1975-76 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team

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

1975–76 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
	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 2025–26 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

The team manager was Chuck Swenson.

Regular season

The team entered the season ranked No. 1.^[2]^[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 Saint Joseph's Hawks, the 2014 Wichita State Shockers, the 2015 Kentucky Wildcats, the 2021 Gonzaga Bulldogs, and the 2026 Miami (OH) RedHawks. All but Alcorn State and Saint Joseph's, and Miami (OH) would enter the NCAA Tournament unbeaten.

NCAA tournament

^[4]^[5]

Schedule

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular Season
11/29/1975* NBC	No. 1	vs. 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.

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
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.

External links

1975-1976 Indiana University Basketball Team photo (Indiana University Archives)