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Indiana basketball history

2013 Indiana Basketball: The Crean Era’s High Point Crashes Hard

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Tom Crean came to Bloomington in 2009, inheriting an Indiana team that had contended for the Big Ten title and made the NCAA Tournament in 2008, but ran afoul of NCAA recruiting rules. Crean was brought in to clean house and a housecleaning is exactly what followed. IU started over from scratch and over Crean’s first three years went 28-66. By 2012, the Hoosiers were competitive again and made the Sweet 16. The 2013 Indiana basketball edition was a breakout team, one poised to restore the program to glory. But March disappointment foreshadowed how the Crean era would eventually end.

READ ABOUT THE LOU HOLTZ ERA AT NOTRE DAME

Indiana had two big-time talents in sophomore center Cody Zeller and junior small forward Victor Oladipo. Both would be lottery picks in the coming NBA draft and Oladipo turned into a legitimate NBA star. At Indiana in 2013, Zeller averaged 17 points/8 rebounds per game. Oladipo was good for 14/6 and shot 44 percent from three-point range.

Christian Watford wasn’t regarded as highly by the pro scouts, but the 6’9” senior was every bit as productive as a college player. Watford averaged a 12/6 and hit 48 percent behind the arc. Jordan Hulls, the senior point guard was another double-digit scorer and another 45 percent-plus three-point shooter. Will Sheehey rounded out the starting lineup by averaging another 10ppg.

Expectations in basketball-crazed Bloomington were through the roof. National observers agreed. The Hoosiers were ranked #1 in the country to start the season.

Indiana went to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn for a November tournament. They knocked off Georgia—something that appears ironic in retrospect given Crean’s coaching career path. Then IU played a good Georgetown team, one that would eventually get a 2-seed in the NCAA Tournament and won in overtime.

North Carolina didn’t have a vintage team when they came to Assembly Hall in Bloomington for the Big Ten-ACC Challenge. But they were still NCAA-bound and they were still North Carolina. Indiana rang up an 83-59 blowout.

An overtime loss to NCAA-bound Butler in Indianapolis knocked the Hoosiers from the top spot in the polls, but they still entered Big Ten play with a record of 12-1 and ranked fifth nationally. Expectations were being met.

The Big Ten season opened with a win at Iowa and another at home over Penn State. Minnesota came into Bloomington ranked #8 in the country. Indiana handed the Gophers an 88-81 loss.

Then Wisconsin came to town on a Tuesday night, the time slot when ESPN shows a Big Ten game to the national audience. The Badgers had been the Hoosiers’ kryptonite for several years and that continued tonight. Indiana did not play well and lost 64-59.

IU took advantage of a soft schedule sequence and beat Northwestern and Penn State to get back on track. Then the Hoosiers nipped Tom Izzo’s Michigan State 75-70 for their first big victory in conference play. A blowout of lowly Purdue pushed Indiana’s league record to 7-1 and set up a national showcase game.

Michigan was also 7-1 in the league. They were coming to Assembly Hall. ESPN’s basketball Gameday was in town and the matchup would be in prime-time. There was also a big human interest angle. Crean’s wife Joani has the maiden name of Harbaugh. As in John and Jim Harbaugh, coaches of the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers in the NFL. And whose teams were going to meet the following day in the Super Bowl. Crean was going to coach this big game and then grab a red-eye flight to New Orleans with his wife for the Super Bowl.

First things first. Indiana shot 52 percent from the floor against Michigan. Wolverine guard Trey Burke, headed for National Player of the Year honors got 25 points, but it took 9-for-24 shooting to get his numbers. Zeller and Watford combined for 33 points/22 rebounds. Oladipo added 15 more. The Hoosiers won 81-73.

Crean then watched the Ravens edge the 49ers and flew back home where his team had a tough date at NCAA-bound Illinois. They lost that one 74-72. But Indiana responded with a visit to Ohio State, a solid team that was in contention for the conference title. Oladipo, Zeller and Watford combined for 70 points in an impressive 81-68 win.

The schedule briefly softened and Indiana capitalized with wins over Nebraska and Purdue. Another Tuesday night ESPN battle saw the Hoosiers go to East Lansing, where the Spartans were also giving chase for the Big Ten crown in what was a four-team race. Indiana won 72-68 behind a 19/9 performance from Oladipo.

A week off set up another Tuesday night game, this one at Minnesota. The Gophers hadn’t met the high expectations of January when they were in the Top 10, but they were still going to make the NCAA Tournament. Indiana lost this one 77-73.

We were headed into the homestretch of the Big Ten race. Indiana was 12-3. Michigan State was 11-4. Michigan and Ohio State each had five conference losses. The Hoosiers had not won so much as a piece of the Big Ten crown since a four-way tie in 2002. They had not taken the league outright since Bob Knight’s last great team in 1993. In a region of the country where the regular season conference championship is highly valued, this had to change and the moment was at hand.

Indiana beat Iowa 73-60 and then watched Michigan State fall at Michigan. At least a tie for first was clinched going into the final week of the season. Ohio State arrived in Bloomington for a Tuesday night battle.

The chance to clinch outright on Senior Night was lost when the Hoosiers fell 67-58. Michigan and Michigan State also won. We were going to the final weekend with Indiana one game ahead of all three challengers…and playing in Ann Arbor.

In a showdown game, Indiana again forced Burke into a rough shooting performance, 7-for-20. Zeller had a huge game, 25 points and 10 rebounds. Oladipo’s line was 14/13 as the Hoosiers dominated the boards. Rebounding and defense was the key to a 72-71 escape that secured the outright Big Ten championship.

At the conference tournament in Chicago, IU beat Illinois in the quarterfinals, but the semis saw another loss to Wisconsin. Ohio State ended up winning the tournament. But Indiana still had a #1 seed for the NCAA Tournament in hand and they were slotted in the East Regional.

IU’s opening weekend pod of four teams was sent to Dayton. They played James Madison in the Round of 64 and the result was what you would expect. The Hoosiers were up 43-22 by halftime, held JMU to 42 percent shooting and cruised home 83-62.

The Round of 32 against Temple was where problems started to appear. The Owls’ Khalif Wyatt went off for 31 points. Indiana trailed by three at the half. The Hoosiers were shutting down Scootie Randall, Wyatt’s season-long running mate. That defense ended up being the difference. Indiana pulled out a 58-52 win.

It was on to Washington D.C. for the regionals. Syracuse, the team Indiana had beaten for their last national championship back in 1987 was the opponent. In that ’87 title game, IU’s Steve Alford had lit it up from three-point range. If only Indiana would have had Alford on this night.

Syracuse played their patented 2-3 zone. Indiana looked tentative, unsure of themselves, even though a team with all their three-point shooters was ideally suited to break open the zone. They shot 3-for-15 from behind the arc. This game was, to be kind, a disaster. Oladipo was the only Hoosier to play well, getting 16 points. They trailed 34-22 by halftime and lost 61-50.

It was a bitterly disappointing ending to a season of such great promise. The loss, and the way it went down, cost Crean a lot of goodwill with the fan base. He never really regained it. Indiana slipped to mediocrity the following two years. They bounced back with another Big Ten title run in 2016 and another Sweet 16 trip, but that ’16 team was never seen as a national contender. Crean was fired following the 2017 season.

Crean is now trying to rebuild his career in Georgia. At this writing, it’s not going well, with a 41-49 record after three years. Indiana’s hire of Archie Marshall as the successor was a disaster and they are, at present, seeking a new head coach. Neither the coach nor the program has been the same since 2013.  

The Comeback Season Of 1986 Indiana Basketball

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Bob Knight was coming off the roughest season of his career. The 1985 season had been marked by Indiana opening in the national top five and ending in the NIT. In between, Knight delivered his infamous chair throw. 1986 Indiana basketball convened with low expectations and the feeling that the program was being overtaken by others in the Big Ten. The ’86 Hoosiers got things turned around and even though this particular season ended with the thud of disappointment, it set the stage for better things to come.

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Steve Alford was in his junior year and led Indiana in scoring with 23ppg. Alford got help from his forwards. Freshman Rick Calloway averaged 14 points/5 rebounds. Daryl Thomas contributed a 15/5 line from the power forward spot. Knight went into the junior college market for the first time to get Andre Harris and the 6’7” forward provided more rebounding help. Seniors Winston Morgan and Stew Robinson ran the offense.

