March 15, 2007

By Jim Sumner
TheACC.com

Boston College is solidly entrenched among college basketball's top programs. That's what seven consecutive post-season appearances will do. But the Eagles had a long, strange trip to where they are now.

Boston College started playing intercollegiate men's basketball in 1904, which was pretty early in the game. But the program was shut down and restarted several times. There was no program at all from 1925 until the end of World War II. Attendance was sparse, basketball wasn't played in Boston high schools, and hockey was too popular. Why bother? That's right, ice hockey. Many of the current ACC schools had to work to grow their basketball programs but none of the others ever played second-fiddle to ice hockey.

In fact, college basketball didn't really take off in New England until after World War II. Holy Cross, located in Worcester, about 40 miles west of Boston, was first. The Crusaders captured the 1947 NCAA championship and suddenly basketball goals started showing up all over the area. Boston College reinstated basketball for the 1945-46 season but wasn't close to being a consistent power. The Eagles put together a 22-5 season in 1952 and made the 1958 NCAA Tournament, losing their opener to ACC champion Maryland 86-63. But they also had seasons with records like 7-15, 8-18, 6-18, and 10-16. In other words, it was a roller coaster.

Holy Cross slipped a bit in the late 1950s but its place atop the New England hoops heap was taken by Providence College. The Friars captured the 1961 NIT title, after which the school president observed, "Two thousand years of Dominican scholarship, but no one ever heard of us until we put five kids on the floor at Madison Square Garden."

It was enough of a precedent to help convince Boston College to put more resources into basketball. A few miles down the road, the Boston Celtics were dominating the NBA and their star guard Bob Cousy was getting ready to retire. Cousy had grown up in New York City but he had lived in Massachusetts since he went to Holy Cross--he was a freshman reserve on that title team--and he liked the area. He also was only 34 years old. Cousy needed something to do and Boston College needed a coach. The match was made. He took over in the fall of 1963.

Boston College played most of its home games on campus at the Roberts Center, which opened in 1958 but barely seated 4,000. Cousy didn't have much of a recruiting budget and didn't much like recruiting anyway. But, the Cousy name was gold in the Northeast and it didn't take him long to start reeling in top prep talent from New England and from the greater New York area.

Guard Jack Kvancz of Bridgeport, Connecticut was one of the first to sign on. Kvancz told Cousy biographer Bill Reynolds, "Once my father met Cousy there was no question where I was going. It was done."

Jim Kissane, a 6'8" forward from New Hyde Park, New York, was recruited by perennial powers like North Carolina and St. John's. "I came to Boston College because of Cousy," he recalls. "It's as simple as that. We all did. We went with the intention of making Boston College a power."

They were joined by 6'8" Willie Wolters from Brooklyn, 6'1" Bill Evans from New Haven, and Massachusetts prepsters 6'8" Terry Driscoll and 6'6" Steve Adelman. This was the nucleus for Boston College's 1967 team, the school's first truly great squad.

The Celtics revolutionized the pros with their fast break offense, keyed by Cousy's dazzling passing and dribbling. Not surprisingly, his Boston College teams ran early and often. Kissane says, "Our philosophy was to run every chance we got. If that didn't work, then we'd go to something else. But the fast break was option number one."

Driscoll cautions, "People think that because Cousy was so flashy as a player, we just went off all helter-skelter. But our fast break was very disciplined. Everybody had their place and their role and you had better be where you were supposed to be. We practiced this over and over."

Kissane adds, "I could get a defensive rebound and throw an outlet pass without looking. I knew where my teammates were going to be. We wanted to advance the ball by passing. You did not want to be the guy who dribbled when it wasn't necessary."

Fast-break teams need rebounders. Wolters and Driscoll were two of the best in school history. Kissane laughs, "We went after it hard. We could hurt each other. Terry would take a rebound away from you in a heartbeat and Wolters was really solid. If he hit you, it hurt."

Once possession was gained, Evans was the key. Kissane says, "Evans ran the show. We wanted to get the ball in his hands as quickly as possible. He was a classic point guard, Cousy's alter ego."

