If you believe everything you read, and we at ESPN.com are advocates of the written word, then six weeks ago you believed Boston College was playing its way into the NIT, and senior guard Troy Bell was playing his way out of the NBA draft.

Unbelievable, huh?

	Troy Bell has averaged 30.2 points over the last 11 games.

Since the Eagles swooned to an 8-8 start (1-4 in Big East play), they have won nine of their last 10 games, including 92-84 over Villanova on Tuesday. They entered the final week of the regular season with a great shot at an NCAA Tournament bid, and a decent chance at first place in the conference's East division.

Read that last sentence again -- yes, it's true -- and then you'll be ready for something even chewier, like this: Troy Bell is playing as well as anyone in the country.

In the last 11 games before Tuesday, Bell averaged 30.2 points. He scored a season-high 38 against Villanova. He has scored at least 26 points in each of the past 13 games, and he is on pace to break the Big East's conference scoring record of 27.4 set in 1981-82 by Seton Hall's Dan Callandrillo. Before Tuesday, Bell was averaging 27.9.

Eagles coach Al Skinner said, "This is the best he's played since he's been at Boston College," and Bell had played pretty well for Boston College before this season.

As a freshman, Bell averaged 20.1 points in league play, breaking Allen Iverson's Big East freshman record. As a sophomore, Bell was a first-team All-American and the Big East's Co-Player of the Year (with Troy Murphy), and led the Eagles to 27 victories and the league championship. As a junior, Bell led the Big East in scoring at 21.6 points per game despite undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery on Oct. 31 and not missing a single game.

"He was just the best player on a good team," Skinner said of Bell's previous seasons. "He's clearly playing great basketball now. He's got his game together."

And the Eagles are coming along for the ride. Once thought not even to be a bubble team (not by us, surely), Boston College definitely doesn't look like a bubble team now -- it looks like a sure thing NCAA entrant. Even if the Eagles lose their final game, Saturday against Connecticut, they would take an 8-2 record over their final 10 games into the Big East tournament -- and that kind of strong finish will mean as much to the NCAA selection committee as the Eagles' RPI, which stands at a decent No. 46.

The Eagles' strong finish ought to be enough to overcome their weak start, which began with a 27-point loss to Saint Joseph's and then a loss to Holy Cross that dropped them to 1-2.

"We've stumbled a bit this season, losing games we shouldn't have," Skinner said. Boston College also lost to Kent State and Northeastern before righting itself, and guess who was manning the rudder? Mr. Bell, of course.

Bell's scoring spree has pushed his overall scoring average to 25.8, fourth in the country, and he also is contributing 3.9 assists and 2.3 steals. He leads the Big East in three-point proficiency (42.4 percent) and production (3.5 per game).

Bell's take on his awesome individual numbers?

"My only goal is to get into the NCAA Tournament," he said. "I just want to go out with a bang."

With his fourth point against Villanova, Bell moved into 50th place among all-time NCAA scorers. The new No. 51 will be Elgin Baylor.

If he scores 70 points over the final two games -- are you saying he won't? -- Bell would surpass Syracuse's Lawrence Moten as the all-time official leading scorer in Big East, which recognizes only conference games for the purposes of career records. Unofficially Bell already holds that distinction, his 2,497 points the most scored by any Big East player since the league formed in 1979.

Games of the Week

Temple at Xavier Saturday The Owls are playing their best basketball of the season. Here, they'll find out just good they really are. Connecticut at Boston College Saturday The winner could clinch the East division title as well as a pretty good seed in the NCAA Tournament. Duke at North Carolina Sunday The Tar Heels would clinch a spot in the NIT by winning this game. Duke would avoid losing to the Tar Heels by winning this game.

Blue Bonnies, Green Day
This has not been the season St. Bonaventure would have liked. The Bonnies woke up Monday morning with a 7-7 record in conference play, which wasn't what they were hoping for, and went to bed that night with it much worse. They were determined to be 1-13 instead, having been forced to forfeit six A-10 victories thanks to the recent discovery that junior college transfer Jamil Terrell hadn't been eligible, after all.

The Bonnies also have been barred from the Atlantic 10 tournament, meaning their season will end Saturday when they play host to Dayton.

It's a humble end to the outrageous individual season carved out by Bonnies junior guard Marques Green, surely one of the best players that most of America has never heard of.

St. Bonaventure has played just one game this season on a television station that broadcasts beyond the A-10's geographic footprint, meaning the good people of Arizona, Nevada, California, Wyoming, Texas ... have no idea how special a player Marques Green truly is.

Here's a hint:

He leads the A-10 in scoring (21.3) and assists (8.0), plus foul shooting (87.9 percent) and steals (2.6), plus three-pointers made (3.5). He is in the top 15 nationally in each of those categories except for scoring, where he ranks No. 27.

"Everyone in the A-10 knows his ability," says Bonnies coach Jan van Breda Kolff. "Outside the A-10 a lot of people probably aren't sure who Marques Green is. He's had a remarkable year. He's a great player, just one of those kids who gets better every day ... He's one of those coaches on the floor. We played him 40 minutes last game, and we generally only give him a minute's rest -- and that minute is usually about 30 seconds."

Green's season has caught even his coach by surprise. Last season, teamed with A-10 scoring leader J.R. Bremer (24.6 points per game), Green was able to float under the radar of opposing defenses for 15.4 points and six assists per game. With Bremer going to the NBA, van Breda Kolff went looking for another scoring guard to pair with Green, unsure how Green would handle being the focal point of opposing defenses. Van Breda Kolff's search on the recruiting trail didn't pan out, leaving Green to bear the brunt of defensive attention.

"J.R. scored so many points, and Marques scored some because everyone worried about J.R.," van Breda Kolff says. "For Marques to have the scoring output he has produced on a consistent basis is remarkable because teams do work hard at shutting him down. We try to encourage him to shoot more than he does, yet here he is second in the country in assists."

In the Bonnies' 94-89 victory last week against George Washington, Green scored his team's final nine points of regulation and 13 of 15 points in overtime. That's 22 of the Bonnies' final 24 points, and he had an assist on the other basket.

Green also is a psychology major who volunteers as a coach in the Police Athletic League back home in Pennsylvania.

Finally, and we're mentioning this last because obviously it hasn't hindered him in the least: At 5-foot-7, Green is the shortest player in the Atlantic 10.

Big deal.

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