Indiana was unranked to start the year, but quickly got people’s attention with a fifteen-point win over Notre Dame, a team bound for a 3-seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. The Hoosiers were ready to go to Lexington and play Kentucky.

In between the Notre Dame and Kentucky games, word leaked that Alford had posed for a calendar that a sorority was using as a fundraiser to help disabled girls. The long arm of the NCAA reached out, decided this was unacceptable and suspended Alford for the Kentucky game.

Indiana still put up a good fight at Rupp Arena, but lost 63-58. They lost another tough game to Louisville, the eventual national champion, 65-63. But the Hoosiers knocked off another NCAA Tournament-bound team, Knight’s future employer at Texas Tech. Indiana concluded the non-conference schedule at 8-2 and were up to #15 in the polls.

Michigan had run away with the Big Ten in 1985 and they had their key people back in ’86. That included center Roy Tarpley and point guard Gary Grant. The Wolverines were #2 in the country and they came into Assembly Hall and handed Indiana a 78-69 loss.

Michigan State had the conference’s MVP, point guard Scott Skiles, who averaged 27ppg and the Spartans would be the Big Ten’s only team to reach the Sweet 16 come March. They came into Assembly Hall and handed Indiana a 77-74 loss.

The promising season now reeling, the Hoosiers welcomed a couple soft opponents. Northwestern had Shon Morris, a Big Ten Network TV analyst today and a good rebounder back then. Wisconsin had a 20ppg scorer in guard Rick Olson. But neither the Wildcats or Badgers were good. Indiana got wins of 102-65 and 80-69 to get back to .500 in the league.

A stretch of three home games awaited with Ohio State, Purdue and Illinois. The Buckeyes had an explosive guard in Dennis Hopson and a top big man with Brad Sellers. Ohio State would miss the NCAAs this season, but win the NIT. Purdue and Illinois would both punch their tickets to the Dance before all was said and done. A key early stretch to the Hoosier season had arrived. They passed the test with three straight wins, including overtime against the Boilermakers and winning by two over the Illini.

Another NCAA-bound foe in Iowa was next and the road trip didn’t go well, ending with a 79-69 loss. But Indiana bounced back by rolling lowly Minnesota, then winning their rematches with Wisconsin and Northwestern.

It was time for the stretch of Ohio State, Illinois and Purdue again, this time on the road. An 84-75 win in Columbus was followed by a 61-60 escape in Champaign. Even though the road swing ended with a 17-point loss in West Lafayette, Indiana was flying high.

They were 10-4 in the Big Ten and against all odds, were tied with mighty Michigan for the conference lead. Michigan State was nipping at the heels at 9-5, as the season hit its final four games.

The Hoosiers came home and blasted Minnesota by thirty-plus, then delivered an 80-73 win over Iowa in the home finale. The Wolverines and Spartans each held serve. Indiana would conclude the conference season as they had begun, against these two opponents.

A trip to East Lansing simplified the conference race drastically. Indiana won 79-69. They were still tied with Michigan. It was winner-take-all on a Saturday afternoon in Ann Arbor.

It was also the last high point of the 1986 Indiana basketball season. The regular season finale was an unmitigated disaster, an 80-52 loss that was over by halftime. IU still picked up a 3-seed in the East Regional and had opportunity for redemption in the NCAAs.

But even though Alford scored 24 points, while Harris went for 16 points/10 rebounds, 14th-seeded Cleveland State proved to be a lot better than anyone thought. The Vikings beat the Hoosiers 83-79 and ultimately reached the Sweet 16.

The events of this season would be immortalized in John Feinstein’s book  A Season On The Brink, a behind-the-scenes look at Knight and the entire program and the bestselling sports book of all-time.

More important from the perspective of Indiana fans is that the disappointing ending didn’t change the fact that the program had gotten back on the right track. And one year later they were the ones cutting down the nets on Monday night.

1984 Indiana Basketball: The Steve Alford Era Begins

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Bob Knight’s Indiana Hoosiers were facing a rebuild in 1984. The previous four seasons had seen IU collect three Big Ten championships—outright crowns in 1980, 1981 and 1983—and that ’81 season ended with a national title. With the loss of stalwarts Ted Kitchel, Randy Wittman and Jim Thomas, Knight needed some fresh blood. He got it in the form of one the most popular recruits in the history of the program. Steve Alford came to Bloomington and the 1984 Indiana basketball season would be a memorable one indeed.

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Alford had won the prestigious Mr. Basketball award as the best high school player in the basketball-mad state, and he was smoothly inserted into the Hoosier lineup. The result was a team-leading 16ppg. He had help down low from a junior center, the 7’2” Uwe Blab, who averaged 12 points/6 rebounds.

Knight pieced together a supporting cast around this inside-out combo. Marty Simmons was a contributor at forward, as was Mike Giomi, one of the team’s better rebounders. Stew Robinson was competent in running the show from the point. And though junior swingman Dan Dakich only played 17 minutes per game, he would be central to this team’s biggest moment.

Given the rebuild, expectations were not high and Indiana ranked 19th in the preseason polls. Even that proved to be a little optimistic, at least at first. They lost their opener at home to Miami-Ohio. They went to El Paso to face a good UTEP team and lost there. A visit to top-ranked Kentucky ended in a 59-54 loss. With three losses in their first five games, the Hoosiers disappeared from the national rankings.

The balance of December saw IU start to find some rhythm. They beat Illinois State, who would end up with an 8-seed in the NCAA Tournament. And there were victories over Notre Dame and Boston College, both respectable NIT-bound teams. The Hoosiers went into Big Ten play at 7-3.

A visit to Ohio State started the 18-game conference run. The Buckeyes had been a foil for the Hoosiers in recent seasons, twice losing a winner-take-all game for the conference championship. OSU had a smooth small forward in Tony Campbell who could fill up the basket. But they would slip this year and miss the NCAA Tournament. Indiana won 73-62.

Home games with Illinois and Purdue, the teams that would prove to be the pace-setters in the Big Ten this season were next. IU got its most impressive win of the season with a 73-68 overtime W over Illinois, but fell to Purdue three days later.

The road trip to the state of Michigan didn’t go well. Indiana did not play well in East Lansing, where the Spartans were on their way to a bad year, but the Hoosiers were able to escape in overtime. They weren’t so fortunate at Michigan. A program that was rising and would win the NIT this year, the Wolverines beat IU 55-50.

The Big Ten wasn’t very good this season and the schedule remained manageable. Indiana beat Northwestern, Iowa and Minnesota. Consecutive games against Wisconsin were next. The Badgers were a bad team, but forward Cory Blackwell might have been the league’s best player, leading the Big Ten in both scoring and rebounding. No matter. Indiana won both games by double-digits.

Indiana was finally back into the polls at #17, and they went to Iowa and got a 49-45 win. Then a road trip to Northwestern went awry. The Wildcats had a good player in forward Art Aaron, but little else and there was no reason for the 63-51 loss. The Hoosiers slipped back out of the national polls.

Even so, when they won a revenge home game over Michigan by fifteen, Indiana was squarely in the mix for another conference title. They were 11-3 in the league, with Purdue and Illinois having two conference losses apiece. The Hoosiers would play both teams down the stretch. Yes, both games were on the road, but there was at least a reasonable path to a fourth conference title in five years.

Only that presumed taking care of business. Michigan State came to Bloomington’s Assembly Hall. Indiana again did not play well against Jud Heathcote’s Spartans. This time, they didn’t escape, losing 57-54.

The loss had to sting even more when Indiana went into West Lafayette and nailed Purdue 78-59. There was still hope, but there was no getting around the need to also win at Illinois. That proved to be too much, with a 70-53 beatdown on a Sunday afternoon in Champaign ending Indiana’s bid for the Big Ten title.

There was still the NCAA Tournament to look forward to. Indiana, Illinois and Purdue were the only Big Ten teams to make it, and when the Hoosiers finished the regular season by beating Ohio State at home, they picked up a #4 seed in the East Regional.

On the one hand, a 4-seed was an even bigger deal in 1984 than it would be today. The bracket was 48 teams. With 12 teams per regional, the top four seeds got byes into the Round of 32. Indiana edged out 5-seed Auburn for the bye. On the other hand…Auburn had Charles Barkley. The Hoosiers anticipated a tough game ahead.

It turns out that the 12th-seeded Richmond Spiders had a coach named Dick Tarrant who was about to start a run of first weekend NCAA Tournament magic. Indiana became all-too-familiar with Tarrant’s skills four years later, but for now it was enough that Richmond upset Auburn.

