Boston College Basketball: Can Deontae Hawkins make the Eagles relevant?
Boston College landed a major commitment from grad transfer Deontae Hawkins. Can the talented forward bring the Eagles out of the ACC basement?
Deontae Hawkins is a 6’8″ power forward who will be playing his final year of eligibility at Boston College. Hawkins played his first three seasons at Illinois State and earned second team All-MVC honors as a junior. The skilled stretch-four led Illinois State in both scoring (14.5 ppg) and rebounding (6.5 rpg) last season.
Hawkins is an excellent shooter who also possesses a diverse offense skillset. He made 70 3-pointers at a 44.3% clip, but can also score with his back to the basket and face up from the high post. Grabbing a player of Hawkins’ caliber in mid-August is very rare and he will instantly be the best player in Boston College’s frontcourt and by an enormous margin.
Boston College’s frontcourt is their main weakness. Even with Hawkins, the Eagles have one of the worst frontcourts of the high-major teams. The frontcourt consists of young players who were not heavily recruited and have not been productive in the early portion of their careers.
In terms of recruiting rankings, Boston College did not have a single frontcourt player rank in the top 340 of the 247 recruiting rankings. 6’11″ sophomore Nik Popovic is the only returning frontcourt player who was in the rotation last season and he should start next to Hawkins, but there is no reliable depth behind them.
Ervins Meznieks and Mike Sagay will compete for minutes behind Hawkins, but they only played 108 combined minutes last season. Sophomore center Johncarlos Reyes looks to be Popovic’s main backup, but Reyes only averaged 1.6 ppg and 1.1 rpg. Freshmen bigs Luka Kraljevic, Vin Baker Jr, and Steffon Mitchell were totally off the radar and do not even have a star rating in the 247 database.
A frontcourt player of Hawkins’ caliber is a breath of fresh air for the Eagles and he will play as many minutes as he can handle. For the Eagles to climb the ACC standings, they will need multiple frontcourt players to have breakout seasons and become reliable contributors.
Boston College’s backcourt is actually very strong, but there is a lack of depth. One reason for the lack of backcourt depth is that so many roster spots are taken up by frontcourt players.
The second reason for the lack of backcourt depth is that it will be very difficult for guards to take minutes away from Kyran Bowman and Jerome Robinson. There is no incentive for a recruit to join a bottom feeder if they are not going to receive major minutes.
Bowman and Robinson are two of the best guards in the ACC and, with Hawkins in the fold, the Eagles are starting to build a solid roster. Bowman proved to be one of the most underrated freshmen by recruiting services. The 6’1″ guard averaged 14.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 2.9 apg and shot 44.9% from three as a freshman.
Robinson had a breakout sophomore season where he averaged 18.7 ppg, 3.9 rpg, and 3.4 apg. The 6’5″ guard also hit 54 threes at a 33.3% clip and should start appearing on NBA mock drafts. 6’5″ sharp shooter Jordan Chatman rounds out the perimeter starters. Chatman was third on the team in scoring at 8.6 per game and hit 41.7% of his threes.
Boston College should be an elite three-point shooting team since four of their starters (Bowman, Robinson, Chatman, and Hawkins) are excellent shooters. Hawkins will be a vital piece to this team because he can also score with his back to the basket. If he is established in the post and not solely used as a spot up shooter, Hawkins could match his production from Illinois State.
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Scoring will not be a problem for the Eagles, but the previously mentioned lack of capable frontcourt players and lack of depth will hinder Boston College. If one of the starters suffers a major injury, it will be an absolute disaster for the Eagles with their lack of depth.
Boston College will be much better than they were last season but are still way behind the teams in the middle of the ACC. Another 14th or 15th place finish seems likely unless multiple frontcourt players take massive steps forward.