Five years ago, if Boston College men’s basketball had lost its entire starting five to graduation and the transfer portal, it would have been nearly impossible to rebuild a competitive team for the following season.
Now, with no rule forcing transfers to sit out a year, BC attacked the portal—because they had no other choice.
“It was really free agency,” BC head coach Earl Grant said. “Players moving and players leaving your program and entering your program without a lot of restriction, without a lot of penalty.”
After leading scorer Quinten Post graduated and Jaeden Zackery, Claudell Harris Jr., Devin McGlockton, Prince Aligbe, and Mason Madsen all entered the transfer portal, the Eagles were left scrambling. Grant needed to find a way to replace 168.5 combined minutes per game and 65 points per game.
In total, BC lost nearly 88 percent of its scoring, 80 percent of its rebounding, and 88 percent of its assists from the 2023–24 roster.
So Grant turned to some coaches-turned-general managers for advice on how to rebuild his program, such as Sacramento Kings assistant general manager Wes Wilcox and Boston Celtics general manager Brad Stevens.
“They were very excited about the opportunity we had,” Grant said. “They said, ‘Hey, this is free agency, it’s a great opportunity to make your team better’… every now and again, I’ll get a text and a guy might say ‘That’s a good pickup’ or ‘That’s a good trade.’”
Grant has remained positive about his new squad, which features seven new players. He said they sometimes even look better than his team last year.
There’s also additions to the coaching staff—Steve Smith has replaced assistant coach Anthony Goins, who left BC in May to become an assistant coach at Georgia after spending three years on the Heights. Smith, meanwhile, comes to BC after spending the past five seasons with Florida State and seven seasons with Clemson, where he was an assistant with Grant.
Danya Abrams, a BC basketball standout who helped lead the Eagles to the Elite Eight in 1994 as a freshman, has returned to the Heights in a newly created position. Abrams will serve as the director of roster management—a general manager type of role—where he will provide direction to the coaching staff regarding the transfer portal, NIL, and recruiting.
Grant acknowledges BC is nowhere near where it wants to be as a program. It’s been 16 seasons since the Eagles have made an NCAA Tournament appearance. Grant is entering his fourth season as BC’s head coach, and led the Eagles to their first NIT appearance since 2018 last season. He has also increased BC’s win total in each of his three seasons on the Heights.
But with a largely new roster going into the 2024–25 season, there’s no guarantee the path will remain linear.
“We’ve been climbing a mountain since day one,” Grant said. “We’re not down at the bottom where we were. We’re not at the top. We are somewhere in between. So we want to continue to climb.”
Returners
BC’s already slim list of returners has two glaring holes.
Experience and production are seriously lacking in this group of seven—a squad that features several players who logged very few to no minutes last season.
Guards Chas Kelley III and Donald Hand Jr. carry over the most points and experience.
“Just keep the ship steady,” Kelley said, when asked about his and Hand’s roles this season. “It’s gonna be ups and downs, we’re gonna be real high, going to be real low, but can’t let our highs get too high, can’t let our lows get too low.”
Kelley and Hand had the lowest field-goal percentages on the team last season among players who took more than 11 shots.
While Kelley made seven starts, he struggled with accuracy from virtually everywhere on the floor. In 27 games, Kelley shot 35 percent from the field and made just 13 of the 52 3-pointers he put up. His 64 percent performance from the free-throw line was also below the national average.
But Kelley’s 16 steals last season are an example of his effort on the defensive end, even when things aren’t clicking offensively.
“[Coach Grant has] really, specifically, specified defensive intensity,” Kelley said. “That’s all we do.”
Hand had a strong end to last season, posting 10 points and four rebounds in the Eagles’ ACC Tournament win over Clemson.
“Last year we had a lot of veterans, and now, being one of the older guys, I definitely see this like a clean slate,” Hand said. “It is a new opportunity, and I’m excited for the task at hand.”
Elijah Strong is the only other returner who got serious playing time last year, appearing in 19 games. His best performance of the season—14 points on 6-of-9 shooting—came in an 89–78 loss to Clemson, when playing him was Grant’s only option after the stomach flu infected several members of the frontcourt.
With Post gone, someone’s going to need to step up in the paint. Whether that someone is Strong is unsure, but he certainly sees this season as an opportunity to do so.
