Boston College "Crimson Red" After Stunning Loss to Harvard

If Boston College fans choose to scratch the date Jan. 7 off of their 2010 calendars, please bear with them.

For on the same day that football coach Jeff Jagodzinski was fired after interviewing for the vacant head coaching position with the New York Jets, the No. 17 ranked men’s basketball team lost at home to cross-town rival the Harvard Crimson.

Yes, that Harvard.

As in, Ivy-League-Barack-Obama-Pahk-Ya-Cah-in-Hahvahd-Yahd Harvard (for those of you unfamiliar with the Boston accent, allow me to translate: Park Your Car in Harvard Yard).

After pulling off arguably the upset of the year in college basketball by beating previously ranked No. 1 North Carolina in the Dean Dome, the Eagles are now left to ponder how quickly they went from hunter to the hunted.

There’s an old axiom in baseball that momentum is the next day’s starting pitcher.

Now, what counts for momentum in basketball, well, that’s up for debate, but against the Tar Heels, B.C. didn’t need Josh Beckett.

Instead, Tyrese Rice, Rakim Sanders, and Reggie Jackson managed just fine as the trio combined to score 64 points in the upset win.

Wednesday versus the Crimson, the Three Musketeers didn’t come close to matching their productivity from the previous game.

Instead, they managed only 30 points (Rice 14, Sanders 7, and Jackson 9), or less than half of what they produced against the Heels.

At the other end of the spectrum, Harvard junior guard Jeremy Lin torched B.C. for 27 points (on 11 for 16 shooting), eight assists, and six steals before fouling out.

Lin received help from teammates Andrew Vasur (13 points) and Oliver McNally (17 points) in notching Harvard’s first win over a Top 25 opponent in the school’s history.

The Crimson used hot shooting (50 percent from the field and 87 percent from the free throw line) to down B.C. while only turning the ball over 11 times.

B.C. used that same type of accuracy to defeat the Tar Heels, but against Harvard, they were anything but sizzling.

The Eagles connected on only 44 percent of their shots and 62.5 percent from the charity stripe. They were especially abysmal from beyond the arc draining only two of their 13 attempts.

What might have helped B.C. defeat UNC is exactly what hindered them against Harvard.

Youth.

Against the Tar Heels, the young Eagles, playing in one of the more difficult venues to win in the country, might not have realized just how big of a moment they were caught up in. That looseness allowed them to just play.

But if B.C. was looking past Harvard after reading too much of their press clippings, well, that’s a mistake that no team can afford. And in this case, it cost them.

For a team looking to return to the NCAA tournament after missing out last season, a home loss to an inferior opponent is the last thing they needed.  The selection committee will be sure to file this game in the “bad loss” category.

Boston College plays next against ACC foe Miami at home on Saturday.

While the Eagles might not know who’s on the mound for them that day, one thing is for sure.

He better bring his fastball.