Put away the panic button...

Tyrelle Blair may be the answer to preserving BC's defense. Why? Until this week when he played 24 minutes against Duke and 25 minutes against Hartford last night, Blair was seeing less than 10 minutes of PT a game. Still, he averages only 12.2 minutes, but, that's not why this matters. It's because of his stat line from the last two games.

01/28	vs. Duke	L 61-75	25	3-3	0-0	3-7	3	3	6	0	3	4	1	1	9
01/31	vs. Hartford	W 94-60	24	1-2	0-0	4-6	1	6	7	1	3	6	0	2	6

A little down the way you'll see a "4" against the Devils and a "6" against Hartford. Those are blocks. Blair actually averaged 1.2 a game BEFORE last weekend's spike in minutes. Tyrelle looks like Sean Williams did a few years ago, when he was a foul problem with minimal offense. It's not like Blair really took the shots, though, a total of 15 points for those two games. Half of them were from the free throw line, and the field goals he attempted he were the last option.

Why does all this matter? Because it means that maybe BC doesn't have to change it's game plan as much as they thought. Skinner needs to recognize this fast and get Oates off the court sooner, because sometimes it feels like the Eagles are only four-strong when the Quaker is out there.

I don't believe that the team needs Blair to post the near double-double average that Williams had to be successful. It's that he can become enough of a non-blocking presence in the lane to force play out to the 1 and 2 of the offense, forcing bad long range shots and Rice/Haynes/Marshall in their face. That's how this team will go far.

My starting line-up?
1 - Rice
2 - Marshall
3 - Dudley
4 - Spears
5 - BLAIR

Goodbye Oates. Or Hello NIT.