Kvancz had played some point before Evans arrived, so he also was comfortable leading the break.

If the fastbreak didn't work, BC would go into a high-post, low-post lineup called a stack. Kissane recalls, "It was effective but it wasn't as much fun as running. That was an incentive for us to score in transition, so that we didn't have to run the stack."

Adleman was the key to the half-court offense. An adept shooter from anywhere inside 20 feet, he would lead the team with 19 points per game. Driscoll, Evans, and Wolters also scored in double figures. Driscoll, a sophomore in 1967, usually came off the bench, a role that "bothered me not at all, as long as I was on the floor at the end of the game. I had grown up watching the Celtics so I had an appreciation of the sixth-man concept."

Boston College opened the season with eight wins, including victories over Syracuse and Massachusetts in the Boston Garden Holiday Tournament just before Christmas. A week later, BC went south to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl Tournament. Utah handed the Eagles their first loss 90-88 but they came back to beat Tennessee 68-61 in the consolation game.

It was a crucial win for several reasons. "We didn't play that far from home very often," says Driscoll, "so beating a good team on the road proved something."

Tennessee was a good team, good enough to win the SEC that season. They also were huge. They played a zone anchored by 7'1" Tom Boerwinkle. Tennessee eliminated BC's fast break but BC proved they could win a grind-it-out, halfcourt game. Driscoll says, "When they all stretched out their arms, they seemed to take up the entire floor."

Boston College began getting national attention. The Eagles ran the table in January, advancing to the top 10 in both the AP and UPI polls. They were 15-1 before being ambushed at home by a mediocre Fordham team, 85-81. Kissane says, "It was one of those games. Cousy was furious. He tried everything, substituting at every opportunity but nothing worked."

Boston College was an independent in those days, as were many of the Eastern powers. Although there was nothing official, it was widely understood that the NCAA would take only one New England independent. On February 18, Boston College (16-2) hosted Providence (16-4) in a game that longtime Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan called "the most eagerly anticipated college basketball game to be played in the city of Boston since Bob Cousy graduated from Holy Cross in 1950 and took all the college basketball magic with him."

Providence was the alpha dog of New England basketball. They had added a 1963 NIT title to that 1961 title and had made several successful forays into the NCAA Tournament. The Friars owned a 12-game winning streak against Boston College. They were led by 6'3" senior Jimmy Walker, a stunning talent who probably was the best player in the country not named Lew Alcindor. Walker would lead the NCAA in scoring at 30.4 ppg and be the first pick in the 1967 NBA draft. He had scored 50 points against Boston College the previous season.

The overflow crowd was electric and Boston College rode its enthusiasm to a 14-point halftime lead. Adelman was matching Walker point for point, Evans was pushing the fast break, and BC was dominating inside. Kissane says, "It felt great at halftime but we knew we weren't going to be able to control Walker for the entire game. He was just too good."

Walker picked up his fourth foul early in the second half and the home team extended its lead to 17. Then Walker caught fire, scoring inside and out, bringing Providence back almost by sheer force of will. Providence took a 76-73 lead, BC fought back from the foul line. Boston College led 83-82 with 11 seconds left, inbounded the ball and played keep away until the final buzzer. Adelman finished the game with 31 points, two fewer than Walker, while Evans tallied 16 assists.

Boston College finished the regular season with four more wins to solidify the NCAA bid. The Eagles entered the tournament 21-2, ranked ninth in the AP poll. They started off a few miles down the road in Kingston, Rhode Island against Yankee Conference champion Connecticut. The Huskies were decades away from their glory years but they did have one potent weapon, guard Wes Bialosuknia, an exceptional long-range shooter who was averaging over 28 points per game.

But Connecticut coach Fred Shabel decided to hold the ball. Kissane says, "I understand the strategy but I don't agree with it. Bialosuknia had the ability to keep a team in a game all by himself but they didn't give him a chance. I still remember him yelling at his bench, trying to get them to speed up."

