1975–76 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team

1975–76 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball

Big Ten regular season champion
NCAA Men's Division I Tournament, Champions
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	#1
AP	#1
1975–76 record	32–0 (18–0 Big Ten)
Head coach	Bob Knight (5th year)
Assistant coach	Harold Andreas
Assistant coach	Bob Donewald
Assistant coach	Bob Weltlich
Captain	Quinn Buckner Scott May
Home arena	Assembly Hall

1975–76 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
#1 Indiana	18	–	0	1.000	32	–	0	1.000
#9 Michigan	14	–	4	.778	25	–	7	.781
Purdue	11	–	7	.611	16	–	11	.593
Michigan State	10	–	8	.556	14	–	13	.519
Iowa	9	–	9	.500	19	–	10	.655
Minnesota	8	–	10	.444	16	–	10	.615
Illinois	7	–	11	.389	14	–	13	.519
Northwestern	7	–	11	.389	12	–	15	.444
Wisconsin	4	–	14	.222	10	–	16	.385
Ohio State	2	–	16	.111	6	–	20	.231

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1975–76 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team represented Indiana University Bloomington and were the winners of the NCAA Men's Division I Tournament, the school's third national championship. The Hoosiers included three All-Americans and were led by head coach Bob Knight, in his fifth year, to an undefeated 32–0 record. The team played its home games in Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Indiana, and was a member of the Big Ten Conference.^[1]

Roster

No.	Name	Position	Ht.	Year	Hometown
20	Bobby Wilkerson	G/F	6–7	Sr.	Anderson, Indiana
21	Quinn Buckner	G	6–3	Sr.	Phoenix, Illinois
22	Wayne Radford	G/F	6–3	So.	Indianapolis, Indiana
23	Jim Wisman	G	6–2	So.	Quincy, Illinois
25	Bob Bender	G	6–3	Fr.	Bloomington, Illinois
31	Scott Eells	F	6–9	Fr.	Hoopeston, Illinois
32	Mark Haymore	F/C	6–8	So.	Shaker Heights, Ohio
33	Tom Abernathy	F	6–7	Sr.	South Bend, Indiana
34	Rich Valavicius	F	6–5	Fr.	Hammond, Indiana
42	Scott May	F	6–7	Sr.	Sandusky, Ohio
43	Jim Roberson	C	6–9	Fr.	Rochester, New York
45	Jim Crews	G	6–5	Sr.	Normal, Illinois
54	Kent Benson	C	6–11	Jr.	New Castle, Indiana

Regular season

After coming just short of winning a national championship the season before (1974–75) when they lost to Kentucky in the tournament, the 1975–76 team got off to a hot start. Starters Scott May, Quinn Buckner, Bobby Wilkerson and Kent Benson returned. Head coach Bobby Knight, then in his fifth year at Indiana, moved senior Tom Abernathy into Steve Green's starting role. Guard Bobby Wilkerson was an unsung hero who could do a little bit of everything. The team entered the season ranked No. 1.^[2]

In a preseason exhibition game against the Soviet National team, the Hoosiers won by a convincing 94–78 margin. The Soviet team included two stars from their gold medal team in 1972, Aleksandr Belov and Sergei Belov. The game was played before a sellout crowd of 17,377 at the new (now-defunct) Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. Star Scott May scored 34 points on 13-for-15 shooting.

The Hoosiers then opened the season with an 84–64 win over UCLA, which was coached by John Wooden's successor Gene Bartow. The game was played in St. Louis as one of the first made-for-TV games in college history, with the starting time at 11 p.m. for maximum national airing. May scored 33 points.

The Hoosiers returned to Market Square Arena to play Florida State. The Seminoles' head coach, Hugh Durham, said before the game: "They beat Russia to prove they're the best in the world. And they beat UCLA to prove they're the best in the United States. Now I'd like to see them prove they're human and have a bad game."^[3] At halftime Indiana led 47-20 and they would go on to win 83-59. May scored 24 points and Kent Benson added 22. Afterward Durham said, "I'm glad this isn't like baseball. I'd hate to play these guys in a three-game homestead." ^[3]

The Hoosiers ended the regular season unbeaten, a feat that would be accomplished only six times since, by Larry Bird-led 1979 Indiana State Sycamores, the 1979 Alcorn State Braves, the 1991 UNLV Runnin' Rebels, the 2004 St. Joseph's Hawks, the 2014 Wichita State Shockers, and the 2015 Kentucky Wildcats. All but Alcorn State and St. Joseph's would enter the NCAA Tournament unbeaten.

Indiana is the last team to go unbeaten through the entire season, through preconference and conference seasons, and also finish unbeaten winning the NCAA Tournament. That mark has stood since 1976, though it should be noted that the number of games required to maintain an unbeaten season has increased in present times, thus making it more difficult to attain. The Hoosiers also had the distinction of having all five regular starting players earn their NBA pension.

