specific season (their “peak”) and once they’re picked, they can’t be chosen by another team. The second installment of this will feature simulations using the What If Sports engine.
A random number generator gave Andy the first overall pick, and here we go!
With the first overall pick in the 2020 all-time BC men’s basketball draft, Andy Backstrom selects…
2002-03 Troy Bell
Backstrom: No-brainer. Bell had his jersey hung in the Conte Forum rafters this winter and is the program’s all-time leading scorer. He was a two-time consensus All-American and received Big East Player of the Year honors twice. Bell upped his game every year of his Eagles career, but made the biggest jump as a senior in 2002-03. The future first-round pick averaged 25.2 points in 38.6 minutes per game while shooting 44.1 percent from the field and 40.2 percent from beyond the arc.
With the second overall pick in the 2020 all-time BC men’s basketball draft, Peter Kim selects…
2006-07 Jared Dudley
Kim: The no-brainer first pick for me after Andy took Troy Bell first overall. Dudley was of course an integral part of the 2005-06 team that reached the Sweet 16, but in 2006-07 he was named the ACC Player of the Year and took his game to the next level. He averaged 19 points per game on 56 percent shooting and a 44 percent clip from behind the arc, all the while chipping in 8.6 rebounds per game and providing his trademark effort on the defensive end. I also felt good about his versatility, as he’s theoretically able to guard both small forwards and power forwards.
With the third overall pick in the 2020 all-time BC men’s basketball draft, Bradley Smart selects…
05-06 Craig Smith
Smart: With back-to-back picks (at the end of the first round and first pick of the second), I wanted to get two pieces to build behind. The first was easy: Craig Smith. Smith was actually the top guy on my board, a dominant force both scoring and on the boards. His senior season, BC’s first in the ACC, saw him average 17.6 points and 9.4 rebounds per game as the Eagles went 28-3.
With the fourth overall pick in the 2020 all-time BC men’s basketball draft, Bradley Smart selects…
2018-19 Ky Bowman
Smart: Call it recency bias, but my top guard on the board after Bell went first overall was Bowman. The do-it-all point guard was electrifying during his time on the Heights, and his junior season was his most impressive. After Wynston Tabbs suffered a season-ending knee injury, Bowman really had to do it all, and it led to the junior averaging 19 points, 7.5 rebounds, and four assists per game. I wanted to create an edge on the glass early, and drafting a dominant forward and pairing him with a ballhawking guard in Bowman made sense to me.
With the fifth overall pick in the 2020 all-time BC men’s basketball draft, Peter Kim selects…
2008-09 Tyrese Rice
Kim: Good guard play wins in college, as the cliche goes, and Rice was a part of three NCAA Tournament teams during his time in Chestnut Hill. A dynamic player who could score on all three levels and also averaged more than five assists per game his last three years at BC, I had him rated slightly higher than Reggie Jackson (2010-11 edition) because he was rated as a better defender by win shares, according to Sports Reference, in keeping with my theme of favoring a balanced team.
With the sixth overall pick in the 2020 all-time BC men’s basketball draft, Andy Backstrom selects…
2017-18 Jerome Robinson
Backstrom: The program’s first-ever NBA Lottery selection? Sign me up. As a junior, Robinson averaged 24.3 points per game in ACC play, shooting 55.1 percent from the floor and knocking down triples at a 44.5 percent clip. He hit back-to-back 3-pointers to lift BC over No. 1 Duke, exploded for 46 points in South Bend, and swished the game-winner against N.C. State in the ACC semis. For me, a strong backcourt is key—and what’s better than two guards who can score at all three levels?
With the seventh overall pick in the 2020 all-time BC men’s basketball draft, Andy Backstrom selects…
2010-11 Reggie Jackson
Backstrom: Small ball, here we come. With Robinson’s 6-foot-5 frame, I’m comfortable starting three guards. I feel confident with Jackson running the point. After all, he posted a 1.9 assist to turnover ratio during his final year on the Heights. He also averaged 18.2 points, connected on better than 40 percent of his 3-point attempts, and pulled down 4.3 boards per game. Think of this guard combo as an evolved form of the Bowman-Robinson-Chatman trio. A whole lot of shooting and playmaking ability.
