A little more respect for BC men's hoops

The AP poll for Week 8 was released today, and the Eagles have now gained 17 votes.  This is up from 2 last week, and one the week before.  Those who cast their ballots for the Eagles are as follows:

Kevin MacNamara, Providence Journal (20)
Todd Rosiak, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (21)
John Feinstein, National Public Radio (23)
and Michael Rothstein, annarbor.com (23)

MacNamara ranked Boston College 24th on his ballot last week, and this week, he was joined by three more writers.  Right now, the trend is our friend.  Some more solid wins and the Eagles may be able to crack the rankings.  Of course, Gary Parrish of CBS Sports snuck the Eagles into his power rankings at #20.  Furthermore, as of two weeks ago, ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi, a man who makes a lot more than I do for something I wish I could do, had the Eagles safely in the field of 68 as an 8 seed.  This is part of a growing trend we are seeing lately of the Eagles getting some respect by the media.  It certainly isn't coming from all corners, however, as we do see the national beat writers who use BC's early surge in the standings (relative to the rest of the conference) as a sign of how bad the ACC is.  I would like to think that the Eagles are one of the bright spots in the conference so far, having won 9 out of 10 since the Yale disaster.

This "ranking" the Eagles have -- which is somewhere in the 30s -- makes them the second-highest rated ACC team by the AP.  Duke, of course, is number one, and North Carolina and Florida State are next behind with six votes a piece.  About the only thing it means is that Boston College is having a better than expected season, for which they deserve credit (oh yes, and that the rest of the ACC...not so good). 

In the coming week, BC will have road games against Rhode Island and South Carolina -- neither of whom are all that scary, but they're not roadkill either.  If the Eagles should come out of both games with wins to climb to 12-2 (1-0), I suspect the case for Boston College being in the rankings will get a little more steam.