Schedule/Results

Date Time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site City, State
Regular Season

11/29/1975* NBC	#1	#2 UCLA	W 84-64	1-0	St. Louis Arena St. Louis, MO
12/8/1975*	#1	vs. Florida State	W 83-59	2-0	Market Square Arena Indianapolis, IN
12/11/1975*	#1	#8 Notre Dame	W 63-60	3-0	Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
12/15/1975*	#1	vs. #14 Kentucky Indiana–Kentucky rivalry	W 77-68 ^OT	4-0	Freedom Hall Louisville, KY
12/19/1975*	#1	Georgia Indiana Classic	W 93-56	5-0	Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
12/20/1975*	#1	Virginia Tech Indiana Classic	W 101-74	6-0	Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
12/26/1975*	#1	vs. Columbia Holiday Festival	W 106-63	7-0	Madison Square Garden New York City, NY
12/27/1975*	#1	vs. Manhattan Holiday Festival	W 97-61	8-0	Madison Square Garden New York City, NY
12/28/1975*	#1	vs. #17 St. John's Holiday Festival	W 76-69	9-0	Madison Square Garden New York City, NY
1/3/1976	#1	at Ohio State	W 66-64	10-0 (1-0)	St. John Arena Columbus, OH
1/5/1976	#1	Northwestern	W 78-61	11-0 (2-0)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
1/10/1976	#1	at #19 Michigan	W 80-74	12-0 (3-0)	Crisler Arena Ann Arbor, MI
1/12/1976	#1	at Michigan State	W 69-57	13-0 (4-0)	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
1/17/1976	#1	at Illinois Rivalry	W 83-55	14-0 (5-0)	Assembly Hall Champaign, IL
1/19/1976	#1	Purdue Rivalry	W 71-67	15-0 (6-0)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
1/24/1976	#1	at Minnesota	W 85-76	16-0 (7-0)	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
1/26/1976	#1	at Iowa	W 88-73	17-0 (8-0)	Iowa Field House Iowa City, IA
1/31/1976	#1	Wisconsin	W 114-61	18-0 (9-0)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
2/7/1976	#1	Michigan	W 72-67 ^OT	19-0 (10-0)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
2/9/1976	#1	Michigan State	W 85-70	20-0 (11-0)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
2/14/1976	#1	Illinois Rivalry	W 58-48	21-0 (12-0)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
2/16/1976	#1	at Purdue Rivalry	W 74-71	22-0 (13-0)	Mackey Arena West Lafayette, IN
2/21/1976	#1	Minnesota	W 76-64	23-0 (14-0)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
2/23/1976	#1	Iowa	W 101-81	24-0 (15-0)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
2/26/1976	#1	at Wisconsin	W 96-67	25-0 (16-0)	Wisconsin Field House Madison, WI
3/1/1976	#1	at Northwestern	W 76-63	26-0 (17-0)	Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
3/6/1976	#1	Ohio State	W 96-67	27-0 (18-0)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
NCAA Tournament
3/13/1976*	#1	vs. #17 St. John's Quarterfinals	W 90-70	28-0 (18-0)	Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN
3/18/1976*	#1	vs. #6 Alabama Sweet Sixteen	W 74-69	29-0 (18-0)	LSU Assembly Center Baton Rouge, LA
3/20/1976*	#1	vs. #2 Marquette Elite Eight	W 65-56	30-0 (18-0)	LSU Assembly Center Baton Rouge, LA
3/27/1976*	#1	vs. #5 UCLA Final Four	W 65-51	31-0 (18-0)	The Spectrum Philadelphia, PA
3/29/1976*	#1	vs. #9 Michigan Championship	W 86-68	32-0 (18-0)	The Spectrum Philadelphia, PA
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

NCAA Tournament

Entering the NCAA Tournament the No. 1 ranked Hoosiers ended up with a difficult route for a No. 1 ranked team.^[3] The route included a regional matchup of No. 1 and No. 2 Marquette and convinced the NCAA Tournament Committee to begin seeding the tournament.

In the first game Indiana beat No. 18 St. John's 90–70. Scott May scored 33 points over a 23-6 team that had been unbeaten before Indiana beat them in December before a college-record Madison Square Garden crowd of 19,964.

In the next game Indiana beat No. 7 Alabama 74–69 behind the play of Scott May (25 points, 16 rebounds). Alabama led 69–68 when May hit a jump shot with 2:02 left. At the time, Coach Knight called this Alabama team the best any of his teams ever played.^[3]

Against No. 2 Marquette, the Hoosiers won 65–56. Marquette coach, Al McGuire, attempted to contain May by using a box-and-one defense. May scored 15 points but sat out 13 minutes with foul problems. Marquette was 27-2 on the year and would go on to win the NCAA championship the following season.

