Boston College basketball fans are eager for something to get excited about.
Over the past decade, an interesting trend has emerged in Boston College’s basketball recruiting. Al Skinner, Steve Donahue and Jim Christian all peaked early in recruiting before falling off in that area in the ensuing years.
In 2011, the Eagles ranked No. 50 in 247Sports’ composite team recruiting rankings. It marked just the second time in the last 10 recruiting cycles that BC cracked the top 50. The other was 2008, when Skinner was still in Chestnut Hill.
In Donahue’s second full class of 2012, the Eagles dipped to No. 69 nationally. The following year, they slipped even further, to No. 96, before bottoming out under Donahue at No. 127 in 2014.
Christian arrived at BC in the spring of 2014. As was the case with Donahue, Christian would do his best recruiting work with the Eagles in that first full cycle. Ironically, most of the talent from the 2015 class has transferred out of the BC program.
After slipping from No. 69 in Christian’s first full cycle of 2015 to No. 83 in 2016, the Eagles plummetted down to No. 177 in their latest signing class. That forced Christian to add multiple under-the-radar spring signees. Vin Baker Jr., Steffon Mitchell and Avery Wilson provide the Eagles enough bodies for next season; however, they don’t necessarily address the program’s lack of elite talent relative to the rest of the ACC.
The Eagles seem to be dealing with a snowball effect. Early recruiting momentum has been stunted by poor performance on the court. For Christian to reverse this trend, the Eagles have to show significant improvement this coming season.