The Round of 32 game in Charlotte was still a tough battle. The Spiders had future NBA guard Johnny Newman, who knocked down 20 against Indiana. They had a point guard in Kelvin Johnson who poured in 27. But Indiana was able to answer. Alford scored 22. Blab added 14 and seven rebounds. Dakich dished five assists. The Hoosiers shot 55 percent from the floor to 50 percent for the Spiders and Indiana was able to win 75-67.

On to Atlanta for the regionals. It had been a nice run and now Indiana could prepare to make a graceful departure. They were facing #1 seed North Carolina. The Tar Heels had All-American Sam Perkins at forward. They had Kenny Smith, a future NBA champion and current TNT analyst, to play point guard. Matt Doherty, a holdover from the 1982 national championship starting lineup, was another forward. The center was Brad Daugherty, a future #1 overall pick in the NBA draft.

And the Tar Heels had a two-guard you may have heard of. Michael Jordan.

How was Indiana going to match up? Knight settled on Dakich as the man to guard Jordan. The future GOAT’s jump shot was not yet refined, and Dakich had instruction to force Jordan to shoot from the perimeter and not let him leave the ground. The result was Jordan shooting just 6-for-14,  only getting two free throws and settling for 13 points. North Carolina never got into their flow of their offense. The Tar Heels as a team shot 42 percent.

Meanwhile, Alford and Indiana were sizzling. Alford hit 9-for-13 from the floor. He got to the free throw line ten times and finished with 27 points. Blab added 16 and Robinson chipped in 14. The Hoosiers shot 65 percent from the floor. The result was a stunning 72-68 upset.

An improbable Final Four trip was now right there for Indiana. Virginia was the last hurdle. The Cavs were on an improbable ride themselves. After the departure of Player of the Year Ralph Sampson, Virginia had low expectations in 1984. They were a 7-seed in this NCAA Tournament and barely survived Iona in the first round.

But then the Cavs upset 2nd-seeded Arkansas and 3-seed Syracuse. Virginia had some destiny of their own going. Indiana’s own magic ran out. Alford and Blab shot poorly. Dakich was a non-factor. A late turnover resulted in a 50-48 loss.

It was a tough loss, but 1984 was still a special year in the storied history of Indiana basketball. They overcame low expectations and a slow start. They still got in contention during the Big Ten season. And they handed the greatest basketball player of all-time his only notable postseason failure.  

1982 Indiana Basketball: Ups & Downs On The Road To March

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Indiana basketball was on a high after the 1981 season ended. The program had won its second national championship in six years. The Hoosiers had taken each of the two previous Big Ten titles outright. But the aftermath of that season created a lot of challenges for 1982 Indiana basketball to overcome.

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The personnel losses from the championship team were expected. Ray Tolbert, a terrific power forward, graduated. The fact that a little point guard named Isiah Thomas opted to go pro after his sophomore year was no surprise.

What wasn’t expected is that the head coach, the already-legendary Bob Knight, would flirt with leaving coaching to become to the top analyst at CBS, which had just won the bidding rights for the NCAA Tournament. Reports were that CBS’ lead negotiators were convinced that Knight was coming on board.

Then came tragedy. The focal point of the 1982 team was going to be center Landon Turner, who had emerged during the previous March. Turner had the makings of a player you could quickly build a new championship team around and could potentially be the first overall pick in the NBA draft.

But that summer, Turner was in a car accident. He was paralyzed from the waist down. Knight would stay at Indiana and help raise money to pay Turner’s medical bills and to remodel his parents’ home to make it suitable for wheelchair access.

Those were the most important stories of the 1982 Indiana Hoosiers, but there was still a basketball season to be played and a program that had been on a high was now in need of recovery.

Knight would build the ’82 team around Ted Kitchel and Randy Wittman on the wings. Kitchel averaged 20ppg, second in the Big Ten. Wittman knocked down 12ppg. Another player who had started to emerge in March of 1981 was Jim Thomas. The numbers didn’t dazzle you—9 points/6 rebounds/4 assists, but Thomas was a tough player and a leader on the floor. Steve Bouchie was a forward who could play the kind of defense Knight demanded.

And the Hoosiers had some depth. John Flowers was a good rebounder off the bench. There were two freshmen who would become notable. Uwe Blab was a 7’2” center from Germany and he began working his way into the rotation. So did Dan Dakich in the backcourt. Dakich later was an assistant coach at Indiana and today is as close as there is to a voice of Big Ten basketball on ESPN.

Indiana was ranked #12 to start the year. They easily beat Notre Dame at home, although this would be a year that the Irish would fall hard from national relevance. IU lost decisively at second-ranked Kentucky.

Kansas State was a good NCAA Tournament-bound team, and Thomas stepped up with 11 rebounds to key a 58-49 win. Indiana then went to Madison Square Garden for a holiday tournament just prior to the New Year. They were handed two losses, by a good Villanova team and a mediocre Kansas squad. The Hoosiers were unranked when Big Ten play began and still looking for answers.

Instead of answers, they got more questions. Conference play started with road losses to Michigan State and Northwestern, both of whom were on their way to losing seasons. Finally, a thirty-point blowout of mediocre Michigan at home got Indiana off the schneid in league play.

Ohio State and Clark Kellogg came into Assembly Hall and the Hoosiers churned out a 66-61 win. They paid a visit to another NBA-bound talent, this one Derek Harper and Illinois and pulled out a 54-53 win. When Indiana followed that up by burying archrival Purdue 77-55, they looked to be back on track.

Wisconsin was a bad team in this era and Indiana did not play well in a trip to the old Madison Fieldhouse. But Bouchie, who normally did his work in the shadows, bailed his teammates out with 18 points/10 rebounds and keyed the 62-56 escape.

A difficult three-game stretch was ahead. Minnesota and Iowa would lead the conference race. The Hoosiers were about to play both games against the Gophers with a trip to Iowa City sandwiched in between.

Minnesota was led by center Randy Breuer, a 7’3” force in the middle and Indiana lost at home 69-62. They played poorly at Iowa, who was coached by Lute Olson and lost 62-40. When IU went up to Minneapolis to finish this stretch of games, it looked like they too might be finished.

Only they weren’t. The freshman Blab, the one player with the height to match Breuer, stepped up with 18 points. Thomas crashed the boards for nine rebounds. Indiana pulled out a 58-55 win. At 6-4, they were still three games back of Iowa, but were within one game of Minnesota and still had a puncher’s chance at a third straight Big Ten title.

Those chances increased over the next two games. The Hoosiers came home and knocked off Illinois 73-60. Then they delivered a revenge blow to Iowa, who was up to #5 nationally, with a 73-58 beatdown. The Hawkeyes would start a fade that left them with a 12-6 conference record. Indiana blew out Wisconsin by thirty-one points to keep the momentum going.

But it would be Minnesota, not Indiana, that benefitted from the Iowa fade. The Hoosiers went up to West Lafayette. Purdue guard Keith Edmondson was the conference’s top scorer and the Boilermakers knocked off IU 76-65. A visit to Ohio State ended with a 68-65 loss.

There were three games left. Any hopes of a Big Ten title bid were gone. And at 15-9, in an era when 48 teams made the NCAA Tournament, even a spot in March Madness was no guarantee.

Kitchel stepped up and poured in 28 points at Michigan to lead a 78-70 win. Indiana closed the season with revenge blowouts of Northwestern and Michigan State. At 18-9, they were safely in the Dance and drew a #5 seed in the Mideast Regional (since renamed the South Region).

The road began in Nasvhille and the opponent was Robert Morris. The Colonials were overmatched and it showed on the boards, with Indiana held a 50-23 edge. Bouchie had nine rebounds, Thomas had eight and Blab pulled down to seven to the lead the way. IU cruised to a 94-62 win.

Alabama-Birmingham was the 4-seed and UAB was playing to try and get to a regional round that would be on their home floor. They were coached by Gene Bartow, who had led UCLA to a Final Four post-John Wooden and then bolted town for a place with more reasonable expectations

Kitchel scored 24 points, but had to shoot 10-for-27 to do it. Meanwhile, UAB guard Oliver Robinson knocked down 10-for-17 and scored 23. The Hoosiers were in an 18-point hole by halftime and lost 80-70.

