Jared Dudley was one of the most successful basketball players ever to come through the Heights, finishing his four-year career with 2,071 points - fifth on the school's all-time scoring list - and was the ACC Player of the Year in his senior season. During his time at BC, Dudley and the Eagles made the NCAA Tournament four times.
Suffice it to say, Dudley knows a thing or two.
Dudley worked out with the current group of players at Boston College in the summer and still follows the team whenever he can.
"I try to watch whenever I can," said Dudley, who was in town on Friday with the Phoenix Suns, his current team in the NBA, to play against the Boston Celtics. "Obviously they're not on TV as much as I'd like them to be, but I know they have a lot of freshman [and are] young, so looking for a bright future."
That bright future has arrived sooner than most (outside of Dave Shook) expected. BC is 7-11 overall but 2-2 in ACC play. Considering this team is chalked full of freshman, notching two conference wins this quickly is an accomplishment.
Dudley knows that, in the Atlantic Coast Conference, excellence is expected - and in particular, much more than just two conference wins. Yet it's a work in progress for Donahue and his young squad, and Dudley recognized that completely.
"He's going to be judged by these guys' junior or senior years," Dudley said. "Obviously coming in with a class that he didn't recruit and then taking over. They had a solid year when Reggie Jackson was here, even though they didn't make the tournament.
"But at BC, they have a high standard. Every year I was there, they made the tournament. After I left, Tyrese [Rice] was there, they made the tournament. So to be contending in the ACC and making the tournament should be the standard."
Dudley never played for Donahue, who took the reigns prior to last season, instead playing for the school's all-time winningest coach, Al Skinner. Dudley talked about the coaching change and what he thought led to the move.
"I think for one, when it comes to [Donahue's] personality, they wanted a guy more out there with alumni," he said. "Al Skinner is someone who, he would do that, but it's not something that was his niche. His niche was finding great assistant coaches, being a great player's coach, keeping everybody calm in the huddle and basically relying on what got us here and the preparation."
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