After previously announcing he was leaving Providence College, Makai Ashton-Langford announced that he will be transferring to Boston College via his Twitter.  He will have to sit this upcoming season and will then have two years of eligibility remaining.

✍🏽 pic.twitter.com/E7rHivRjs3

— makai ashton (@makaiashton11) July 2, 2019

It’s really a shame that the current series between Boston College and Providence College just finished up this last season because it would have been a cool storyline for MAL to come back to Friartown to take on his former Coach and teammates.  I’m still holding out hope that they can sign another multi-year home-and-home series while MAL is still at BC.

Makai showed brief highlights of taking things to the next level but then followed them up with showings on the opposite end of the spectrum.  Inconsistency was the name of the game during Ashton-Langford’s two seasons in Providence.  That was the main concern with MAL’s game during his tenure with the Friars but the system that Ed Cooley plays also didn’t totally mesh with what Makai excels at as a player.

MAL is at his best in the open court where he can be creative with his finishes, push the pace, and play loose on the fly.  While the Friars looked great when they wanted to run, that isn’t really the philosophy of an Ed Cooley team.  In the half-court offense, Makai wasn’t able to attack as much as he probably wanted to.  Some of that had to do with the Friars and their poor outside shooting, which allowed defenses to pack the lane, which in turn, off-set Makai’s driving opportunities.  His poor outside shooting compounded the problems with him running the offense against a zone as well.  Makai shot 24.7% over two seasons from three.

Makai’s other shooting percentages weren’t much better either.  He shot 34.6% from the field and 65.2% from the free throw line this past season.  That is just flat out, not good enough.  The point guard position was up for grabs last season between David Duke, Maliek White, and MAL, each one showing signs that they were going to take it and then immediately showing signs that they weren’t.  Makai played 17.2 minutes per game, which is more than enough action to be able to prove yourself.  He ended up playing about 4 minutes per game more than last season yet somehow averaged half a point less.  It was a weird season for Makai to say the least.

I actually think a season where Makai gets to work on his game without any pressure or being able to play is a really good thing for him.  There is so much expectations put upon players coming out of high school with a certain ranking that is completely unrealistic.  There are only a handful of Freshman that have a major immediate impact on their team.  These days, everyone expects a Top-50 recruit to be a star right out of the gate.

I think Makai would have excelled at a mid-major, but I totally understand the want to be at a major program.  I actually think Boston College will be a good fit for MAL but the program has been in a free-fall since they fired Al Skinner for basically no good reason.  Jim Christian seems like a perfectly good dude, but he’s 62-100 over his five seasons at Boston College, winning an average of less than 4 conference games a year.  His finishes in the ACC have been 13th, 15th, 15th, 12th, and 11th.  That doesn’t seem to inspire confidence of any kind but of course the Eagles extended him through the 2021-2022 season.  I don’t really get that, but it makes Providence look better in comparison so I guess that’s cool.

Best of luck to Makai.  I will be rooting for him but not BC.  Sorry, but I just can’t do it.