It's been a glorious fall in Boston.

The Red Sox are celebrating their second world championship four years. The unbeaten Patriots are flirting with an historic NFL season. The Celtics are opening a new NBA season with more talent than at any time since Larry Bird retired. Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan is a Heisman Trophy contender and Jeff Jagodzinski's Eagles are making a run to earn a major bowl bid.

It looks like Al Skinner picked a good time to go into rebuilding mode.

The Boston College basketball team, so strong in the school's first two ACC seasons, has a chance to fly under the city's sports radar as Skinner tries to restructure the team after losing two of the linchpins of that early success. Both Jared Dudley, the 2007 ACC Player of the Year, and three-year starter Sean Marshall are gone, robbing the BC coach of two of his three main offensive weapons from last year's 21-12 NCAA team.

"We are going to be a young basketball team," Skinner said. "The sooner our young kids get together and understand each other, the better chance we have of having some success this season."

Junior Guard
Tyrese Rice

Skinner does have an experienced foundation upon which to build.

That starts with 6-1 junior point guard Tyrese Rice, who averaged 17.6 points and 5.4 assists last season as part of the Eagles' three-headed offensive monster. The Boston College coach acknowledges that his veteran point guard is the key to the season.

"I'm not sure if he's going to have to score more but he's definitely going to have to have the leadership and make sure he knows where the team is going, and what they're supposed to do," Skinner said. "He's got to have a much greater impact. He's got to be more vocal."

Rice is perfectly comfortable assuming that responsibility.

"I've never been a person to lack confidence," Rice said. "I definitely have to step it up a little bit, but I'm not going to pressure myself to score more points, I'm just going to try to get other people involved. When other people are scoring it makes it a lot easier for me to score."

But where will BC's scoring come from - other than from Rice?

Skinner's two seniors are both solid players, but neither has scored very much in the past. John Oates, a 6-10, 255-pound native of Harriman, N.Y., has started the last two seasons, but he averaged just 3.4 and 4.7 points a game, respectively, in those two seasons. He does have a surprisingly good shooting touch for such a big man and Skinner is hoping Oates will use it more this season.

But mainly, he's counting on Oates and 6-11 senior Tyrelle Blair, who averaged just 2.7 points a game as a top frontcourt sub last season, to anchor his defense. Blair, who transferred to BC from Loyola-Chicago blocked 62 shots last season (fifth in the ACC) despite averaging just 16 minutes a game.

"John and Tyrelle on the defensive end have some leadership, and I think that's real important for us," Skinner said. "If you're going to have a young team, this is a good way to have it. You've got leadership on the offensive end with your point guard, and you've got defensive leadership with your centers."

Still, that means that Skinner must find other scoring options to take the burden off Rice. That's where the youngsters come into play - especially sophomore forwards Shamari Spears and Tyler Roche and freshmen wings Rakim Sanders and Corey Raji. But don't overlook point guard Biko Paris, forward Cortney Drum and big man Josh Southern - three more freshmen who will get a long look.

"All those guys coming in, it's a puzzle and we're trying to put the pieces together," Skinner said. "I think we have some nice pieces to work with."

Sophomore Forward
Shamari Spears

The Boston College coach has made a career of blending unknowns or lightly regarded prospects into potent teams. His first ACC team featured power forward Craig Smith and Dudley, a powerful wing guard who had been overlooked as prep stars in California. Yet, they anchored a team that burst onto the ACC with 28 wins, including a third-place regular season finish and a spot in the ACC Tournament title game.

A year ago, with Smith gone, Dudley and Marshall teamed with the moderately recruited Rice to win 21 more games, finish tied for third in the league standings (one game out of first) and advance to the ACC Tournament semifinals.

Those teams relied heavily on size and experience. This will be a very different BC team.

"It's going to be a lot different," Rice said. "We're going to be more spread out, like when Troy Bell and Ryan Sidney [backcourt stars on a 27-win team that won the Big East title in 2001] were there - a lot more spread out, a lot more up and down."

Rice is willing to play the Troy Bell role as a high-scoring point. He won't guess who steps into Sidney's spot as the high-scoring wing guard.

"I'm pretty sure somebody's going to step up," he said. "That's pretty much the nature of our team. I'm not going to put too much pressure on myself to come out and score 25 points a night. That's not something I'd do. I'm going to have to get somebody else involved to score points."

Rice understands that with all the unanswered questions about the youngsters, outsiders will look on Boston College with some skepticism. But that doesn't bother him.

"I think we can make it in the [NCAA] tourney," Rice said. "I think any 20-win team can get in the tournament in this conference and I think we can do that. I think we're going to shock some people in the ACC."

After everything else that's gone on in Boston this fall, a surprisingly successful season for the Boston College basketball team would fit right in.

STRENGTHS: Tyrese Rice on offense and the big-man tandem of John Oates and Tyrelle Blair on defense. Rice is one of the most explosive offensive players in the ACC and a good pre-season candidate to lead the league in scoring. Blair could lead the league in blocked shots if he can earn significant playing time, while Oates has a big body and is not afraid to use it down low.

CONCERNS: Lack of scoring options down low. The Eagles are depending on at least a couple of freshmen to step in and make a big impact.

NEWCOMER TO WATCH: A toss-up between 6-4 Rakim Sanders from Pawtucket, R.I., and 6-5 Corey Raji from Washington Township, N.J. Sanders is a heralded perimeter shooter, while Raji is a spectacular athlete who attacks the basket.

EARLY TESTS: The Eagles travel to Michigan on Nov. 28 for the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, then three nights later return home to renew a strong regional rivalry with Providence. UMass and Northeastern, two more regional rivals, visit BC on Dec. 12 and Dec. 22, respectively. Just before the ACC season starts in earnest, the Eagles test themselves against Kansas at home on Jan. 5.

Player Notes
Tyrese Rice started all 33 games as a sophomore and earned second team All-ACC honors after averaging 17.6 points, 5.4 assists and 3.4 rebounds ... averaged 24.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists in the Eagles’ two NCAA Tournament games ... ranked second in the ACC in minutes played (36.6), fourth in assists, sixth in scoring and sixth in free throw percentage (.795) ... scored 10 or more points in all but three games a year ago, including 13 games with 20 or more points.

Shamari Spears played in 31 games as a freshman in 2006-07 ... team’s leading returning rebounder (4.6) ... made 13 starts, averaging 21.6 minutes and 7.1 points per outing ... shot .554 from the floor and .750 from the free throw line ... fifth among all ACC freshmen in offensive rebounds per game (2.0) ... had two double-doubles and three games with 10 or more rebounds. John Oates played in and started 31 games as a junior in 2006-07, missing two games with a foot injury ... averaged 4.7 points and 3.7 rebounds per game ... scored in double figures five times ... has started 67 games the past two years ... has made 40-of-127 three-point field goal attempts in his career.

Tyrelle Blair averaged 2.7 points, 2.9 rebounds in 30 games ... finished fifth in the ACC with 2.1 blocked shots per game ... blocked four or more shots in each of seven games ... had six blocked shots three times in 2006-07.

Tyler Roche started the last six games of the season ... averaged 1.7 points, 1.7 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game as a freshman.