BCL Playoff Preview

<p>The historic BCL Playoffs tip off on Wednesday evening in what should be another exciting five days of action until a champion is crowned. Last year offered plenty of drama as St. Maria Goretti had St. Frances on the ropes only until VCU commit Ace Baldwin drilled a fade away three from the left wing as time expired to capture the victory. This year St. Frances holds the top seed and looks to add to what has already been an historic season as shown by their no. 6 national ranking.</p> <p>Here is how the schedule pans out:</p> <p>Quarterfinals (Wednesday 2/26/20 @ 7pm)</p> <p><strong>#1 St. Frances vs #8 Calvert Hall</strong></p> <p><strong>#2 Mt. St. Joe vs #7 Goretti</strong></p> <p><strong>#3 Spalding vs #6 Mt. Carmel</strong></p> <p><strong>#4 John Carroll vs #5 Loyola</strong></p> <p><strong>Semis (Friday 2/28/20 @ 5pm, 7pm @ Loyola University of Maryland)</strong></p> <p><strong>Finals (Sunday 3/1/20 @ 1pm @ Loyola University of Maryland)</strong></p> <p>Quarterfinal Preview:</p> <p><strong>#1 St. Frances vs #8 Calvert Hall</strong></p> <p>There's not much to say about this match up. St. Frances is a nationally talented team while Calvert Hall is made up of extremely young players led by a few freshman. The Panthers should easily win this game. VCU commit Ace Baldwin is a magician and South Alabama commit is a one-man wrecking crew. Those two alone are simply too much for the young Cardinals.</p> <p><strong>#2 Mt. St. Joe vs #7 Goretti</strong></p> <p>The Gaels are coming off their most impressive performance of the year as they controlled the MIAA A Conference Championship game against St. Frances from start to finish. 20 <a href="https://prephoops.com/player/jason-edokpayi/">Jason Edokpayi</a> continues his onslaught while the trio of guards including '20 <a href="https://prephoops.com/player/tyler-brelsford/">Tyler Brelsford</a>, '21 <a href="https://prephoops.com/player/ausar-crawley/">Ausar Crawley</a> and '21 D'Angelo Stines each played huge roles in sealing the victory. Goretti has the experience and talent to make this match up interesting, but if the Gaels are motivated to make it a MIAA/BCL sweep, they won't have issues with this one.</p> <p><strong>#3 Spalding vs #6 Mount Carmel</strong></p> <p>Spalding is looking to avenge their semifinal loss to Mt. St. Joe in the MIAA Playoffs, but first they must get by a tricky Mt. Carmel squad. Mt. Carmel dismantled the Cavaliers late in the regular season, but Spalding was without the services of Cam Whitmore or <a href="https://prephoops.com/player/cj-scott/"><a href="https://prephoops.com/player/cj-scott/">CJ Scott</a></a>. This time around will be very different as Spalding started to hit their stride. They'll have a chance to set up a semifinal match up with Mt. St. Joe once again if these games go chalk.</p> <p><strong>#4 John Carroll vs #5 Loyola</strong></p> <p>In playoff games, home court advantage can hold huge weight, but the Patriots dropped their regular season finale at home against Loyola a couple of weeks back by a final of 76-70. Loyola has senior leadership that can battle through all that comes with being the visiting team. For John Carroll, they look to avenge that loss and get another shot at top-ranked St. Frances in the semifinals. It'll come down between which team shoots the ball better in this excited #4/#5 match up.</p>