1981 Boston College Basketball: A Big East Breakthrough
1981 was a seminal year for college basketball in the northeastern part of the United States. It was the first year that the Big East, a league that had gotten a partial start in 1980, played a full double-round robin conference schedule. It was also a seminal year for Boston College. A program that had been gaining steam under head coach Dr. Tom Davis, won the Big East’s regular season title in 1981, and ushered in a short era of legitimate national prominence.
Davis came to Chestnut Hill in 1978, inheriting a program that had fallen on hard times after a Sweet 16 trip in 1975 and going to the Elite Eight under Bob Cousy in 1967. Over Davis’s first three seasons he went 55-30. In a different era of college basketball, where the NCAA Tournament was expanding from just 32 teams to 48 teams, that wasn’t enough to put the Eagles in the Dance. But they were rising.
THE PIECES COME TOGETHER
John Bagley, a sophomore point guard with an NBA career ahead of him, led the way. Bagley knocked down 20ppg and was the Big East Player of the Year in 1981. Dwan Chandler ran with Bagley in the backcourt and kicked in 12ppg himself.
A pair of freshmen forwards juiced up the front line. Martin Clark and Jay Murphy both went 6’9” and combined to average 19 points/9 rebounds.
Boston College was unranked in the preseason polls and respect would be a hard thing to find. But they had the pieces in place.
STARTING WITHOUT FANFARE
The Eagles won their first five games against a soft schedule where NIT-bound Fordham was the most notable opponent. On December 13, they played first Big East conference game at Villanova, a good team under Rollie Massamino and headed for the NCAA Tournament. BC lost 74-71. Over the Christmas break, they visited Nashville and won a four-team holiday tournament with victories over respectable teams in Penn State and Vanderbilt.
As the calendar flipped to January, Boston College was 6-1. At this point, there is no reason to conclude much has changed. Davis has BC playing competitive basketball. But against the best teams in their new league, they’re still a step behind.
EARNING THEIR PLACE
They opened the New Year by thumping lowly Providence. A week later, the Eagles hosted John Thompson’s Georgetown team. The Hoyas had made their own early mark on league history, winning the first conference tournament in 1980, going to the Elite Eight and were in the midst of returning to the NCAA bracket here in 1981. Georgetown came to Chestnut Hill and nipped BC 57-55.
After narrowly escaping UConn, 58-57 at home, the Eagles hosted Syracuse. Jim Boeheim had already established this program as one of the contenders in the new league. Boston College pulled out a 66-63 win.
Before January was out, the Eagles went to Bill Raftery’s Seton Hall and won by four. In the home rematch with Villanova, BC got a decisive 73-60 win. They beat their crosstown rival Boston University, coached by a young Rick Pitino at the Boston Garden. In an era where there was no shot clock or three-point line, they ground out a 48-43 win over a good Holy Cross team.
The Eagles were rolling and they were beating good teams as the season moved into its February crunch. National respect in the rankings hadn’t come, but they were 14-2 overall and 5-2 in the Big East.
THE BIG EAST LOGJAM
Momentum crested at St. John’s, who was part of what was shaping up as a congested five-team race for the conference championship. The Redmen beat the Eagles 76-71. BC directly reversed fortune at UConn, winning by the same score, easily handled Providence a second time and then got handed a double-digit loss at Holy Cross on Valentine’s Day.
There were four games remaining and all would be in conference. With no one able to get a real foothold, Boston College’s 7-3 record had them tied for first with St. John’s. Right on their heels with four conference losses were Georgetown and UConn, while Villanova was lingering at 6-5. Syracuse had been unable to get traction and slipped from contention.
WINNING A CHAMPIONSHIP
Boston College went to Georgetown for a Wednesday night battle in the nation’s capital and got a tough 53-49 win. In the meantime, St. John’s was stunned by Providence. The Eagles were in sole possession of first place, and had pushed the Hoyas two games off the pace.
St. John’s came to Chestnut Hill on Saturday, looking to re-establish the logjam. Boston College pulled out a 59-58 thriller. They still had first place to themselves and only UConn was directly in their rearview mirror, a game out in the loss column.
Syracuse was doing all they could to hang in contention for NCAA bid. Boston College made their first trip to the brand-new Carrier Dome and lost 90-86. But UConn had a tough road trip of their own, at Villanova, and they lost a 74-73 nail-biter.
With one game left, the Eagles had a share of the conference title clinched. But there was not only the outright championship to play for, there was still the matter of an NCAA Tournament invite. In this different era, some of the teams you see mentioned in this race—notably Syracuse, St. John’s, and UConn—would not make the final bracket. Boston College still had work to do.
On February 28, in front of a Saturday crowd at home, the Eagles knocked off Seton Hall 64-57. They had the Big East regular season title all to themselves.
CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT STUMBLE
The conference tournament wasn’t yet at its now-traditional location of Madison Square Garden. The Carrier Dome hosted in 1981. BC, perhaps still celebrating, dumped a 67-65 decision to Providence in the quarterfinals.
It was a costly defeat. Boston College got their NCAA bid, but in a 48-team bracket, the top four seeds in each regional got a bye into the Round of 32. The Eagles were placed on the 5-line and would have to play in the first round. They were sent to the Mideast Regional (the organizational forerunner of today’s South bracket) and traveled to Tuscaloosa.
SURVIVING A SHOOTOUT
MAC champion Ball State was the opponent in Friday’s first-round game. Coached by Steve Yoder, who would leverage this success into the Wisconsin job, and led by a potent scoring guard in Ray McCallum, the Cardinals gave the Eagles a battle.
Boston College was outshot from the floor, 54% to 49%. In a foul-laden game, BC was outscored at the free throw line, 30-21. The elements of an upset were in place, as the game was tied 44-44 at the half.
What the Eagles were doing was completely dominating the boards and an unlikely hero was backup center Joe Beaulieu. With eleven rebounds, Beaulieu keyed BC’s 43-26 edge on the glass. They pulled out a 93-90 win.
BAGLEY’S BIG DAY
It was on to face Wake Forest, who had hung with Final Four-bound rivals Virginia and North Carolina most of the way in the ACC title chase. A balanced team led by a skilled point guard in Frank Johnson, the Demon Deacons shot 58 percent from the floor against Boston College.
The Eagles overcame the shooting disparity three ways. This time, they decisively won the battle for points at the free throw line, 25-12. They forced turnovers, 22 in all. And they had John Edward Bagley on their side.
In a vintage display of a player telling his teammates, “hop on my back,” Bagley poured in 35 points, more than half the team total. It was enough to deliver a 67-64 win and sent BC to the Sweet 16.
A BASKET SHORT
Boston College had the good fortune of playing in a region gutted by upsets. DePaul, the top seed had been upset by St. Joe’s, clearing the path on the Eagle side of the bracket. Kentucky, the 2-seed was also gone.
There was still the small matter of Indiana, who was not only the 3-seed and surging towards a national championship, but also the host of the regional in Bloomington. But the opportunity to get to the Elite Eight was right there.
In that regard, the somewhat ugly game the Eagles played against St. Joseph’s in Friday night’s Sweet 16 was a disappointment. Both teams shot under 40 percent and Bagley struggled to a 4-for-14 night. They lost a one-point heartbreaker, 42-41.
THE START OF SOMETHING GOOD
1981 was still a terrific year for Boston College basketball, the first team to win a Big East title with full double-round robin play. A year later, the Eagles were back made it to the Elite Eight. Davis eventually left and gave way to Gary Williams, who guided the program to the Sweet 16 in 1985.
The first half of the 1980s was one of relevance for college basketball in Boston, and it all started in 1981.