Considering everything these ’82 Hoosiers went through, both on and off the court, the fact they were still one of the twenty best teams in the country by season’s end is a tribute to both the coach and the players. And by 1983, they were back on top of the Big Ten.

1983 Indiana Basketball: A 3rd Big Ten Crown In 4 Years

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Bob Knight’s Indiana basketball program was on a good roll coming in the early 1980s. They had won Big Ten titles in 1980 and 1981, the latter being punctuated with a dominating run to the national championship. Even a step-back in 1982 was modest, as the Hoosiers still tied for second in their league and reached the Round of 32 in March. The 1983 Indiana basketball team got back on top of the Big Ten and if not for an untimely injury might have done even more.

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Indiana was led by two lights-out shooters on the wings. Randy Wittman went 6’6” and averaged 19ppg. Ted Kitchel, at 6’8”, was good for 17ppg. These two fifth-year seniors were the focal point of the team and were augmented by a solid senior point guard in Jim Thomas. Uwe Blab, a 7’2” sophomore center from Germany provided some height in the middle and Tony Brown was a valuable role player in the backcourt who averaged four assists per game.

The Hoosiers opened the season ranked ninth in the country and rolled out to a 10-0 start in non-conference play. They beat respectable teams in UTEP and Notre Dame. And they knocked off #2 Kentucky 62-59 in Bloomington just prior to Christmas. When Big Ten play opened after the New Year, Indiana was ranked #1 in the country.

A 70-67 loss at Ohio State opened the league schedule and knocked IU from the top of the polls, but even that wasn’t a bad thing. The beginning of the conference schedule was abnormally tough. The Buckeyes, along with Illinois and Purdue would be Indiana’s primary competition in conference—and the Hoosiers had to play all three on the road to start January. After dropping the opener, IU promptly picked up where they left off and beat Illinois by fourteen, then edged Purdue 81-78.

Indiana returned home to face Michigan State and Michigan, neither of whom were particularly good this year. The Hoosiers didn’t play great defense against Sparty, but still won 89-85. And IU coasted past Michigan 93-76. After a road win at Northwestern, the Hoosiers played poorly at Iowa in a fifteen-point loss. But Indiana was still 5-2 in Big Ten play as January came to a close.

The Big Ten schedule was set up to go “in reverse”, meaning you took the order of the first half of the schedule (nine games) and simply reversed it for the second half. That meant the next four games would all be against Wisconsin and Minnesota. The Badgers had a good inside man in Brad Sellers, although they weren’t very good. The Gophers were the defending conference champs and 7’3” center Randy Breuer was one of the conference’s best scorers and rebounders.

Indiana won all four games and for Minnesota it started a path when they fell from the land of the ranked (#17 prior to the first meeting) and would end up missing the NCAA Tournament altogether. The Hoosiers were riding high.

Then came a big bump in the road. Simply saying Indiana lost three of their next four would, on its own, be sufficient explanation. But there’s more. One of the losses was at home, to Iowa by a point. The other two were to non-NCAA Tournament teams in Michigan and Michigan State. The win was over Northwestern. The losing skid dropped IU into a first-place tie with Ohio State, Purdue was a half-game back (tied in the loss column) while Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota were all giving chance one game behind.

And that isn’t even the worst of it. In the Michigan loss, Kitchel aggravated a back injury. He would require surgery. His season was over.

The decisive moment of the 1983 Big Ten basketball season had arrived and only Wittman was a reliable scorer. The opponents would be Purdue, Illinois and Ohio State. If nothing else, the “in reverse” nature of the conference schedule meant that Indiana would have all three games at home.

The state of Indiana—and the flagship university in Bloomington in particular—have a reputation for their love of basketball that needs no further expounding here. Suffice it to say, the fans rallied to the moment. After Kitchel was flooded with get-well cards, the fans came determined to make Assembly Hall rock.

And the team responded. Indiana hammered Purdue 64-41 with a vintage Knight-style defense in a big game. They knocked off Illinois 67-55. The race was narrowed to Indiana and Ohio State, each at 12-5 in Big Ten play. Just like 1980, the Hoosiers and Buckeyes would play a winner-take-all game in Bloomington to settle the conference championship.

The 1980 game had been a thriller. Not so much in 1983. Indiana, feeding off the energy of the fans and determined to win for Kitchel, simply took over. An 81-60 blowout win culminated the devastating closing push where they posted double-digit victories over their top three competitors with the second-leading scorer in the hospital. For the third time in four years, Indiana was Big Ten champs.

They also got the #2 seed in what was then called the Mideast Regional of the NCAA Tournament (today it’s the South bracket). The field was only 48 teams in 1983, so anyone seeded on the 1-4 lines got a bye into the Round of 32. Indiana watched as Oklahoma earned the right to meet them in Evansville.

OU had a great low-post scorer in Wayman Tisdale, who would eventually become both a whipping boy and all-time favorite of Knight on the 1984 U.S. Olympic team. Tisdale scored 14 points and was respectable, but it wasn’t nearly enough. Wittman knocked down 10 of his 17 shots from the field and scored 22. Thomas added 13. The Hoosiers shot 51 percent compared to 39 percent for the Sooners. Indiana was up twelve by the half and won 63-49.

It was on to the Sweet 16 and what a regional weekend awaited. Indiana was facing an old friend, #3 seed Kentucky. The other game in the Mideast bracket was Louisville-Arkansas. That’s four passionate fan bases all within pretty reasonable travel distances of Knoxville, where the games would be held.

The regional lived up to the hype. All three games were sizzling and down to the wire, but Indiana’s time had run out. Even with Wittman getting 18 points and Blab adding 17, the Hoosiers couldn’t slow down Kentucky. The Wildcats shot 63 percent and without Kitchel, IU wasn’t going to keep pace with that kind of offensive efficiency. A 64-59 loss ended the season. Louisville would end up going to the Final Four.

1983 was still another banner year in Bloomington—quite literally, as the Big Ten championship banner went up and Knight declared it to be in honor of the fans for the way they rallied to the cause in the stretch run.

The next three years would be a volatile roller-coaster for the program. In 1984, Indiana pulled one of the most stunning upsets of the decade in the NCAA Tournament when they knocked off Michael Jordan’s North Carolina team in the Sweet 16. Two days later they lost to vastly less talented Virginia team. In the summer of 1984 Knight and freshman guard Steve Alford won an Olympic gold medal. In 1985, a season of great expectation ended in the NIT. A nice turnaround in 1986 was followed by a shocking first-round upset loss in the NCAAs to Cleveland State.

Finally in 1987, Indiana returned to the top. They won a share of the Big Ten title, got a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and behind Keith Smart’s shot on Monday Night, won Knight his third national championship.

The 1981 Indiana Hoosiers Peak In March

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It had been a tumultuous four years for Bob Knight and the Indiana basketball program since their unbeaten national title run of 1976. They missed the NCAA Tournament twice. In 1980, they won a Big Ten title, but lost to archrival Purdue in the NCAAs, then watched the Boilermakers and Iowa go to the Final Four. The 1981 Indiana Hoosiers completed the journey all the way back to the top, as they not only repeated as Big Ten champs, but won another national title.

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A brilliant sophomore guard named Isiah Thomas keyed the team, with 16ppg and six assists as he ran the floor show. Randy Wittman, a lights-out shooter with an NBA career ahead of him, averaged 10ppg to complete a well-rounded backcourt. Another Thomas—Jim (no relation to Isiah) gave Knight quality minutes as a passer and defender.

The frontcourt was in equally good hands. Ray Tolbert averaged 12 points/6 rebounds per game and won the Chicago Tribune’s Silver Basketball Award, which was as close as the Big Ten had to a generally acknowledged MVP in those days. Elevating Tolbert over Isiah in terms of value and impact is pushing it, but it does underscore Tolbert’s ability to control the paint.

Another forward, even more talented, was on the rise. Landon Turner averaged 10ppg, but the junior was coming into his own as the season went on and emerging as a possible #1 overall NBA draft pick for 1982. Ted Kitchel rounded out the frontcourt, and though he only scored nine points per game, he was another sharpshooter who could space the floor.

Indiana was ranked fifth in the nation to start the year, but December was a disappointment. They played good teams in Kentucky, Notre Dame and North Carolina, all of whom would be 2-seeds come March and the Hoosiers lost all three. The games were close to be sure—68-66, 68-64 and 65-56 respectively, and the games against the Irish and Tar Heels were on the road. But it didn’t suggest a special season in the offing.

