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1975–76 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team

1975–76 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball
Indiana University (Athletics) logo.png
Big Ten champions
NCAA Tournament, National Champions
Conference Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches No. 1
AP No. 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
Captain Scott May
Home arena Assembly Hall
Seasons
← 1974–75
1976–77 →
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.

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 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.

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.


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