March 29, 1976: College Basketball's Last Undefeated Team

Left to right: Bob Knight, Scott May and Quinn Buckner.

Knight was hardly the only basketball coach to favor

plaid sportsjackets -- it was the 1970s, after all --

but he hadn't yet started wearing his more familiar red sweaters.

March 29, 1976, 50 years ago: Indiana University beats the University of Michigan, 86-68, at The Spectrum in Philadelphia, to win the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament. The Hoosiers finish the season 32-0. It remains the last undefeated National Championship season in college basketball.

Head coach Bobby Knight -- sometimes listed as "Bob Knight," which he apparently preferred -- always thought his previous season's team was better. They went 31-1, beating teams that were, at the time the Hoosiers played them, ranked Number 7, away to Kansas on December 4; Number 11, away to Notre Dame on December 11; Number 15, home to Kentucky on December 7; Number 17, away to Michigan on January 6; and Number 20, home to Purdue on January 25.

They won the Big Ten Conference title, going a perfect 18-0 in the league, and beat Texas-El Paso and Oregon State in the NCAA Tournament, before Kentucky beat them in the Elite Eight, 92-90 in Dayton, Ohio.

They did this without Larry Bird, who began the schoolyear as a freshman at IU, but found the transition difficult, and transferred to Indiana State University, which he eventually led to an NCAA Final.

With guard Quinn Buckner and forward Scott May returning for their senior years, and center Kent Benson returning as a junior, Knight was more determined than ever to win it all. They opened the season on November 29, 1975, ranked Number 1, playing defending National Champions UCLA, ranked Number 2 but playing with a head coach other than John Wooden for the 1st time since 1949 (Gene Bartow), at the St. Louis Arena, on national television. Indiana won convincingly, 84-64.

It was only the beginning. They beat Number 8 Notre Dame at home on December 11. They beat Number 14 Kentucky in Louisville. In the week between Christmas and New Year's, they won the ECAC Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden, beating schools from 3 different Boroughs of New York City: Columbia, of Manhattan, 106-63; Manhattan College, which is located not in Manhattan but in The Bronx, 97-61; and Number 17 St. John's, of Queens, 76-69.

They beat Number 19 Michigan away on January 10. They needed overtime to beat Michigan at home at Assembly Hall in Bloomington, but did it, 72-67. They finished the regular season 27-0, again going through the Big 10 18-0.

The NCAA Tournament put them in Notre Dame's Joyce Center in South Bend, Indiana for their 1st round game, but they beat St. John's, then ranked Number 17, again. In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, they beat Number 6 Alabama and Number 2 Marquette, to put them in the Final Four at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. Again, they played UCLA, then ranked Number 5, and beat them, 65-51. In the Final, they had to play Michigan for a 3rd time, and Michigan were ranked Number 9. This time, it wasn't close: Indiana won, 86-68. They were 32-0, undefeated, and National Champions.

None of Knight's "Big Three" became professional stars. Buckner played in the NBA from 1976 to 1986, was a member of the Boston Celtics' 1984 NBA Champions, and later became a broadcaster. May played from 1976 to 1981, mostly for the Chicago Bulls. Benson played from 1977 to 1988, for 4 different teams. Both May and Benson later played in Italy's league.

Knight led Indiana to a 2nd National Championship in 1981, and a 3rd in 1987. They had previously won in 1940 and 1953, both under Branch McCracken. So Knight got the program to where it had won 5 titles. He also became, for a time, the winningest coach in college basketball history, before he was surpassed by a former assistant of his, Mike Krzyzewski of Duke. Eventually, his excesses could no longer be stood by IU administrators, and he was fired in 2000.

March 29, 1976 was a Monday. Tennis star Jennifer Capriati was born.