A trip to Hawaii between Christmas and New Year’s was a disaster, with losses to Clemson and Texas Rio-Grande Valley. Indiana completed non-conference play at 7-5. Forget a national title—in an era when only 48 teams made the NCAA Tournament, the Hoosiers had their hands full just trying to get to the Dance.

Indiana opened up Big Ten play on a stronger note at home, beating Michigan State and Illinois by double digits. The Spartans were on hard times after the departure of Magic Johnson following the 1979 national title run, but the Illini were a good team that would compete for the Big Ten title and be one of three conference teams to make the NCAAs.

The Hoosiers then dipped again, losing two of three. They dropped an overtime game at Michigan, who had a prolific scorer in Mike McGee, but was not a well-balanced team. Another loss came to Iowa, who didn’t have big-time talent, but had Lute Olson at head coach. In between these two defeats, Indiana knocked Ohio State, who was led by future TV analyst Clark Kellogg.

At 3-2 in the Big Ten and 10-7 overall, the moment was urgent for Knight’s Hoosiers and they responded with a four-game win streak. Indiana blew out Northwestern, then got a clutch overtime win over Minnesota, a team that was on the rise with a big center in Randy Breuer and who would win a Big Ten title of their own in 1982. IU beat Purdue 69-61 and then blew out Wisconsin to get back in position in the conference race.

A return visit to Purdue ended the win streak. The Boilermakers and first-year head coach Gene Keady were able to pull out a 69-66 win. Indiana responded by winning at Wisconsin and setting up a big game at Iowa on February 19. Both teams came in with 9-3 league records and the winner would take sole possession of first place. The Hoosiers did not play well and lost 78-65.

It’s in this latter stage of February that the 1981 Indiana Hoosiers began to look like the team history remembers them as. They beat Minnesota 74-64, took out Ohio State 74-58 and outgunned Michigan 98-83. Iowa held serve, including a win at Purdue that gave the Boilermakers a sixth conference loss and ultimately knocked them out of the NCAA Tournament. Minnesota would also fade from NCAA consideration.

The final week of the regular season opened with Iowa appearing to be in command, still up a game in the league at 13-3 and having winnable road games at Michigan State and Ohio State. Indiana was 12-4, with Illinois giving chase at 11-5.

Indiana visited Illinois in a conference championship elimination game. The Illini had talented forwards in Eddie Johnson and Mark Smith who combined for 30 points/14 rebounds per game and they would ultimately make the Sweet 16. But the Hoosiers stood strong with a 69-66 road win. When Iowa was upset 71-70 at Michigan State, the Big Ten race was tied.

On the final Saturday of the season—there was no conference tournament played then, so this was the day before Selection Sunday—Iowa went to Ohio State. Kellogg had averaged 17 points/12 rebounds this season and while he didn’t have enough help, the Buckeyes were no easy out. And they completed Iowa’s final-week collapse with a 78-70 upset. The Hawkeyes would lose in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. And the door was open for Indiana to win the Big Ten outright.

The Hoosiers were peaking and a visit to East Lansing wasn’t going to stop them. They took home an easy 69-48 win and a second straight Big Ten title. After the problems of the early season, they were going to the NCAA Tournament as a 3-seed in the Mideast. DePaul and Kentucky were the regional favorites, but Indiana had one big hole card—the regionals would be played in Bloomington.

After a first-round bye, Indiana played their second-round game in Dayton against the Maryland Terrapins, led by forward Albert King. Indiana played its best game of the season to date, with a dominating 99-64 win. Tolbert and Turner dominated the interior, combining for 46 points/15 rebounds. Isiah scored 19 of his own and dished out 14 assists.

On a weekend where upsets played havoc with the NCAA field, no one benefited more than the Hoosiers—both DePaul and Kentucky lost. Indiana would not only play the regionals at home, but would do so against a gutted field.

The backcourt of Isiah and Wittman rolled through UAB, combining for 47 points and the Hoosiers won 87-72. They closed out their regional run with a 78-46 blowout of St. Joseph’s, holding them to 33 percent shooting from the floor. Indiana was on its way to another Final Four and ironically it would be at the same venue as in 1976—the Philadelphia Spectrum. There had to be good luck in there somewhere.

If the regionals had been gutted the Final Four most definitely was not. Indiana played the early afternoon game on Saturday against LSU, the 1-seed out of the Midwest. The Tigers were led by forward Rudy Macklin, a second-team All-American and Indiana trailed 30-27 at the half. But the combination of a great defense and a heavy dose of Landon Turner—20 points/8 rebounds—completely turned the game around in the second half and Indiana cruised to a 67-49 win.

North Carolina was the last hurdle. As the teams got ready to play on Monday, word came from Washington D.C. that there had been an assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan. There was real doubt as to whether the championship game would be played. When later word came that the president was stable, the teams were given the go-ahead to play.

The Tar Heels had not only beaten Indiana in December, but they had a tremendous frontcourt. Al Wood was a second-team All-American. Sam Perkins and James Worthy were players that proved to be pretty good, both at this level and the next one. They had just beaten Virginia and its All-American center Ralph Sampson to get here.

But Indiana was just in too good of a groove. The game followed a similar pattern to Saturday. The first half was fairly even, with Wittman hitting a baseline jumper as the horn sounded to give the Hoosiers a 27-26 lead at intermission. And the second half was all IU.

Isiah owned the stage, scoring 23 points. Tolbert dominated the inside with 11 rebounds. Wittman kicked in 16 points, while Turner added 12 points/6 rebounds of his own. Isiah was named Most Outstanding Player, just as he had been in the regionals, and the 63-50 win gave Indiana another national title.

Knight had added to his legend. He was now a multi-national title winner and considered stepping back from coaching and perhaps going into broadcasting. CBS acquired the rights to the NCAA Tournament for the following season and was pushing hard to get the Indiana coach as their number one analyst.

But in the summer, tragedy struck. Turner was in a car accident and ended up paralyzed. Knight would not leave the program and he returned to coach and to raise money for Turner’s ongoing medical care and to have his home fitted with ramps to allow for wheelchair use.

All of it is part of the legacy is the 1981 Indiana Hoosiers. From the strong finish on the basketball court, to the humanitarianism off of it, this all became part of the history of one of college basketball’s great cultures.

The Road To The 1981 Final Four

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The first four days of the NCAA Tournament in 1981 were marked by a sequence of upsets and buzzer-beaters that was then unprecedented. But by the time the 1981 Final Four rolled around, the powers-that-be had emerged. Indiana, North Carolina, Virginia and LSU were all high seeds that won regionals. Let’s look back on the road all four teams took to Philadelphia.

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INDIANA

After their unbeaten national championship run of 1976, Bob Knight’s Indiana Hoosiers slipped back and missed the NCAA Tournament two of the next three years. The road back to the national elite started in 1980 when they won the Big Ten before a Sweet 16 loss to archrival Purdue left a bad taste.

There was still as much talent as Knight ever had on hand, and it started with All-American sophomore guard Isiah Thomas, who averaged 17 ppg, was a terrific floor leader and would go on to be one of the great NBA point guards of all-time with the Detroit Pistons.

Thomas was supported by two-guard Randy Wittman, another future NBA player. Ray Tolbert averaged 12 rebounds a game. Another forward, Landon Turner might have gone to the pros as well, but the aggressive rebounding forward had his career tragically cut short in the summer following the 1981 season when a car accident left him paralyzed from the waist down.

This group won a second straight Big Ten title and was seeded #3 in the Mideast Regional. After a first-round bye in a tournament field that was then 48 teams, Indiana crushed Maryland 99-64. Tolbert and Turner dominated inside, combining for 46 points on 19/26 shooting.

Meanwhile the rest of the favorites in the Mideast (the forerunner of today’s South Regional) were dropping like flies. DePaul, the #1 team in the country, was stunned by St. Joe’s. Kentucky, the two-seed and potential Sweet 16 opponent for Indiana, lost to Alabama-Birmingham. And fourth-seeded Wake Forest lost to Boston College.

As if that hadn’t opened up Indiana’s path to the Final Four sufficiently, the regionals would be held on their homecourt in Bloomington.

Indiana beat UAB 87-72, although this was a talented Blazer team. They were coached by Gene Bartow, who had guided UCLA to the Final Four in 1976 before tiring of the pressure that came with succeeding John Wooden. UAB also had a good guard in Oliver Robinson, and this team made the final eight one year later.

