Indiana Hoosiers honored 50 years after NCAA’s last men’s perfect season
The Michigan Wolverines men’s basketball team ended a 37-year NCAA national title drought on Monday, April 6, with a 69-63 victory over the UConn Huskies. The championship also ended a 26-year dry spell for the Big Ten, which hadn’t claimed a crown since the Michigan State Spartans took it all in 1999-2000. Yet, the memory of another legendary Big Ten squad hovered over Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Monday.
MORE : Michigan Wolverines end historic drought, capture national title The NCAA honored coach Bob Knight’s 1975-76 Indiana Hoosiers at halftime of the title game. The Hoosiers won the national championship and finished 32-0, the most recent Division I men’s team to go undefeated. All five starters from that team — Kent Benson, Scott May, Quinn Buckner, Bobby Wilkerson and Tom Abernethy — attended the ceremony.
They spoke at a press conference before the event. “This is a blessing to be here. … Not unlike my teammates, I can’t believe it’s been 50 years,” Buckner, a co-captain, said.
Indiana radio broadcaster Don Fischer, who covered the 1975-76 season, introduced the Hoosiers during Monday’s ceremony. Son Pat Knight represented Bob Knight, who passed away in 2023. Pat Knight presented players and family members a ring to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the championship campaign.
“That team may be the best team that ever played college basketball, and that’s what I want them to remember themselves as,” Knight said in a TNT Sports video . Indiana coach Bob Knight talks to his team in their locker room during the 1976 NCAA Final Four. | The Herald-Times via Imagn Images Coincidentally, Michigan played a prominent role in Indiana’s perfect season.