In the lead up to the college hoops season, ESPN has set about the task of objectively ranking the most successful college basketball programs of the past half-century. The specifics of the ranking system the WWL came up with can be found here.
While Boston College hoops hasn't been a powerhouse program over the last 50 years, the Eagles did manage to crack ESPN's half-century rankings at no. 50, accumulating a total of 159 prestige points. Yet sadly behind DePaul and San Francisco.
Positives: The 1966-67 team coached by Bob Cousy posted a 23-point season, the highest season total for the school in our study. That season ended in the NCAA regional final, with one of the Eagles' three losses. BC won at least a share of six Big East titles before departing for the ACC.
Negatives: One of those teams with the dreaded "Best Program Never to Reach the Final Four" tag. In addition to zero Final Fours, zero consensus All-Americans. Went eight straight seasons (1986 to 1993) without making the NCAA tournament.
The Eagles' most successful period over this span was from 1962-69, where BC ranked 26th nationally and added 42 prestige points. From 2000-present, the Eagles added another 55 points but only tied for 48th nationally over that period. If not for the 1970s -- a decade where the program earned zero prestige points, ranked tied for 133rd nationally and finished the decade embroiled in a point shaving scandal -- Boston College may have finished higher on this list.
The 50 in 50 series is already down to #22, with fellow ACC programs N.C. State (43rd) and Maryland (27th) making the Top 50 list. Two more conference mates -- and a future one -- are bound to be listed among the top 20 in North Carolina, Duke and Syracuse.