In this tournament, UAB hung with IU for a half, trailing 42-37 before the Hoosier backcourt took over. Isiah and Wittman combined for 47 points to take over the second half. Indiana then got one more break when St. Joe’s upset Boston College 42-41. It probably wasn’t going to matter in any case, but with a good inside-out combo of Jay Murphy and John Bagley, the Eagles would have had a puncher’s chance against the Hoosiers.

The same couldn’t be said for St. Joe’s. Indiana dominated defensively and led 32-16 at the half. They held St. Joe’s to 33 percent shooting for the game and coasted in 78-46. Thomas finished with 12 assists and was named Most Outstanding Player of the regional.

NORTH CAROLINA

Dean Smith had already made five Final Fours with North Carolina when the 1981 season began. The most recent was 1977, when his team reached the championship game before losing. But Smith still didn’t have a ring and his team suffered early exits each of the previous three years.

What they did have in 1981 was a lot of talent. The frontline had future NBA standouts in Sam Perkins and James Worthy, and they weren’t even the best players in this particular year. That honor went to forward Al Wood. Collectively, this Big Three of the frontcourt combined to average 47 ppg.

North Carolina finished second in the ACC and grabbed the #2 seed in the West Regional. They beat Pitt 74-57, getting a combined 56 points from the Big Three on 21/32 shooting to reach the Sweet 16 for the first time since ’77.

UNC was now the favorite in the region after #1 seed Oregon State had been upset by Kansas State in the second round. Utah and Illinois had held serve as favorites to join the Tar Heels in Salt Lake City.

North Carolina drew Utah in the round of 16, and the Utes weren’t to be overlooked. They were playing in their home state and they had Tom Chambers, soon to be one of the most potent scoring forwards in the NBA. But the Tar Heels got 45 points from the Big Three and reserve Matt Doherty stepped up with 12 more to lead a 61-56 win.

Kansas State edged Illinois 57-52 in a game where K-State’s Rolando Blackman squared off with Illinois’ Derek Harper—both players would spend several years as teammates on the Dallas Mavericks. Blackman, who had hit the shot the beat Oregon State with two seconds left, was one of the stories of the tournament.

North Carolina had its hands full with Blackman in the regional final, as he went for 21 points/10 rebounds, but UNC had too much. Wood had a 21/17 game and earned regional MOP honors. Doherty, a future starter for this program and much later its head coach, continued his strong play, with 16 points. The Tar Heels were up thirteen by halftime and coasted to Smith’s sixth Final Four with an 82-68 win.

VIRGINIA

The Virginia basketball program wasn’t at all on the map when Terry Holland became head coach in 1975, having never reached the NCAA Tournament. Holland built the program, reached the Big Dance in 1976 and a few years later he landed the biggest fish—7’4” center Ralph Sampson.

In 1980, Sampson’s freshman year, UVA won the NIT. And in 1981, they finally had a big year. They won their first 23 games before a last-second loss to Notre Dame in a road-neutral game at Chicago. With Ralph averaging 18 points/12 rebounds/3 blocks per game and supported by forwards and co-captains Jeff Lamp and Lee Raker, Virginia won the ACC title and were the #1 seed in the East Regional.

Virginia was not impressive in beating Villanova 54-50, but they survived and advanced to Atlanta for the regionals. Their opponent would be a good Tennessee team. The Vols were the 4-seed and guard Dale Ellis had a productive NBA career ahead of him.

Sampson struggled, shooting 4-for-13, but Lamp stepped up with a big game and hit 18 points. Virginia took over in the second half and won 62-48. They were one game from the Final Four and whomever the opponent would be, they would offer some sort of revenge angle.

BYU was the 6-seed and guard Danny Ainge had beaten out Sampson for national Player of the Year honors. The Cougars were playing…Notre Dame. The Irish win over the Cavs had been one of the regular season’s most memorable moments.  BYU would be the survivor—trailing 50-49, Ainge delivered an iconic NCAA moment, driving coast-to-coast for the winning layup.

Virginia trailed the regional final at halftime, 31-28, but Sampson was playing well. He finished with 22 points/12 rebounds. And now it was Ainge’s turn to struggle to a 4-for-13 shooting day. Lamp scored 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds of his own. The Cavs took over the second half and won going away, 74-60.

Lamp won regional MVP and with Sampson in tow, Virginia was going to Philadelphia as a popular choice to bring home a national championship.

LSU

LSU’s only national recognition as a basketball school came when Pete Maravich graced the floor, and even that was about individual success. The Tigers had otherwise not made the NCAA Tournament since the early 1950s when Dale Brown arrived in Baton Rouge in 1976. By 1979, Dale had the team in the Sweet 16. In 1980, they reached the round of eight. There was one more step to take.

The Tigers had a well-balanced team. In the backcourt, Ethan Martin was the playmaker while Howard Carter led all scorers with 16 ppg. The frontcourt had athletes and rebounders in Durand “Rudy” Macklin and Leonard Mitchell. LSU won the SEC title over Kentucky and got the top seed in the Midwest, the second straight year the Tigers were seeded on the 1-line.

Macklin scored 31 points while Carter knocked down 26 as LSU rolled Lamar, 100-78 to advance into the regionals at Houston. They were only favorite to survive opening weekend, but as 5-seeds go, Arkansas was as tough as it got.

Eddie Sutton had led the Razorback program to the Final Four in 1978, come within a basket of upsetting Larry Bird’s Indiana State team in 1979 and advanced in this year’s tournament by beating defending national champion Louisville 74-73 on a miracle halfcourt shot from U.S. Reed.

Just how well Brown had LSU playing was demonstrated by how thoroughly they controlled a team with this pedigree. Macklin led a strong rebounding effort that controlled the glass, the score was 34-18 by half and LSU coasted home to a 72-56 win.

They would play another team probably better than its seed number indicated in #7 Wichita State. The Shockers had two future NBA forwards in Antoine Carr and Cliff Levingston and had just nipped in-state rival Kansas 66-65 to reach this round.

LSU might have been the powerful #1 seed, but from the perspective of history, their cast paled in comparison to what Carr and Levingston were. It’s a credit to Brown on just how well he got this talent to come together.

Macklin continued to be great, with a 21/10 day in the regional final. Mitchell went for 17/6 and center Greg Cook added 19/7 in a display of frontline dominance. The Tigers again grabbed the big halftime lead, 48-33 and they won 96-85. Macklin was the region’s Outstanding Player.

THE 1981 FINAL FOUR

With four excellent teams that all had seemed to be peaking even prior to the NCAA Tournament, the stage seemed to be set for a great show in Philadelphia. Instead, after such an exciting tournament, all three games at the old Spectrum followed the pattern of good first half followed by a second-half blowout.

Indiana played LSU in the early afternoon game on Saturday. The Tigers led 30-27 at half, but the Hoosier defense took over. They held LSU to 32 percent shooting, and in a game with a lot of good, aggressive forwards, Turner was the best. He delivered a 20/8 showing and IU pulled away 67-49.

North Carolina and Virginia renewed their ACC rivalry and it was tied 27-27 at the half. Then Wood turned one of the most electric performances in Final Four history. He went in, over and around Cavalier defenders for a 39-point performance. Sampson shot just 3-for-10 and UNC won 78-65.

On the Monday afternoon of the championship game, word came that President Reagan had been shot. The teams waited to find out if the game would be played. As it became apparent the president would survive, the decision was made to play the game.

Indiana led 27-26 at the half, and again their defense took over after intermission. They held North Carolina to 43 percent shooting. Wittman scored 16 points, Tolbert had 11 rebounds and Turner chipped in a 12/6. But the star of the night was Isiah. He finished with 23 points and led the way to the 63-50 win.

Thomas was named the Final Four’s Outstanding Player and if we’re just talking about Monday night, that’s true. Maybe it’s easy to say in retrospect and out of sentiment, but I think Turner was the MVP if we look at the two-game period as a whole, which is theoretically what the MOP is supposed to be.

Indiana had their second national title in six years and each one had come in Philadelphia.

The Road To The 1976 Final Four

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The 1976 Final Four is best remembered for when Bob Knight’s Indiana Hoosiers capped off a perfect season with a national championship. But there were three other stories there too, from UCLA in the post-Wooden era to an upstart from the East to a conference runner-up for the first time. Here’s a look back on the teams of the 1976 Final Four–Indiana, UCLA, Rutgers and Michigan and their roads to Philadelphia.

