Weekend Roundup: Jackson Officially Gone For NBA
May 10, 2011
By Greg Joyce
As expected, Boston College junior Reggie Jackson is keeping his name in the NBA draft, and will forego his senior season on the Heights. The guard had declared for the draft in April, but did not hire an agent, allowing him the chance to withdraw before the May 8 deadline. Now Jackson is committed to the NBA, and has been predicted to get selected anywhere from a lottery pick to a late first-round draft pick. In what many are calling a weak draft class, ESPN’s Chad Ford has Jackson going at some point between picks nine and 19. BC’s leading scorer in the 2010-2011 season finished his career with 1,254 points in 99 games, and left with this final statement:
“I just want to thank BC, the coaching staff and administration for all their help and support throughout my three years here, but I have decided to stay in the draft and forego my senior season. The NBA has always been a dream of mine and it is one I wish to pursue. I am truly blessed to have attended and played for such a prestigious university. I would like to say thank you to all the BC fans for all the support and, though I have decided to leave school early, I will always be a BC Eagle.”
The moves leaves head coach Steve Donahue with a young squad in the 2011-2012 season. The only players who will be returning with experience under Donahue will be Gabe Moton and Danny Rubin. There is also Matt Humphrey, who sat out last year after transferring from Oregon. There has not yet been an announcement on whether John Cahill will be returning for one more season as a 5th year player. This means that Donahue will be looking at the seven incoming freshmen to contribute a heavy amount of minutes in their first season at the college level. Due to Jackson’s departure, there will also be an open scholarship that Donahue could possibly use on a transfer or a player who de-commits from another team late in the process.
Lacrosse Makes History
On Sunday night, the BC women’s lacrosse team (12-6) received the news that they had been waiting to hear all season: for the first time in the program’s history, they are headed to the NCAA tournament. The Eagles secured one of eight at-large bids in the field of 16, and will travel to Evanston, Ill. to face No. 2 Northwestern (17-2) for a 4:00 p.m. game on Saturday, May 14. BC is no stranger to facing tough competition, having taken on five of the tournament teams during the regular season. Although the Eagles went 1-4 against those teams, the lone win coming against Virginia, they will look to change their luck against top teams starting Saturday.
Speer Picks Up ACC Softball Honors
Freshman Tory Speer was named the ACC player of the week, after she continued her breakout season on Thursday against Boston University. Speer went 3-for-3 in the game, hitting two home runs and driving in a career-high seven runs in the Eagles’ 10-3 victory over the Terriers. This is the second time this season that Speer has been named player of the week.
Speer has hit 11 home runs on the year, topping the record for home runs by a freshman that had stood at nine before she broke it on Thursday.
The Eagles will be looking for Speer to continue her amazing freshman campaign when they begin the ACC tournament on Friday afternoon against North Carolina.
Baseball Swept At Wake Forest
The baseball team (16-29, 7-19 ACC) traveled to Winston-Salem, N.C. this past weekend, and despite having early leads in two of the three games, BC suffered a sweep at the hands of Wake Forest (20-26, 10-14). The Eagles lost the games by scores of 2-1 (10 innings), 15-5, and 4-3.
Getting swept puts the Eagles in a tough spot in terms of having any hope of making the ACC tournament. BC is now tenth overall in the league, and only the top eight teams qualify for the tournament. In order to reach the tournament, the Eagles must sweep NC State next weekend, while hoping that Wake Forest loses its six remaining ACC games and that Virginia Tech loses at least five of its last six ACC contests.
