Indiana University Athletics
IU Ready For Wisconsin, Honoring Legends
1/5/2016 1:29:00 PM | Men's Basketball
By: Sam Beishuizen, IUHoosiers.com | Twitter
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Collin Hartman knows the names. He's seen the faces and heard the stories.
But seeing the 1975-76 Indiana Hoosiers in person is different.
That team, the undefeated national champions, have their own pedestal at a program already rich in basketball tradition. Bob Knight's group is admired like few teams are in Bloomington.
Hartman, a junior guard, and his teammates walk by their pictures and awards every day, he said. That team set the standard for the current Hoosiers and future teams across the nation to aspire to reach, so Hartman said honoring them 40 years after their perfect season only makes sense.
"I don't think you really realize the magnitude of what they did until you play high-level basketball," Hartman said. "I don't know how to explain it, going undefeated, especially in the era they were in and just absolutely dominated the game."
Hartman—and everyone else in Assembly Hall Tuesday evening—will welcome back the 1975-76 Hoosiers during IU's Big Ten home opener against Wisconsin. They'll be honored at halftime and have spent time with the current team before the game.
"That was the best team to ever come through Indiana, and they're the last team to ever do what they've done," Hartman said. "It's going to be a great honor to play in front of those guys and represent those guys directly."
Although part of Tuesday night's game will be a celebration of past accomplishments, the Hoosiers (12-3, 2-0) will be tasked with slowing down a new-look Wisconsin team (9-6, 1-1) eager to end IU's seven-game winning streak.
The Badgers split their first two games of the Big Ten season, losing to Purdue before beating Rutgers, a team Indiana has also beaten already. They're still adapting to life without likely future Hall of Fame head coach Bo Ryan, who turned the program over to Greg Gard just before conference play began.
And although the head coach is different, so much of what has made Wisconsin a consistent Big Ten power remains the same, Indiana head coach Tom Crean said.
"I have not seen much change at all," Crean said. "I'm sure Greg will put his stamp and his wrinkles in, but they're good. I mean, they're a very good team. They're Wisconsin."
The Badgers are headlined by the junior duo of guard Bronson Koenig and Nigel Hayes.
Hayes is averaging 15.7 points, 6.8 rebounds and 4 assists per game and returns as one of the few remaining stars from last year's Final Four team. Koenig has been the Badgers' second scoring option all season, averaging 13.9 points per game.
Crean has long tried to connect his modern team with groups from Indiana's past. Tonight is yet another opportunity.
When Crean took the job in Bloomington in 2008, he asked Tom Abernethy for his secret.
"What made the '76 team so special?"
"He said it was simple," Crean said. "'We always listened to our coach.' I'm sure it wasn't that simple, but when you look back at it and hear what he said, no matter what, they listened to their coach, they took care of one another and I'm sure they had issues just like anybody else would've, but they handled it."
They were successful, in part, because of it. And even four decades later, Crean and Indiana fans remain grateful for what they did.
"That (team) absolutely got me caught up in a love for basketball," Crean said. "That '76 national championship game was a big part of that."
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Collin Hartman knows the names. He's seen the faces and heard the stories.
But seeing the 1975-76 Indiana Hoosiers in person is different.
That team, the undefeated national champions, have their own pedestal at a program already rich in basketball tradition. Bob Knight's group is admired like few teams are in Bloomington.
Hartman, a junior guard, and his teammates walk by their pictures and awards every day, he said. That team set the standard for the current Hoosiers and future teams across the nation to aspire to reach, so Hartman said honoring them 40 years after their perfect season only makes sense.
"I don't think you really realize the magnitude of what they did until you play high-level basketball," Hartman said. "I don't know how to explain it, going undefeated, especially in the era they were in and just absolutely dominated the game."
Hartman—and everyone else in Assembly Hall Tuesday evening—will welcome back the 1975-76 Hoosiers during IU's Big Ten home opener against Wisconsin. They'll be honored at halftime and have spent time with the current team before the game.
"That was the best team to ever come through Indiana, and they're the last team to ever do what they've done," Hartman said. "It's going to be a great honor to play in front of those guys and represent those guys directly."
Although part of Tuesday night's game will be a celebration of past accomplishments, the Hoosiers (12-3, 2-0) will be tasked with slowing down a new-look Wisconsin team (9-6, 1-1) eager to end IU's seven-game winning streak.
The Badgers split their first two games of the Big Ten season, losing to Purdue before beating Rutgers, a team Indiana has also beaten already. They're still adapting to life without likely future Hall of Fame head coach Bo Ryan, who turned the program over to Greg Gard just before conference play began.
And although the head coach is different, so much of what has made Wisconsin a consistent Big Ten power remains the same, Indiana head coach Tom Crean said.
"I have not seen much change at all," Crean said. "I'm sure Greg will put his stamp and his wrinkles in, but they're good. I mean, they're a very good team. They're Wisconsin."
The Badgers are headlined by the junior duo of guard Bronson Koenig and Nigel Hayes.
Hayes is averaging 15.7 points, 6.8 rebounds and 4 assists per game and returns as one of the few remaining stars from last year's Final Four team. Koenig has been the Badgers' second scoring option all season, averaging 13.9 points per game.
Crean has long tried to connect his modern team with groups from Indiana's past. Tonight is yet another opportunity.
When Crean took the job in Bloomington in 2008, he asked Tom Abernethy for his secret.
"What made the '76 team so special?"
"He said it was simple," Crean said. "'We always listened to our coach.' I'm sure it wasn't that simple, but when you look back at it and hear what he said, no matter what, they listened to their coach, they took care of one another and I'm sure they had issues just like anybody else would've, but they handled it."
They were successful, in part, because of it. And even four decades later, Crean and Indiana fans remain grateful for what they did.
"That (team) absolutely got me caught up in a love for basketball," Crean said. "That '76 national championship game was a big part of that."
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