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 78 is Boston College 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 College basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 0
- Final Fours: 0
- Elite Eights: 3
- Sweet 16s: 9
- NCAA wins: 22
- Bids: 18
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 15.2
- Bids per season: 0.22
- AP Polls: 110
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 3
- NBA players drafted & played: 22
- Conference Players of the Year: 4
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 6
- Conference tournament titles: 2
- NIT titles: 0
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on Boston College basketball
People following college basketball in today’s era may think of Boston College as nothing other than the program all of the ACC schools beat up on. After all, they’ve had just three winning records in the last 17 seasons. But the Eagles have had some great runs in their program’s history.
BC didn’t even go Division I until 1945, which is a bit of a surprise for a somewhat notable and historic athletics program. They first achieved national success as NBA legend Bob Cousy coached them from 1963-69. Cousy’s last five seasons would all be winning records, leading BC to the big dance in 1967 and 1968. In ’67, they reached the Elite 8.
Cousy would start a string of some notable head coaches for the program, including Chuck Daly, Tom Davis, Gary Williams, and Jim O’Brien. Davis and Williams really started bringing consistent success, right about when BC was a founding member of the Big East in 1979. Davis would lead the Eagles to the Sweet 16 in 1981 and the Elite 8 in 1982. Williams took them back to the Sweet 16 in 1983 and again in 1985. The start of O’Brien’s tenure was rocky, but he, too, would take them to an Elite 8 in 1994 and the round of 32 in 1996 and 1997. Boston College was really always just one step away from the Tier 1A programs.
In the early 2000s, head coach Al Skinner really got the most out of the Eagles, with seven NCAA Tournaments between 2001 and 2009. Most of his teams got knocked out in the first weekend, except for another Sweet 16 in 2006. The 2009 tournament appearance is the most recent in BC’s history, with everything going downhill from there.
A big part of Boston College’s success was thanks to producing some solid NBA talent, even a little bit after their current downfall. Players like Dana Barros, Howard Eisley, Jared Dudley, and Reggie Jackson all repped BC jerseys in college. Troy Bell was also a Consensus All-American in 2001 and 2003 and one of the top players in Big East history.
But the biggest reason BC fell off was arguably their move to the ACC in 2005. They had become a consistent program in the Big East, even during its heyday in the 1980s and early 2000s. In fact, with six Big East regular season championships, Boston College basketball still has more than Seton Hall and Providence, who have been in the conference for nearly twice as long. Unfortunately, life in the ACC has been the opposite. With an overall winning percentage of .453, Boston College is statistically the worst program to ever compete in ACC hoops.
Obviously, it has taken a turn for the worse at Chestnut Hill, MA, but BC still has a lot of history to hang its hat on and hopes to one day bounce back.