WRAL Sports Fan

College Basketball

Skinner wants lower scoring, more efficient Tyrese Rice

By Ryan Craig

Oct 26, 2008

In this day and age of undergraduate players “testing the waters” to see where their NBA draft stock stands at the conclusion of the season, it’s often surprising when the ACC’s best players are around for more than one season, much less four. One such player that never even considered the move was Boston College superstar Tyrese Rice.

"I feel like I would have been bailing out on my team, Rice admitted. " A 14-17 mark - I look back at the great Boston College players, Troy Bell won 28 games in his last year, Craig Smith won 28 games in his last year, Jared Dudley won 24 games in his last year, and if I was a guy that left with 14 wins I didn't feel like my legacy would be as great as theirs."

Normally, when a player averages more than 20 points per game on his way to a first-team All-ACC season, a jump to the NBA is seen as possible, perhaps even probable.

Instead, Rice has decided to return to Chestnut Hill for his senior season, one in which his coach might actually ask him to score fewer points.

"If we're going to actually be a better team, his scoring average is probably going to go down a little bit, but his shooting percentage needs to improve and his assists need to go up." head coach Al Skinner said.

According to the team’s star player, the feeling was mutual.

"He wants me to get everybody involved, he wants me to defend better, and he wants me to be more efficient with my game," Rice said. "When I had a talk with him, I actually mentioned that to him, and he said 'I couldn't have said it better myself.' It was something we came to an agreement on."

Part of the reason the Eagles will need to improve on their offensive efficiency is because the squad will not have the interior defense that it’s come to rely on in the recent past.

Shot blocking has become a trademark of the last few Eagles teams, something Boston College won’t have after losing Shaun Williams, All-ACC Defensive team member Tyrelle Blair, and others, over the course of the last few seasons.

"We won't have the interior shot blocking that we've had over the last couple of years," Skinner admitted. "Our perimeter defense has to improve. We have to be more coordinated...the game will change a bit for us that way defensively."

Tyrese Rice and the fans of Skinner's program hope it's a change for the better, so that arguably the school's greatest guard can go out with the kind of legacy he is looking for.

2008 season: 14-17 overall, 4-12 in ACC

Key losses: John Oates (4.3 points, 3.4 rebounds per game), Tyrelle Blair (5 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.4 blocks per game - ACC All-Defensive Team), Shamari Spears (9.6 points, 6.1 rebounds per game)

Returning starters: Tyrese Rice (21 points, 5 assists, All-ACC first team), Rakim Sanders (11.3 points, 4.6 rebounds per game), Tyler Roche (3.8 points, 1.9 rebounds per game)

Key stat: Tyrese Rice has played 3,101 minutes in 99 career games for the Eagles.

Mike Maniscalco of The Fan says: The Eagles might have the best point guard in the ACC or the nation in senior Tyrese Rice. The 6-foot-1 floor leader does everything for the Eagles but the problem is he doesn’t have much help. The Eagles will not be challenged at all in non-conference play, with the toughest scheduled opponent being Iowa from the ACC/Big Ten challenge. This team might have a great paper record before the ACC schedule kicks in. If Boston College develops some complementary scoring to Rice, they could be that sleeper team in the ACC. But without any experienced size, this team needs to score from the wings - a big reason why the team is picked to finish next to the bottom. The guard play will be a good enough on most nights to keep the team competitive in the ACC, but not good enough to win.