“Quinten Post, he was a great mentor for me,” Strong said. “He kind of paved the way for me—him and Devin McGlockton. Playing behind those guys and just learning from them every day … he spoke a lot of wisdom into me.”
Guard Fred Payne played in five games last season before injuring his knee and redshirting his freshman season. Redshirt freshman Jayden Hastings did not see the floor last year but should slot in as the backup center for this Eagles squad.
Acquisitions
While the Eagles acquired six players who could see minutes at some point this season, there’s one player who should excite every BC fan when he steps on the court on Monday night against The Citadel.
That player is Dion Brown—the 6-foot-3 guard from Great Barrington, Mass., who averaged 19.0 points and 7.6 rebounds last season at Maryland, Baltimore County.
Brown spent the first two years of his collegiate career at UMBC of the American East conference, where he earned First Team All-Conference honors for the 2023–24 season after leading the Retrievers in scoring. He transferred to Chestnut Hill in early May in the midst of the Eagles losing countless important pieces to their roster.
Even though Brown had to sit out practices for the first two-to-three months due to recovering from two sports hernias, he has been welcomed back with open arms.
“Dion has been a breath of fresh air,” Grant said. “He has a chance to really make an impact for us.”
The shifty guard can certainly drive to the basket, but he can also shoot—something the Eagles desperately need more of. He shot 34.9 percent from behind the arc last year and just over 50 percent from the field.
He’s also extremely confident in the Eagles’ squad. Despite BC landing in last place in the ACC preseason poll, Brown sees no reason why BC can’t compete.
“It’s a whole new team,” Brown said. “We have even higher expectations last year.”
The transition wasn’t totally seamless—while recovering from an injury, Brown had to learn how to play with and against players who were much stronger and more athletic than the competition he saw the past two years at UMBC.
“It was a big difference from my previous school, because guys are bigger here, more physically,” Brown said. “But I feel like I transitioned fine, and it wasn’t that hard of a transition for me personally.”
Joshua Beadle, a 6-foot-3 guard from Columbia, S.C., joins Brown in the backcourt. Beadle averaged 3.0 points last year in his redshirt-sophomore season for Clemson.
But Grant has known Beadle since the guard was in ninth grade and praised his character when discussing the reasons BC targeted the lefty in the portal.
Beadle may not be much of the threat from behind the arc—he shot 14.3 percent last season—but he’ll bring athleticism, defense, and toughness to the Eagles.
Luka Toews, a 6-foot-1 freshman from Tokyo, Japan, and Rodger McFarlane, round out the backcourt additions. Toews, a three-star point guard and two-time Class AAA All-NEPSAC selection as a junior and senior at the Newman School in Boston, will sit behind Kelley, Hand, Payne, and Brown on the depth chart but could see more minutes as the season progresses.
“Luka is a special point guard,” Grant said. “He’s older, he’s physical, he’s a winner.”
Toews, meanwhile, sees the abundance of guards on BC’s roster as a positive.
“If there’s a hole in the boat,” Toews said, “one of us can plug that hole.”
That also includes McFarlane, the 6-foot-4 graduate transfer from Southeastern Louisiana of the Southland Conference. The Fort Lauderdale, Fla., native averaged 14.8 points and 8.6 rebounds per game last season.
“I bring my greediness and toughness,” McFarlane said. “That’s something that Coach Grant, you know, that’s his coaching philosophy.”
The 215-pound guard also brings his two-way ability. A solid defender, McFarlane shot 34 percent from three last season but 40 percent from three two seasons ago.
Chad Venning joins McFarlane as another graduate transfer. Venning, a 6-foot-9, 270-lb center, spent the last two seasons at St. Bonaventure, where he earned 2023–24 All-Atlantic 10 honors after leading the Bonnies in scoring and blocked shots. He spent the first two years of his collegiate career at Morgan State.
Venning brings a different type of big man to BC’s offense. Post, an offensive-minded player and strong 3-point shooter who manned the Eagles’ center position for the past three seasons, played on the perimeter quite often. Venning, however, plays more in the paint and utilizes post-ups to score the majority of his points, something Grant is excited to explore.
“We’re more of a traditional big guy team,” Grant said of this year’s team. “Last year, obviously, with Quinten Post, he was a rare case. I had never coached a guy like that.”