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INDIANA

Indiana had three great players, starting with national Player of the Year Scott May, who averaged nearly 24 ppg. Kent Benson, a future #1 overall pick in the NBA draft scored 17 ppg and held down the middle. Quinn Buckner, who had a long pro career ahead of him, ran the floor.

After rolling to a second straight undefeated regular season and Big Ten title, Knight’s Hoosiers blasted St. John’s to open the 1976 NCAA Tournament, with 33 points from May keying the 90-70 rout. These were the days of just 32 teams in the field, so the victory put Indiana into the Sweet 16.

The road went to Baton Rouge for what was then called the Mideast Regional. It was a stacked bracket. The tournament was not formally seeded, with geographic considerations being paramount. The result was four of the teams in the final regular season Top 10 were all in Louisiana. That included second-ranked Marquette.

Indiana first had to deal with SEC champ Alabama, coached by Knight’s friend and future Olympic assistant C.M. Newton. The Tide gave the Hoosiers the scare of their life, leading by five points late in the game. May, who finished with 25 points/16 rebounds, hit a big jumper and Indiana was able to survive 74-69.

Marquette, coached by the legendary Al McGuire, had gotten past Western Michigan 62-57 in spite of being badly outrebounded. The regional final between the nation’s 1-2 teams was close for a half, and IU led by a point at the break. But McGuire got two technical fouls, and Benson delivered an 18 points/9 rebound effort. May kicked in 15 and the Hoosiers won 65-56.

Benson was named the regional’s Outstanding Player, something I have to take exception with. If you want to give him Player of the Game for the regional final, I get that. But May wasn’t far behind Benson in that game, and May was vastly superior in the Alabama game.

Moreover, it was May’s clutch play in the round of 16 that saved Indiana’s perfect season. If the award is really for the regional weekend as a whole, which its name implies, then Scott May should have gotten the trophy.

MICHIGAN

The idea of opening the NCAA Tournament up to multiple teams from the same conference was only two years old and Michigan became the first beneficiary, not needing to beat out Indiana in the Big Ten race.

Michigan was coached by Johnny Orr, who had won a Big Ten crown here in 1974, and had an offense that combined both explosiveness and balance. Rickey Green led the way with 20 ppg. Phil Hubbard and John Robinson controlled the interior and scored a combined 29 ppg. Wayman Britt and Steve Grote were also double-digit scorers.

The Wolverines were sent to the Midwest Regional where they barely survived Wichita State, escaping 74-73, as Green struggled to a 4-for-17 shooting game. But they were on their way to Louisville, where Notre Dame, Missouri and Texas Tech would join them.

Michigan and Notre Dame hadn’t yet renewed their football rivalry yet–that would be two years later. So this Sweet 16 game would have to do, and it was a good one. The Irish got 31 from All-American and future NBA scoring machine Adrian Dantley. But Michigan got 20 from Green, with the rest of the starting lineup all in double figures and they won 80-76.

Missouri’s Willie Smith electrified the other regional semi, dropping 30 on Texas Tech to key an 86-75 win. And Smith didn’t stop in the final, pouring in 43 points on the Wolverines. Michigan again answered with balance–Green had 23, Robinson hit 21 and Hubbard scored 20. Smith took home the region’s Outstanding Player award, but with a 95-88 win, the Wolverines took home a Final Four trip.

UCLA

Gene Bartow had the unenviable task of replacing John Wooden, who had retired after his 10th national championship in 12 years in 1975. The Bruins were carried by All-American Richard Washington and his 21 ppg, along with prolific scorer Marques Johnson, who had 17 ppg. But there wasn’t any depth in scoring to back them up. Andre McCarter was a nice floor leader, but UCLA didn’t look unstoppable as they won the Pac-8.

The geographic emphasis of the regional brackets meant that UCLA had, as they always did in the Wooden years, a distinct advantage given the weakness of basketball in the west. The Bruins got 25 from Washington and 19 from Johnson in dispatching San Diego State 74-64 to reach a regional round that would be at home for them in Los Angeles.

UCLA churned out an efficient 70-61 win over Pepperdine in the round of 16. Basketball fans were eyeing a potential changing-of-the-guard battle with third-ranked UNLV in the regional final. Jerry Tarkanian had the Rebel program on the move upward and they looked ready to challenge the Bruins.

But UNLV didn’t get that chance. An electrifying game with Arizona went to overtime and it was the Wildcats who got a 114-109 win. Six players overall scored 20-plus points and two more had 18. Herm Harris led everyone with 31.

Arizona didn’t have much left for UCLA–this was a non-conference game then, with Arizona and Arizona State not having joined up with the Pac-8 yet. Richard Washington again had an excellent game, a 22/10 line, as he locked up Outstanding Player in an 82-66 win.

RUTGERS

The historic legacy of Indiana’s 1976 season leads us to forget that Rutgers also came into the Final Four undefeated. Phil Sellers, a second-team All-American, averaged 19 ppg, as did Mike Dabney. Eddie Jordan and Hollis Copeland were each double-digit scorers.

Rutgers had to survive against Princeton in the opening round, shooting just 38 percent. Jordan saved them with 16 points and the Scarlet Knights escaped 54-53. The East regional would be in Greensboro, and it would be the softest of the four–none of VMI, DePaul or UConn were ranked among the 16 best teams in the country in the final regular season poll.

The Scarlet Knights played defense against UConn in the Sweet 16, holding the Huskies to 41 percent shooting and all five starters scoring from 14-19 points. Rutgers won 93-79, while VMI nipped DePaul in overtime by forcing Blue Demon center and future pro Dave Corzine into a 6-for-15 shooting night.

Dabney and Jordan took over the regional final, each scoring 23 points. VMI’s Will Bynum, fresh off his 34-point game against DePaul, came up with 22 more here, but he didn’t have help, while Rutgers had plenty. They won 91-75 and punched their ticket to nearby Philly, with Jordan bringing home MOP honors.

THE 1976 FINAL FOUR

Phil Sellers didn’t have a vintage NCAA Tournament and it continued in the national semifinal against Michigan. The Wolverines forced Sellers into a 5-for-13 game, and Rutgers shot 39 percent as a team. Hubbard and Robinson controlled the boards for Michigan and they won 86-70.

The showcase game was Indiana-UCLA, although “showcase” wasn’t defined quite as clearly as it is today, when CBS picks which Saturday game they want to show in the 8:47 PM ET slot. The changing-of-the-guard moment wasn’t all that dramatic–Bobby Wilkerson hauled in 19 rebounds for Indiana and they won comfortably, 65-51.

For the first time ever, we had two conference rivals playing for the national championship. The final score shows Indiana’s 86-68 win, and it might be easy to look at that, along with the perfect season and assume the result was a foregone conclusion. It wasn’t–Wilkerson went out with a concussion and Michigan led 35-29 at the half.

But the Wolverines couldn’t get Hubbard and Robinson unleashed down low, while May and Benson took over. May went for 26/8, while Benson added a 25/9 night. Buckner, not normally a scorer, popped in 16 points and grabbed eight more rebounds, and Indiana pulled away into history.

1987 Indiana Basketball: A Real-Life Hoosiers Ending

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The 1987 Indiana basketball team was looking to redeem themselves. 1986 had ended with March disappointment—they’d been upset by Cleveland State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament—but they were also looking to avoid a dubious historical distinction. The senior class, led by sharpshooter Steve Alford, had never won a Big Ten championship and no team in the Bob Knight era had ever graduated without winning at least one conference title.

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Alford was the leading scorer and team leader, and power forward Daryl Thomas joined him in the senior class. Rick Calloway was a smooth and athletic small forward. There were holes at point guard and center and Knight had gone with what, for him, was the unusual route of recruiting junior college players to fill them, adding Keith Smart in the backcourt and Dean Garrett in the post.

IU came through some tough times in the early part of the season, less about on-court performance and more about a brief suspension of Thomas for not going to class. The senior got back on track and the team was enjoying a big year. The problem was that it was a strong year in the Big Ten. Purdue would be in the hunt all year, as would Illinois. And no offense in the conference—perhaps in the nation—could score quicker than Iowa, under a fast-paced style by Tom Davis and they hung 101 points on the Hoosiers in a January win in Iowa City.

