If there were any lasting doubts about Jerome Robinson’s legacy on the Heights, they were settled on Tuesday afternoon. The Boston College men’s basketball combo guard was named to the Associated Press All-American Team, becoming just the fifth player in program history to earn the distinction.
The other four—John Austin (1963), Troy Bell (2001, 2003), Craig Smith (2006), and Jared Dudley (2007)—all rank inside the school’s top-10 scoring chart and ended up playing in the NBA. Robinson, one of five ACC players to earn a spot on this year’s list, was tabbed as an honorable mention. The junior is less than a month removed from a career year—one that made him an All-ACC First Teamer, the Eagles’ first since Olivier Hanlan back in 2014-15.
Robinson upped his numbers across the board, averaging 20.7 points per game after getting off to somewhat of a sluggish start in non-conference play. The Raleigh, N.C. native came alive in December when BC hosted then-No. 1 Duke in the teams’ ACC opener. With under a minute and a half remaining in regulation, the 6-foot-6 guard received a pass from Ky Bowman and launched a 3-pointer over Grayson Allen—a shot that will go down as the defining moment for one of the program’s most iconic upsets. The game simply foreshadowed what was to come.
Throughout conference play, Robinson was a different entity. As far as conference-only stats are concerned, the junior led the league with 24.3 points per game—3.6 more than future lottery pick Marvin Bagley III—on 55.1 percent shooting, including a 44.5-percent clip from beyond the arc. Robinson started to turn heads on the national level when he dropped 46 points in South Bend, becoming the first ACC player this season to eclipse the 40-point mark. Even with the added attention, he held his own down the stretch of the season.
Despite taking a few spills here and there and having his fair share of shooting struggles, Robinson logged 20 or more points in four of BC’s final seven games. Most notably, he tag teamed with Bowman, Jordan Chatman, and Nik Popovic to deliver the Eagles back-to-back ACC Tournament wins for the first time since they joined the conference 12 years ago, clinching the program’s first postseason appearance since 2010-11.
Robinson—one of five finalists up for this year’s Jerry West Award—has yet to announce whether he will return for his senior season. Regardless of his decision, his 2017-18 campaign will undoubtedly go down in BC history.
Featured Image by Kaitlin Meeks / Heights Editor
