Mt. Rushmore: Bill Curley

by Brian @ BCI on Feb 17, 2009 12:01 AM EST Comment 0 comments

We continue our profile of Boston College sports greats to arrive at our BC athletics make-believe Mt. Rushmore...

Name: Bill Curley
Born: May 1972 in Boston, MA
Sport: Men's Basketball
BC Era: 1991-1994

Standings: Bill Curley finished tied for 8th place with 11% of the fan vote. Tied with Tom O'Brien.

Why He's In

Highly sout after local recruit - a 1990 McDonald's All-American - that chose Boston College over Notre Dame, Duke, Villanova, North Carolina and Connecticut
Awarded the 1991 Big East Rookie of the Year Award after averaging 12.6 points per game his freshman year
Twice selected as a first team All-Big East during his junior and senior seasons
A four time team MVP, Curley led the Eagles on a sort of basketball renaissance in the early 1990s. His teams only got better year after year ... 11-19, 17-14, 18-13, and 23-11 his senior year (to his credit and something that didn't happen with four years of Troy Bell. Bell's teams seemed to peak his sophomore year.)
As a senior, led the Eagles to an Elight Eight appearance with victories over the nation's No. 1 North Carolina Tar Heels (75-72) and Bob Knight's Indiana Hoosiers (77-68) in the NCAA tournament
Selected to the National Association of Basketball Coaches All-American third team after his senior year
Finished his career as the program's second highest all-time scorer behind Dana Barros (2,102 points) ... both Troy Bell and Craig Smith would eclipse Barros' mark of 2,342 points
His coach, Jim O'Brien, called him "one of the best players ever at Boston College."
1994 BC Eagle of the Year Award
Inducted into the Boston College Varsity Club Hall of Fame on November 12, 2006

Maybe Not?

Led team to only one NCAA Tournament appearance his senior year ... over his sophomore and junior years, led the Eagles to a 3-2 record in the NIT
Doesn't hold any BC statistical records, and there certainly have been other, more accomplished BC hoops stars over the year (Bell, Smith, Dudley, Bagley, Austin)
1993-1994 wasn't the only time the Eagles made the Elight Eight in the NCAAs
Same reasons why a basketball star might not make Mt. Rushmore specified in Troy Bell's profile

X-Factor

Sports Illustrated cover boy: Take That, Tar Heels ... "But it was another senior, 6'9" center Bill Curley, who scored 10 of BC's final 11 points, spinning to the basket past Eric Montross and Rasheed Wallace. The game ended on a telling note: There was Wallace, a freshman who hadn't shot a three-pointer all year, trying to make a trey to tie the game against the Eagles, whose senior sharpshooters had wrung from that shot everything they could. Wallace's effort clanged off the rim." - Giant Killers, Sports Illustrated, March 28, 1994