That's faulty logic, there's tons of different engine capable making power that get over looked all the time, 360 use to be considered a turd and no one would touch them and only build 340 now it's pretty much the other way around, same with 400M ford even dodge 400's etc.. if there's not a factory performance version people don't think it can be done.
No one would touch a BBM 361 here's one with a 3.74 stroke making 618 hp. Similar could of done it with stock stroke if willing to spin it 600-1000 rpms higher.
https://www.hotrod.com/articles/mopar-412-big-block/
Yes 360 is the best choice when building a sbm and probably even better when you add a 4" stroke and so most don't build a 318 over a basic cam headers 4 bbl type combo and probably shouldn't and everyone knows that but I still don't see how you think it's hard to build 500 hp with the parts that are available today.