Indiana went through a trying stretch on the court in conference play, barely getting by three cellar-dwellers in Northwestern, Wisconsin and Minnesota. The game against the Badgers was a 9 PM ET start for ESPN and went to triple overtime before Garrett scored the game-winner in the 86-85 final. The game is best known for Knight lambasting the late starts for television, noting how late the kids were going to be back on campus on a school night and asking “Where’s the priorities?”

The mediocre performance and late nights didn’t stop Indiana from getting revenge on Iowa’s return trip to Bloomington, but against Illinois they faltered and it allowed Purdue to hold a one-game lead in the conference coming into the final week. The goals of Alford, Thomas and reserve forward Todd Meier, the third part of the senior class, were in serious jeopardy.

Indiana took care of its business, winning both of their games. On the final day of the regular season, as Alford signed autographs after a 90-81 win over Ohio State, the word came through to him—Michigan was killing Purdue and the Hoosiers would share the Big Ten crown with the Boilermakers.

The Hoosiers were the #1 seed in the Midwest Regional, and the first two games would be in Indianapolis. The blowout win over Fairfield to start the tournament could’ve happened anywhere, but a home crowd advantage was surely a help when they fell behind Auburn 24-10. After a chewing out from the head coach, Indiana quickly turned the game around and they won 107-90. The win sent them on to Cincinnati for the regionals, where Duke would be the opponent, while LSU and DePaul faced off in the other semi-final.

Today the names of Bob Knight and Mike Krzyzewski are inextricably linked, with the mentor-protégé relationship being well-known and Krzyzewski’s breaking of Knight’s all-time career wins record being a high point of the 2011-12 early season. Back then, even though Coach K had made his first Final Four appearance the previous year, he was still the up-and-comer without a ring, while Knight was the legend who’d already won it all twice. This year, Knight had the better team.

Even though Duke got out to a 29-21 lead, the Hoosiers had a ten-point lead by halftime. Calloway, playing in his hometown, scored 21 points and Smart added 21 more. Indiana shot 56 percent, won the rebounding battle and eventually the game, 88-82. On the other side of the draw, LSU, the #11 seed in the regional upset #2 seed DePaul and was looking to make the Final Four for the second straight year as a double-digit seed.

Indiana was the solid favorite, but they only led by one at the half and LSU controlled the early part of the second half, moving out to a 12-point lead. During the Tiger run, Knight became angry with the officials and went to the scorers bench where NCAA officials were and pleaded his case. The lasting image of this is Knight pounding a courtside phone and the receiver springing up.

The phone incident eventually cost IU a $10,000 fine and for a few years Knight and LSU coach Dale Brown were enemies over what the Tiger coach perceived as intimidating the officials. The two men traded insults in public, before they sat down, talked it out and became friends. To think, if they’d just used cell phones in 1987, the imagery wouldn’t have happened, and maybe none of the fallout.

LSU was still leading 75-68 with five minutes to play. A fast-break basket by sixth man Joe Hillman and a foul, cut the lead to four. The Hoosiers were down by a point at 76-75 when Tiger guard Fess Irvin went to the line to shoot a one-and-one. He missed the front end. Indiana brought it down the floor. Thomas took what looked like the final shot from the lane and it came up an air ball. Calloway swopped in for the rebound and put it back. Indiana had survived 77-76 and their hometown kid was the hero.

The Final Four was in New Orleans and Indiana was paired with fellow #1 seed UNLV in a high-profile semi-final. The Rebels were generally seen as the best team in the country, with a potent backcourt led by Mark Wade distributing and Freddie Banks scoring. Armon Gilliam was as good a power forward as there was in the nation and any team coached by Jerry Tarkanian would play hard on defense.

This year was the first time in the NCAA Tournament that the three-point line was in effect. It had been used in regular season play in different conferences at different distances since 1983, but the ’87 rules codified the distance at 19’9” and introduced it into postseason play.  Today that worked to the advantage of the Rebels, as Banks drained ten by himself on the way to 38 points. Gilliam scored 32 and pulled down 10 rebounds.

But Indiana made a surprise decision to run with UNLV and Alford poured in 33 points and while the Hoosiers weren’t as prolific from behind the stripe they outshot Vegas from the floor 62-43%. Indiana led 88-76 and held off a furious UNLV rally that cut the lead to as little as four, which is where it ended, 97-93.

Syracuse would be the opponent in the Monday night final in the Superdome. The Orange had three future NBA players in their starting lineup, with power forward Derrick Coleman, center Rony Seikaly and point guard Sherman Douglas. All would have productive pro careers.  Alford was the only player on Indiana’s roster who would last more than a year at the next level and it was far from productive. It’s the singular testament to Knight’s coaching that not only did this group win a national title, but they were so efficient all year that they actually entered this title clash as a favorite to beat the Orange.

The game would be a back-and-forth classic and this time it was Indiana who benefited from the three-point shot. Alford hit 7-for-7 from behind the arc, including one right before the half that put IU up by a point at intermission. But Coleman was rebounding ferociously and would have 19 boards by night’s end. Syracuse finally opened up some breathing room at 52-44 in the second half. It was time for Knight to turn to another hometown hero.

Smart hailed from up the road in Baton Rouge and he’d been briefly sat down by his coach with the firm admonition to “settle down.” With the championship in the balance, Smart took the game over. He had 23 points for the game and 12 came in the final five minutes.  Trailing 72-68 he drove the baseline for a reverse layup. But when he went to tie it one trip later, his short jumper missed and was rebounded by Syracuse forward Howard Triche who was immediately fouled.

Triche hit the first free throw, but missed the second.  Smart grabbed the long rebound off the and rapidly sprinted the other way for a basket that cut it to one as the clock neared the half-minute mark. It was a play that Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim would look back on with regret, feeling he should’ve pulled his rebounders off the lane and kept the defense back. It wasn’t that Smart had scored, it was that Indiana only had to use a few seconds of time to cut the lead to two.

Still, the Orange had the lead and just need to hit their free throws. It was the freshman Coleman who was fouled and had the chance. Coleman was in position to be Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four. But he missed the front end of the one-and-one.

Now that extra time that Boeheim lamented came into play as Indiana was able to work the ball around, first seeing if Alford could take the final shot, and then looking for other options as their captain was closed off. Thomas had the chance to take a decent shot from the free throw line, but he saw Smart whirling around the side to his left and slipped him the ball. Smart’s dribble took him close to the baseline and he pulled up for the shot, that with four seconds left, won the championship.

The final was 74-73. It was the fifth national championship in Indiana basketball history and their coach’s third. Bob Knight had taken a special place in history and in a year when the movie Hoosiers, later to be seen as one of the great sports films ever made, hit the big screen, the 1987 Indiana basketball team had provided a real-life dramatic finish.

Back Home Again In Indiana: 1987 Indiana Basketball, Football & The Colts

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This is part of a series of sports history articles celebrating the best in 1987 sports. This piece asks the question of which geographic fan base had the best year in ’87.
The year that was 1987 sports sees us return to the same fan market that he honored in 1976—but with a little different twist. In both years, it’s Indiana University and Bob Knight’s basketball program that’s at the heart. The 1987 Indiana basketball team won Knight’s third national title and they keynoted the success for 1987’s top fan market, just as was the case in 1976.

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But the 1976 fan base was specifically targeted to those who live near the Ohio border in Indiana and would default to the Cincinnati Reds as their favorite baseball team. The Reds rolled to a World Series title and a 7-0 sweep of the postseason. In 1987, we keep everything exclusively in the Hoosier State—no matter where you live, so long as it’s IU—not Purdue or Notre Dame—that get your loyalty—you were riding the wave.
No fan base really had a dominant year in 1987, so it’s the supporting cast grinding out seasons that could be significant to the faithful that would make the difference. That’s what happened here. Indiana’s football coach, Bill Mallory, was getting that program onto the map and he knocked off both Michigan and Ohio State—the first time IU had ever accomplished the feat—en route to a Peach Bowl bid.
The NFL had just come to Indianapolis prior to the 1984 season and the Colts had yet to make any real mark. In spite of a strike, and subsequent use of replacement players for three games, Indianapolis found their stride late in the year and won the old AFC East (the four current teams plus Indy). It was the franchise’s first trip to the playoffs in their Midwestern home.
1987 was a year to be “Back Home Again In Indiana”, as is sung every Memorial Day Sunday at the Indianapolis 500. The team the state cares the most about won a championship and two supporting teams made a splash.
Read more about the 1987 Indiana basketball team
Read more about the 1987 Indiana football team
Read more about the 1987 Indianapolis Colts