Fifty years ago the Indiana University men’s basketball team made history as a Division I team to go undefeated the entire season and win the national championship.
Under head coach Bob Knight, the 1976 Hoosiers went 32-0, defeating Michigan 86-68 to take home the championship title.
Years have passed, and some have passed away, but for the teammates it has been a lifelong bond. Jim Crews was a senior guard that season. He reflected on what Knight told them.
“One of the things that he said was, ‘you’re going to be around good people,’” Crews said. “And as we sit here, 50 years later, well, really, 55 years later, because we were 17 and 18 years old when we met, that’s having lifetime friends.”
To commemorate the historic accomplishment, the players were honored during halftime at the NCAA men’s national championship game Monday night at Lucas Oil Stadium in downtown Indianapolis. Each player, or one of their relatives, received a ring recognizing their accomplishment.
Kent Benson was a junior playing center on the team that year and was recognized as the Final Four Most Outstanding Player. For him it wasn’t something that prophetic at the time, but now, 50 years later, he said it was all possible due to team work.
“When you talk about a team, you talk about being able to bring a group of talented individuals together who use their God given talents and abilities and, at the same time, put aside their own personal agendas for the success of the team, knowing that when the team wins, everybody wins,” Benson said.
Crews said his time playing under head coach Bob Knight taught him the attitude you should carry on and off the court.
"Before you become a champion, you have to have a championship attitude, a championship mentality and championship habits, before you become a champion,” Crews said. “And that’s true in basketball, and that’s true in life.”
Since their undefeated season, the sport has changed drastically. Now athletes can enter a transfer portal to change teams and profit off their name, image and likeness. Most recently, starting this academic school year, schools can directly pay players. IU 1976 senior point guard and co-captain Quinn Buckner said he’s not sure when a team might pull off the same accomplishment in the same way.
“It’s one of the things that makes the thought of going undefeated a little more difficult, because between social media and the fact that you are looking to change teams and the chemistry that has to be developed, it makes it a big, a huge challenge,” Buckner said.
And the undefeated legacy continued in a different sport at IU this year, with the football team going 16-0 and taking home the national championship.