In the next game the Hoosiers once again faced the UCLA Bruins, who entered the game ranked No. 5 with a 27–3 record. The Hoosiers won 65–51 behind 19 rebounds from 6′7″ guard Bobby Wilkerson and strong play from Tom Abernathy.

In the championship game, Indiana squared off against No. 9 Michigan for the third match up between the teams that season. After Indiana lost Wilkerson early to a concussion, Michigan led at half-time, 35–29. The Hoosiers ultimately prevailed 86–68. May had 26 points, Buckner 16, and Outstanding Player Award-winner Benson had 25.

Indiana finished the season with a 32–0 record, and since 1976 no men's NCAA Division I team has gone unbeaten the whole season.^[4]^[5]

Awards and honors

Kent Benson, NCAA Men's MOP Award^[6]
Bob Knight, Big Ten Coach of the Year
Scott May, National Player of the Year^[7]
Scott May, Big Ten Player of the Year

Team players drafted into the NBA

Year	Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
1976	1	2	Scott May	Chicago Bulls
1976	1	7	Quinn Buckner	Milwaukee Bucks
1976	1	11	Bob Wilkerson	Seattle SuperSonics
1976	3	43	Tom Abernethy	Los Angeles Lakers
1977	1	1	Kent Benson	Milwaukee Bucks
1978	2	27	Wayne Radford	Indiana Pacers
1979	6	119	Bob Bender	San Diego Clippers

^[8]

References

↑ "Indiana Basketball Men's Database". IndyStar. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
↑ Osterman, Zach 1976 Indiana Hoosiers' undefeated season: An oral history Indiana Star. January 4, 2016
1 2 3 4 Hammel, Bob; Klingelhoffer, Kit (1999). The Glory of Old IU: 100 Years of Indiana Athletics. Sports Publishing LLC. p. 164. ISBN 1-58261-068-1. Retrieved 2012-04-24.
↑ "A perfect season". sportingnews.com. Retrieved 28 March 2008.
↑ "Hoosier Historia". heraldtimesonline.com. Retrieved 28 March 2008.
↑ "Final Four Most Outstanding Players". cbs.sportsline.com. Retrieved 31 March 2008.
↑ http://www.naismithawards.com/History/NaismithTrophy/tabid/58/Default.aspx
↑ http://www.databasebasketball.com/draft/draftyear.htm?lg=N&yr=1976

Indiana Hoosiers Men's Basketball 1975–76 NCAA Champions

20 Bob Wilkerson 21 Quinn Buckner 22 Wayne Radford 25 Bob Bender 33 Tom Abernethy 42 Scott May 45 Jim Crews 54 Kent Benson (MOP) Head Coach Bob Knight Assistant Coaches Bob Donewald Bob Weltlich

Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball

Venues	Old Assembly Hall (1900–1917) Men's Gymnasium (1917–1928) The Fieldhouse (1928–1960) New Fieldhouse (1960–1971) Assembly Hall (1971–present) Cook Hall (Practice)

Rivalries	Illinois Kentucky Purdue

Culture & lore	History Traditions Crossroads Classic A Season on the Brink (film) Crimson Guard "Indiana, Our Indiana" 2011 Kentucky upset

People	Head coaches NBA draftees

Seasons	1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17

NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics

NCAA Division I Men's Basketball champions

1939: Oregon
1940: Indiana
1941: Wisconsin
1942: Stanford
1943: Wyoming
1944: Utah
1945: Oklahoma A&M
1946: Oklahoma A&M
1947: Holy Cross
1948: Kentucky
1949: Kentucky
1950: CCNY
1951: Kentucky
1952: Kansas
1953: Indiana
1954: La Salle
1955: San Francisco
1956: San Francisco
1957: North Carolina
1958: Kentucky
1959: California
1960: Ohio State
1961: Cincinnati
1962: Cincinnati
1963: Loyola (IL)
1964: UCLA
1965: UCLA
1966: Texas Western
1967: UCLA
1968: UCLA
1969: UCLA
1970: UCLA
1971: UCLA
1972: UCLA
1973: UCLA
1974: NC State
1975: UCLA
1976: Indiana
1977: Marquette
1978: Kentucky
1979: Michigan State
1980: Louisville
1981: Indiana
1982: North Carolina
1983: NC State
1984: Georgetown
1985: Villanova
1986: Louisville
1987: Indiana
1988: Kansas
1989: Michigan
1990: UNLV
1991: Duke
1992: Duke
1993: North Carolina
1994: Arkansas
1995: UCLA
1996: Kentucky
1997: Arizona
1998: Kentucky
1999: Connecticut
2000: Michigan State
2001: Duke
2002: Maryland
2003: Syracuse
2004: Connecticut
2005: North Carolina
2006: Florida
2007: Florida
2008: Kansas
2009: North Carolina
2010: Duke
2011: Connecticut
2012: Kentucky
2013: Louisville
2014: Connecticut
2015: Duke
2016: Villanova

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