1975–76 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team

1975–76 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball
1975–76 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball
NCAA tournament National champions; Big Ten champions
National Championship Game, ; W 86-68 vs. Michigan
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 1
AP	No. 1
Record	32–0 (18–0 Big Ten)
Head coach	Bob Knight (5th season);
Assistant coaches	Harold Andreas; Bob Donewald; Bob Weltlich;
Captains	Quinn Buckner; Scott May;
Home arena	Assembly Hall
	Seasons ← 1974–75 1976–77 →

1975–76 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 1 Indiana	18	–	0	1.000	32	–	0	1.000
No. 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] They remain, as of the 2023–24 season, the last team to be undefeated National Champions.

Roster

No.	Name	Position	Ht.	Year	Hometown
20	Bob Wilkerson	G/F	6–6	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 Abernethy	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 up 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 Abernethy 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 reigning World Champion, 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 the reigning NCAA National Champion, 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 homestand."^[3]

The Hoosiers ended the regular season unbeaten, a feat that would be accomplished only seven 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, the 2015 Kentucky Wildcats, and the 2021 Gonzaga Bulldogs. 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 the number of games required to maintain an unbeaten season has increased in present times, making it more difficult to attain. The Hoosiers also had the distinction of having all five regular starting players earn their NBA pension.

Schedule

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular Season
11/29/1975* NBC	No. 1	No. 2 UCLA	W 84–64	1–0	St. Louis Arena St. Louis, Missouri
12/8/1975*	No. 1	vs. Florida State	W 83–59	2–0	Market Square Arena Indianapolis, Indiana
12/11/1975*	No. 1	No. 8 Notre Dame	W 63–60	3–0	Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana
12/15/1975*	No. 1	vs. No. 14 Kentucky Indiana–Kentucky rivalry	W 77–68 ^OT	4–0	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
12/19/1975*	No. 1	Georgia Indiana Classic	W 93–56	5–0	Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana
12/20/1975*	No. 1	Virginia Tech Indiana Classic	W 101–74	6–0	Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana
12/26/1975*	No. 1	vs. Columbia Holiday Festival	W 106–63	7–0	Madison Square Garden New York City, New York
12/27/1975*	No. 1	vs. Manhattan Holiday Festival	W 97–61	8–0	Madison Square Garden New York City, New York
12/28/1975*	No. 1	vs. No. 17 St. John's Holiday Festival	W 76–69	9–0	Madison Square Garden New York City, New York
1/3/1976	No. 1	at Ohio State	W 66–64	10–0 (1–0)	St. John Arena Columbus, Ohio
1/5/1976	No. 1	Northwestern	W 78–61	11–0 (2–0)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana
1/10/1976	No. 1	at No. 19 Michigan	W 80–74	12–0 (3–0)	Crisler Arena Ann Arbor, Michigan
1/12/1976	No. 1	at Michigan State	W 69–57	13–0 (4–0)	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, Michigan
1/17/1976	No. 1	at Illinois Rivalry	W 83–55	14–0 (5–0)	Assembly Hall Champaign, Illinois
1/19/1976	No. 1	Purdue Rivalry	W 71–67	15–0 (6–0)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana
1/24/1976	No. 1	at Minnesota	W 85–76	16–0 (7–0)	Williams Arena Minneapolis
1/26/1976	No. 1	at Iowa	W 88–73	17–0 (8–0)	Iowa Field House Iowa City, Iowa
1/31/1976	No. 1	Wisconsin	W 114–61	18–0 (9–0)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana
2/7/1976	No. 1	Michigan	W 72–67 ^OT	19–0 (10–0)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana
2/9/1976	No. 1	Michigan State	W 85–70	20–0 (11–0)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana
2/14/1976	No. 1	Illinois Rivalry	W 58–48	21–0 (12–0)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana
2/16/1976	No. 1	at Purdue Rivalry	W 74–71	22–0 (13–0)	Mackey Arena West Lafayette, Indiana
2/21/1976	No. 1	Minnesota	W 76–64	23–0 (14–0)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana
2/23/1976	No. 1	Iowa	W 101–81	24–0 (15–0)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana
2/26/1976	No. 1	at Wisconsin	W 96–67	25–0 (16–0)	Wisconsin Field House Madison, Wisconsin
3/1/1976	No. 1	at Northwestern	W 76–63	26–0 (17–0)	Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, Illinois
3/6/1976	No. 1	Ohio State	W 96–67	27–0 (18–0)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana
NCAA Tournament
3/13/1976*	No. 1	vs. No. 17 St. John's Quarterfinals	W 90–70	28–0 (18–0)	Joyce Center Notre Dame, Indiana
3/18/1976*	No. 1	vs. No. 6 Alabama Sweet Sixteen	W 74–69	29–0 (18–0)	LSU Assembly Center Baton Rouge, Louisiana
3/20/1976*	No. 1	vs. No. 2 Marquette Elite Eight	W 65–56	30–0 (18–0)	LSU Assembly Center Baton Rouge, Louisiana
3/27/1976*	No. 1	vs. No. 5 UCLA Final Four	W 65–51	31–0 (18–0)	The Spectrum Philadelphia
3/29/1976*	No. 1	vs. No. 9 Michigan Championship	W 86–68	32–0 (18–0)	The Spectrum Philadelphia
*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 Abernethy.