Grant said he could deploy many four-guard sets this season, likely with Venning at the center and Hasting backing him up. Venning, who averaged 13.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks per game last year, is excited to show his abilities on both sides of the floor.
“I take as much pride on defense that I do on offense,” Venning said.
Venning should see many minutes as he replaces Post, sliding into the starting center spot.
Kany Tchanda, a freshman from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, will also back up Venning. The 6-foot-9 freshman will likely take on a similar role as Hastings did last year where he sees the floor sparingly, but Grant did say he doesn’t expect to redshirt anybody this year.
Outlook
Bergamini
It’s no secret BC lost talent to the portal—a lot of talent. As good as the Brown and Venning additions could pan out to be, I can’t picture a scenario where the Eagles reach their win total from last season of 20—their most wins since 2011.
But I also don’t think the Eagles will finish last in the ACC like the preseason poll predicts.
Opening night against The Citadel will tell us a lot about this group. I’m not ready to pencil in any non-conference game as a guaranteed win, such as Virginia Commonwealth, Temple, and Old Dominion. Dartmouth on Nov. 29 should be a chance for this group to show what they’ve learned over the course of the first few weeks before the Eagles take on SEC opponent South Carolina on Dec. 3.
While BC kicks off ACC play on Dec.7 against Wake Forest, it returns to non-conference play with games against Stonehill and Fairleigh Dickinson on Dec. 15 and Dec. 28, respectively—two games the Eagles need to take advantage of.
BC also has four games over winter break, one that includes Syracuse’s annual visit to Conte Forum. The Orange are facing BC on Saturday, Jan. 11, two days before classes are scheduled to start for students on the Heights.
The Eagles, however, take on Duke and ESPN No. 1-ranked college basketball player Cooper Flagg on Jan. 18 in Chestnut Hill in a highly anticipated game.
Other notable matchups include BC traveling to Chapel Hill to face North Carolina on Jan. 25, and then a West Coast trip a month later when the Eagles face the newest members of the ACC—Stanford and Cal—on Feb. 26 and March 1.
I expect the Eagles to be similar to Grant’s first year on the Heights, when BC finished 13–20 and won two ACC Tournament games. Grant won’t let his squad enter a total freefall, but with all the new pieces and loss of scoring, there will be growing pains—it’s just a matter of how many and how long they will last.
Pencil in a 13–18 record for the Eagles, 7–4 out of conference and 6–14 in conference.
Call it a reset year with the potential for some big wins and surprises. But overall, BC simply does not have enough scoring or shooting to win that many games this year.
“We just got to focus on the growth and getting better every day,” Grant said. “And let the chips fall where they may.”
Stefanoudakis
Last season, BC struggled with The Citadel in its second game of the season, counting on a 21-point performance on 8-of-12 shooting from Zackery to come away with a measly four-point win. The truth is, the Eagles should have won that game over the eventual 11–21 Bulldogs without the need for heroics from since-departed guard Zackery.
Whether Grant’s less talented new roster once again sinks to The Citadel’s level in its season-opener will serve as a pretty good indicator of this team’s starting point.
Seven of the Eagles’ 20 wins last season came after BC trailed by double digits, including games against Harvard and Notre Dame. The question of the hour is whether this new group will perpetuate BC’s pattern of slow starts and all-too-close games against teams it should probably beat handily. Or if, along with new faces, comes fresh energy and different patterns.
What will likely be BC’s most difficult matchup of the season is scheduled for right after the Eagles’ home crowd returns from winter break, when BC will take on No. 7 Duke on Jan.18. The Blue Devils handled BC with ease last season, but last time the two teams faced off in Chestnut Hill, BC fell by just one point.
A win over the potential 2025 NBA Draft No. 1 overall pick seems unlikely. But hey, miracles happen.
Predicting a 5–0 start doesn’t seem like a big stretch, as BC should be capable of knocking off teams such as VCU and Temple. But a potential game against High Point during the Cayman Islands Classic would be a real test.
Tough stretches of conference games—BC is in the ACC, after all—will put a damper on its record. The Eagles play Duke, Virginia, and North Carolina all in the span of one likely discouraging week in January.
I can see a 14–17 season with a few unexpected conference wins sprinkled in for an 8–12 ACC record and a 6–5 slate out of conference.
The goal for this season?
“Keep going,” Kelley said.
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