Last year, the freshmen on everyone’s minds were Gerry McNamara, Billy Edelin and Carmelo Anthony. This year, Jared Dudley, Steve Hailey and Sean Marshall are trying to live up to their national-champion predecessors.

The Boston College freshman trio has been cementing itself as one of the best in the Big East, leading the Eagles to close games with tough conference opponents like Connecticut and Pittsburgh. The three freshmen have a combined .427 field goal percentage, and each start for the Eagles on a regular basis.

‘They’re obviously having a big impact,’ BC head coach Al Skinner said. ‘The reason we’re having the success we’re having is because of our freshmen.’

The freshman standing out most, though, is Dudley, who went to Chestnut Hill, Mass. from San Diego. He leads Big East freshmen in scoring, is second in rebounding and third in steals. He posted an impressive double-double against then-No. 12 St. Joseph’s.

‘I didn’t think I’d be one of the best freshmen in the conference,’ Dudley said. ‘I thought I could come in and contribute, be the sixth or seventh man coming off the bench. I didn’t expect it to be like this.’

When his shooting game is off, like it was against UConn when he went 2 of 10 from the field, Dudley made up for it in other areas. Dudley grabbed seven rebounds from the likes of UConn’s Josh Boone, Charlie Villanueva and Emeka Okafor.

Many find it hard to believe that BC is able to compete after the graduation of Troy Bell, who won Big East Player of the Year honors in the 2002-2003 season. Dudley says the Eagles have been able to stay tough by playing their hardest in every game, but sometimes they fall short.

‘When you play a team like UConn or Pitt you have to play your best 40 minutes,’ Dudley said, ‘and we only played about 38.’

Though 38 minutes wasn’t enough for a win over Connecticut, it was enough to earn the young Eagles squad some respect in the Big East. The Huskies, who were able to beat defending national champion Syracuse by 28 points, beat the Eagles by only five (63-58).

Connecticut head coach Jim Calhoun has been impressed from what he has seen from Dudley.

‘I think that Dudley is really coming into his own and he’s a terrific addition for Al (Skinner),’ Calhoun said. ‘I think Al has done a tremendous job with the loss of Troy Bell and all the people in his program.’

It is obvious that the Eagles will make their claims at a Big East title in the years to come. Dudley never expected to start when he came to BC and is now making progress as its starting forward, but owes his success to all the players on the team.

‘The success I have on the court is due to my teammates, seeing how hard they work in practice,’ Dudley said. ‘When going against guys like Craig (Smith) and Uka (Agbai) in practice, you don’t get a lot of easy looks.’

Dudley thinks the Eagles should win their next nine games, but realizes that the 2003-2004 season will be a year for Dudley, Hailey and Marshall to build some chemistry with one another.

‘They’re definitely cool,’ Dudley said of Hailey and Marshall. ‘Sean likes to shoot the ball a lot more from outside and Steve likes to penetrate. I really like both of their games, and I think that we’re gonna be real good come later years.’

‘I think we’ve gone through all the bumps. We’ve taken teams like Pitt and UConn down to the wire, and the next time we play these guys it’s gonna be a different ballgame.’

Providence rollercoaster

Despite upsetting No. 5 Connecticut last week, the No. 23 Providence Friars fell to Seton Hall, 55-46, on Sunday at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence.

The loss gives the Friars four losses on the season, and now they’re third in the Big East. Providence previously lost to Texas, Rutgers and Rhode Island.

Guard Donnie McGrath was held to 1-of-7 shooting and missed all four attempts he made behind the three-point arc. Ryan Gomes hit 11 of 22 shots.

As a team, the Friars shot only 31 percent.

Providence will face Virginia Tech tonight in Blacksburg, Va., and Syracuse on Saturday in Providence.

Wooden Award

With six candidates, the Big East Conference has more mid-season candidates for the John R. Wooden Award than any other conference in the NCAA.

Andre Barrett of Seton Hall, Ryan Gomes of Providence, Ben Gordon of

Connecticut, Emeka Okafor of Connecticut, Julius Page of Pittsburgh and Hakim Warrick of Syracuse were the six Big East members that made the prestigious list of 30.

The Wooden Award is given to the most valuable player in college basketball. Last year, T.J. Ford of Texas won the award.

This and that

Big East teams have a .774 winning percentage against non-league opponents this year. … St. John’s still remains winless in the Big East after a loss Wednesday to West Virginia. … Notre Dame junior Chris Thomas needs seven assists to become the Fighting Irish’s overall career assists leader (David Rivers, 586). … Miami head coach Perry Clark needs one more win to reach 250 wins in his career.

Published on February 3, 2004 at 12:00 pm