From Commitment to Legacy
February 15, 2019 | Men's Basketball
Curley to have jersey retired at halftime, 1994 Elite Eight team to be honored at Feb. 17 game vs. Miami
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. -- If you were a Boston sports fan waking up on November 9, 1989, the two main stories above and below the fold on the first page of the Boston Globe sports section could not have been more glorious. And a giant relief.
Above the fold, much-maligned former New England Patriots quarterback Tony Eason excited both fanbases as he finished his first day as a member of the New York Jets. Â
Below the fold, the decision was finally made official.  No, not "The Decision" - the blueprint for all announcements post-July, 2010 - but rather, a press conference in a high school gym by a local schoolboy star. He had narrowed his choice from nine, to five, and now to one. The pick was the local school that had gone all-in on recruiting him in what the coach had called an "all-consuming" process.
Bill Curley was one of the greatest high school basketball players in the history of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  A McDonald's All-American in 1990, the 6-9 forward garnered the attention from virtually every major basketball power in the nation.  Bob Ryan, the Globe's Hall of Fame columnist, called him the most important recruit in the history of the school.
"It's quite possible that the course of Boston College basketball for the duration of the 20th century now depends on the whim of a high school senior from Duxbury," Ryan wrote four days earlier in a column that irked the jilted.
Boston College was a charter member of the powerful Big East Conference and had, at that point, suffered through five straight losing seasons in conference play heading into the 1989-90 campaign.  During that time period, six different Big East teams advanced to the Final Four, with Villanova winning the 1985 national title.
Among Curley's final nine were three of those Big East Final Four schools - Villanova, Syracuse, and Providence - along with a nearby school, Connecticut, that was steadily rising among the ranks. Notre Dame, Duke, and Michigan, the defending national champions, also garnered earned strong consideration before Curley made his choice to take his talents 45 miles away, as the crow flies, from the South Shore to Chestnut Hill.
Curley picking the Heights raised the level of angst among two of the spurned schools.  Villanova and Connecticut took issue with head coach Jim O'Brien's first-person characterization of Curley as "the guy to put us over the top" in the Ryan piece.  Both schools took their complaints to Big East commissioner Dave Gavitt.
"We're telling him he could be for BC basketball what Doug Flutie was for BC football.  There's no question he comes in and starts, and would be our best player," O'Brien detailed to Ryan, in what could be perceived as a fracture of the NCAA rules on publicity, especially if you were the coach of a program that then had to game-plan for Curley for the next four years.  Gavitt would agree with O'Brien and BC athletic director Bill Flynn that there was no intent to do anything wrong.
——
Curley's arrival on campus was the most heralded, but a trio of guards in that freshman class would eventually form one of Boston College's strongest cores in program history.  Malcolm Huckaby, a 6-3 guard from Bristol, Conn., and a pair of Detroit natives - Howard Eisley, a 6-1 guard and 6-0 Gerrod Abram - combined to score 6,157 points over their four-year careers.  Ryan would later dub this small, four-member fraternity "Phi Sava Program."
After an 11-19 season in 1990-91 and earning Big East Rookie of the Year honors, Curley and his fellow cornerstones helped propel Boston College back to the postseason in 1991-92.  The Eagles went 17-14, earning a trip to the National Invitation Tournament.  The 1992-93 campaign saw the Eagles return to the Associated Press top 25 poll for the first time in nearly a decade en route to an 18-13 record - including nine wins in Big East play - and a return to the NIT.
As seniors in 1993-94, BC finished with a 23-11 overall record and an 11-7 mark in Big East play.  The Eagles spent 13 weeks on the AP poll, reaching as high as No. 18.   Curley, Eisley, and freshman forward Danya Abrams earned All-Big East honors and BC earned an at-large bid to the 1994 NCAA Tournament, as the No. 9 seed in the East region.  After beating Washington State, 67-64, in the first round, the Eagles advanced to face the No. 1 overall seed and defending national champion - North Carolina. Â
In 1989, O'Brien and Boston College had beaten a defending national champion for the Curley commitment.  Four seasons later, with Curley scoring 10 of the Eagles' final 11 points and the three-guard lineup of Abram (6), Eisley (3), and Huckaby (3) making a dozen trifectas in a three-point attack on the Tar Heels, BC downed the No. 1 overall seed, 75-72.
The following weekend in Miami, after taking down No. 5 Indiana, 77-68, the Eagles' run to the Final Four ended on March 27 in a 74-66 loss to No. 3 seeded Florida. The 126-game span that began at home in an 82-78 win over Memphis State on Nov. 14, 1990, ended, as most college basketball seasons do, abruptly. Â
In the locker room following the game, still dressed in his uniform almost an hour after the final buzzer sounded on his career, Curley put Boston College on his shoulders one final time.  "My fault," he told reporters.  "I missed a lot of big baskets.  I should have done more."  In 38 minutes, he scored 20 points on 8-of-16 shooting, while grabbing seven rebounds.
Down the hall from the locker room, O'Brien spoke of Curley and his classmates - Abram, Eisley, and Huckaby - whose temporary sadness could not ever overshadow their 6,000-plus points, 69 victories, three postseason trips, and the BC basketball renaissance of the early 1990's.  Â
"I told them when they came here that they could be the ones to turn us around, that they could leave that kind of legacy at our school, and that has come true.  But at no point did I ever envision that it would ever come to anything like this."