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
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Hammel, Bob; Klingelhoffer, Kit (1999). The Glory of Old IU: 100 Years of Indiana Athletics. Sports Publishing LLC. p. 164. ISBN 978-1-58261-068-9. Retrieved April 24, 2012.
^ "A perfect season". sportingnews.com. Archived from the original on February 29, 2000. Retrieved March 28, 2008.
^ "Hoosier Historia". heraldtimesonline.com. Retrieved March 28, 2008.
^ "Final Four Most Outstanding Players". cbs.sportsline.com. Archived from the original on September 7, 2008. Retrieved March 31, 2008.
^ "The Naismith Trophy History". Archived from the original on March 2, 2009. Retrieved March 13, 2009.
^ "RotoWire Fantasy Football, Baseball, Basketball and More". Archived from the original on March 17, 2010. Retrieved March 28, 2010.

[1] "Indiana Basketball Men's Database". IndyStar. Retrieved November 16, 2015.

[2] Osterman, Zach 1976 Indiana Hoosiers' undefeated season: An oral history Indiana Star. January 4, 2016

[Glory_of_Old_IU-3] Hammel, Bob; Klingelhoffer, Kit (1999). The Glory of Old IU: 100 Years of Indiana Athletics. Sports Publishing LLC. p. 164. ISBN 978-1-58261-068-9. Retrieved April 24, 2012.

[4] "A perfect season". sportingnews.com. Archived from the original on February 29, 2000. Retrieved March 28, 2008.

[5] "Hoosier Historia". heraldtimesonline.com. Retrieved March 28, 2008.

[Tourney_History-6] "Final Four Most Outstanding Players". cbs.sportsline.com. Archived from the original on September 7, 2008. Retrieved March 31, 2008.

[7] "The Naismith Trophy History". Archived from the original on March 2, 2009. Retrieved March 13, 2009.

[8] "RotoWire Fantasy Football, Baseball, Basketball and More". Archived from the original on March 17, 2010. Retrieved March 28, 2010.

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v t e Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball
Venues	Old Assembly Hall (1900–1917) Men's Gymnasium (1917–1928) The Fieldhouse (1928–1960) New Fieldhouse (1960–1971) Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall (1971–present) Cook Hall (practice)
Rivalries	Illinois Kentucky Purdue
Culture & lore	2011 Kentucky upset A Season on the Brink (film) Blue blood status Crimson Guard Crossroads Classic "Indiana, Our Indiana"
People	Head coaches NBA draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of 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 1999–2000 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 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics