The Eagles, once nearly extinct, are soaring.

Those of us stunned to see Boston College at the top of the Big East Conference standings rather than the bottom should be comforted to know the Eagles didn't expect this, either.

"We saw the schedule was kind of soft, so we knew we should win all the early games," star sophomore guard Troy Bell says. "It took us by surprise that we beat the other teams so handily, like Vanderbilt and UConn. I didn't think we'd play as well as we have.

"Sometimes it's cool to just come out of nowhere and not have any expectations on you."

The truth is, Boston College did not come from nowhere. It is back from the brink of extinction. This program fell off the charts just four seasons ago. Resuscitating the Eagles has placed Al Skinner among the leading candidates for national coach of the year, along with Dan Monson, who is rescuing Minnesota from its academic scandal.

It was the opposite side of that issue that put BC basketball in peril. In the spring of 1997, the school was viewed in the basketball community as a sort of Chernobyl. It seemed nothing would grow there following the recruiting implosion of the fall of 1996, when recruits Jon DePina and Elton Tyler were denied admission though they met the NCAA academic standards required to compete as freshmen. That was widely interpreted as an act of secession from the community of Serious Basketball Schools. Guard Sean Connolly, forward Adam Allenspach and center Michael Bradley subsequently withdrew commitments.

That spring, following a 22-9 season in which the Eagles tied for the league title and reached the NCAA Tournament second round, coach Jim O'Brien left his alma mater to become head coach at Ohio State.

When BC hired Skinner away from Rhode Island, it appeared he was trading a diffficult-but-secure job for an impossible-but-better-paying job. In his first three seasons, the Eagles finished last in the Big East. They won a combined 17 games the past two years. Skinner simply was getting started.