The college basketball offseason is here, and we decided to have some fun over the next few months, ranking ALL 364 teams in D1. Number 239 is Boston University basketball.
Before you say we’re crazy – or that all of this is up for debate, let’s go over the very intricate process of how we came to this conclusion. We took a very statistical approach – with the help of Chat GPT – taking into consideration everything from March Madness wins and finishes, to AP Poll appearances, to conference players of the year. And then, a good friend of ours, Scott Blanchard, took our approach to the MAX.
Click here to visit the FIRST article, which explains how the formula works!
Here’s the breakdown of Boston University basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 0
- Final Fours: 0
- Elite Eights: 1
- Sweet 16s: 1
- NCAA wins: 2
- Bids: 7
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 12.1
- Bids per season: 0.07
- AP Polls: 0
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 0
- NBA players drafted & played: 4
- Conference Players of the Year: 6
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 8
- Conference tournament titles: 7
- NIT titles: 0
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on Boston University basketball
Boston University basketball celebrated 100 seasons in Division I this past year in a big way – upsetting Navy in the Patriot League Tournament semifinals! Unfortunately, the Terriers couldn’t get past Lehigh in the finals.
BU has been to a solid number of tourneys – seven total spread out over decades of hoops. The first came in 1959 as the Terriers would go on to take down UConn and Navy, before falling in the Elite 8 by four points to West Virginia. Funny enough, one player on that BU team was named Bill Gates – no relation as far as we know!
It would be a bit of a one-hit wonder until Rick Pitino came to town as one of his first head coaching jobs. Pitino excelled, going 91-51 in five seasons, taking the Terriers to the NCAA Tournament in 1983.
While Pitino would move on and create one of the best careers in college hoops coaching history, BU would soon hire Mike Jarvis. Jarvis also stayed just five seasons, but did a great job, going 101-51 with two trips to March Madness.
In 1994, the Terriers finally found a coaching lifer. Dennis Wolff held the position for 15 seasons, going 247-197 with two NCAA Tournament bids and five America East regular season championships.
Since Wolff, the Terriers have only made the NCAA Tournament once in 2011. Patrick Chambers was the coach, but it would be his second and final season in town. Joe Jones was hired in the 2011 offseason and has been the coach ever since. He’s led BU to a 251-224 record, but with just one Patriot League regular season title. The Terriers did win the conference tourney title in 2020, but COVID ruined their chance of playing in March Madness.
It’s clear that the coaching history at Boston University is outstanding, but other than Wolff and Jones, coaches have gone in and out and haven’t been able to build something lasting with the Terriers. Still, BU has had many outstanding seasons, great players, and a worthy program to be ranked inside the top 240 all-time!