DeFilippo laid out the changes he wanted to see in the program.
“I think there’s a lot of aspects,” DeFilippo said. “Recruiting is one, marketing and promotion is one, seats in the stadium is one. Do our players play hard, do they identify with the BC community? Those are all things that I took a look at when I was evaluating the program.”
That was 16 years ago.
Nearly two decades later, BC still has many of the same issues and the gap between the Eagles and their ACC peers is as large as it has ever been. In a conference that’s expanded from 12 teams in 2010 to 18 now, every team in the ACC has earned at least one tournament bid since 2010 — except BC.
More than four full recruiting classes, three coaching staffs, and five ADs directors have cycled through since the last time the Eagles were a tournament team. Larger than that, an entire generation has no firsthand recollection of BC being a part of March Madness.
In hiring Connecticut assistant Luke Murray last week, BC is tasking a 41-year old, first-time head coach with reversing a 17-year descent that his three predecessors couldn’t.
BC hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2009. Its drought is now at 17 years. The only high-major team with a longer tournament drought is DePaul (22).
The Eagles’ best season in this stretch was essentially residue from the Skinner era. In Steve Donahue’s first year, they went 21-13 overall, 9-7 in the ACC, and finished sixth in the conference. Two years later, they were eighth. They haven’t finished higher than 10th since.
Since then, each version of BC basketball has twisted the Rubik’s cube in a different way — offense without defense, defense without offense — but never both.
The program’s most memorable moments have been stunning victories over No. 1-ranked teams, including the emotional overtime win over Syracuse in 2014, just days after the death of former sports information director Dick Kelly and the 89-84 win over Duke in 2017. But the Eagles’ overall record against ranked teams since 2010 is 9-71. That’s the worst record against ranked teams of any ACC school over that span (every other school has at least 20 wins against ranked teams). The Eagles haven’t been ranked since 2009, when they were 17th in the country.
Their offense hasn’t been competitive in the conference since 2011, when Reggie Jackson, an NBA veteran and former Skinner recruit, led the team in scoring. Under Donahue, the Eagles couldn’t score or defend, finishing with the conference’s worst offense in his second season and no better than middle of the pack thereafter, with a defense that never ranked higher than seventh.
In seven seasons under Jim Christian, the Eagles scored more but still couldn’t defend, with a defense that ranked 11th or worse in six of seven seasons. Under Earl Grant, the Eagles could defend but couldn’t score, finishing in the top five in scoring defense three times but never better than 10th in scoring offense.
When BC was thriving, it had players who made an impact in the conference. Jared Dudley was ACC Player of the Year in 2007. Tyrese Rice was second-team All-ACC.
Since 2010, nine Eagles have made any of the three All-ACC teams. The only players to make first-team All-ACC in that span were Jerome Robinson (2018), Olivier Hanlan (2015), and Jackson (2011).
When Quinten Post was named second-team All-ACC in 2024, he was the first Eagle to make an All-ACC team since Ky Bowman five years earlier. Of the programs that have been in the ACC since 2010, the only teams with fewer postseason honors are Virginia Tech (18) and Maryland (10), which moved to the Big Ten after the 2013-14 season.
The ACC has produced 289 NBA players since 2011. Four were from BC.
In 2024, Post was taken 52nd overall — BC’s first NBA draft pick in six years. The only school with fewer draft picks since 2010 is Virginia Tech.
Since 2010, BC hasn’t had a recruiting class ranked higher than ninth in the conference, according to 247Sports.
Grant brought two four-star recruits to The Heights in his first season — Donald Hand and Prince Aligbe. Prior to that, the Eagles had two four-star recruits in the previous 15 years. Even when BC had strong recruiting classes nationally, that talent still paled in comparison to the rest of the conference. Grant’s 2022 class was ranked 33rd nationally by 247Sports but 11th in the ACC.
The Eagles rarely draw top-tier talent. They’ve had three top-100 recruits since 2010. They have one now in Hand, the 2025 ACC Most Improved Player, who was ranked 90th coming out of high school. But the two others didn’t stay. DeMarr Langford (90) transferred to UCF in 2023 after his junior season. Jairus Hamilton (63) played two seasons before transferring to Maryland in 2020.
BC has now turned to its fourth coach since 2010. The only high-major schools with more coaching turnover in that span are DePaul (six), Texas Tech (six), Louisville (five), and Alabama (four).
Despite the discontinuity, all of those teams — with the exception of DePaul — have made it to the tournament in that stretch.
Even attendance has slipped — from an average of 6,248 before the pandemic to 4,122 this past season, the lowest since 2014. And in the digital era, BC’s social media presence trails far behind national brands such as North Carolina and Duke.
Murray will be tasked with solving the same problems BC identified nearly two decades ago — problems that, year after year, have only grown more entrenched.
Julian Benbow can be reached at julian.benbow@globe.com.