With the eighth overall pick in the 2020 all-time BC men’s basketball draft, Peter Kim selects…
2004-05 Sean Marshall
Kim: Another piece of the mid-2000s BC teams under Al Skinner that were so successful, I viewed Marshall as another hybrid wing-type player capable of guarding the one through the three in a pinch. Instead of opting for his 2006-07 season in which he averaged a career high 14.8 points per game, though, I chose his 2004-05 campaign where he shot a career-high 38.9 percent from deep and 50 percent from the field on similar usage percentage to his 06-07 season. The more shooting the better.
With the ninth overall pick in the 2020 all-time BC men’s basketball draft, Bradley Smart selects…
2013-14 Ryan Anderson
Smart: I was hoping to add either Jackson or Robinson to pair with Bowman, but when they went off the board I shifted my focus to the forward positions. The big-name forwards were off the board, but I think I got a good value pick with Anderson. Before transferring to Arizona, Anderson finished his career on the Heights by averaging 14.3 points and 7.3 rebounds per game while shooting 50 percent from inside the arc. That’s now three picks averaging seven-plus rebounds per game who can all score, which is a promising start to the lineup.
With the 10th overall pick in the 2020 all-time BC men’s basketball draft, Bradley Smart selects…
2014-15 Olivier Hanlan
Smart: Four of the top guards are off the board and I want to add to my starting five, so I scooped up Hanlan. I’m pretty satisfied with this pick as Hanlan was a First Team All-ACC selection—the first at the time since Jackson—and joined Bell and Dudley as the only other Eagles in program history to reach 1,000 points as a sophomore. Hanlan will serve as my shooting guard as his 2014-15 season saw him average 19.5 points per game and shoot 35 percent from deep. He also chipped in nearly five assists per game, so I think I have two capable guards up that are able to take over a game.
With the 11th overall pick in the 2020 all-time BC men’s basketball draft, Peter Kim selects…
2006-07 Sean Williams
Kim: Locking down the paint is Williams, who still holds the record for most shots blocked by a BC player with 193 in three years. He is the first center off the board in the fourth round, but the Eagles also don’t have a ton of quality big men who can play the five and Williams feels about right for that draft slot, considering he averaged 12.1 points and a whopping five blocks per game in 2006-07—albeit in just 15 games. With him and Dudley, I’ve got a frontcourt capable of doing anything they’re asked to.
With the 12th overall pick in the 2020 all-time BC men’s basketball draft, Andy Backstrom selects…
2010-11 Joe Trapani
Backstrom: Ah yes, a forward. And a good one at that. Standing 6-foot-8, Joe Trapani gives my rotation some size. As a senior, the Vermont transfer was used on a team-leading 27.9 percent of possessions and averaged 14.8 points and 7.0 rebounds per game, ranking second among all Eagles in scoring behind Jackson. Trapani worked in the post and attacked the rim, but also was more than capable behind the arc (shot 35.7 percent from deep in 2010-11). Reunited with his old point guard, I expect nothing less.
And if you don’t remember Trapani, I highly suggest you spend your next three minutes watching his highlights, set to Lady Gaga’s “Edge of Glory.” Yeah, don’t ask.
With the 13th overall pick in the 2020 all-time BC men’s basketball draft, Andy Backstrom selects…
2018-19 Nik Popovic
Backstrom: Nik Popovic is BC’s best true center in the past 20 years. Now, that might say more about the program’s big men than it does about his play, but toward the end of Popovic’s junior season, he looked deserving of All-ACC honors. The 6-foot-11 Bosnia and Herzegovina native finished 12 of the Eagles’ last 13 games in double figures, recording two double-doubles and four 20-point outings in the process. Pair Popovic with a dynamic point guard like Jackson, and he’ll be a force on the pick-and-roll.