From commitment to legacy, Bill Curley and the 1993-94 NCAA Elite Eight squad will be honored on Sunday night in conjunction with Boston College's matchup against Miami.  Tip-off is set for 6 p.m.   For tickets, visit the BC Box Office or visit BCEagles.com.
Â
Above the fold, much-maligned former New England Patriots quarterback Tony Eason excited both fanbases as he finished his first day as a member of the New York Jets. Â
Below the fold, the decision was finally made official.  No, not "The Decision" - the blueprint for all announcements post-July, 2010 - but rather, a press conference in a high school gym by a local schoolboy star. He had narrowed his choice from nine, to five, and now to one. The pick was the local school that had gone all-in on recruiting him in what the coach had called an "all-consuming" process.
Bill Curley was one of the greatest high school basketball players in the history of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  A McDonald's All-American in 1990, the 6-9 forward garnered the attention from virtually every major basketball power in the nation.  Bob Ryan, the Globe's Hall of Fame columnist, called him the most important recruit in the history of the school.
"It's quite possible that the course of Boston College basketball for the duration of the 20th century now depends on the whim of a high school senior from Duxbury," Ryan wrote four days earlier in a column that irked the jilted.
Boston College was a charter member of the powerful Big East Conference and had, at that point, suffered through five straight losing seasons in conference play heading into the 1989-90 campaign.  During that time period, six different Big East teams advanced to the Final Four, with Villanova winning the 1985 national title.
Among Curley's final nine were three of those Big East Final Four schools - Villanova, Syracuse, and Providence - along with a nearby school, Connecticut, that was steadily rising among the ranks. Notre Dame, Duke, and Michigan, the defending national champions, also garnered earned strong consideration before Curley made his choice to take his talents 45 miles away, as the crow flies, from the South Shore to Chestnut Hill.
Curley picking the Heights raised the level of angst among two of the spurned schools.  Villanova and Connecticut took issue with head coach Jim O'Brien's first-person characterization of Curley as "the guy to put us over the top" in the Ryan piece.  Both schools took their complaints to Big East commissioner Dave Gavitt.
"We're telling him he could be for BC basketball what Doug Flutie was for BC football.  There's no question he comes in and starts, and would be our best player," O'Brien detailed to Ryan, in what could be perceived as a fracture of the NCAA rules on publicity, especially if you were the coach of a program that then had to game-plan for Curley for the next four years.  Gavitt would agree with O'Brien and BC athletic director Bill Flynn that there was no intent to do anything wrong.
——
Curley's arrival on campus was the most heralded, but a trio of guards in that freshman class would eventually form one of Boston College's strongest cores in program history.  Malcolm Huckaby, a 6-3 guard from Bristol, Conn., and a pair of Detroit natives - Howard Eisley, a 6-1 guard and 6-0 Gerrod Abram - combined to score 6,157 points over their four-year careers.  Ryan would later dub this small, four-member fraternity "Phi Sava Program."
After an 11-19 season in 1990-91 and earning Big East Rookie of the Year honors, Curley and his fellow cornerstones helped propel Boston College back to the postseason in 1991-92.  The Eagles went 17-14, earning a trip to the National Invitation Tournament.  The 1992-93 campaign saw the Eagles return to the Associated Press top 25 poll for the first time in nearly a decade en route to an 18-13 record - including nine wins in Big East play - and a return to the NIT.
As seniors in 1993-94, BC finished with a 23-11 overall record and an 11-7 mark in Big East play.  The Eagles spent 13 weeks on the AP poll, reaching as high as No. 18.   Curley, Eisley, and freshman forward Danya Abrams earned All-Big East honors and BC earned an at-large bid to the 1994 NCAA Tournament, as the No. 9 seed in the East region.  After beating Washington State, 67-64, in the first round, the Eagles advanced to face the No. 1 overall seed and defending national champion - North Carolina. Â
In 1989, O'Brien and Boston College had beaten a defending national champion for the Curley commitment.  Four seasons later, with Curley scoring 10 of the Eagles' final 11 points and the three-guard lineup of Abram (6), Eisley (3), and Huckaby (3) making a dozen trifectas in a three-point attack on the Tar Heels, BC downed the No. 1 overall seed, 75-72.
The following weekend in Miami, after taking down No. 5 Indiana, 77-68, the Eagles' run to the Final Four ended on March 27 in a 74-66 loss to No. 3 seeded Florida. The 126-game span that began at home in an 82-78 win over Memphis State on Nov. 14, 1990, ended, as most college basketball seasons do, abruptly. Â
In the locker room following the game, still dressed in his uniform almost an hour after the final buzzer sounded on his career, Curley put Boston College on his shoulders one final time.  "My fault," he told reporters.  "I missed a lot of big baskets.  I should have done more."  In 38 minutes, he scored 20 points on 8-of-16 shooting, while grabbing seven rebounds.
Down the hall from the locker room, O'Brien spoke of Curley and his classmates - Abram, Eisley, and Huckaby - whose temporary sadness could not ever overshadow their 6,000-plus points, 69 victories, three postseason trips, and the BC basketball renaissance of the early 1990's.  Â
"I told them when they came here that they could be the ones to turn us around, that they could leave that kind of legacy at our school, and that has come true.  But at no point did I ever envision that it would ever come to anything like this."
From commitment to legacy, Bill Curley and the 1993-94 NCAA Elite Eight squad will be honored on Sunday night in conjunction with Boston College's matchup against Miami.  Tip-off is set for 6 p.m.   For tickets, visit the BC Box Office or visit BCEagles.com.
Â
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