BC has won 19 straight home games dating back to last year. The last home loss was on February 14, 2003 against Providence, 61-52. They are in the top-10 and look to be a #2 or possibly even a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. This is a hot team. In fact the last time they were this hot and a big deal, was in January 2002.
Boston College at the beginning of that January was ranked #11 in the country, led by Troy Bell. They had won 25 straight home games.
An unranked Pitt team came to town on January 5, 2002. The previous March, in the Big East Tournament, BC finished a depleted and exhausted Panther team in the championship game, 79-57.
Pitt won the game 77-74. A huge win for Pitt. The following week, Pitt was ranked (#23 in the AP, #25 in the Coaches) for the first time since December 28, 1998. Pitt hasn’t been missing from the rankings too much since.
Tune in to ESPN Classic on Monday at 1pm to see this game with Brandin Knight, Ontario Lett, Danatas Zavackas, Jaron Brown and Julius Page. Will there be a similar story that night?