With the 14th overall pick in the 2020 all-time BC men’s basketball draft, Peter Kim selects…
2001-02 Kenny Walls
Kim: At this point in the draft, many of the top-tier guards are gone, and I felt pretty good about a frontcourt of Williams and Dudley, so I reached perhaps a little bit for Walls. I viewed him as a good fit next to Rice as a starter. After all, Walls spent the majority of his BC career playing next to Troy Bell, and averaged nearly 13 points per game in 2001-02 while also being named the team MVP.
With the 15th overall pick in the 2020 all-time BC men’s basketball draft, Bradley Smart selects…
2015-16 Dennis Clifford
Smart: With Popovic and Williams gone, the number of available centers I want on my team dove to just one: Clifford. The center most famous for his post-ACC Tournament interview about “going out to eat” is a strong pick in my opinion. After Clifford, the list of centers from the last 20 years of BC basketball includes the likes of Tyrelle Blair and Josh Southern. I think Clifford will round out my starting lineup well, as he averaged a respectable 9.9 points and 7.3 rebounds per game while chipping in a block as well.
Rounds 6-12...
Team Andy
Draft Strategy: Two words: “Offensive rating.” Remember, this metric measures an individual player’s efficiency on the offensive end of the court. I built my 36-player big board by compiling the program’s players with the highest offensive ratings—thanks, KenPom—from the past two decades. I only pulled players that were major contributors (used on 24-28 percent of possessions), significant contributors (20-24 percent of possessions), and role players (16-20 percent of possessions).
When making each of my selections, I factored in a player’s offensive rating and contribution level (dependent on their possession use percentage) while consulting the eye candy (points per game, shooting percentage, turnover rate, etc.). My roster is weakest at the power forward position and relies heavily on the backcourt.
Oh, and I didn’t chart it out this way, but I ended up with five players from the 2010-11 team. Guess Steve Donahue and I would get along.
Team Peter
Draft Strategy: I’m going to be honest, when I initially started to construct my draft board I was incredibly tempted to go try and construct a Houston Rockets-style small-ball, considering the wealth of options in the backcourt that are available. Can you imagine a backcourt of Troy Bell, Jerome Robinson, and Tyrese Rice, or something along those lines?
Instead though, for better or worse, I tried to build a more balanced team that could play more “positionless” basketball and was capable of switching a lot on the defensive end. To that end, I prioritized players who were proven scorers but also graded out well defensively, at least according to Sports Reference’sdefensive win shares ratings.
The result? A ton of players from the highly successful mid-2000s Skinner teams, and a ton of wings who can play either guard or forward positions. In fact, my first six picks were used on players that left the Heights before 2010. Hey, I can’t be the only one who misses the flex offense just a tiny bit.
Team Bradley
Draft Strategy: I opened up Excel, as one might expect, and pulled in every player’s stats from the last 20 years. I created a simple rating system by combining rankings in certain stat categories, ranging from offensive and defensive rating to win shares, true shooting percentage, and box plus/minus. With that being done, I pulled out each player’s best season, grouped by position, and used a graph to identify “drop-offs” and group by tiers.
With my tiers being set, I formulated my strategy. I wanted one of the top two forwards in the first round—whether it was Dudley or Smith—and got lucky that even with the third pick, I landed Smith. After that, I wanted to build out my starting five with my first five picks, so I made sure to get a center in the fifth round. After that, I was looking for the best available player by my rankings to fill out the rotation.
I love Steffon Mitchell’s ability to influence the game in so many ways, so I took him in the sixth round. I think Ryan Sidney in the seventh round was a strong pick, as even though he left the team after, he still turned in an excellent 2002-03 season and he landed firmly in my top tier of shooting guards.With those two down, I knew I had a strong seven-man rotation, so I spent the next five rounds taking fliers on assorted guys.
In total, I landed four players who ended up transferring/leaving BC, so perhaps my team has something to prove.
Stay tuned for our simulation results!
Images courtesy of Boston College Athletics/Getty Images