Basketball, not a popular sport at the turn of the 20th century, suffered through years of weak fan support and lasted three initial seasons before being abandoned.

Finally, following World War II when the sport began to gain popularity in the United States, the basketball team became a permanent part of the Boston College athletics program for the 1945–46 season.

In 1963, BC hired Boston Celtics legend Bob Cousy as head coach and earned postseason berths in five of his six years in the role, including a trip to the Elite Eight in 1967.

Boston College has hired several other notable coaches through the years, including Chuck Daly, Tom Davis, Gary Williams and former Eagle Jim O'Brien ('71).

With increased national exposure and better competition—leading to improved and more expansive recruiting—BC ensured itself of an opportunity to compete at the highest level of NCAA Division I basketball each year.

Notable BC student-athletes who have gone on to careers in the NBA include: Michael Adams '85, John Bagley '83, Dana Barros '89, Troy Bell '03, Bill Curley '94, Howard Eisley '94, Jay Murphy '84, Gerry Ward '63, Sean Williams '07, Craig Smith '06, Jared Dudley '07, Reggie Jackson '11, Olivier Hanlan '16, and most recently Jerome Robinson '18 and Ky Bowman '19.

Despite a bitter end to his tenure as head coach, O'Brien has been credited with resuscitating the BC basketball team, which—aside from some success in the early 1980s—had not been a consistent NCAA tournament contender since the 1960s.

Although O'Brien built a solid program, his timing was excellent: Boston College opened its new hockey and basketball arena, Conte Forum, in 1988; the Big East reached its zenith with conference teams winning national championships in 1984 and 1985; and at the time, BC was still feeling the positive effects of the Flutie effect, leading to an increase in national exposure for Boston College athletics.

With Skinner building on these early achievements, Boston College saw increased success on the basketball court and garnered growing national media attention in the decade that followed.

The Eagles made inroads in the newly joined ACC as well, advancing to the finals of the league tournament in the school's first year of membership in 2005–06 before falling to Duke by two points.

After reaching to the league tournament title game with victories over Maryland and North Carolina, the Eagles advanced to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in 12 years and No.

In May before the season began, a drug use incident involving center and BC single-season blocks leader Sean Williams led to his suspension for the first semester from the campus and the team.

Although not allowed back to Chestnut Hill until the end of the first semester and contingent upon a court hearing, Williams took courses and worked out at the University of Houston in the fall.

He was allowed to return after a Boston judge concluded he had fulfilled his commitment and the school gave its approval because Williams met his academic requirements.

[12] Also prior to the season, senior forward Craig Smith was voted a first-team All-American, the first BC player to be so honored, and named to the All-ACC preseason team—before playing a game in the league.

On February 25, Skinner earned his 169th Boston College win when the Eagles downed NC State 74–72 in double overtime, making the former ABA star the winningest coach in BC history.

The Eagles led by as many as 14 points in the first half but the Wildcats captured their first lead with 2:18 remaining in the game when Randy Foye hit two free throws to go ahead 49–48.

To start the 2008–09 ACC Season, the Eagles stunned the then-undefeated #1-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels in the Dean Dome 85–78, behind great play by Rice, Rakim Sanders, and freshman Reggie Jackson.

After this setback, BC went 2–1 down the stretch with home victories over #25 Florida State and a Rakim Sanders buzzer beater over Georgia Tech.

BC received a #7 seed and a date with a USC team led by future first-round draft pick Taj Gibson on March 20, 2009.

The team's most notable games were losses to struggling programs, including Maine, Saint Joseph's, and (for the second straight year) Harvard.

[14] With the loss of Skinner, Boston College junior forward Rakim Sanders decided to transfer, landing at Fairfield where former BC Assistant Ed Cooley was head coach.

In Steve Donahue's first season as head coach, the Eagles roster featured seven seniors but was led by star junior guard Reggie Jackson, who was named to the first team All-ACC.

After beating Georgia Tech in the regular season finale, the Eagles again topped the Yellow Jackets 84–64 in the ACC Tournament's opening round.

Jim Christian's second season as head coach saw the Eagles fall on hard times, finishing with an overall record of 7–25, and 0–18 in ACC play.

In the ACC tournament, Boston College won two games, first beating Georgia Tech, and then upsetting 5th ranked NC State before falling to #4 Clemson in the quarterfinals.

Junior forward Jerome Robinson had a career year, averaging 20.8 points, good for second in the ACC behind Duke's Marvin Bagley III.

[16] As a result of the staffing change and the loss of scoring leaders Jay Heath and CJ Felder to the transfer portal, Boston College was picked last in the ACC preseason poll.

[17] After starting the season with a 5–3 record, the Eagles defeated Notre Dame 73–57 at home in their ACC opener, with James Karnik scoring a team high 17 points and 13 rebounds.

Following a five-game losing streak, Boston College completed a 23-point comeback victory against the Clemson Tigers, led by a second half performance from Makai Ashton-Langford, who scored 17 of his 19 points after the intermission.