Pennsylvania at Boston College

Ah, the most bumblin, stumblin team in the tournament. Ok, so West Virginia made that W over BC look respectable for the Eagles with their performance in the rest of the Big East. Penn is a good team here though, winning 16 of their last 17 games. BC is a sucker bet. The only person who is still buying into the Big East in Digger Phelps. This is an overrated conference, and it will exposed over the next two weeks. Boston College is not in a good state right now having lost four of its final eight games to end the season including a quarterfinal loss against West Virginia in the Big East Tournament. After starting 20-0 and getting up as high as fourth in the country, the Eagles picked the worst time to fall into their slump. The Quakers meanwhile finished up just the opposite, winning 16 of their last 17 games and are definitely a better team that what started the season. Huge losses to Wisconsin and Providence hurt the confidence early on but a steady improvement vaulted Penn to another Ivy League title going away. The competition of these two teams don’t compare as Boston College definitely played the more difficult schedule but the significant winning streak of Penn more than makes up for it as confidence and momentum can play just as big of a role. Only two of its final seven wins was decided by less than double digits. The Quakers ended the season hitting 50.2 percent of their shots so the offense was a big improvement down the stretch. Boston College is the only #4 seeded team to be laying less than 10 points and it’s for good reason. The Eagles were a good story with their start to the season but the amounts of close games won finally caught up to them. An outright upset is not out of the question. Two stars on Penn here and the points.