Boston College led 14-13 at the half but opened up enough of a working margin after intermission to force the tempo a bit. They won 48-42, with Adelman scoring 16 points. Bialosuknia scored 15 for the losers. This was the first NCAA Tournament win in Boston College history.

The victory sent Boston College to Maryland's Cole Field House for a regional semifinal match against St. John's. The two schools were old rivals. In fact, St. John's had defeated Boston College in the 1965 NIT and went on to win the title. Again, Boston College was matched against a team determined to take away its fast break. But St. John's (23-3) had more talent than Connecticut. It was coached by Louie Carnesecca. Kissane says, "I had a lot of respect for Carnesecca and his teams. No gimmicks. They were tough and well-coached. We knew it was going to be tough."

St. John's big men, Sonny Dove and Rudy Bogad, matched BC inside, while Boston College shot a miserable 29% from the field. Boston College trailed almost the entire game and made only two field goals in the final nine minutes. But a fierce zone press forced numerous St. John's turnovers down the stretch and Boston College converted the turnovers into free throws. Boston College made 31 of 36 foul shots and pulled out the 63-62 win. Adelman led BC with 17 points.

Waiting in the regional finals was Dean Smith's first great team, the ACC champion North Carolina Tar Heels. It was a track meet. Boston College exploded to a 12-3 lead. They couldn't sustain that level of course, but were still in the game at intermission, trailing 44-42. The fast break was back, the rebounders were doing their job, and it looked like a winnable game.

The second half told a different tale. Foul trouble forced Cousy to switch from man-to-man to zone. Boston College couldn't contain North Carolina's star wings, Bob Lewis and Larry Miller. North Carolina was bigger and deeper and gradually wore down Boston College. It was still close at 60-57 when Boston College missed 11 consecutive field goals. Carolina broke it open with a huge four-point play on a fast break. Miller scored on a lay-up and was fouled. He missed the free throw but teammate Bill Bunting scored on a tip-in that made it 76-64. It was all downhill from there. North Carolina won 96-80.

Driscoll led BC with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Kissane added 15 points and 10 rebounds. Lewis and Miller led North Carolina with 31 and 22 points respectively, while center Rusty Clark had 18 points and 18 rebounds. North Carolina only had three turnovers in the second half, a remarkably low total for an up-tempo game at that level. Boston College ended the season at 23-3, still the best winning percentage in school history.

After the game Cousy acknowledged North Carolina as "the best team we have faced all season."

Smith returned the compliment, giving Evans high praise. "We couldn't press. I think the reason is obvious. They have a great guard in Billy Evans."

Forty years later, Driscoll has no doubt that the better team won. "We seemed to have trouble with athletic, mid-sized guys and they had two of the best. Plus, we couldn't solve their size. They forced us into a zone and we weren't as good in the zone. We tried to force the issue in the second half and they blew us out. They just had more talent than we did."

Cousy didn't last much longer at Boston College. He later said, "I wanted my team to be perfect. Even if we won and didn't play particularly well, I was unhappy. My unhappiness came in my search for perfection. I had always been a sore loser. Now I was a sore winner." He left after the 1969 season, with a 117-38 mark.

The team is well remembered in Boston. Adelman, Cousy, Driscoll, Evans, Kissane, Kvancz, and Wolters are all members of the Boston College Varsity Club Hall of Fame. Kissane, who settled in Boston and went into the securities business after a brief stint in the pros, says, "I remember the games but even more I remember the players. It was just a great bunch of teammates, gathered together at one place and time, trying to do something special."

Driscoll, now the Athletics Director at William and Mary, says, "Cousy is a quality guy. He was intense and a perfectionist and I can see how it wore on him. But he started a process that was successful and still is. Boston College owes him a lot."

Jim Sumner's articles on southern sports history have appeared in the ACC Handbook, the ACC Area Sports Journal, Blue Devil Weekly, Inside Carolina, the Wolfpacker, Baseball America, Basketball America, and other publications. His latest book, Tales From the Duke Blue Devils Hardwood, was published in 2005. In his bimonthly column "Looking Back... by Jim Sumner", he will examine the rich history of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

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